Should you buy the 2026 Suzuki Hayabusa? Yes, if you want effortless, unshakeable speed with grand touring stability and legendary durability. No other sport bike covers fast distance with this little drama. Riders who want a light, flickable canyon or track weapon should look at a superbike instead; the Busa is a different animal. MGR Rating: 8.8/10. This is an editorial research verdict based on verified manufacturer specifications, published road tests and documented owner feedback. We have not ridden this motorcycle. MGR Rating Breakdown: 8.8/10 Criterion Score One sentence why Engine and performance 9.5/10 The 1,340cc inline four is one of the great engines of the modern era, delivering seamless thrust from idle to its limiter with a stability record no rival matches. Handling and chassis 7.8/10 Superbly stable at any legal or illegal speed, but at 582 lb it demands muscle in tight corners and is the least agile bike in this class. Technology and electronics 9.0/10 The SIRS suite brings six drive mode combinations, lean sensitive traction and braking, launch control, bidirectional quickshifter and smart cruise control that now works with the quickshifter. Value for money 8.5/10 At $19,499 it is a lot of engineering per dollar, though it costs supersport money without supersport agility. Reliability reputation 9.2/10 Two and a half decades of Hayabusas have built one of the strongest reliability reputations in performance motorcycling. Verified Spec Card Spec Verified figure MSRP $19,499 plus $700 destination charge (2026) Engine 1,340cc liquid cooled DOHC inline four Claimed power Suzuki does not publish a US horsepower figure; the third generation engine is widely reported at about 188 hp Curb weight 582 lb Seat height 31.5 in / 800 mm Electronics Suzuki Intelligent Ride System: SDMS Alpha with three preset and three custom modes, Motion Track traction control and brakes, bidirectional quickshifter, smart cruise control, launch control, anti lift control, active speed limiter Notable 2026 updates Lithium ion battery, revised launch control modes, smart cruise control compatible with the quickshifter Figures verified against Suzuki Cycles USA and cross checked with Motorcycle.com as of August 6, 2026. Always confirm current pricing with your dealer. Who It Is For, Who Should Skip It Buy the Hayabusa if You want to cross states fast and comfortably by sport bike standards, solo or with light luggage. You value stability and effortless roll on power over outright agility. You keep bikes for years; Hayabusas routinely rack up high trouble free mileage. The name and the shape mean something to you; few bikes have this much identity. Skip it if You want a track or canyon weapon; 582 lb is 120 lb more than a superbike. You are a newer rider; the speed builds so smoothly it hides how fast you are going. You commute in heavy traffic; the weight and wrist load add up. You expect wind protection like a touring bike; the Busa is fast comfortable, not tour comfortable. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths Immense, effortless real world performance with legendary high speed stability. Modern electronics suite that fixed the old bike's biggest gap. Build quality and finish that reviewers consistently rank above class average. Outstanding long term durability record and strong aftermarket. Weaknesses (including real owner criticisms) Owners cite the weight in parking lots and slow corners as the single biggest drawback. Sub 40 mpg thirst when ridden hard shrinks the touring range. Wrist heavy ergonomics draw complaints on multi hour rides despite the relatively low 31.5 inch seat. Peak power is down on pure superbikes, which annoys spec sheet shoppers. Limited cornering clearance surfaces quickly at sport pace. Buying Advice: New vs Used New: the 2026 model's lithium ion battery, revised launch control and smarter cruise control are conveniences, not reasons to skip a discounted 2024 or 2025. Buy on price among third generation bikes; they are mechanically identical where it counts. Used: the used market splits in two. Third generation bikes from 2022 on carry the full electronics suite and command a premium. Second generation bikes from 2008 to 2020 are famously durable and cheap, but have no rider aids beyond ABS on later years. On any used Busa, check for stretched swingarms, turbo or nitrous history and gearing changes; this platform is the drag racing default, and a drag past means hidden stress. Stock, serviced examples are among the safest used performance buys anywhere. A Short Honest Gear Note A bike that reaches triple digits this casually deserves committed gear: CE armored leather or a high end sport touring suit, race style gauntlet gloves and a premium full face helmet. Alpinestars and Dainese lead in CE armored leathers and gloves, and Shoei helmets are the long distance sport standard. If you ride two up, outfit your passenger properly as well; our passenger gear guide covers the full setup. Frequently Asked Questions Is the Suzuki Hayabusa reliable? It is one of the most reliable high performance motorcycles ever made. The engine is famously understressed in stock form, and 100,000 mile examples are documented. The main caveat is modification history; boosted or drag raced bikes carry unknowable wear. Is the Hayabusa a good beginner bike? No. Its friendly low speed manners and smooth delivery tempt new riders, but a 582 lb motorcycle with this much performance is unforgiving of misjudgment. Build experience on something lighter and slower first. How much does a Hayabusa cost to insure? General guidance: insurers classify the Hayabusa as a high performance sport bike and price it accordingly, often at the top of the charts alongside liter superbikes. Age, state and record dominate the quote, so get personal numbers before buying. What is the Hayabusa seat height? 31.5 inches, one of the lowest in performance motorcycling, which partly offsets the weight for shorter riders. The reach across the long tank is the bigger fit factor. Suzuki Hayabusa vs Kawasaki Ninja H2 SX: which should you buy? The supercharged Kawasaki brings more modern touring amenities and monster midrange for notably more money. The Hayabusa counters with simplicity, a lower price and its unmatched durability record. Buy the H2 SX for tech and touring; buy the Busa for the engine, the identity and the long haul of ownership. Sources Suzuki Cycles USA, 2026 Hayabusa Motorcycle.com, 2026 Suzuki Hayabusa specs Suzuki Cycles USA, 2026 Hayabusa Special Edition Last updated: August 6, 2026.

