I've put a fair few miles on mine since getting it last week and cannot wipe the smile from my face after each ride. Swapped yesterday to a mate's Ducati 900SS which seemed anaemic by comparison but it was a shock to fell how light and easy the Duke was to ride in comparison with the rider input needed on the Mille. I guess learning to ride them and getting used to that brutal low and mid power delivery is part of the attraction. Engine braking is phenomenal compared with the GS. There may be more sophisticated and much faster bikes made today but few give you the exhilaration you experience with a Mille. Fantastic bikes...every biker should own one once.
If I remember correctly, I had to pull the forks up through the yokes so there was about 12-15mm of fork leg sticking out of the top yoke, this made it turn a bit quicker, but you still had to weight the pegs quite a bit as well?