What's with this 'don't want to die yet' stuff? You don't HAVE to crack the throttle wide open! REALLY. You don't! And as for the 'need to buy for insurance' stuff, it's like not getting a TSi in favour of the ES. Sure, you'll save a little money. But you can't put a value on the erosion of your soul...

A 600 is a good size. Fairly economical, with just enough power to get you into trouble. Anything more is just gravy. The guy I bought my minihome from showed me his baby, a $24k Ninja 13 or 1400 (or something, it was the biggest one they made). He told me it was a great bike, but a total waste of money. You just COULDN'T use that much power around our area, without jeopardizing yourself or other people. You always had to be restrained...