Should you buy the 2026 Yamaha MT-09? Yes, if you want the most complete hyper naked under $11,000. The 890cc CP3 triple is a riot, the electronics package is genuinely modern, and at 425 lb it flatters every rider. New riders should start on the MT-07 instead; this much midrange demands respect. MGR Rating: 8.9/10. This is an editorial research verdict based on verified manufacturer specifications, published road tests and documented owner feedback. We have not ridden this motorcycle. MGR Rating Breakdown: 8.9/10 Criterion Score One sentence why Engine and performance 9.2/10 The 890cc CP3 triple, rated at 119 PS in European specification, delivers huge midrange and a soundtrack few rivals match at this price. Handling and chassis 8.8/10 Light, flickable and stable with quality damping, though hard riders find the standard suspension a step behind the SP version's Ohlins and KYB kit. Technology and electronics 9.0/10 A six axis IMU with lean sensitive traction, slide and wheelie control, an up and down quickshifter, cruise control and a five inch TFT with Garmin navigation is a serious suite for the class. Value for money 9.0/10 At $10,899 it undercuts European rivals by thousands while giving away very little. Reliability reputation 8.7/10 The CP3 platform has a strong long term record, with only scattered complaints and recalls rather than pattern failures. Verified Spec Card Spec Verified figure MSRP $10,899 (2026, before destination and fees) Engine 890cc liquid cooled DOHC CP3 inline triple, ride by wire YCC-T Claimed power 119 PS at 10,000 rpm and 93 Nm at 7,000 rpm in European specification; Yamaha USA does not publish US figures Wet weight 425 lb Seat height 32.5 in Electronics Six axis IMU, lean sensitive traction control, slide control, lift control, back slip regulator, up and down quickshifter, cruise control, five inch TFT with Y-Connect and Garmin StreetCross navigation Brakes Dual 298mm front discs, 245mm rear, ABS Figures verified against Yamaha Motorsports USA and cross checked with independent specification databases as of August 6, 2026. Always confirm current pricing with your dealer. Who It Is For, Who Should Skip It Buy the MT-09 if You are an experienced rider who wants one naked bike for commuting, canyons and the occasional sport tour. You want a real electronics suite without paying European superbike money. You love engine character; the CP3 triple is one of the best sounding engines in production. You are stepping up from an MT-07 or similar middleweight. Skip it if You are a new rider; the midrange hit and light front end are easy to get wrong. You do long interstate days; wind protection is minimal and the seat draws comfort complaints. You want top shelf suspension out of the box; that is the MT-09 SP's job. You prefer twin cylinder smoothness at low rpm; the triple likes to be revved. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths Class leading engine character with strong, accessible midrange. Modern IMU based electronics, quickshifter and cruise control as standard. 425 lb wet weight makes it feel smaller than its output suggests. Aggressive pricing against the Street Triple, Z900 and European rivals. Weaknesses (including real owner criticisms) Owners report the seat gets uncomfortable past about an hour. Throttle response in the sportiest mode still strikes some riders as abrupt, though it is far better than early MT-09 generations. Wind blast limits comfortable cruising speed on long hauls. Standard suspension is budget conscious next to the SP; heavier and faster riders notice. Styling remains polarizing; plenty of riders love it, plenty do not. Buying Advice: New vs Used New: the current generation brought sharper styling, the five inch TFT with Garmin navigation and refined electronics. At $10,899 it is strong value new, and the $1,000 or so premium for the SP buys suspension that is worth it for fast riders. Used: 2021 to 2023 bikes with the 890cc engine are the used sweet spot and typically trade thousands under new price. Earlier 847cc bikes are quick but come with cruder fueling and softer chassis parts. Check for wheelie related abuse: fork seals, steering head bearings, chain and sprockets. If your budget stops near $9,000, also consider whether a new Yamaha MT-07 fits your riding better. A Short Honest Gear Note A bike with this much midrange deserves proper equipment: a CE armored leather or heavy textile jacket, race style gauntlet gloves and a premium full face helmet. The proven leaders are Alpinestars and Dainese for CE armored jackets and gloves, and Shoei for helmets. Skip fashion leather; abrasion resistance and armor certification are what count on a 119 PS naked. Frequently Asked Questions Is the Yamaha MT-09 reliable? The CP3 engine has a strong reputation across MT-09, Tracer 9 and XSR900 models, with no widespread pattern failures. Keep up with valve checks and chain maintenance and high mileage examples are common. As with any modern bike, confirm all recalls are done. Is the MT-09 a good beginner bike? No. It is manageable in weight and size, but the strong midrange, quick steering and eager front end lift make it a poor first bike. The MT-07 offers most of the fun with a far friendlier delivery. How much does an MT-09 cost to insure and own? General guidance only: hyper nakeds usually cost more to insure than commuter middleweights but less than full supersports. Consumables are the real cost; sticky tires and chains wear fast when ridden hard. Get personal quotes, as age, state and record swing premiums dramatically. What is the MT-09 seat height? 32.5 inches. The bike is narrow at the waist, so many riders around 5 foot 7 can manage, but shorter riders should sit on one before buying. Yamaha MT-09 vs Triumph Street Triple 765: which should you buy? The Street Triple answers with sharper track manners and a more premium chassis, while the MT-09 counters with more torque, more standard tech for the money and a lower price. Buy the Triumph if handling purity matters most; buy the Yamaha if value and street usable grunt do. Sources Yamaha Motorsports USA, 2026 MT-09 specifications Torquepedia, Yamaha MT-09 2026 specifications Yamaha Motorsports USA, 2026 MT-09 model page Last updated: August 6, 2026.

The four category leaders of 2022 were the ones you already know: Harley-Davidson's Street Glide family, Indian's Scout platform, Honda's Rebel 500, and BMW's R 1250 GS with its Adventure sibling. Third year running, same four names. What makes 2022 worth writing about is not the result. It is what each of these companies quietly started doing to the platforms sitting next to their best sellers. A Note on Where These Numbers Come From Harley-Davidson publishes no model-level unit sales. Polaris publishes none for Indian. Honda publishes none for the US market. BMW Motorrad is the only one of the four that puts model-level figures in public, and even BMW only broke out individual models for the first time in its 2025 report. So three of these four are consensus picks. They rest on the family-level shipment data the companies do publish, plus the companies' own claims about their own products. That is a reasonable basis for naming a leader. It is not a sales chart, and we are not going to print a unit number we do not have. For 2022 the Harley and Indian evidence is moderate rather than thin, which is an improvement on 2020. BMW gives a real figure, rounded and combined across two models. Honda gives a segment claim about a pair of bikes. We will keep flagging which is which as we go, because the difference matters more than the conclusion. Harley-Davidson: the Street Glide Family Grand American Touring accounted for 89,849 shipments in 2022. Cruiser took 59,010, Sport and Lightweight 33,894, and Adventure Touring 10,774. Touring remained the centre of the company, and the Street Glide remained the centre of touring. The trim caveat holds for one more year. Street Glide and Street Glide Special were still separate SKUs through model year 2023, and the Special was the likelier individual winner, so read this as the family and most likely the Special. That bike: Milwaukee-Eight 114, 1,868cc, 118 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm, 26.1 inch laden seat, 827 lb, $27,449. And the Road Glide continued to sell in the same ballpark with nothing public separating them, which is a caveat we will keep repeating because it keeps being true. Here is the quiet part. In January 2022 Harley launched the Street Glide ST and the Road Glide ST, and those were the first time the Milwaukee-Eight 117 appeared outside a CVO. The big engine stopped being a limited-edition halo and started being something you could order on a regular touring bike. Two model years later that engine would be standard across the redesigned Street Glide. 