The new bike

Whenever I get a new bike I'm afraid to mess with it. Suspension settings, oil, coolant, whatever. I want to ride the damn thing a little to get a base feel before I dig into it. I know its irrational, maybe even dangerous. Lets just call it a quirk.

My new (to me) CBR was no different. The oil in the viewing window looked good, so I didn't change it for about a thousand miles. The suspension settings I didn't touch either for a while. They were "set" (and I use the term loosely) for someone much heavier. I returned them to factory settings and it felt better-ish. The tires were Pilot Power monocompound tires. From the date code I think they might have been the originals (scary huh?). I wore them out and replaced them with new Q2s.
Seen here with the new tires, on the way to get mounted:

After my first trackday on the bike I rode it 250 miles south to have the suspension set by Dave Moss (http://feelthetrack.com/). I learned a few important things that weekend:
-The factory settings are way off
-Riding 250 miles of slab at once on a sportbike with a stock seat isn't pleasant
-Riding 700 miles in a weekend with a backpack (Ogio No-Drag Mach 1. Highly recommend) as your only luggage makes you rethink what you need for a weekend
-Getting your suspension tuned by a professional makes a world of difference. Before you upgrade, maybe you should do maintenance and set the OEM stuff. According to Dave most street riders don't ride fast enough or well enough to warrant the high end suspension their shop wants to sell them.