In an earlier post I mentioned that I had attended the 2015 Timonium Bike show. While I have noticed this bird like trend in the past it really struck me as I walked around the show, bikes with beaks.
Over the last few years I “feel” that there has been a severe consolidation in the appearance of sportbikes regardless of manufacturer. The general appearance of a Honda is similar to that of a Yamaha or pic your make.
One of the way by which the appearance is homologizing is bird like front ends. Below are pictures from the show of just a few of the many bike sporting the beak and they are not all from the same stable…I mean birdhouse. 🙂 Wellll they also look like bugs.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 
Maybe it’s because “Beaks on Bikes” is such a catchy phrase. It rolls off the tongue nicely! (-:
The “beaked” bikes that all other manufacturers have copied are the BMW GS’s. Before they came out, no bikes had beaks. I proudly own an F800GS that I put 10,000 miles a year on. So to answer your question , I’d have to say what’s up is that all the others are trying to imitate an original, just like what happens in music and art.
LOL…. yea the GS are the cream of the crop. Although I am real interested in what Honda is going to put out later this year.
I’ve wondered the same!
According to Ducati, these air intakes add additional HP at speed. My 2011 Multistrada has them. That’s what they said in the Nat Geo documentary on the design anyway. I’m not keen on the looks, but they don’t bother me really.
Hummm…. never heard that before. Interesting factoid!