Well, saw my first one in person yesterday. It is the first delivered in Little Rock, and it was just about to be test ridden by the guy who put it together. Silver with black stripe, and I must say it really does look better in person than in pictures. The rear tire is a lower profile Metzler, and the stock exhaust sounds just fine. Overall, I'd say materials used are a couple of notches above what's used on the SM/America and the parts seem pretty robust. The onl;y things I didn't really care for were that the headlight seems a bit too far forward, but the guy said there is a fairing you can buy to fix that. I also didn't care that the VIN is so visible on the front neck. Very distracting.
Overall, though, I have to say the new Bird is a winner from first appearances.
BTW, the guy at the shop also said there is a factory big bore kit that adds 10 bhp and tons of torque to the stock bike. He said it would be about $2200 upcharge to get it installed.
