Originally Posted by
sae
How tall are you? I have a 696, it's supposedly even short-friendly than the 620.
The cheapest I could find a 620 was ~4k, and I picked up this 696 for 5k. I figured after I upgraded the brakes, levers, etc. to reasonable spec, I would've already blown over what I could get a 696 for. The new style is polarizing, but the better driveability isn't. The longer service intervals are appreciated too.
I geared it down almost immediately, the 14T front sprocket makes it much more well behaved around town. Much less low-rpm lugging.
I love this thing so far (have about 1000 miles on it over 2 months), but already have the itch for more power. Not to say it's slow by any means, but if you've ever driven a comparably quick car, it's easy to be underwhelmed. I'm definitely still learning, but everyone always says a liter bike will get you killed as a first bike...I'd definitely say the lack of self control is likely what kills.