Harley vs Indian vs Honda vs BMW: The 2025 Best Sellers Compared
Updated: 3 days ago
2025 is the year Indian finally replaced the Scout's engine, Harley put $1,750 back on the Street Glide's price without changing the bike, and BMW's taller Adventure variant became the GS that mattered. Honda adjusted a seat and a handlebar and left the price at $6,499. One of those is a genuine reason to reconsider the class.
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Four Category Leaders, Not Four Rivals
Nobody is torn between a Street Glide and a Rebel 500. An 811-pound touring bagger, a low-seat midsize cruiser, a 408-pound beginner twin and a 593-pound adventure bike are four separate answers to the question of what a motorcycle is for, and lining up their spec sheets to crown a winner is close to meaningless. The heaviest here weighs roughly twice what the lightest does. The most expensive costs around four times the cheapest. Neither fact helps you buy anything.
The comparison that does help is fit. Each of these bikes leads its category because it does one narrow job well, and the four jobs barely touch. Identify your job and the choice largely resolves itself.
On how the four are picked: Harley-Davidson publishes no model-level unit sales, and neither does Polaris for Indian or Honda for the United States. BMW is the only one of the four that reports at model level, and 2025 was the first year it split individual models out. So the Harley, Indian and Honda entries here are consensus picks supported by family-level data and each company's own claims, not by unit counts anybody can check. The BMW entry is the Adventure because 2025 was the first year that variant outsold the base GS.
The 2025 Numbers, Side by Side
Spec | H-D Street Glide | Indian Scout Bobber | Honda Rebel 500 | BMW R 1300 GS Adventure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Engine | Milwaukee-Eight 117, 1,923cc V-twin, 105 hp | SpeedPlus 1250, 1,250cc, 105 hp at 6,300 rpm | 471cc liquid-cooled DOHC parallel twin | 1,300cc boxer twin, 145 hp at 7,750 rpm |
Torque | 130 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm | 82 lb-ft at 6,300 rpm | 31.9 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm (see note) | 110 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm |
Seat height | 26.1 in laden, 28.1 in unladen | 25.6 in | 27.2 in | 34.3 to 35.0 in as standard, 31.0 to 36.0 in across all seat options |
Weight | 811 lb | 522 lb as shipped (see note) | 408 lb, 414 lb ABS, 419 lb SE | 593 lb |
MSRP | $27,749 | $12,999 | $6,499, $6,799 ABS, $6,999 SE | $22,745 plus $695 destination |
The caveats here are unusually important. The BMW entry is the R 1300 GS Adventure, which is the taller, heavier and more expensive variant. The base R 1300 GS is a genuinely different proposition at $19,495, and if the Adventure's seat height rules you out, the base bike may not. Indian's 522-pound figure for the new Scout is the company's "as shipped" number, which is neither strictly dry nor fully wet, so treat it as indicative rather than directly comparable. Honda's US arm publishes no Rebel 500 torque figure in any model year, so the 31.9 lb-ft shown is Honda Europe's. Harley's MSRP is base Vivid Black and excludes freight.
Who the Street Glide Is Actually For
Mechanically this is the 2024 bike. Same Milwaukee-Eight 117 making 130 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm, same 811 pounds, same 26.1-inch laden seat. What changed is the price: $27,749, up $1,750 on the year. A leftover 2024 at $25,999 is the same motorcycle for less money, so ask what a dealer still has on the floor.
The bike itself remains a pavement tourer built for long straight distances, usually two-up, usually loaded. Peak torque just above idle means it never asks you to work the gearbox, which is right for a 400-mile interstate day and wrong for anything tight and technical. The laden seat is low enough that inseam is rarely the barrier. Managing 811 pounds at walking pace on a sloping surface is, and that is a skill you either have or need to build first.
Buyer profile: an experienced rider covering serious distance with a passenger and luggage, budgeting $27,749 before freight and accessories. Not a first motorcycle.
Who the Indian Scout Is Actually For
This is the significant change of the year. The Scout got an entirely new SpeedPlus 1250 engine in a new steel-tube frame, making 105 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 82 lb-ft at 6,300, which Indian puts at 11 percent more power and 14 percent more torque than the 1,133cc engine it replaced. The more useful detail is where the power now sits: the old engine made peak power at 8,100 rpm, the new one at 6,300. It is still a revvy cruiser motor by American standards, but it is easier to use.
