You say you are testing riding both, hopefully that will give you your answer, I changed years ago from riding a ZXR750L1 to a 916, kept it about 2 years, I had no problems with it when I first got it and thought it was great almost telepathic in its handling but something changed whether it was tyres or not I don't know, then the power delivery became an on/off switch at low speeds and the only time it felt good was for about 100 miles after a service it then proceeded to completely destroy my confidence on a bike, so I went back to a ZX7R to slowly rebuild my confidence and now have an R1 which is just ballistic and much smoother since fitting a Power Commander.
It was also never as fast as they made out I'm not a small person about 6'3" and struggled to get more than 140 mph out it, had it dyno'd to check the power it made, which was right on the money at the time and yet could get 160 mph out the Kawasaki's making similar power, go figure. If you like it great, reports basicaly say the 1098 is an animal and the 848 alot smoother, ride them for as long as you can and make certain you can live with them.
Just don't rush into it.
