I commuted on my 996 from Twickenham to Bank every day for about 9 months. I had a secure undercover carpark though.
I put a 14 tooth sprocket on the front and a lightened flywheel in and it was fine. I loved it, plenty of comments from all sorts at the lights (not just about my riding!). You just have to take it a bit easy because it's easy to find yourself doing stupid speeds in built up area's. Especially when you're trying to make a gap, and then you see another one ahead and as you approach that one you see another one ... next thing you know you're doing 100mph down the Embankment at 8:30am with the rest of the commuting traffic wondering WTF that noise is! (54mm Sil Motor's!)
