Top 5 Most Beautiful Motorcycles Chosen by Readers

Judging the attractiveness of new motorcycles or debating on how fun one is over the other (read the Top 5 Most Fun Motorcycles Chosen by Readers article) is one of the best parts of motorcycling. You’re never wrong. Or right, for that matter. Motorcycle reviews are hard. It’s numbers, math, and stuff like “objectivity” that takes up valuable time. But is a bike good looking? Easy. Just be gobsmacked by a bike and start an argument with another rider.

So what’s the best-looking bike out there? (Read the Best-Looking Motorcycles 2023 article.) It’s a good time to ask. We’re not quite at “peak motorcycle” anymore, but we’re at an inflection point in history. In the game of motorcycling, it’s the last quarter for internal combustion–powered motorcycles. The apotheosis of internal combustion technology and design is coming. Maybe it’s already here.

So while we still have headers, fuel tanks, exhausts, and things like unit construction—what’s the best-looking bike you can buy right now? We asked Motorcyclist readers and here’s how they responded. Don’t like the results? Go ahead and shoot the messenger, but you’re the sender.

Many of you mentioned the Ducati Panigale V4, which is an obvious choice. But then you added the caveat of “no wings.” The last Panigale V4 without front winglets came out in 2021, so maybe you meant the Ducati Panigale V2? Do you really need a V4? You’re not fighting Pecco Bagnaia for P1 in Fanboy Parkway on Circuit McJob.

We get it. There’s something to the sleek, uninterrupted Italian lines of the V2, with that gloriously exposed front cylinder exhaust pipe on the right side. Some say the 2019 Panigale 959 had more of a classic Tamburini-type profile. Maybe. But broad, uninterrupted fairings with acres of smooth plastic are a thing of the ‘80s and ‘90s past. We live in an age of angles of conspicuous tech. Definition adds toughness, ask any bodybuilder.

Perhaps you meant inner beauty? While the complex charm of bevel-driven heads are gone, with desmodromic systems soon to follow, the 90-degree V-twin concept is Ducati’s imprimatur. Even underneath the oil coolers, radiators, and water jackets, Taglioni’s design DNA remains. The 2020-born V2 variant is a liquid-cooled 955cc mill putting out 155 hp at 10,750 rpm, with 77 lb.-ft. of torque at 9,000 rpm. The V4 of 2018 origin puts out 211 hp at 13,000 rpm, or 231 hp at 15,250 rpm if you’ve signed up for the V4 R. Fun fact: The V-4 engine concept predates Ducati’s V-twin concept by six years. The 1964 Apollo concept bike was a V-4 1,260cc monster cruiser meant to compete with Harley-Davidson. Only two prototypes were ever made.

Whether you meant the V2 or V4, it hardly matters. As Ducati design goes, so go the pens of other bike designers.

Introduced in 2020 and based on the F3 800, the MV Agusta Superveloce concept was actually awarded “Most beautiful bike in show” at the 2019 EICMA show in Milan, Italy. That’s a major award, as some say. Meant to invoke classic racing lines of the 1960s and ‘70s, the original red and silver livery hammered the point home. And what about inner beauty? You’ll never measure up to Giacomo Agostini’s judgment and cojones, but you can still put 147 Italian horses, 798cc, and three cylinders between your legs and see where the fun takes you. Fun fact: if you bought one of the 15 limited-edition Superveloce Ago variants in 2021, the official color names are Matte Fire Red, Matt SV Ago Magnum Silver, and Matte Ago Yellow. Only legends get colors named after them.

The dramatically shaped fairing and headlight design means you punch the wind 8 inches sooner than anybody else. And behind you, said wind abruptly ends as the tailsection and bum stop terminate in a lovely round taillight that echoes the design of the headlight. Stock variants get a gorgeous 3-1-3 exhaust, while special versions like the Superveloce Ago get a three-pipe Arrow exhaust, one on the left, two on the right. Either way, the exhaust profile is emboldened by the single-sided swingarm. Classic dustbin fairings are somehow evoked by a rather angular tank and fairing. The only unsightly thing about this bike is likely to be the rider. Not many of us measure up to MV Agusta Design Director Adrian Morton’s work. But hey. Owning one means you’ve earned the right to imagine you’re Ago.

Despite a design that’s been around (more or less) for 15 years and now weighs 30 pounds more than some of its Italian brethren, the Aprilia RSV4 still sets many of your hearts aflutter. While squids and moto scribes might argue the design is dated, many Motorcyclist readers find the design timeless. You guys have a point. The RSV4′s silhouette isn’t radical. Its lines are almost just an aggregate of any number of its class-leading rivals. Although it has sported aerodynamic winglets since the 2019 redesign, they’re currently nicely integrated into the fairing. But the overall result is a classic subtlety that’s more than the sum of its parts.