The seat stays at 25.6 inches, the lowest in this table by a wide margin, and Indian claims it is the lowest in the industry. That is Indian's claim rather than a measured comparison, but the number is real and it is why this bike sells. Weight is 522 pounds on Indian's "as shipped" basis.
The wider lineup matters too. The Bobber at $12,999 is the entry to the 1250, the Super Scout at $16,499 and 571 pounds adds a screen and bags for riders planning distance, and the 101 Scout at $16,999 makes 111 horsepower. Below all of it, the SpeedPlus 999cc Scout Sixty family starts at $9,999 with 85 horsepower and 65 lb-ft.
Buyer profile: a rider who wants a real cruiser rather than a starter bike, who needs a low seat, and who rides day trips and weekend loops. The Bobber has no fairing and no standard luggage; the Super Scout is the version to look at if distance is the plan.
Who the Honda Rebel 500 Is Actually For
Honda revised the seat and the handlebar position for 2025 and left everything else alone, including the $6,499 base price. That is an ergonomics update, not a new bike, but if the old riding position felt cramped it is worth sitting on both.
At 408 pounds and 27.2 inches, this is still the most physically accessible motorcycle here. The 471cc twin makes modest torque and delivers it in a way that tolerates rough inputs, which is what a new rider actually needs. The ABS version is $6,799 and 414 pounds, and the SE is $6,999 and 419 pounds. If you are buying at the end of the model year, note that for 2026 Honda drops the non-ABS Rebel 500 entirely and makes ABS standard at $6,799, so the $6,499 entry price is on its way out.
Buyer profile: a first bike, a commuter, or a light second bike. Rides under 100 miles are a pleasure. With no fairing and no standard luggage, a 300-mile day is possible but not enjoyable.
Who the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure Is Actually For
Read the seat height row twice. As standard the Adventure sits at 34.3 to 35.0 inches, which is taller than the base GS and taller than most riders can flat-foot. BMW's full range of seat and suspension options spans 31.0 to 36.0 inches, so it can be brought down considerably, but price that before you fall in love. If the Adventure does not fit, the base R 1300 GS at $19,495 is the obvious alternative and was 523 pounds when it arrived for the 2024 model year, well under the Adventure's 593.
For riders it does fit, the Adventure is the most capable machine in this comparison by a distance. 145 horsepower, 110 lb-ft, a large tank, serious luggage capacity and suspension travel that tolerates surfaces the other three would rather avoid. It will run an interstate day and then keep going where the pavement stops, which nothing else in this table will do.
Buyer profile: a tall, experienced rider covering long distances on mixed surfaces, budgeting $22,745 plus $695 destination and accepting that servicing and consumables cost more than the Japanese alternative. If you ride exclusively on pavement, you are paying for capability you will never use.
How to Actually Choose
Work through it in this order.
First, seat height and weight. These are physical constraints and enthusiasm does not move them. The Adventure at 34.3 inches standard is out for a large share of riders unless you commit to the lower seat options. The Street Glide at 811 pounds is out for anyone uneasy about holding that up at a stop light, regardless of the low seat. That leaves the Scout at 25.6 inches and the Rebel at 27.2 inches as the two that fit the most people.
Second, the distance you actually ride. Use your real annual mileage, not the one in your head. Under 100 miles a day: Rebel, or Scout if you want more bike. Regular 300-mile-plus days on pavement, often two-up: the Street Glide. Regular long days on gravel and broken surfaces: the GS Adventure, or the base GS if the tall one does not fit.
Third, budget. The spread runs from $6,499 to $27,749 before freight. What the extra money buys is touring capability and equipment, not better engineering. A Rebel 500 is not a lesser motorcycle than a Street Glide, it is a smaller answer to a smaller question, and if that is your question the extra spend buys nothing you will use.
Of the four, only Indian gave buyers a substantially new machine this year, and only Harley asked for meaningfully more money. Neither changes the shape of the decision. Your inseam, your annual mileage and your budget decide this, in that order, and every one of these four is the right bike for somebody who is not you.
One More Fit Question
Seat height and weight decide which of these bikes suits you, and the same measure-first logic applies to what you wear on it. Vests in particular are sized by chest measurement rather than shirt size, and the range runs a lot further than most charts suggest. Legendary USA documents sizing past 2XL, which is the part of the market most size guides quietly skip.
Cover photo: "Harley-Davidson Street Glide parked at Hogs for Hospice, Leamington, Ontario, 2025-08-02 04" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
