10 Best Touring Motorcycles for Two-Up Riding 2025

In the classic book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig found constant fault with his riding companions, John and Sylvia Sutherland. If you were riding cross-country on a Honda CB77 with an 11-year-old, you’d be cranky too. John and Sylvia might not have known how to tune carbs or adjust valves, but they were riding a 1965 BMW R60/2. Arguably, that’s a superior bike for riding from Minnesota to Montana. Pirsig’s “inquiry into values” didn’t include the value of decent passenger seating or engine displacement.

In 2025, the values Pirsig worried about (or didn’t) are a moot point. Let the engineers in lab coats worry about tolerances and jetting. Riders and passengers just have to worry about comfort, control, and keeping eyes on the GPS. The best motorcycle touring for two means never checking a dipstick or clanging helmets together.

Classic cruiser models have been on the wane for 15 years, but there’s still plenty of long-distance-capable rigs out there. A number of adventure models fit the bill. Here are 10 of the best touring motorcycles for two-up riding available for sale in 2025. Whether they have heated seats or not.

Metric touring cruisers are a shrinking category. The road sofas of yore are being replaced by adventure rigs and other nominally dirt-capable motorcycles. But great value and 500-mile days are a timeless thing. Hello, 2025 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager ABS. A very reasonable $20,199 MSRP gets you 1700cc of V-twin engine and 895 pounds of Metallic Ocean Blue/Metallic Moondust Gray touring fun. Plus a classic plush passenger throne with armrests, hovering approximately 9 inches above the rider. Integrated luggage (saddlebags and trunk) comes standard, as does an audio system with SiriusXM. Speaking of timeless, there’s no TFT, just classic gauges and instruments. Heated seats are not available, standard or optional. But with that MSRP, the savings have to come from somewhere.

Ordinarily, this is where the Kawasaki Concours 14 ABS would go. But just like touring cruisers, sport cruisers are also becoming a thing of the past. And large touring adventure bikes are in. Beginning life as the 2012 Kawasaki Versys 1000, with a very non-ADV inline four-cylinder engine, it’s since morphed into the Versys 1100 in 2024. A $19,499 MSRP gets you 133 hp, four-position-adjustable windscreen, standard 28-liter saddlebags, tons of rider aids and upper gear ratios said to improve “rider comfort.”

Kawasaki is all in on its two-up prowess too. Don’t believe us? All eight product shots (plus one video) feature a couple on a glamorous trip of some sort. As for adventure riding? Try to hit a couple of puddles and potholes on the way out of the hotel parking lot. Heated seats are not available, standard or optional.

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Of course the Honda Gold Wing makes this list. Continuing the fine tradition of making one of the best touring motorcycles ever made, Honda’s Gold Wing gets the golden anniversary treatment. Technically, there are five 50th Anniversary Gold Wing models, each with the same liquid-cooled 1833cc six-cylinder engine and 61-liter trunk. Three of the five offer Honda’s “automatic” Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT), and the top-of-the-line edition (Gold Wing Tour Airbag DCT 50th Anniversary) offers an airbag.

Millions of happy owners (and passengers) can attest to the Gold Wing’s touring chops. So let’s skip that part and mention that each 50th Anniversary Gold Wing comes with a 192-page book celebrating the Gold Wing’s history, and a scale model of the Gold Wing you just bought. And of course, the graphics are distinct for this year and the TFT display even says “Since 1975″ when you turn it on. Tour models get heated seats standard.

So why not the BMW K 1600 GTL? The BMW K 1600 Grand America has an extra speaker in the top case, along with a USB-A charger, plus standard floorboards. And it has “America” in its name. Case closed. The floorboards are a plus for the rider, but the extra speaker and USB charger take things to the next level for a passenger. Surely your beloved companion deserves to hear the traveling music too. The transverse-mounted oil- and liquid-cooled 1649cc inline-six engine puts out a claimed 160 hp, enough to swiftly move what and whoever is along for the ride.

It goes without saying that any BMW has heated grips, but the Grand America ups the game with heated seats, a surprisingly uncommon standard feature among touring options. Passenger armrests are not standard, but available as an option. Also, Motorcyclist would like to point out that after extensive research, the Double Tone Fanfare option refers to the horn, which is a fancy dual-tone unit that puts out a sound pressure level of 118 dB(A). Now you know.

BMW’s R 18 charm offensive is still going on strong. Regardless how you feel about big classic cruisers and/or German engineering, the R 18 is a fun, highly capable touring machine that delivers fit and finish with few equals. The 2025 BMW R 18 Transcontinental is the decidedly American take on continental-style travel. While you don’t get an electrically adjustable windscreen, you do get that lovely 10.25-inch TFT display, plus classic analog gauges.

