Those descriptions pretty much match my impression of the 02 919. The shock was oversprung and underdamped. The forks are underdamped and undersprung. It gave the bike an unbalanced feeling. Under moderarte braking the forks would dive and unload the rear end. Just barely touch the rear brake and at would break loose and want to swing around from side to side. The forks were the real problem, the rear shock compounded it. It was a parts bin bike. Honda built it from existing parts off the shelf. Just like the point of the Honda 599 was to burn through CBR600F3 replacement parts. It was a good bike for commuting and riding at a relaxed pace. The motor is absolutely fantastic. The suspension just didn't like spirted cornering or braking. As mentioned above, I swapped the stock shock for an 07 919 shock. I also installed 10mm longer spacers in the forks (old school/hillbilly preload adjustment). It was better, not great but better. Next, I was going to upgrade to the F3 shock and add stiffer fork springs and thicker fork oil. Next after that would have been Racetech Emulators. It would have been about $200, $350 with the Emulators. I think that would have been a night/day difference in the handling. But, I got a deal on another bike and wound up selling the 919 before I got that far with the suspension mods.