I'm coming up on a year (and over 8,000 KM) on a 1250. Having also ridden a friend's second gen 1200, the 1250 seems to handle a bit better and ride height is lower (important for us who are inseam challenged). I absolutely love the bike It's still one of the few times where a company built a bike to multitask well. Under most normal conditions, you can't fully use the 1250's full power range and it can get a little big lane splitting Japanese traffic. It is nice though to know that the power's there if you need it. I'd imagine your big issue would be to prioritize power, handling and load.