2022 is where that path becomes visible. The other 2022 move was the Nightster in April, on the Revolution Max 975T. And at the end of the year, in Harley's own words in its FY2023 release, the legacy air-cooled Sportster 883 and 1200 were discontinued in North America. A model line that had run for decades ended, and the company barely paused on it. Indian: the Scout Platform Scout stayed the top-selling platform, and platform is the operative word: several SKUs, no public source establishing which individual one led. Indian's own April 2024 wording is the cleanest support available, "As our top-selling platform, Scout has long been a staple in our lineup," alongside a Polaris-sourced Star Tribune figure of roughly 100,000 sold globally and cumulatively across 2014 to 2024. Cumulative, over a decade. The 1,133cc liquid-cooled V-twin was unchanged: 100 hp, 72 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm, 25.6 inch seat. Two new entries widened the platform at the bottom, the Scout Rogue at $11,499 and the Rogue Sixty at $9,999. On the Scout Bobber's 2022 price we have seen roughly $12,249, but we hold that one loosely; it may reflect a later point in the model cycle rather than the launch figure. Weight we are leaving out entirely, because the published numbers for this generation conflict and do not reconcile. Indian's headline act was the all-new Chief, and it arrived as a model year 2022 bike. It was revealed in February 2021, which is why you will see it called a 2021 Chief in places. It is not. The Chief brought a steel tube frame, a round headlight, a four inch round TFT, and a choice of Thunderstroke 111 at 1,811cc and 108 lb-ft or Thunderstroke 116 at 1,890cc and 120 lb-ft. Seat height 26 inches, 670 lb in base form, six variants from $14,499 to $20,999. The FTR was also reworked for model year 2022, and not gently: the 19 and 18 inch wire wheels were replaced by 17 inch cast wheels wearing sportbike rubber. Indian took its flat-track-styled bike and pointed it at the road. Whatever you think of that decision, it is the company admitting what people were actually doing with it. Honda: the Rebel 500 Mechanical carryover. 471cc liquid-cooled parallel twin, 31.9 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm per Honda Europe's verified figure, 27.2 inch seat, 408 lb, 414 lb with ABS and with the SE, at $6,399, $6,699 and $6,899. Honda US still publishes no torque number for this bike, which is why the European figure is the one we quote and why we say where it comes from. Honda's 2022 marketing language is worth reading closely, because it tells you which claims the company is willing to make. It called the CRF300L "the motorcycle industry's top-selling dual-sport model" and the Grom "one of the powersports industry's most popular motorcycle models." Note the precision of the first and the vagueness of the second. Honda will name a segment leader when it has one. On the Rebel it names the pair, 300 and 500 together, which is exactly why the ranking between those two is not established and why we do not claim the Rebel 500 beats the Grom for Honda's best-selling US street bike. Nobody has published anything that settles it. BMW: the R 1250 GS BMW published "almost 60,000" for the R 1250 GS and GS Adventure combined in 2022, against "over 60,000" the year before. Rounded, combined, global. Read against a company that was growing, that is a mild drift rather than a decline, and the pair still accounted for roughly 30 percent of BMW's global volume. Two model designations, nearly a third of the company. 2022 was BMW Motorrad's first year over 200,000 motorcycles, at 202,895, up 4.4 percent and another record. US sales were 17,690. The S 1000 RR passed 10,000 units. The GS itself was untouched: 1,254cc ShiftCam boxer, 105 lb-ft at 6,250 rpm per BMW's global release, 33.5 inch seat, 549 lb, $17,995, or $20,345 for the Adventure. BMW USA lists that torque peak at 6,500 rpm; we use the global figure and note the disagreement rather than picking one silently. What 2022 Was Actually About Every one of these four companies spent 2022 working on something other than its best seller, and in three cases the work pointed at the platform underneath it. Harley let the 117 out of CVO jail and killed the air-cooled Sportster. Indian replaced the Chief outright and rebuilt the FTR's wheels and tyres around what owners were actually riding. BMW crossed 200,000 while its flagship pair softened slightly against a growing total. Honda changed nothing at all on the Rebel and kept the segment claim. None of that shows up in the 2022 result. All of it shows up later. The 117 becomes the standard Street Glide engine in 2024. The Scout gets an entirely new engine in 2025. The GS gets replaced and then watches its Adventure variant overtake it. If you want the year the six-year run stopped being a straight line, it is this one, and you would not have known it from the leaderboard. The leaderboard itself, meanwhile, still spans $6,399 to $27,449 and 408 lb to 827 lb. Three years in, that spread is the most durable fact in this series. 2022 is a year that rewards reading the product announcements more than the shipment tables. The shipment tables say nothing changed. The announcements say every one of these companies had already decided what it was going to do next, and had started doing it in public, next to a best seller nobody was touching yet. Cover photo: "Harley-Davidson Museum May 2024 06 (The AMF Years--1981 Nova Touring non-functional prototype--OHV V-Four)" by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The same four bikes led their categories again in 2021: Harley-Davidson's Street Glide family, Indian's Scout platform, Honda's Rebel 500, and BMW's R 1250 GS with its Adventure sibling. What changed was the volume underneath them. 2021 is the year the numbers came back. A Note on Where These Numbers Come From Harley-Davidson publishes no model-level unit sales. Polaris publishes none for Indian. Honda publishes none for the US market. BMW Motorrad is the only one of these four that puts model-level figures in public, and even BMW only split individual models out for the first time in its 2025 report. That means three of these four are consensus picks, resting on the family-level shipment data the companies do publish and on the companies' own marketing language about their own products. It is a defensible call. It is not a sales chart, and we will not invent a unit number to make it look like one. 2021 is a better-evidenced year than 2020 on both the Harley and Indian side, and BMW actually gives us a figure for the GS pair. Where a number is rounded, combined across models, or brand-level rather than model-level, we say so in the sentence rather than burying it. Harley-Davidson: the Street Glide Family Harley shipped 188,494 motorcycles in 2021, up from 145,246 the year before. Grand American Touring took 93,961 of them, Cruiser 59,494, Sportster and Street 25,123, and the newly created Adventure Touring category 9,916. Touring was half the company. The Street Glide is the bike most people mean when they say touring. The trim caveat still applies. Through model year 2023 the Street Glide and the Street Glide Special were separate SKUs, and the Special was the likelier individual winner, so read this as the Street Glide family and most likely the Special. That bike ran the Milwaukee-Eight 114, 1,868cc, quoted at 118 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm, on a 26.1 inch laden seat, 827 lb, at $27,099. A note on that torque figure, because it trips people up. Harley's published number for the same M8 114 moved from roughly 123 lb-ft at 3,000 rpm to 118 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm from model year 2021. The engine did not get weaker. The published measurement changed. Anyone selling you a story about a detuned 2021 Street Glide is reading a spec sheet revision as an engineering decision. And the Road Glide still sells in the same ballpark, with nothing public separating the two. We are not going to pretend that gap has been measured. The interesting Harley news in 2021 was elsewhere. The Pan America 1250 arrived in February, the company's first adventure bike, on the new Revolution Max 1250. The Sportster S followed in July on the Revolution Max 1250T. Those two bikes are why an Adventure Touring line exists in the shipment table at all. Neither came close to the Street Glide on volume, and neither was supposed to. They were Harley proving it could still build something that was not a bagger. Indian: the Scout Platform Scout is a platform, not a model. It spanned several SKUs, and no public source establishes which individual Scout led in any year, so the sourceable claim is the platform. Indian's own April 2024 release put it this way: "As our top-selling platform, Scout has long been a staple in our lineup." The Star Tribune, sourced from Polaris the same month, called Scout "the best selling model in the Indian lineup" at roughly 100,000 sold globally and cumulatively across 2014 to 2024. Cumulatively. That is a decade of sales, not a year of them. Pricing in 2021 was the strongest argument the platform had: $10,999 for the Scout Bobber, $11,499 for the base Scout. Underneath, the 1,133cc liquid-cooled V-twin made 100 hp and 72 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm on a 25.6 inch seat. We are leaving curb weight out, because the published figures conflict and do not reconcile. 