Welcome to the boards!!!
Nice bike! Its nice to see one of those in that condition.
As far as your suspension question, I'm the same height and weight as you so...
You can raise your rear end. Just understand that by raising your rear end you will make your steering more aggressive (quicker) and more nervous (more head shake).
This is because you now are putting your forks in a steeper angle in relation to the ground(this is called "Rake"). The more straight up and down your forks are the sharper and more nervous the steering gets. By raising your rear end you are pivoting the bike on it's front suspension.
Imagine if you started picking up the rear tire off the ground. Eventually as you lift the rear the front forks will get to a point where the rake of the forks are going straight up and down(the angle of the forks in relation to the ground). Raising and lowering your suspension will theoretically do the same thing. It'll change the angle of your forks in relation to the ground. This in affect changes the bikes steering geometry. Even a small change can make a big difference.
The steeper the angle of the forks the sharper the steering. So a lowered bike would have slower steering cause that rear being so low throws the bottom of the forks outward, kinda like a chopper's forks.
Also, it will affect how you sit on the bike. A bike with it's rear end set higher will throw more of your body weight forward, onto your wrists. This might be uncomfortable for some and not for others. Oh, and your balls will feel it too as they will always be sliding up against the tank. Hey sport bikes = pain. That is a known fact...
The gist of it is to make suspension changes evenly front and rear, but they are independently adjustable for a reason. You might feel like you like it better with sharper steering or that it's too nervous and now it can head shake a lot. But then again the fact that you way over 200 pounds will dilute the head shake cause you have more weight on the front end. A smaller lighter rider will experience it more cause his weight does not make such an influence on the steering and front suspension.
The point is there are so many variable we could talk for hours and still come up with different conclusions. It's based on "Feel" and therefore will feel different to everyone.
One of the first thing you should do when you buy a motorcycle is go through the range of suspension adjustment and experiment a bit. It's different for everyone and any little change counts a lot. I backed out my compression two clicks at the last time I was at the track and it felt like I was riding a completely different bike! The change was that dramatic.
The best advice anyone can give you is to read up on how your suspension works. That way you can understand the cause and effects of changing your suspension.
A good place to start in general (Not just suspension) is a book by Keith Code called "A Twist Of The Wrist". It's now on it's second volume so it's "A Twist Of The Wrist II"
It's considered by many as the "Bible" of motorcycling. It'll teach you the fundamentals and will also teach you the basic technical stuff that applies to all modern sport bikes.
I highly recommend it. Good luck!!!
Also anyone feel free to add or correct anything if i'm off a bit.
