Ok I've only seen it in videos and a few stills, and beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but the styling couldn't be more US industrial normal if it came with a free statue of liberty and an exhaust tuned to sing battle hymn of the republic. Styling seems to have settled into three big blocks of late - Euro scaffolding, Japanese plastic blandness and U.S. redneck. Four I suppose if you count Indian modern retro (= retro retro for the Himmy). If you can strip it down and extend the forks it'll sell well to the core believers.

Back when I was a callow youth (!) taking my first tentative two wheel steps I bought into Japanese modernism. On balance that was probably a sensible way to go - at least I'm not sitting here now remembering the good times I had pushing my BSA Golden Flash (or whatever they were called) home in the rain. But the one thing that seriously annoyed me was how long it took to get spare parts. Six weeks, three months, longer sometimes to get a simple spare, and even then I had to drive 30 miles mostly through London to get it. Most of the bits for the BSA I didn't have were available off the shelf just down the road.

I cut the Japanese some slack as they were new to exporting and new to the UK and still, back then, a minority choice. But there's zero excuse for any mainstream manufacturer to not be able to supply just about any part in a few days now. So if it does take 4-6 weeks to get BMW bike bits to your local dealer in Canada that's totally and utterly unacceptable. It doesn't happen with cars - just about any make of car - and it shouldn't happen with bikes. Harley may be the BSA of the 21st century but at least you can still chugg along waving the flag. That's more than you can do if your BMW is sidelined with a missing spacer or bolt or whatever.

Even if the styling does look like they've got a 'styling house' involved (anyone with a v e r y long memory might remember the original 'ray gun' look on BSA's and Triumph's that went down like a lead balloon) there does seem to be some good ideas. The adjustable ride height seems like a great idea. I presume it works like those busses that lower themselves to kerb level at bus stops - there's a load of hissing and steam and stuff comes out and it gradually settles down. I'd guess it's something to attract regular Harley riders who may find their 'flexibility' causes a few problems with a high seat height. With a bit of luck the Japanese will take the idea on board and engineer a version that works. An Africa Twin that I could get on without needing a ladder - it's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody some good.