Oh yes - don't get me wrong. I am not interchanging what the new bikes look like with how they function. A couple of years ago I bought a new Suzuki SV650ABS and it was a spectacular bike and an awesome value for the money (and not too ugly either) but it wasn't nearly as pretty as an XS650 or the R-E or Kawi.
In fact, Honda would have been wise to have made an SV650-type twin cylinder road bike out the Africa Twin powertrain - rather than just another metric cruiser which will vanish into the crowd of other metric cruisers (which IMO are doomed to be ignored by the market).
If I may, I'd go even further and submit that if Honda doesn't build that sort of bike pretty soon, they risk losing out to R-E who, in some markets, are eating the lunch of many of the main-line companies as people vote with their wallets for the Interceptor 650 style of non-ugly bike.
Pete
In fact, Honda would have been wise to have made an SV650-type twin cylinder road bike out the Africa Twin powertrain - rather than just another metric cruiser which will vanish into the crowd of other metric cruisers (which IMO are doomed to be ignored by the market).
If I may, I'd go even further and submit that if Honda doesn't build that sort of bike pretty soon, they risk losing out to R-E who, in some markets, are eating the lunch of many of the main-line companies as people vote with their wallets for the Interceptor 650 style of non-ugly bike.
Pete
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