This is just my opinion here. I believe that this motorcycle was not designed with the rider in mind. It turns out that it is to be ridden by short people.
I am 6'3" and when sitting on the stock seat, my knees are up to my chest and my poor feet just will not bend down enough to work the rear break or up-shift the gearbox. I realized that if I just got my butt up higher, I could now manipulate the foot controls, and the kick-stand.
The next problem is not being to make a reasonable turn from a stop.
I believe that the big, heavy cylinders sticking out cause the bike to want to tip over unless you can get the centrifugal force up enough to keep it from tipping over. So, to make a turn from a stop, you must get on the throttle and quickly make the turn to keep the bike upright. The size of the turn is vary wide. Yesterday I tried making sharp turns from a stop and was unsuccessful. I think that adding the height to the seat makes me sit higher and adds to the instability because of my body hanging in the direction that the cylinder is already pulling me. I hope this makes sense. I couldn't drive it with the stock seat so I can't compare the differences in the seat height. Others have complained about the large turn radius. Yesterday I was making a turn from a stop and I thought I was going to run into the curb. As I was coming out of the turn, a lady steps off of the curb and into my path. I didn't dare stop as I hadn't righted the bike yet so I just yelled at her to get out of the way. A little adrenalin hit my system. I would like to see a scaled down version of the R18 using the 1200 engine. My old 750 was plenty of power for me.
I hope you go into your dealer and sit on an R18 and maybe go for a test ride.
Bruce
