Is it a bike? Is it a scooter?

NEITHER bike nor scooter Honda's new Integra certainly bucks convention – but perhaps that's what the world needs right now.

We've already seen the Integra (first as the 'New Mid' concept last year) and its 670cc parallel twin engine, which manages over 76mpg thanks to plenty of very dull but very worthy technology that we won't go into here. It's also got Honda's dual-clutch semi-auto gearbox, with manual and auto settings just like the range-topping VFR1200F, and despite just two cylinders Honda reckons it's as smooth as a Goldwing motor. Clever, huh?

Now these new pictures reveal what the bike looks like on the road, as well as some of its details, and it's actually not too bad once there's a rider in place to give a sense of proportion – looking less like a scooter and more like a decent-sized touring bike.

Honda accepts that it's not going to sell in big numbers in the UK, and that its main markets are on the European mainland, but it's also admitted that there are two further derivatives of the bike on the way, scheduled to be shown at next month's EICMA show in Milan. One will be a naked street bike, the other a off-road-style crossover, both cleverly based on the same engine and chassis of the Integra despite looking much more like 'real' bikes.

They won't be performance machines, since the engine makes only 51bhp, although Honda also has a 47bhp version of the motor which, although not initially slated for the UK, will no doubt appear here once the next set of European bike licence laws come into force, as they include an 'A2' licence with a 47bhp limit.