After a year of testing, Cycle World has chosen the best motorcycles in 10 categories. This is Cycle World Ten Best Bikes 2024.
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00:00Welcome to 10 Best Bikes 2024. Every year since 1976, the editors of Cycle World
00:05Magazine have gotten together and ridden farther, ridden harder, jumped higher, all
00:10in a pursuit to find the best bikes of the year. The categories have changed
00:14over the decades to reflect that market, but the goal of finding the best has
00:17always remained the same. In 1976, we called it a celebration and it still is.
00:2210 Best celebrates the amazing choices we have with the modern motorcycle. We're
00:27going to kick things off with the best lightweight street bike. This is any
00:29motorcycle under 500 cc's. Could be a street bike, could be a sport bike, could
00:34be a standard, could be an adventure bike. The winner this year is a sport bike
00:37that's the Aprilia RS 457. Great motorcycle. I will say this was actually
00:42one of the toughest categories to decide on. There were a lot of really solid
00:46lightweight options this year. The really cool thing about the 457, yes it's a new
00:51entry into the category, but what Aprilia has done such an incredible job of is
00:56pulling design language and technology from elsewhere in their lineup and
00:59that's enabled them to come out of the gate with a bike that works so well. And
01:03I think you've got a great engine, you've got a great chassis, and all of that ends
01:08up being in a package that I think a new rider can get on and enjoy for longer. I
01:13think that's so important for a newer rider. Someone coming into motorcycling
01:17is a bike that allows them to build their skill set. And to me, this is a bike
01:22with that engine and that chassis gives you so much feedback that it helps you
01:26become a better rider. Absolutely, like an affordable bike with knockout features,
01:32something as you said you could walk on, hop on, and get along with out of the
01:37gate and then ride it for a long time. Exactly, yes. Obviously the price, there is
01:41a little bit of an increase over some of the competition and some of the other
01:44bikes we saw this year, but I think what you're getting for that bike and how
01:48you're able to amortize that cost over what I believe to be a longer period of
01:52time with that bike because of that that performance window that it has, I
01:56think it's an incredible option. I think Aprilia really knocked it out of park
02:00with that bike this year. Right, we don't have price limitations in 10 Best, but it
02:05doesn't mean value doesn't count and the value here is a total knockout.
02:08Absolutely. Next up is Best Enduro Dual Sport. This can be anything from a
02:13hardcore enduro to a 150 dual sport. This year it is a hardcore enduro. It is the
02:19KTM XCF-W. Yes, the 450 XCF-W to be exact, and the reason this bike is now the
02:27Best Enduro bike is it's basically the sharpest, gnarliest enduro you can get
02:35your hands on. It has a 450 engine, but instead of making that terrifying insane
02:40power that you need to jump a supercross triple, it's got more bottom end, more low
02:44end, and it's smoother and more tractable. It does have two ride modes. It's got
02:49traction control, it's got launch control, it's got a quick shifter, it's got all
02:52these like crazy things that are coming over from street bikes into a dirt bike
02:57single. On top of that, it's got a chassis that is set up for enduro racing with a
03:02new fork and a PDS rear shock, which makes it much smoother than the year
03:07before. It just handles much more sharper, but it's still super stable off-road. All
03:12that combines to make one heck of an enduro race bike. Next category is a
03:17knockout in the market. It's best middleweight street bike. So many
03:20spectacular offerings. Maximum displacement is 899 cc's. This year's
03:27winner could have won on the strength of its engine alone, but luckily the rest of
03:31the package is a complete knockout. It's the Suzuki GSX-8R. Solid follow-up to
03:37last year's GSX-8S. I firmly believe that Suzuki can just do no wrong with this
03:42new 776 cc parallel twin. What an incredible power plant, and then putting
03:47it in this package. We know that Suzuki, they've always been so good at building
03:51great chassis's with exceptional feedback, and you're getting that now in this
03:56sport bike. We rode this, again we did a comparison this year, got that bike up
04:00against its closest competition. It had an edge, at least in terms of the power
04:03characteristics of the bike, a little bit more of an edge there. And then at the
04:06same time, it's a bike that you feel like you can ride all day. It's a comfortable
04:10sport bike, it's got character, it's enjoyable, and it's just, it doesn't beat
04:14up your body. And at the same time, it's got enough features to it, it feels
04:18modern in a way that we haven't seen from a lot of Suzuki's lately. It's just
04:23an incredible, well-rounded, and versatile package, and that is the direction that
04:27sport bikes seem to be going these days. And I think Suzuki, they've
04:32just checked all the right boxes with that bike. Yeah, incredible value for that
04:35bike. Yes, yep, absolutely. A really enjoyable motorcycle that every time you
04:40open the garage up, you're just like, I'm excited to ride that bike today. Super fun,
04:44super versatile, great price, comfortable, and for me, every time I roll a throttle
04:49on, a smile on my face. To me, that's why it's a winner. Yep, yep.
