Reviews

Best Motorcycles of 2025 for Less Than $10,000

Our favorite bikes of the year you can grab for under $10K.

Kurt Spurlock

Updated: April 16, 2025

If you’ve got around $10,000 in your budget, you’ve got some great options this year.Triumph

Ten grand buys you a lot of motorcycles these days. While super-frugal beginner bikes around the $5000 mark have never been better, they typically come with some major compromises for experienced riders, whether that’s compact ergonomics, limited displacement, or budget-built components.

Related: Top 5 Cheapest Motorcycles

Bump that budget up by another $5K, and suddenly you’re looking at the sweet spot where value meets performance, and you can have just about everything you want without betting the farm on making your monthly payment. Whether you’re on the hunt for your next sportbike, ADV, or cruiser, here are our favorite options under $10,000 for 2025.

Aprilia RS 457

Aprilia’s RS 457 achieves the maximum power-to-weight ratio possible for A2 license holders.Aprilia

Aprilia built its RS 457 to be as light and as fast as humanly possible within the confines of European A2 licensing requirements. As a result, the parallel-twin-powered sportbike earns the rare distinction of being both 100% beginner-friendly and 100% ready for skilled trackday junkies.

On the one hand, it’s an affordable sportbike; on the other, it’s still got tons of racebike DNA like an aluminum chassis, dialed suspension, a bidirectional quickshifter, and multiple levels of traction control. All of this, plus sharp RS 660–inspired looks, comes in under $7000, leaving you plenty in the budget for trackdays and sticky tires.

Related: 2025 Aprilia RS 457 Review

Honda NX500

Honda’s redesigned NX500 exceeded expectations during our long-term test ride last year.Kurt Spurlock

Honda gave its CB500X some minor performance tweaks and a major cosmetic makeover, and the NX500 is the result. We conducted a long-term test of the new NX500 last year and found that it was better just about everywhere thanks to improved damping, some weight loss, and the addition of switchable traction control.

It’s light and flickable in the corners, plush and predictable on a gravel road, and yields an adventure-worthy range of over 250 miles on a full tank. Whether you’re looking for an affordable and reliable commuter or a blank canvas for your next adventure build, the NX500 wears whatever hat you want and does it all for under $7500.

Related: 2024 Honda NX500 Review

Honda Transalp

If you want a middleweight ADV for under $10K, Honda’s Transalp is the only game in town worth the buy-in.Honda

While every other middleweight ADV continues to grow in price year over year, Honda’s Transalp holds out just under the $10K mark for 2025. It’s the only serious game in town if you want good power, long-travel suspension, and a 21-inch spoked wheel, but it’s also a great all-around adventure-touring rig.

The Transalp is more than happy sliding around gravel roads and two-track, but where it really shines is out on the pavement. Sharp handling, a lively 90-plus horsepower engine, a comfortable seat, and commendable wind protection were all highlights of our time with the Transalp, but with knobbier tires and a few choice aftermarket bits, there’s not much you couldn’t do with this bike.

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R

Legit supersport looks meet legit supersport performance in Kawasaki’s ZX-4R.Kawasaki

While Kawasaki’s budget-friendly twin-cylinder Ninjas may be the bestselling bikes in its lineup, the Ninja ZX-4R gets our vote here. For a few dollars more than a Ninja 650 (but still well under $10K), you get the sweet sound and thrill of a screaming inline-four that cranks out 56 hp at 11,500 rpm. Both of those numbers can be dramatically increased with a simple ECU flash, boosting the little Ninja up to around 70 ponies and a sky-high 15,000 rpm redline.

If that’s not enough to sway you, the chassis is also sharper, the suspension is better, the brakes are stronger: In other words, the ZX-4R is a true supersport experience, not just supersport styling. The up-spec RR variant also meets the requirements for our list if you want a more track-friendly package with upgraded suspension and a quickshifter for an extra $700.

Kawasaki Z900

Kawasaki’s revamped Z900 pushes the limits of sub-$10K performance.Kawasaki

Want the most performance money can buy in a naked bike for under $10,000? Kawasaki’s latest Z900 skirts in with $1 to spare and delivers the biggest punch of the bunch with its 123-hp 948cc inline-four.

The Z900 doesn’t just deliver on the power front though. For the money, you’re also getting an IMU-enabled electronics suite, a bidirectional quickshifter, adjustable suspension, a 5-inch TFT dash, sharp new styling… The list goes on, but no one else can match the Kawasaki’s balance of price and performance.

Triumph Speed Twin 900

Triumph’s most affordable classic twin doubles down with more performance and lean-sensitive electronics.Triumph

The Speed Twin 900 is basically a sportier version of Triumph’s current Bonneville T100, swapping out some of the Bonnie’s classic charm for more performance-oriented components. It gets cast wheels instead of spokes, an inverted Marzocchi fork, piggyback reservoir shocks, and styling tweaks to the fenders, seat, headlight, and airbox for a more modern/aggressive look.

Oddly enough, the Speed Twin 900 also retails for less cash than the Bonnie, allowing it to barely squeak in under $10K (and onto our list) when optioned with silver paint. The British twin delivers a ton of classic cool and a twin-cylinder soundtrack at a great price, but also benefits from modern electronics like cornering ABS and traction control.

Yamaha Bolt R-Spec

The Bolt R-Spec nails the American V-twin look and feel better than some actual American V-twins.Yamaha

Sure, you could buy an American V-twin on a $10,000 budget: Both Indian’s Scout Sixty Bobber and Harley-Davidson’s Nightster carry $9999 price tags, and both are comparable machines in terms of style and performance. For our money, however, we’re going with Yamaha’s Bolt R-Spec, and there are a few good reasons for that.

The first is that the Bolt R-Spec’s large air-cooled engine and stripped-down styling make for a more attractive and satisfying ride overall, two metrics that are key components of any good cruiser. The second is that the Bolt costs $1000 less than the two American alternatives, so you’ll have cash left over for juicy bits like a new saddle, exhaust, or a club-style fairing.

Yamaha MT-07

The MT-07 got big improvements this year and sharp styling to match.Yamaha

Yamaha’s MT-07 has always been a popular bike, but after its recent overhaul, its appeal has never been broader. The single greatest improvement is the MT’s new suspension, which pairs a 41mm inverted KYB fork with a preload-and-rebound-adjustable shock, an upgrade Yamaha fans have been wanting for over a decade.

Ride-by-wire throttle is also new for the MT, which enabled Yamaha to add ride modes, selectable throttle maps, and traction control to the equation as well. The list goes on with lightweight wheels, a new TFT dash, and radial front brakes, but perhaps the most important feature of the MT-07 is that it still sports one of the most reliable and enjoyable engines on the planet, Yamaha’s CP2 parallel twin.

Related: 2025 Yamaha MT-07 Preview