You say this and I kinda agree, however my wife may be a better indicator of the broader market than you or I. Her comment on getting another bike was "I'm not interested unless its something really different (futuristic) or old school (retro style)" This is reflected in a massive preference for something like a BMW CE 02 or Royal enfield flying flea over a "normal" looking super soco TCmax or Ultravioletta F77.
Further to this it made me think of the path Honda took to popularising themselves to the western world, they pointedly did not target 'motorcycle' people
I think you're onto something. It wasn't that long ago that I believed all the nasty things my family said about motorcycling and motorcyclists, hook line and sinker. I wouldn't have considered getting into gas bikes any sooner than I'd have considered taking up smoking. But I got my M1 working at Scoot so I could legally ride the faster-than-30 MPH mopeds that sometimes made their way into our HQ for study. Once I had the designation, I thought "why not rent a Zero and see what motorcycles are all about?" One twist of the throttle in sport mode, and I was a motorcyclist for life. At that point in 2019, you still couldn't get a decent Zero for less than $9 or $10k, so I bought an FZ6R and have been riding both gas and electric bikes ever since.
I was having a discussion recently with another electric motorbike enthusiast about the difference between gas and electric, and this is what I came up with (crossposted from my comment on ADVrider a few weeks ago): "Riding a powerful gas bike is like trying to stay on a fast, wild horse. It’s all about having the skill and grit to tame the beast, and then to achieve communion and understanding with that beast while respecting that it’s still a wild and powerful animal. By contrast, riding a powerful electric is like suddenly being granted superpowers. It’s not a wild beast, because it does exactly what you want, when you want it. You yourself become the thing that hurtles through the air, one with the road and the environment with no roaring engine, gear changes, or throttle lag to occupy your attention. Some people will always prefer one over the other, but each offers a different experience for a different kind of rider. That freedom of choice is what motorcycling has always been about, and it’s why there will always be a market for electrics, even if it goes through rough patches like the last couple of years."
Trying to market electrics to people who love gas bikes can only get you so far. They want that wild sense of untamed danger and skill, and electrics just don't deliver that. They deliver something else, and there are a lot of non-motorcyclists who would want that "something else" if they only knew what it was. I know I did, and I never would have become a rider without it.