2021 was Indian's high-water mark in this window. Global volume passed 30,000 units for the first and only time across these six years, per motorcyclesdata. That is a brand figure, not a model figure, and it is worth being precise about the difference: it tells you Indian had a very good year, not how many Scouts left showrooms. Honda: the Rebel 500 The Rebel 500 carried on mechanically unchanged: 471cc liquid-cooled parallel twin, 27.2 inch seat, 408 lb, 414 lb with ABS, at $6,299, $6,599 with ABS, and $6,799 for the new ABS SE trim. Honda US publishes no torque figure for this bike in any year, and the European number is not verified for MY2021, so there is none here. The Rebel's actual 2021 story is the model that appeared above it. The Rebel 1100 launched using the Africa Twin's 1,084cc parallel twin, at $9,299 for the manual and $9,999 for the DCT version, with a 27.5 inch seat, 509 lb in DCT form, and three ride modes. That DCT bike is the first genuine automatic in a mainstream US cruiser, and it is a considerably more interesting piece of engineering than anything on the Street Glide's spec sheet that year. Honda also reworked the Gold Wing: trunk up 11 litres to 61, enough for two full-face helmets, Android Auto added, 45 watt speakers, priced from $23,900 to $32,600. Two things we will not claim. The ranking between the Rebel 500 and the Rebel 300 is not established anywhere; Honda almost always claims them as a pair. And the Rebel 500 against the Grom is a genuine open question, which is why "Honda's best-selling street bike" is a phrase we avoid. The supportable claim is the small-displacement cruiser one, and it is Honda's own. BMW: the R 1250 GS This is where 2021 gets a real number. BMW published "over 60,000" for the R 1250 GS and R 1250 GS Adventure combined. Combined, and rounded, and global. There is no US model-level breakout and never has been. But it is a published figure from the manufacturer, which is more than the other three brands offer in any year of this series. It sat inside a record company year: 194,261 motorcycles, up 14.8 percent. Boxers were roughly half of everything BMW sold. For scale on the rest of the range, the S 1000 R managed 4,796 units and the M 1000 RR 1,070. The GS pair was not leading by a nose. The bike was unchanged: 1,254cc ShiftCam boxer, 136 hp at 7,750 rpm, 105 lb-ft at 6,250 rpm, 33.5 inch seat, 549 lb, $17,995, or $20,345 for the Adventure. BMW's global release gives the torque peak at 6,250 rpm while BMW USA says 6,500. We use the global figure and flag the disagreement. What 2021 Was Actually About Recovery, and what companies chose to do with it. Harley added 43,000 shipments over 2020 and spent its attention on two bikes that were not baggers. BMW set a company record and sold roughly half of it as boxers. Indian hit a volume peak it would not see again in this window. Honda launched a 1,100cc automatic cruiser into a segment that had never had one. What none of that changed was which bike led each brand. The four winners of 2021 are the four winners of 2020. The new machinery went into adjacent categories, or above the leader in the range, or into segments the brand did not previously contest. Nobody launched a direct replacement for their own best seller, which tells you those four models were not seen as problems that needed solving. The price spread is worth a second look too: $6,299 at the bottom and $27,099 at the top, with a 408 lb beginner twin and an 827 lb bagger both leading their categories in the same twelve months. Whatever decides these outcomes, it is not price and it is not size. 2021 reads like a normal year that happened to be surrounded by strange ones. Demand came back, factories ran, and the interesting product was interesting rather than urgent. The result was four category leaders repeating themselves without much drama, which is boring to report and probably the single most useful thing this series has to say: these bikes were not winning because of a moment. They kept winning after the moment passed. Cover photo: "Harley-Davidson Museum May 2024 06 (The AMF Years--1981 Nova Touring non-functional prototype--OHV V-Four)" by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A burnout spins the rear wheel against a held front brake so the tire smokes in place. It rapidly destroys rear tire tread, heats the clutch and drivetrain, and on public roads it is generally illegal, treated as reckless or exhibition driving. Legal burnouts happen on private property with permission and at sanctioned events. This is part two of Wheelies and Burnouts, the MotoGearRater series covering stunt riding as a sport. As always: this is sport journalism, not instruction. We have not performed or tested these stunts, and this post is about what a burnout is and what it costs, not how to do one. What Is a Burnout? A burnout is the simplest stunt to describe: the rear tire spins while the motorcycle stays put, friction turns rubber into heat and smoke, and the crowd reacts. In stunt competition and at V twin events it has evolved into its own discipline, with riders walking the bike in circles, drifting the rear under smoke, or holding long stationary burnouts as a finale. At contests like The Brawl, an invite only V twin stunt competition running since 2017, burnouts are a core part of how riders build a run. What Does a Burnout Do to Your Tire? Nothing good, and that is the point. A spinning tire against stationary pavement grinds away tread rubber far faster than any riding can. The heat also matters: tire compounds are engineered for a working temperature range, and a long burnout pushes the surface well past it, leaving greasy, chunked, or blistered rubber behind. Stunt riders and show riders treat rear tires as pure consumables, often running worn takeoff tires for practice because a fresh tire would be wasted. A tire that has been smoked down toward its cords is done, full stop. It is not a tire to ride home on, which is another reason this belongs at an event with a trailer, not on a street. What Does a Burnout Do to the Rest of the Bike? Clutch: getting a bike spinning in place means slipping the clutch under load. Repeated burnouts accelerate clutch plate wear and glazing, which is why clutch packs are one of the most replaced parts in stunt riding. Cooling: a stationary bike at high rpm gets no airflow. Extended burnouts push coolant and oil temperatures up fast, and air cooled V twins feel it even sooner. Chain and sprockets: shock loading and heat shorten drivetrain life, and molten rubber ends up everywhere, including packed into the chain. Everything nearby: rubber spray coats the swingarm, fender, exhaust, and shock. Show teams budget cleaning time after every smoke session. We go deeper on the wear side of the sport in our upcoming maintenance post in this series. When Are Burnouts Legal? On a public road, essentially never. Depending on where you live, a burnout can be cited as reckless or careless driving, exhibition of speed, or a specific stunting offense, and the consequences commonly stack up: fines, license points or suspension, vehicle impound in some jurisdictions, and insurance trouble afterward. Laws vary by state and country, so treat that as the general pattern rather than legal advice. Where burnouts are legal is just as clear: private property with the owner's permission, closed courses, and sanctioned events. Motorcycle rallies have long featured organized burnout contests and stunt shows, from dealership lot events to arenas like the stunt shows at Arizona Bike Week, and competitions such as The Brawl build burnouts into judged runs. The sport did not disappear when it left the street. It got organized. Does Gear Matter for Burnouts? More than people think. Riders doing walking burnouts and drift circles fall, and they fall on pavement. Armored gloves from brands like Alpinestars, Icon, and Fox, real boots, a helmet, and abrasion resistant layers are the standard at sanctioned events. Classic unarmored leather gloves, like the deerskin and goatskin work gloves sold by heritage brands such as Legendary USA, are honest everyday leather, but they are not stunt protection and we would not choose them for a stunt lot. Save the nice leather for the ride, not the smoke show. FAQ How much tire does one burnout use up? There is no fixed number, but the direction is obvious: a long smoke session can chew through more rubber than thousands of miles of normal riding. Show riders can take a tire to the cords in a single extended burnout. Do burnouts damage the engine? A brief burnout on a healthy bike is mostly a clutch and tire event. The engine risk comes from heat: no airflow, high rpm, and long duration. That combination is why extended burnouts are a show act performed on bikes that are maintained as working equipment. Is a burnout illegal even in my own driveway? Private property with the owner's permission is generally outside traffic law, though local noise and nuisance rules can still apply. The legal problems attach to public roads and to other people's property. Why do V twin events love burnouts so much? Torque and theater. Big V twins make smoke easily and sound enormous doing it, which is why burnout pits and V twin stunt contests are rally staples, and why events like The Brawl exist specifically for Harley-Davidson based stunt bikes. Can a burnout be part of a judged competition run? Yes. Modern stunt contests score overall impression, and smoke work, drift circles, and burnout transitions are standard elements riders use to fill and flavor a run. Keep Reading on MotoGearRater Start the series with Wheelies Explained. If torque monsters are your thing, see our Harley Street Bob rating and Yamaha MT-09 rating. Sources The Brawl, V twin stunt competition: https://rideanddestroy.com/thebrawl/ Arizona Bike Week stunt arena shows: https://azbikeweek.com/stunt-arena/ StuntGP world championship background: http://stuntgp.eu/ Last updated: August 7, 2026. MotoGearRater is independent. We cover stunt riding as sport journalism, we have not performed or tested these stunts, and we never recommend stunting on public roads.

