Think of it as any network protocol....ethernet is one, canbus is another. We could use ethernet in our cars but the cabling would be a mess! With canbus the data can go over very small wires. We can use garden variety code scanners on our Rockets and read codes, and various sensor outputs, and that tells you there is SOME canbus on our bikes. But the fact that we need special software such as tunecu, the ECU's own internal language is different. Canbus is just the communication protocol. Any vehicle could be set up that way. Usually you don't need to query the ECU directly, but when you do, you use specialized software. Such as TuneECU.