Everything you said there about handling braking and cornering is spot on. Jay's Hawk still has the stock suspension other than 185ml of ATF in each fork (no added spacers), and he still prefers the way mine rides. He's considering dropping the rear 2" rather than 3", which should net him the best of both worlds.
Also I think you're selling it short as far as offroad capability. If you had seen some of the places my Hawk has been (ofcourse I've got better tires, Trakmaster baby) and crossing deep rocky creeks. The last time we were out it was a muddy mess with wet leaves on top. We climbed a 5 stage hill, rearends fishtailing all the way, and made it halfway up the 5th stage before Jay panicked and slowed down too much (newb mistake) and the trail was so narrow I couldn't find a clean line around him. Also I think the stance is better for crossing logs at speed, making it easier to take the weight off the front end as you hit the log.
