[wspollack]

Yesterday, Motorcycle.com:

https://www.motorcycle.com/bikes/mobos/best-lightweight-entry-level-motorcycle-of-2023-44596900

[Siamese]

The Kawasaki might be a nice bike if it wasn't so damned ugly. 

[SteveThackery]

Kawasaki Eliminator. It sounds like some kind of laxative.

[axman88]

So, ...... I read the article and had these reactions:\
    -  A list of just TWO machine?  Somebody doesn't seem to be trying very hard.
    -  Is there such a lack of lightweight machines, that 400lbs is considered lightweight nowadays?  Somebody doesn't seem to be trying very hard.
    -  2nd on a list of 2 can also be expressed as, "Hunter, you are dead LAST!"

[SteveThackery]

"Hunter, you are dead LAST!"

Or, "... you are the first of the losers."

[wspollack]

So, ...... I read the article and had these reactions:\
    -  A list of just TWO machine?  Somebody doesn't seem to be trying very hard.
    -  Is there such a lack of lightweight machines, that 400lbs is considered lightweight nowadays?  Somebody doesn't seem to be trying very hard.
    -  2nd on a list of 2 can also be expressed as, "Hunter, you are dead LAST!"

I didn't get that impression at all.

The article is titled "Best Lightweight / Entry-Level Motorcycle of 2023," not "... Motorcycles ...," so really all they had to do was list one bike, and they would've adhered to the title. That is, it wasn't billed as, say, "Some Great Lightweight Entry-Level Motorcycles."

And then, to that, they just added the Hunter as a "Runner-Up." To me, that implies something like, "Okay, we made our one pick, as advertised -- the best -- but the decision involved such a close second place that we thought we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention it."

[Frako]

Yes, wspollack, i got the same impression. Considering the new models who may fit the entry level category, maybe a lot, those two are the best choices. And i think is a great thing to Royal Enfield and, specificly, Hunter's owners, that a remarcable publisher of a very important market like US consider a bike like this as a very interesting choice.

I understand the Kawa fit perfectly the necesities and taste of american consumers (Z400 was my A2 license bike. It has a great engine, soft and powerful at the same time), but the Hunter... i would not expect such thing.

Hunter and Interceptor models are changing the paradigma about the brand in west.

[Beeza]

The Kawasaki might be a nice bike if it wasn't so damned ugly.

It does take ugly to a whole new level, and there might be a market for that. Somewhere. Or not. And then there’s those who don’t notice even when it’s pointed out.

RE really made fools of themselves with the Hunter gas tank ‘colourways’ but the bike is so inherently appealing that people buy them anyway. I’d just buy a used one and repaint the tank when I got home. The rest they got right; the Kaw is ugly down to the frame tubes.