And I can imagine lots of train designers weren’t train drivers. Lots of washing machine designers don’t do the laundry. The list could go on for quite a while…
Not really my point though.
A modern motorcycle, like the one in question, is a purely hedonistic ‘toy’. The design of functional ability is not the point as that comes down purely to engineering and science. It’s the ‘emotional quality‘ I wonder about, and in my simple mind, it seems more intuitive that someone designing such would need to be in tune with customer wants and needs. And thus being able to sample and judge for themselves would be actually necessary, to my mind at least.
But like I said, it’s an interesting question …
(note: I believe Mitchell did obtain a pilots licence)