Hullo, I'm new here as well Prospective Super Meteor 650 buyer, I'm teetering between that and a Kawasaki Vulcan S.
I finally went with the SM650. I took delivery of it yesterday, and so far I'm extremely happy with it
I put 200km on it on the first day, absolutely fantastic and a joy to ride. It's my first bike so I was a little anxious about how I'd feel about motorbikes in general, but I felt much more at ease than I thought I would.
Thanks for the kind words. As to the lights:
I haven't ridden at night, so I can't yet comment on that. I will say, however, that the Denali lights are both VERY bright, so I expect they'll do their job at night.
I threw in some night-time riding on twisty backroads yesterday just to see how well the stock lights are, and in my opinion some side-shooting extra pods are a *must*.
The stock headlight is bright enough and on high-beams reaches out as far as you'll ever reasonably need... in a straight line. It has absolutely *zero* illumination to the sides though.
On a dark moonless night I couldn't see squat on the other side of a corner, even with clear line of sight. I had to go through turns that I know like the back of my hand at much lower speeds than I would have during the day just because I couldn't be certain there wasn't anything in my path (animals, debris etc).
Absolutely beautiful machine otherwise. Can't wait to enjoy it more.