[12er]

buy it and dont look back

Best 600 "street bike" out there. Affordable, good power and is almost telepathic to ride. Little heavier so its stable in the wind, throw a double bubble screen on it and your done. Three of my friends bought them, one starting out on it with no problems. Its the KLR of 600's, hasnt changed since MO named it 600 of the year in 97... Better bike than most riders if you want to do a track day or two yet with some soft bags you can easily do 400+ mile days touring. Also if you ride two up they may actually enjoy it, nice big seat. If your looking for a practical do it all 600, it and maybe the zzr cant be beat.

 

[12er]

Right on, enjoy the ride. Since its your first bike in a while I would stick close to the break in proceedures meaning keep the rpm's down till you get a good feel for the bike. Proper break in threads are on this site but I just tend to not keep the rpm's at any constant levels. Roll the throttle on and off while cruising, shift up and down while riding the speed your at, etc. As long as your doing that you can safely go over the recommended max rpm without worries, though keep them down like I said above. Tires will need to be scrubbed in, so watch those first stops and turns. And I hope you have proper gear, if gear is too expensive, price a skin graft...