04:54Best parallel twin ever made. Whoa, heavy words, man. Let's just stick to this year.
05:01Next up is best touring bike. Gotta have bags, gotta be designed to eat miles. This
05:07is an easy category to pick a full rigged touring bike in, because you
05:11throw everything at them. They got all the technology, they got all
05:14the room, they got all the comfort, heated everything, they're giant. You stick your
05:17wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever on the back. This year, we're making a
05:20different vote. We're voting for a resurgence in sport touring. We're also
05:24voting for value, and we're voting for value with a really high level of
05:29technology, a very affordable motorcycle bringing features that
05:34we haven't seen at the price. That is the Tracer 9 GT+. That's right, the GT
05:39Plus is our choice, mainly because it leads the sport touring category at this
05:45point. It's a new resurgence of what basically ADV bikes kind of killed, in a
05:51way. So, it's powered by one of the raddest engines that Yamaha has ever
05:56made, the CP3. That triple is so much fun, and it still works in a sport tour. You
06:02can be super sporty with this bike. You can carve canyons if you want to. You
06:06could really chase down some serious sport bike machinery with this bike,
06:10but at the same time, you can smash miles because it's got all the niceties. It's
06:14got radar for adaptive cruise control, you've got electronic suspension to
06:18adjust your settings so you can tighten it up for when you're sport riding, and
06:21you can smooth it out when you're on the big roads. It's got a huge TFT dash to
06:26make all the changes you need, and it's got the comfort with big bags to do
06:31everything you want to do touring-wise. You list out the features that the bike
06:34delivers, and the next most affordable bike is thousands and thousands and
06:39thousands of dollars more. It's a real vote for sportiness and lightness with
06:44that tech package, and a pleasure to ride. Absolutely. We rode it in 2023 for the
06:50first time, and it was in the conversation when we were talking about
06:542023, but it was a 2024 model, so we didn't add the list, and it has still
06:59stayed in our mind's eye from that original. Okay, we're into the full knobby class. As it
07:05was in 1976, Best Motocrosser is essentially about winning races. It could
07:11be a really broadly capable bike that an amateur can go out and win races on, or
07:16it could be just so good and so pro-focused that it just wins out of the
07:19gate, and it can be the winner in this category. This year's winner is the
07:23Yamaha YZ450F. Yes, and it is the second year that this bike has won this award
07:30without any changes this year. In a class that is driven by technology and chasing
07:37the fastest lap time, it's very rare to see a bike do so well without any
07:42changes as new bikes come in to the class, and the YZ450 does it, and
07:47that's because it has this engine that is torquey, that's usable, but also has a
07:52lot of top-end power, so it just has it everywhere. That makes it a great race
07:56bike, and on top of that, it's got a chassis that is light, it's nimble, but
08:01it's also stable for motocross, which that's an excellent combination when you
08:06can actually make a bike turn, and then you don't have to worry about it being
08:09flighty down the straightaways or off the face of a jump. Overall, unchanged but
08:15unbeaten. Now next up, as an open class human, I am really into the open class
08:22street bike. Basically this is anything for the road that has a whole lot of
08:25motor, and I don't think that there is any motorcycle that has more motor than
08:31our winner this year. It's the Ducati Streetfighter V4. Now it is a returning
08:37winner, but there is a difference. Yes, last year we went with the SB2. It was a
08:42bike that we had ridden in a comparison. This year we are going with just the S
08:45model. We are losing carbon fiber wheels as well as the dry clutch from the SB2,
08:51but honestly I feel like what you get in this S is, again, it's so much about the
08:56motor, and that's a shared platform between the two models, and I think the
09:00one thing I can say about this bike is it is an emotional experience. From the
09:04second you fire that thing up, you click the thing into gear, you've obviously got
09:07rear cylinder deactivation, so in neutral it's got this kind of purr to it, and
09:11then you click the thing into gear, and it just absolutely comes to life, and
09:14from that moment on it's just non-stop smiles inside your helmet. It is such an
09:20entertaining motorcycle, and at the same time I think this goes back to when the
09:24first time we rode it, one of the big things we learned is not only is it this
09:28monster motor and so entertaining, but it's surprisingly comfortable too. It's
09:33got this really thick, well-cushioned seat on it, the handlebar is nice, big,
09:36tall, upright, taller than I think I've expected on a lot of naked bikes in
09:40recent years. Ducati put a lot of effort into making this a bike that is fun to
09:45ride, but also just enjoyable for a longer distance than you would expect
09:49from a bike like this. Yeah, I think for me, hitting the starter button, like it
09:55explodes to life, and everything just happens after that.