Should you buy the Ducati Panigale V4? Yes, if you want the closest thing to a MotoGP experience sold with mirrors, and you can absorb $27,795 plus serious running costs. It is the emotional and technical peak of production superbikes. Riders wanting a practical, affordable or low maintenance sport bike should not even test ride one. MGR Rating: 8.9/10. This is an editorial research verdict based on verified manufacturer specifications, published road tests and documented owner feedback. We have not ridden this motorcycle. MGR Rating Breakdown: 8.9/10 Criterion Score One sentence why Engine and performance 9.8/10 The 1,103cc Desmosedici Stradale V4 is rated at 209 hp on Ducati's US spec sheet and is the most celebrated engine in the class. Handling and chassis 9.5/10 The current generation chassis, revised aerodynamics and race bred geometry earn near unanimous praise from professional testers on track. Technology and electronics 9.7/10 Cornering ABS, lean sensitive traction, slide and wheelie control, engine brake control and a bidirectional quickshifter built around a six axis IMU set the production benchmark. Value for money 7.8/10 You get what you pay for, but $27,795 to start, premium consumables and rapid depreciation make it a costly proposition. Reliability reputation 7.5/10 Modern Ducatis are far better built than their reputation, yet Desmodromic service costs, heat related complaints and pricier parts keep the score honest. Verified Spec Card Spec Verified figure MSRP $27,795 for the Panigale V4; V4 S from $35,595 (2026, before destination and fees) Engine 1,103cc Desmosedici Stradale V4 with counter rotating crankshaft Claimed power 209 hp (Ducati USA) Claimed torque 89.5 lb-ft Weight 421 lb for the V4, 412 lb for the V4 S (Ducati lists wet weight without fuel) Seat height 33.5 in / 850 mm Electronics Six axis IMU, cornering ABS, Ducati Traction Control, slide control, wheelie control, engine brake control, power launch, up and down quickshifter, riding modes with TFT dash Figures verified against Ducati USA and cross checked with Motorcycle.com as of August 6, 2026. Always confirm current pricing and market specification with your dealer. Who It Is For, Who Should Skip It Buy the Panigale V4 if You are an experienced rider who does track days and wants the most complete superbike experience made. Engine character and design matter to you as much as lap times. You can budget honestly for premium tires, services and insurance. You want the electronics benchmark rather than a partial suite. Skip it if This would be your only bike and you commute; heat, ergonomics and clutch effort in traffic are punishing. You are stepping up from a middleweight; the performance envelope is beyond any public road. Running costs matter; valve services and consumables are the priciest in this comparison set. You want understatement; the Panigale attracts attention everywhere, including from police. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths The definitive superbike engine, with a counter rotating crank and V4 soundtrack no inline four matches. Benchmark electronics that professional testers consistently rank first in class. The current generation brought a major chassis and aerodynamics rework praised across the specialist press. Resale desirability; a Panigale is never a hard bike to sell. Weaknesses (including real owner criticisms) Owners consistently report brutal heat off the rear cylinders in slow traffic. Scheduled maintenance, especially the Desmo valve service, costs multiples of Japanese rivals. Mirrors and around town manners draw regular criticism. The 33.5 inch seat height and aggressive reach exclude many riders. Depreciation on a new example is steep in the first two years. Buying Advice: New vs Used New: the current generation is the one to buy if you are buying new, and the V4 S upgrade to Ohlins semi active suspension and lighter wheels is worth it for serious track riders. Order early; desirable colors and the S allocate quickly. Used: previous generation Panigale V4s now trade in the high teens, which is enormous performance per dollar. Demand full service records showing Desmo services on schedule, check for track rash and crash bar witness marks, and confirm all recalls and software updates are done. If you want most of the speed with lower bills, compare the Kawasaki ZX-10R before signing anything. A Short Honest Gear Note A 209 hp superbike calls for the best protective gear made: a one piece CE armored leather suit or top tier two piece, race gauntlet gloves and a premium full face helmet. Alpinestars and Dainese, both with deep MotoGP development programs, are the reference in leathers and gloves, and Shoei's race helmets are a standard choice in professional paddocks. Airbag equipped suits from either leather brand are worth the premium on a bike like this. Frequently Asked Questions Is the Ducati Panigale V4 reliable? Better than the brand's old reputation suggests. The V4 engine platform has proven robust since 2018, and most documented owner issues involve electronics gremlins, heat management and cost of service rather than mechanical failure. Maintenance skipped is the real reliability killer on these bikes. Is the Panigale V4 a good beginner bike? No. It is arguably the least appropriate first bike on sale: extreme power, race ergonomics and pricing that makes every mistake expensive. Electronics reduce risk; they do not remove it. How much does a Panigale V4 cost to insure and maintain? General guidance: expect superbike tier insurance, among the highest of any production motorcycle, plus premium consumables. The major Desmodromic valve service is the famous line item; budget four figures when it comes due at extended intervals. Get quotes and a service schedule from your dealer before purchase. What is the Panigale V4 seat height? 33.5 inches, and the bike is tall and wide at the tank. Shorter riders should sit on one in the showroom before falling in love. Ducati Panigale V4 vs Kawasaki ZX-10R: which should you buy? The Panigale is the emotional and technological summit; the ZX-10R delivers championship proven performance for roughly $11,000 less with cheaper upkeep. Buy the Ducati if the experience is the point; buy the Kawasaki if the riding is. Sources Ducati USA, Panigale V4 Motorcycle.com, 2026 Ducati Panigale V4 S specs Cycle News, 2026 Ducati Panigale V4 R first look Last updated: August 6, 2026.

The Rebel 500 stayed Honda's best-selling cruiser in 2023, and Honda's wording about it barely moved. What changed was everything sitting above it. By the end of the model year a Rebel could be a $4,749 starter bike or an $11,299 bagger, and the badge had stopped describing one kind of motorcycle. As in every year of this series, there is no published number behind that ranking. Honda does not release US model-level sales, so the position rests on the company's own segment language, which for 2023 called the Rebel 300 and Rebel 500 the best-selling entry-level cruiser models in the powersports industry. Read that phrasing carefully: it carries two models rather than one, and it is a claim about a segment rather than about Honda's street range as a whole. The 2023 Rebel 500 Mechanically a carryover. The 471cc liquid-cooled parallel twin, a 27.2 inch seat, 408 pounds at the curb, 414 with ABS and 414 for the ABS SE. Prices of $6,449, $6,749 and $6,949, each $50 up on 2022. Honda Europe publishes 31.9 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm for the 2023 bike. Honda's US operation still publishes no torque figure at all, which is worth remembering whenever you see that number quoted on an American spec sheet. The year the Rebel stopped being an entry bike Two additions did it. The Rebel 1100T arrived with a fairing and hard bags at $11,299 with the dual clutch transmission, which makes it a bagger by any reasonable definition. And the SCL500 scrambler appeared on the same 471cc platform as the Rebel 500, taking the small engine somewhere the cruiser could not go. The SCL500 is the quieter of the two additions and in some ways the more revealing. It puts the Rebel 500's 471cc engine into a scrambler, which means Honda was now getting two distinct US street models out of one small twin. That is a manufacturer treating a beginner engine as a platform rather than as a stepping stone, and it is the behaviour of a company that expects the small end of its range to keep paying for itself. The bottom of the range is worth as much attention as the top. Honda still had a Rebel starting at $4,749 in a year when it also had one at $11,299, and it kept the 500 sitting at $6,449 in between. Ranges usually drift upward once a manufacturer discovers it can sell a more expensive version. This one stretched in both directions at once, which is a different and more deliberate decision. Put the range end to end and it runs from $4,749 to $11,299. That is a spread of nearly two and a half times, inside one nameplate, in one model year. Honda had turned the Rebel from