And you can get the optional Active Cruise Control, which uses radar to maintain chosen distances between you and whatever’s in front of you. This cutting-edge tech gets incorporated inside a classic batwing fairing. Heated seats and grips are standard, with an optional Marshall Gold Series Stage 2 stereo upgrade with two subwoofers in the saddlebags and two in the top case.

Related: Best Two-Up Motorcycles of 2025

If you think Harley-Davidson’s model designations are confusing, take a break and get really lost in Indian’s nomenclature. Roadmasters either have 108 or 112ci liquid-cooled Powerstroke engines or 116ci air-cooled Thunderstroke (misspelled as “Thunderstoke” on its site) engines. But both variants are divided into Dark Horse and Limited models. And the Thunderstroke family keeps one model that’s just the Roadmaster, while adding an Elite model as well. Stay with us, we’re almost done here. For some reason, the Thunderstroke name disappears from every model name (unlike the PowerPlus), but apparently we’re still in Thunderstroke country. Thankfully, both the PowerPlus and Thunderstroke Dark Horse models are $33,499 MSRP, so that part’s simple.

The company’s site prominently mentions both the Indian Roadmaster PowerPlus Limited’s and Dark Horse’s heated seats, but as best as we can determine, they’re a $699.99 option. Regardless, the 2025 Indian Roadmaster PowerPlus Limited is a Motorcyclist choice for best two-up touring motorcycle. In the classic mold of American touring cruisers, it’s basically your living room with occasional precipitation.

The West Coast custom trend has been a boon for baggers and the Road and Street Glide series, but many of these variants aren’t exactly a “bicycle made for two.” But for maximum two-up pleasure (with standard backrests) in the model year 2025, there is only the Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited. If 2024 stock still exists and is your thing, the Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited separates itself with the “sharknose fairing” rather than the iconic handlebar-mounted batwing fairing that sits farther back and closer to the rider.

While these make a difference for the rider and handling, passengers get the Two-Up Comfort Seat with armrests and tunes from the Boom! Box GTS sound system. Heated seats are available as an option, appropriately called the Sundowner Heated Seat, for $749.95.

Sure, there’s no overstuffed back or armrests, but the name says it all—Adventure. If you’re a little adventurous and like leaning into the wind (and the rider in front of you), the venerable Suzuki V-Strom 1050DE Adventure has enough displacement to take you and a passenger from sea to other shining sea. And unlike the smaller V-Strom family members, it’s still an honest-to-god 90-degree V-twin. You get a 5-inch TFT plus optional heated grips. The familiar Suzuki Intelligent Ride System (S.I.R.S.) now includes a quick-shift system with a new Gravel (G) mode and the ability to switch off the rear ABS. However, you should probably not use any of that with a passenger in back. While creature comforts aren’t those of a Gold Wing, the power and fun are still there. Heated seats are not available as standard or as an option, so bundle up.

About a year ago, the Yamaha Ténéré 1200 would’ve occupied this spot. But along with the Yamaha Star Venture and Yamaha FJ1300ES, Yamaha is (for the time being) disinvesting in big-displacement touring bikes of any kind. We couldn’t possibly make a list of Best Touring Motorcycles for Two-Up Riding without a Yamaha model. So by default, the Yamaha Tracer 9 GT makes the list of 10 best touring motorcycles for two-up riding.

Its 890cc liquid-cooled three cylinder CP3 engine is much loved in various other models, and makes for a capable two-up touring machine. But fans of the Tuning Fork brand might well be wondering if something bigger is in the works in the next couple of years. Heated grips are an option, but heated seats are neither standard or available as an option.

We here at Motorcyclist have never been able to understand why sidecars aren’t more popular. Who wouldn’t want their own chassis, frame, and windshield? There’s none of the hassle of looking past the rider’s helmet in front or such. In a sense, you’re the equal of the rider, in terms of wind, sun, and bugs. And it’s a fact: Dogs prefer sidecars to any traditional passenger accommodations on a two-wheeled motorcycle. Ural has always leaned into the vintage charm of its offerings and you’re certainly not going to make record time wherever you go.

But the top-of-the-line Expedition model offers on-demand two-wheel drive, a trunk, and separate luggage racks for the sidecar nose, fender, and spare wheel. It even comes with a jerrycan so you can experience the vintage charm of running out of gas whenever you feel like it. America, it’s time to rediscover the sidecar. Bring a book in case you’re riding through somewhere boring like Illinois.