10:00Like, Ducati's V4 I feel like has completely changed my perception of what
10:07a motorcycle engine can be. The level of performance is just supernatural, it's
10:13just a kick above. The sound, the fury, the power, and the riding experience, it's
10:18just something different from all the V4s. Yeah, pure enjoyment. I do actually
10:23also want to call attention to the electronics, because I think that is
10:26something that Ducati has done so well in recent years, is taking all the
10:30electronic evolution that they've found in their race bikes and tying that into
10:35the production machines, and that is especially true of this bike here. One of
10:39the things that I notice every time I ride that bike is the engine brake
10:43control, and actually the the auto blip downshift. The combination
10:48of these electronics, you can be rolling into a corner, grab a downshift, that
10:52doesn't upset the chassis at all. It's just this perfect seamless shift, and I
10:56think little things like that are what add to the overall experience, and again
11:01highlight Ducati's ability to evolve these motorcycles using everything that
11:05they're learning. Whether it's MotoGP, whether it's World Superbike, Moto
11:09America, all that, and you're seeing that in a bike like the Streetfighter, which
11:13to me is just the epitome of a naked bike. It's just this engine wrapped in
11:17as little bodywork as possible, and wow, what an incredible package that is. It's
11:22deserving of its second year title for sure. Yeah, I think it's the most
11:25successful connection of a street bike to a MotoGP bike, and it is not
11:32inexpensive, but it's also an exceptional value to get that
11:37experience. If you can afford it, you got to do it. Knockout Open Class
11:42winner. Absolutely. Moving on to Best Standard, a category that is near and
11:48dear to my heart. Pretty much a tubular handlebar on a motorcycle that's sort of
11:51meant to do it all. We at times have called this the universal Japanese
11:55motorcycle because they were so good at just making a thing you could do
11:58anything with, which would describe this motorcycle. This is the Yamaha MT-09 SP,
12:04and they've taken one of the finest street bike platforms of the last 10
12:08years with a knockout motor and kicked it up a notch. It is a
12:14fabulous, fabulous motorcycle. Like I said, if you go to the dealership and there's
12:19an MT-09 and there's an SP sitting next to it, for that extra $1,700, just ignore
12:25the MT-09. Just go for the SP right off the bat because the things you get on it
12:29just elevate what already is an amazing motorcycle. For 2024, the MT-09 got
12:36upgraded. It got a little bit more aggressive body positioning. It got some
12:40framework. It's just overall a better motorcycle, and then they elevate it with
12:45a Ohlins rear shock, a fully adjustable KYB front fork. It's got keyless ignition.
12:51It's got cruise control. It's got some special finishes. It just brings it all the way up.
12:56You gotta mention that polished swingarm. It is an easy motorcycle on the eyes.
13:01It is really cool. It's just got presence to it, right? I mean, we've had the thing in
13:04the shop, and just every time you look at it, you're like, that's a gorgeous motorcycle.