a model into a sub-brand without ever saying so. The automation thread continues here too. The dual clutch transmission arrived on the Rebel 1100 in 2021 at $9,999. By 2023 a buyer could have a Rebel with a fairing, hard bags and no clutch lever. If you want to know how that transmission behaves in ordinary use rather than in a brochure, we gathered owner accounts in our Rebel 1100 owner reports. What makes 2023 slightly awkward is that Honda's marketing language did not follow its own product. The company was still calling the Rebel 300 and 500 the best-selling entry-level cruiser models in the powersports industry in a year when a Rebel could cost more than eleven thousand dollars. Both things are true. They are just true about different motorcycles wearing the same name. How to shop the 2023 range The first question is whether you want a small cruiser or a Honda cruiser. Those are not the same question any more. If the job is learning to ride, commuting, and being able to hold the bike up at a stop light, nothing higher in the range does it better than the 500, and paying more inside the family buys you a machine that is harder to do that job with. If the job is covering distance with luggage, the 1100T is the honest answer and the 500 is not a cheaper version of it. The two bikes share a badge and very little else. Treating the 1100T as an upsell from the 500 is the mistake we see most often in dealership shopping, and it usually ends with somebody riding a bike that is heavier than they wanted. It is also a good year to look at what four model years of inflation did to this bike, because the answer is: not much. The base Rebel 500 opened at $6,199 in 2020 and at $6,449 in 2023, which is three steps of $100, $100 and $50 across four model years. Whatever Honda was doing with the top of the Rebel range, it was clearly protecting the entry price at the bottom of it. Within the 500 itself, the 2023 ladder is $6,449, $6,749 and $6,949. Those are small gaps in absolute terms. On a used 2023, the difference between two bikes' service history will matter more than the difference between two trims. The short version 2023 is the year the Rebel name got too big for the claim Honda kept making about it, while the cheapest bike wearing that name went on leading the segment. For how that looked next to the rest of the market, see the best-selling motorcycles of 2023, and for the Rebel against Harley-Davidson, Indian and BMW that year, see our 2023 four-brand comparison. Cover photo: "Honda CMX500 Rebel parked at Hogs for Hospice, Leamington, Ontario, 2025-08-02" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Indian Motorcycle spent 2020 introducing a flagship. The Challenger arrived with a liquid-cooled engine, a frame-mounted fairing and a marketing campaign built to pick a fight with Harley-Davidson. It was the story of Indian's year. It was not the volume of Indian's year, and the bike that was is the one the company barely mentioned in its own headlines. One caveat belongs at the top. Polaris does not publish model-level unit sales for Indian, so nobody outside the company can prove this ranking from a filing. The Scout is a consensus pick, and it is a claim about the Scout platform, the group of five to seven closely related SKUs Indian sells under that name, not about a single motorcycle. No public source establishes which individual Scout led in any year, and 2020 is the thinnest case of the six: the call rests on working backward from a statement Indian made in 2024. The Scout in 2020 The Scout ran a 1133cc liquid-cooled 60 degree V-twin rated at 100 hp at 8,100 rpm and 72 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm. That is a high-revving engine by cruiser standards, and it is the single specification that most separated the Scout from what it competed against. Seat height was 25.6 inches. The Scout Bobber, the stripped variant with chopped fenders and lower bars, listed at $10,999. We are leaving weight out on purpose. Published figures for the 2020 Bobber do not reconcile: one set of sources gives 552 lb wet, another gives 533 lb dry, and there is no honest way to fold those into one number. Rather than quote whichever reads better, we omit it. If weight is load-bearing in your decision, put the specific bike on a scale. What the rest of that spec sheet describes is a midsize cruiser with genuine power and a seat almost any adult can flat-foot. That pairing is the entire commercial argument for the Scout, and it did not change in 2020. Nothing significant on the bike changed in 2020 either, which is part of the point: the platform sold on what it already was. The peak power figure arriving at 8,100 rpm is the detail worth dwelling on. Cruisers in this price bracket generally make their case with low-rpm torque and ask you to short-shift. The Scout does have the torque, but it also keeps pulling well past where a comparable air-cooled twin has stopped being interesting. That gives the bike two personalities depending on how you ride it, and it is why the Scout has always drawn buyers who would not otherwise shop a cruiser at all. The 25.6 inch seat is the other half. Seat height is the specification that most often decides whether a new or returning rider buys anything, and a number that low removes the objection before it is raised. A bike that a wide range of body types can sit on confidently, with an engine that does not feel apologetic, covers a lot of showroom conversations. The Challenger Was the Year's Actual News Indian's real 2020 announcement was the Challenger. It came in as the brand's flagship tourer with the PowerPlus 108, a liquid-cooled 1770cc V-twin rated at 122 hp and 128 lb-ft, wrapped in a chassis with a fixed fairing rather than a fork-mounted one. Seat height 26.5 inches, 796 lb wet, $21,999. Indian did not introduce it quietly. The company ran an explicit campaign called the Challenger Challenge, built around direct comparison with the Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special. That is an unusual amount of confidence to put in public, and it tells you where the product and marketing budget went that year. So 2020 handed Indian two bikes doing two different jobs. The Challenger was there to establish that Indian could build a liquid-cooled American tourer and say so out loud next to the segment leader. The Scout was there to sell. Those are not competing goals, but they do produce a year where the loudest motorcycle and the best-selling motorcycle are not the same motorcycle. Reading the Gap Between the Story and the Volume The gap is worth sitting with, because it recurs across this entire six-year series. A flagship at $21,999 exists partly to make a brand credible. A midsize cruiser at $10,999 exists to fund it. Judging Indian's 2020 by the Challenger alone would tell you almost nothing about what people actually rode home. The practical read for anyone shopping a used 2020 Scout is that you are buying a bike from a year with no mechanical drama attached to it. The 1133 engine was mature, the platform was mid-cycle, and Indian's attention was elsewhere. That is usually a good year to buy from, not a bad one. Treat the confidence level honestly, though. If someone tells you flatly that the Scout Bobber was Indian's number one seller in 2020, ask what they are citing. The platform call is defensible. The SKU call is not, and the 2020 platform call itself is inference rather than a contemporaneous statement. For how this sat against the other three brands' leaders, see our 2020 best sellers roundup. Indian's 2020 is best understood as a year of positioning rather than a year of change, with the Scout carrying the load while the Challenger carried the message. Our four-brand 2020 comparison puts the Scout next to what Harley, Honda and BMW were leading with, which is the fastest way to see how differently each company answered the same question. Cover photo: "Indian Scout (20938880732)" by Bob Adams from Amanzimtoti, South Africa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The 2025 Scout is the first genuinely new Scout since the platform launched. New engine, new frame, more power, more torque, more variants and a second family underneath it at a lower price. After five model years of carryover, Indian replaced essentially all of it at once. The sourcing caveat that has followed every post in this series still applies here, with one wrinkle. Polaris does not release model-level unit sales, so the Scout's position remains a consensus call supported by the company's own description of it as its top-selling platform. And in 2025 the word platform is doing more work than ever: there are five Scout variants, each in three trims, plus a separate Scout Sixty family. No source separates any of them. The Scout in 2025 The engine is the SpeedPlus 1250, a 1250cc unit rated at 105 hp at 6,300 rpm and 82 lb-ft at 6,300 rpm. Against the 1133 it replaced, that is 11 percent more power and 14 percent more torque, and the peaks arrive lower in the