I'm basically a 1960s sports car purist who is pretty alienated from post- 1970s automobiles. In bicycle terms, that's a retrogrouch.

Full disclosure: I actually have been considering buying a Boxster, even though it it is twice the weight of the 550 and has stuff like roll-up windows, power steering, and power brakes. And my sniping at Porsche is grounded in love for what they were. I can appreciate the performance and engineering of the modern ones -- they just have deviated too far from Dr. Porsche's original vision for my tast.

The two bikes, on the other hand, are just deviant, and not even in interesting ways. Style over substance -- the polar opposite of the Porsche tradition.

Paul