That subtle beauty is belied by the 1,099cc 65-degree V-4 beast of an engine. Classic Eastern wisdom held that external beauty was inseparable from that within. Freshman philosophy aside, the RSV4 is widely considered to have one of the finer high-performance mills on the market. Its 217 claimed horsepower is accompanied by a claimed 92 lb.-ft. of torque at 10,500 rpm. It’s basically a never-ending can of exploding peanut brittle. And improbably, it costs some $5,500 less than a base Ducati Panigale V4. Is value compatible with beauty? Maybe. But with age and wisdom, definitely.

Some of you still worship the dawn of the Superbike era. Maybe you were a shark’s-tooth-necklace-wearing no-goodnik in 1975 who drag raced for beer money. Maybe you just love motorcycling’s first era of “Too much, too soon.” Whatever. From teardrop tank to duckbill tailsection, the newish Kawasaki Z900 RS harkens to when Kawi sold hellaciously fast motorcycles, with thoughts and prayers for new riders as standard equipment. Bulleted instrumentation is the panicked brow above a standard-size 6-inch round LED headlight. Gone is the rear fender like the one early KZ900 owners removed as soon as they got home from the dealership.

An understated chrome 4-1 exhaust pays homage to the thousands of Kerkers and Russ Collins pipes that replaced quiet (and now rare) 4-4 stock units. Even the radiator could be a period Lockhart oil cooler if you squint. Totally unnecessary “fins” surround the liquid-cooled 948cc inline four-cylinder engine. Obviously, perfunctory things like ABS, traction control, and a slipper clutch brings the Z900 RS ABS and its variants into the 21st century. But while things like a trellis frame, adjustable suspension, and good brakes make the new Z900 relevant today, its beauty comes from a time when it had none of that. It was fast, cheap, and crude.

But while only a lucky few Americans experienced expensive Italian motorcycles in the ‘70s, over 85,000 people plunked down $1,800 to $2,400 to be instantly faster than anything else on the road. To be clear, today you need $12,899 for a Kawasaki Z900 RS ABS. But that’s slightly less than the $13,248 a 1972 Kawasaki Z1 cost, adjusted for inflation. That’s a thing of beauty.

A small subclass of Triumph enthusiast has been in mourning since 2006, when the beloved Daytona 955i was killed off. But with a tasteful bullet fairing, 5-inch-lower bars that are 2 inches forward, and some aggressive footpeg revision, Triumph has reawakened old feelings. Sometimes it ain’t rocket rocket science. Introduced in 2022, the Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR is 98 percent the same as the 1200 RS, minus the ergos and that lovely proboscis. It gets the same aluminum twin-spar frame and subframe. It also gets the same 177 hp, liquid-cooled 1,160cc inline-triple motor. Rake, trail, seat height, and wheels are the same. The RS was eminently track-capable, as is the RR.

But winning formulas seldom recreate the wheel. They run the numbers again and adjust accordingly. A little design magic doesn’t hurt, either. Like that single round 4-inch LED headlight piercing that lovely half-fairing. While a full fairing would have been in keeping with its performance, intent, and purpose, the RR keeps one foot firmly planted on the street. Identity matters. While some of us love trackbikes that double as street-capable, many of us love the idea of a streetbike that’s more than just a weekend warrior.

To be clear, not a single reader picked the Yamaha MT-10. Nobody put aside their predispositions and design prejudices in defense of this bold, futuristic, and plainly beautiful motorcycle product. Shame. People say, “timeless-design this” or “classic-lines that.” But timeless was once a banal product of its time. Classic design is just old market-based decisions. The MT-10 is ahead of its time. Things people love now, but hated when they came out? The Eiffel Tower, coffee, and airplanes. So have another look at the 2024 Yamaha MT-10.

Does it look like a Transformer? Sure does. Transformers don’t actually exist yet, so that’s a plus. Do the angular air intakes and arthropod headlights look “organic”? No they do not, and yes, arthropods are obviously organic. But come on. The only thing organic on this bike is the rider and the dead dinosaur sludge that powers it. It’s made of metals clawed from earth and polymers synthesized in labs. Plants and animals are things we ride past at high speed. New bikes should look like nothing that came before it. The MT-10 does this better than any new motorcycle currently for sale.

Speaking of which, the 2024 Yamaha MT-10 clocks in at $14,499 MSRP. It features a lovely 998cc liquid-cooled inline three-cylinder crossplane engine. Amen.