I used to race and after that went through about 16 sport bikes on the road. I got bored and kept selling them. Then one day my wife surprised me with a cruise in my garage (no that isn't code for...nevermind).
In any even I loved it. Corners were exciting again
I did a few cross country trips and loved the experience. Eventually I sold it and bought an old 911.
A few interesting points:
1) I believe that Harley sells a modern vintage experience.
2) who would't buy an air cooled 911 today new if they could? Why not the same for bikes?
3) Ducati abandoned the new/vintage market when Audi bought them. Too bad, that was also an interesting niche.
4) The majority of 40 year old guys are typically guys getting back into biking after kids, not so much riders taking their next step.