Yeah shame about the grips - I contacted Kawasaki here in the UK to complain about how the BMW 1200GT gets loads of extras for the same price - all they said was there would be some new accessories in 2008 and grips would most likely be on the list! However I would say that the bike is streets ahead of the BMW so maybe they had to put loads of gizmos on it to justify the price - IMHO the Kawasaki is a superior machine.