rev range. The frame is new as well, a steel-tube design rather than the previous cast structure. Seat height stayed at 25.6 inches, and Indian claims the lowest seat height in the industry. The Scout Bobber lists at $12,999 and weighs 522 lb. That weight figure needs a note: it is Indian's “as shipped” number, which is neither a strict dry weight nor a fully fueled wet weight. It is not directly comparable to a wet figure from another manufacturer, and it is the reason we can finally print a weight for a Scout after five years of declining to. The full lineup runs Scout Bobber at $12,999 and 522 lb, Sport Scout at $13,499 and 528 lb, Scout Classic at $13,999 and 536 lb, Super Scout at $16,499 and 571 lb, and the 101 Scout at $16,999 and 529 lb with 111 hp. Each is offered in Standard, Limited and Limited plus Tech trims, which is how five motorcycles become fifteen configurations. Below all of that sits a separate family. The SpeedPlus 999cc Scout Sixty makes 85 hp and 65 lb-ft through a five-speed gearbox, in three variants starting at $9,999. That is Indian's most accessible motorcycle. What a Ground-Up Redesign Actually Changed The headline is the engine, but the more telling change is the structure of the lineup. The old platform grew to seven SKUs by adding trim and bodywork to one motorcycle. The new one starts from five distinct variants and layers three equipment trims on each, then puts a smaller-displacement family underneath at a lower entry price. That is a different way of thinking about a model range. The 101 Scout is the clearest signal. At $16,999 and 111 hp it sits above every other Scout in both price and output, which the 1133 platform never attempted. At the other end, the Scout Sixty at $9,999 holds a price point Indian clearly did not want to give up. The range now runs from $9,999 to $16,999 under a single name. The power and torque gains, 11 percent and 14 percent, are real but not the point on their own. A 100 hp Scout was never short of engine. What the SpeedPlus 1250 buys is torque arriving lower down, which is what a cruiser rider actually notices, alongside the freedom to spread the family across a wider price range without the small bikes feeling starved. How to Read the 2025 Lineup Before You Shop Fifteen configurations plus a three-variant Sixty family is a lot of choices, and most of them are not engine choices. Work out the variant first, because that determines riding position, bodywork and weight, which range from 522 lb on the Bobber to 571 lb on the Super Scout. Only then pick a trim, because the trims add equipment and cost rather than capability. The weight spread across the family matters more than the price spread suggests. The Bobber's 522 lb against the Super Scout's 571 lb is felt at parking-lot speed far more than the 82 lb-ft figure is. Anyone moving up from a smaller bike should treat the heavier variants as a separate decision rather than a trim upgrade. The exception is the 101 Scout, which is a different proposition at 111 hp, and the Scout Sixty, which is a different engine entirely at 999cc, 85 hp and 65 lb-ft with one fewer gear. Those two are genuine forks in the road. The rest of the range is one motorcycle wearing different clothes, in the same way the 1133 family was. If you are cross-shopping a new 2025 against a used 1133, the honest framing is that the older bike is not obsolete, it is cheaper. What owners report about living with the platform over time is in our Indian Scout owner reports, and the 2025 best sellers roundup covers what the other three brands led with. 2025 closes this series by replacing the thing the series was about. The Scout kept its position through six model years and then arrived at the far end as a different motorcycle with the same job. Our 2025 four-brand comparison sets the new Scout against the year's other category leaders. Cover photo: "Indian Scout (20938880732)" by Bob Adams from Amanzimtoti, South Africa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Ask which Harley-Davidson sold best in 2020 and the answer almost everyone gives is the Street Glide Special. That is our answer too. It is also the least secure answer in this six year series, because under Harley's own reporting categories that year, Touring shipped 56,067 units and Cruiser shipped 55,229, and a gap of 838 across two entire families is not much to build a claim on. Harley-Davidson does not publish unit sales by model and never has. What the company publishes is shipments grouped by family, plus whatever its own marketing chooses to highlight in a given year. So the Street Glide Special as 2020's best seller is a consensus pick supported by family level shipment data and Harley's own language, not a figure anyone can point at. Nobody outside Milwaukee holds the model level numbers. The 2020 Street Glide Special The bike was the Milwaukee-Eight 114, 1868cc, in Harley's Touring chassis. Seat height was 26.1 inches laden and 27.2 inches unladen. Weight in running order was 827 lb. Base price in Vivid Black was $27,699, excluding freight. Torque needs a footnote before anyone quotes it. Harley's published figure for the M8 114 in 2020 was roughly 122 to 123 lb-ft at about 3,000 rpm. From MY2021, the published figure for the same engine became 118 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm. The engine did not get weaker between those two model years. The published measurement changed. If you ever see the 2020 number sitting next to the 2021 number in a table, as though the bike lost five pound feet overnight, that is the reason. One more piece of housekeeping that applies to the first four posts in this series. Through MY2023, the Street Glide and the Street Glide Special were separate SKUs, and the Special was the likelier individual winner of the two. Harley collapsed them into a single Street Glide for MY2024. Separately, the Road Glide sells in the same ballpark and no public data separates the two, so nothing here should be read as the Street Glide beating the Road Glide in any measured sense. It has never been measured in public. What was actually going on in 2020 2020 was not a normal selling year for Harley, and it was not a normal building year either. US production was suspended from 18 to 29 March at York, Tomahawk and Pilgrim Road after a positive COVID case. Revenue fell 24% across the year. Net income landed at $1 million. The bigger story was self inflicted and entirely deliberate. The Rewire, Harley's restructuring under Jochen Zeitz, cut the planned model count by roughly 30%, exited 39 markets, cut around 160 dealers, and cut year end dealer inventory by 59%. That last figure is the one that matters when you are trying to name a best seller. When a manufacturer removes more than half of the motorcycles sitting on dealer floors, what sells is shaped by what is physically there, not only by what buyers walked in wanting. The 2020 sales mix is a supply outcome as much as a demand outcome. That is unusual enough that it should change how much weight you put on the result. The planned model count cut compounds it. The lineup that generated 2020's mix was not the lineup Harley had intended to sell that year, and roughly a third of the models that had been planned were cut before they reached a showroom. A best seller chosen from a catalog that was actively being cut is a different kind of fact from a best seller chosen from a full one. Here is the year in the numbers Harley did publish: 145,246 motorcycles shipped worldwide, Touring 56,067, Cruiser 55,229, Sportster and Street 33,950, with US retail sales of 103,650. Touring led Cruiser by 838 units. In every other year covered here the touring platform has a clear margin over everything else. 2020 does not give it one. For how the rest of the industry looked under the same conditions, see our roundup of the best selling motorcycles of 2020. How to read the 2020 answer Treat the Street Glide Special as the most likely name rather than as a measured result. For it to be the wrong answer, one of two things has to be true. Either the Cruiser family actually outsold Touring at retail in a way the shipment split does not reveal, or no single touring SKU pulled clear of the others inside that 56,067. Both are live possibilities in a year when inventory was being drained on purpose. What is not in doubt is the shape of the company. The bagger sat at the top of a lineup that had just been cut back hard, and it stayed at the top for the next five years. 2020 is simply the year that position was least comfortable, which makes it the year worth being honest about rather than the year to quietly skip. For how Harley's position compared with Indian, Honda and BMW under the same conditions, we put all four side by side in Harley vs Indian vs Honda vs BMW, 2020. The Street Glide Special is the right answer for 2020. It is also the only year in this series where we would not argue very hard with someone who picked differently. 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.

