Hey great to hear you like the bike, as afar as seat ht, you can have Rick Butler a forum member rework your seat to narrow the front nose and dish out the seat . He will get you low enough to flatfoot. You can also look at a Corbin seat, look for a used one they pop up all the time. You either love em or hate em but the will lower the seat ht a good 1.5 in.
Once you remove those pipes and replace with Harley pipes I bet that popping goes away. They have a nice soft rumble that deepens with age and they are cheap!
I never road a bike with heal toe shifter before my RSV and hated it just like you, but was told by some on here to give it a chance. I did and now I love it and wouldnt be without it. Makes shifting up and down so much easier. Just dont buy boots with long shoelaces:bawling:
Enjoy the new scoot, Craig