I'm not normally a huge fan of Kawasaki's Ninja styling, but this one's the ugly duckling

Thanks to a packed schedule I’ve been using the Ninja 7 Hybrid mainly for commuting recently. I’ve got a few longer jaunts planned for later in the year (along with some experiments; more on that  soon) but you’ll notice from my mileage covered so far that I’ve not done a massive amount by MCN standards.

It’s given me a chance to bed in with the bike, though, and begin to get under its skin. I’m really  pleased the seat has softened a little now – to start with it was like sitting on a plank, and coupled with the stiff suspension it was pretty unpleasant over rougher roads.

• Previous update: Welcome to the fleet, Ninja 7 Hybrid

I’m starting to enjoy another aspect, too: the right-thumboperated e-boost button has started to punctuate my life with the bike.

No ride feels complete without giving it a prod and feeling the huge dollop of instantaneous  additional performance. It’s brilliant for overtaking and, of course, for those moments when you pass the national speed limit sign after being stuck at 30mph.

An additional point here is that it sounds like nothing else on the road when e-boost is activated. It’s more like a modern F1 car, with a huge dose of electrical motor whine alongside the fizzy 451cc petrol engine. The extra shove feels exciting but never unmanageable, and is well matched to this bike.

But this brings me to my latest gripe: the parallel-twin works seriously hard hefting Harleyesque levels of mass around, and it generates high-frequency vibes as a result. These fizz their way through the fuel tank and onto your nether regions if you’re sitting forwards, which is a little erm… unsettling.

If you’re cruising, the engine doesn’t sound very nice either, and this jars with the Ninja’s appearance, which tries very hard to be sporty.

However, viewed from a side profile and despite the fairing, there’s an ungainly gait to the Hybrid.

When my mate Adam first saw it he said “it looks like it’s collapsed in the middle”, and I simply can’t unsee that now.

The ultra-long swingarm is mainly to blame here – or more accurately the extra electrical kit within the frame that necessitates it. The motor and battery are behind the petrol engine, and thus space management means the bike looks slightly odd.

From a personal perspective I don’t think Ninjas ever look brilliant compared with say a Panigale or RSV4, but this one’s certainly the ugly duckling.