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@bq
I'm with you on this Jambon.
I have had so many mates who passed their test, bought CBR600s or Ducati 748s and crashed them at high speed.
My Vespa felt scary fast after my mountain bike.
In fact my CBR125 felt scary fast after the Vespa, it was so different.
I then bought a 400 with 33bhp on the nose, and I loved that bike. From the 125 it was a huge leap in performance, and it took me a good few weeks to really understand and gel with the different riding style and reactions you needed, how it delivered power, and how capable or otherwise its brakes tyres were.
Again when I bought the Triumph it felt so ridiculously fast after the 400 and I really didn't get on with it at first. It was too fast, too heavy, too hot, the grip was shit (wheelspin in 4 gears in the wet!), it wouldn't go round corners and it was just frightening. It took months and months to get to grips with the bike and really gel with the thing. Of course now on a dry day I can throw it around like a moped.
If I had gone straight from the CBR125 to the Triumph I would have either given up motorcycling for good or I would have killed myself in a huge accident. As it is I've only had little crashes. Of course I am atypical. I've no interest in sports bikes or bike racing. I'm never going to do a track day or get my knee down, and I buy bikes for their looks and sound.
Incidentally, one thing I have done on every single bike I've owned is change the tyres and it has transformed them. Grip is so important, and cheap or old tyres don't have any.