BMW Motorrad delivered 169,272 motorcycles worldwide in 2020, and the R 1250 GS was the bike doing most of the work behind that total. What BMW did not do was say how many. For 2020 the company reported boxer volume as a family and left the GS itself uncounted, which makes this the only year in our 2020 to 2025 run where the answer comes with no number attached. That absence is worth stating up front, because BMW is the only manufacturer in this series that publishes model-level sales at all. Harley-Davidson publishes none. Polaris publishes none for Indian, and Honda publishes none for the US market, so those three picks rest on family-level shipment data and each company's own marketing language rather than on counted units. BMW normally does better than that. For 2020 it published almost 80,000 boxer-engined motorcycles across the whole boxer range, with no R 1250 GS line inside it, so we are not going to invent one. Every BMW figure in this series is global, and there is no US model-level data for any year in this window. What the R 1250 GS was in 2020 The 2020 R 1250 GS ran BMW's 1254cc ShiftCam boxer twin, rated at 136 hp at 7,750 rpm and 143 Nm, which is 105 lb-ft, at 6,250 rpm. That torque figure carries a footnote worth keeping. BMW's global material quotes 6,250 rpm, while BMW USA published 6,500 rpm for the same engine. The engine did not change between those two documents. We use 6,250 rpm and flag the discrepancy rather than quietly pick the one we prefer. Seat height decides this motorcycle for a lot of riders, so it gets stated properly rather than rounded off. The standard seat puts the rider at 33.5 inches. The optional taller seat raises that to 34.3 inches. Claimed weight was 549 lb. US pricing opened at $17,895 for the R 1250 GS, with the R 1250 GS Adventure at $20,195. Nothing about those numbers is beginner-friendly, and the GS has never pretended otherwise. The GS formula had held for four decades by then, and 2020 was the anniversary of exactly that: a boxer twin, a tall riding position, and a motorcycle sold on the promise of distance rather than on lap times. Very few of these bikes ever see the terrain their marketing implies, and that has never dented the appeal. The GS sells because it works as a fast, comfortable long-haul road bike first, with the capability underneath available if the pavement ends. What was actually happening at BMW in 2020 2020 was the GS platform's 40th anniversary, and BMW spent the year celebrating one long-running success while launching something with no precedent in its catalogue. The R 18 cruiser arrived with the 1802cc Big Boxer, the largest boxer engine BMW has ever built, aimed at a segment the company had never seriously contested. Now the careful part. BMW has never published R 18 unit figures, and the cruiser has not appeared in a single model-level sales highlight anywhere across 2020 to 2025. That pattern is consistent with a soft reception. It is not proof of one, and absence from a press release is not a sales number. We flag it as unverified because that is what it is, and because plenty of coverage elsewhere has quietly upgraded the same silence into a fact. Company-wide, BMW finished 2020 at 169,272 motorcycles, with the boxer family accounting for almost 80,000 of them. For how that sat against Harley-Davidson, Indian and Honda in the same year, our best selling motorcycles of 2020 roundup puts the whole field on one page. How to read a year with no number If you are shopping a used 2020 R 1250 GS, the missing figure changes nothing about the motorcycle. The 1250 was mid-cycle, well sorted, and unchanged in the ways that matter from the bikes either side of it. What the missing figure should change is how much weight you give any article that tells you exactly how many GS units BMW moved in 2020. Nobody outside BMW knows. The company chose to report the boxer family instead, and that choice is the story of the year. There is a second reason to care. The almost 80,000 is a boxer-family number, and the boxer family is not just the GS. It includes the R 18 and every other horizontally opposed twin BMW sold that year. Treating that aggregate as a GS figure, which happens constantly in search results, inflates the GS by an unknown margin. The correct read is that the GS was the largest single slice of an almost 80,000 unit boxer family inside a 169,272 unit company, and that the slice itself was never published. It also sets up the contrast that runs through the rest of this series. From 2021 BMW starts putting combined GS and GS Adventure numbers on the record, and by 2025 it splits individual models for the first time. Measured against three manufacturers that publish nothing at all, even a rounded combined figure is a lot. Our 2020 four-brand comparison covers how the GS stacked up on specification against the other category leaders that year. 2020 is the year where the BMW answer is solid and the BMW number is not. The R 1250 GS was the company's best seller, the boxer family carried almost 80,000 units, and the specific GS total does not exist in public. That is the honest version, and it is the version we are going to keep printing. Cover photo: "Paris Motor Show 2018, Paris (1Y7A2035)" by Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The best-selling Honda cruiser in the United States in 2020 was also the cheapest cruiser Honda sold. The Rebel 500 listed at $6,199, or $6,499 with ABS, and it arrived that year carrying the first substantial mechanical update the model had received. Honda spent the model year describing the Rebel 300 and Rebel 500 as the industry's top-selling small-displacement cruiser models, and that sentence, written by Honda's own press department, is most of the evidence anyone outside the company has. A word on how we know this, because it matters more than usual here. Honda publishes no model-level US sales figures, so nobody outside American Honda can put a unit number on the Rebel 500 for 2020, and any page that prints one has invented it. What exists instead is Honda's own segment language, and that language almost always claims the Rebel 300 and the Rebel 500 together as a pair, which means the ranking between those two is not established. We also stop deliberately at best-selling cruiser rather than Honda's best-selling street motorcycle, because the Grom is a real contender for that wider title and nothing public ranks the two against each other. What the 2020 Rebel 500 actually was The bike underneath the claim is small, light and cheap. A 471cc liquid-cooled DOHC parallel twin, a 27.2 inch seat height, 408 pounds at the curb or 414 pounds with ABS fitted. Pricing opened at $6,199 and ran to $6,499 for the ABS version. 2020 was the refresh year. Honda fitted a new fork, moved the lighting to LED, and added an assist and slipper clutch that cut lever effort by 30 percent. None of that changes what the bike is. All of it changes how the bike feels in the first hour of ownership, which for a motorcycle sold overwhelmingly to people who have not owned one before is the part that decides whether the sale happens at all. One number we will not give you is torque. Honda's US operation has never published a torque figure for the Rebel 500 in any model year, and the European figure that circulates online was not published for the 2020 bike. The engine is unchanged across this whole period, but we are not going to attach a manufacturer figure to a model year the manufacturer did not attach it to. What was going on around it in 2020 The Rebel's refresh was the visible half of Honda's year. The other half was happening one showroom over: the Africa Twin grew to 1084cc for the same model year. That engine had nothing to do with the Rebel in 2020 and everything to do with it in 2021, when Honda dropped it into a cruiser chassis and created the Rebel 1100. Honda's claim that year, that the Rebel 300 and 500 were the industry's top-selling small-displacement cruiser models, is worth reading precisely. It is a segment claim, not a brand claim, and it covers two models at once. It is also not the sort of thing a manufacturer says loosely, because rival manufacturers read press releases too. Treated as evidence rather than as a measurement, it holds up. For completeness: Honda's best-selling motorcycle worldwide is not one Americans see, since the Activa scooter in India moved 2,530,667 units in FY2024, which is a different product in a different market and not part of this question. It is also worth being clear about what a refresh like this is for. A new fork and a lighter clutch pull are not performance changes and Honda did not sell them as such. They address the two things that make a first motorcycle feel unmanageable: how the front end behaves when a nervous rider grabs the brake, and how much a left hand hurts after twenty minutes in stop-start traffic. A 30 percent reduction in clutch lever effort is a bigger deal to somebody in their first month of riding than any amount of extra power would be. What a 2020 Rebel 500 is worth knowing about today If you are shopping used, 2020 is the year to start from. The new fork, the LED lighting and the lighter clutch pull all arrive here, and an earlier bike is a meaningfully different machine to live with at low speed and after dark. The other thing to check on a used listing is ABS. In 2020 that choice cost $300 and added six pounds, taking the bike from 408 to 414. It is not a choice any more. For 2026 Honda dropped the non-ABS Rebel 500 from the range entirely and made ABS standard at $6,799. Non-ABS bikes from this era will circulate on the used market for years, and the $300 that used to separate them is a weak reason to take the version the manufacturer eventually deleted. The larger point about a 2020 bike is that it is not an old motorcycle in any way that matters mechanically. Honda made no further engine or chassis change to the Rebel 500 for the rest of the period covered by this series. A 2020 bike and a 2025 bike share the same 471cc twin, the same 27.2 inch seat and the same 408 pound curb weight. The differences are the seat and handlebar revision Honda made for 2025, the trim structure, and roughly $300 of list price. That is unusual, and it is the single most useful thing to know before paying a premium for a later model year. What has not changed is the reason the bike sells at all. 408 pounds and a 27.2 inch seat is the combination that lets somebody who has never ridden get both feet flat on the ground and pick the machine up off its sidestand without help. Every other line on the spec sheet is downstream of that. The short version 2020 is the Rebel 500's most consequential model year in this six-year run, and Honda has never needed to repeat it. For how the rest of the market looked that year, see our roundup of the best-selling motorcycles of 2020, and for how the Rebel measured up against the Street Glide, the Scout and the GS, see our four-brand comparison for 2020. Cover photo: "Honda CMX500 Rebel parked at Hogs for Hospice, Leamington, Ontario, 2025-08-02" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.