13:07No, it really is. It's been parked in the office, and all the finishes. It's got those
13:11little screens on the tank. It looks nice to look at the dash, and there was one
13:15morning I was in here early, and the light is spilling through the window of
13:18the office, and I looked down at the swingarm, and it had this glow to it, and I
13:22thought, man, they've really done it. Plus, you get your golden Ohlins, and then
13:26the KYB, the anodizing's like a slightly different color because it can't look
13:29like an Ohlins, but it still looks good. Yeah, but as good as it is to look at,
13:34it's that much better to ride, and that's the point of this bike. It's a
13:37bike that can be really anything you want, which is the standard category. It
13:41can be a hooligan, it can be a canyon carver, and it can be a track day hero.
13:44It's got it all covered, one bike in your garage, that can be it. Yep, really cool
13:49to see the evolution of this product over the years. I think Yamaha's done a
13:53really good job of continuing to up the level of the platform, and this really is
13:58the best standard bike that I think... Yeah, this is the finest
14:01execution of the MT-09, previously the FZ-09, that has ever been. Yep. Okay, Best
14:07Cruiser. Best Cruiser can be an extremely challenging category. You know, with other
14:11categories, there's lots of stuff like, oh, the bike feels like this, or it feels
14:14like that, but you can always fall back on numbers. Best Cruiser, sure, numbers can
14:17matter, but look, sound, feel. How do I feel when I'm riding it? Does it match my
14:22mental image of myself? Best Cruiser, it's such a complex question, but although I
14:27feel like this year it was sort of less complex, we picked the Harley-Davidson
14:31CVO Road Glide ST. You know, there's bagger racing inspiration, it's high
14:36performance, it's got Ohlin shocks in the back. I will say, custom vehicle
14:40operations, they are the most expensive Harleys that are made. Again, underlining,
14:45you gotta spend to get it, but if this is your kind of bike, you can't do better. I
14:51mean, I think to start, at its core, this bike is a great representation of what
14:55is happening in the cruiser space, right? With this more performance-oriented
15:00direction, with King of the Baggers, I mean, this motorcycle has the throttle
15:03map from Kyle Wyman's race bike, right? That's that connection that we're
15:07talking about. Now, outside of all that, because I think that's one thing
15:10to put in a marketing document, and it's another thing to experience, and I think
15:15the only problem I found with this bike is that there is not enough time in the
15:18day. I was constantly trying to find excuses for where I can go on this bike.
15:23Every afternoon, I wanted to get on this thing and go for a ride. Every weekend,
15:27how many miles can I get on this? It is a truly incredible package. I want to start
15:32with that 121 high output motor. Yes, you're losing the VVT from the other
15:36engines, but this is probably one of my favorite Harley big twin engines. I think
15:41the tuning on it is incredible, but at the same time, you've got this abundance
15:45of power, and what an entertaining motorcycle to ride. Everything else, again,
15:50you look at, yes, there is a price to all of this, but you're sitting in the bike,
15:55the fit and finish of it, the experience that you have, I think it's true of what
15:59we've always expected from Harley-Davidson. It's that emotional feeling you have
16:03when you get on the bike, and you are absolutely getting that with this
16:06motorcycle on top of, again, all this performance that actually is trickle down
16:10from what Harley-Davidson has learned over the years.
16:13It's a showpiece, too. I mean, that's an important part of a Harley-Davidson is
16:16the way it looks, and with all that forged carbon fiber on it, and it's black
16:22and white, it just has this look that is just classic, but extreme and sporty all
16:27at the same time, which is a hard thing to pull off.
16:30Yeah. I do want to say, we talk about the engine, we talk about fit and finish.
16:33One of my favorite features of the modern Harley-Davidson platforms is how stable
16:39they are and how easy they are to ride. Even in traffic situations, I've got a
16:43commute that's 30 minutes up the freeway and then 15 minutes of side streets and
16:47navigating traffic in that environment at peak rush hour times, and it's a bike
16:51that actually has this precision to it that you haven't always got from these big
16:55touring bikes, and I think that's really a standout feature of these bikes.
16:58Yeah. Kicking up the front end, you know, the inverted fork and the upgraded brakes
17:02really changed the platform. I think the riding position did.
17:06One of the things that I love about the bike is the side view.
17:09You can still see through it. You can still see past the engine.
17:12The engine is, like, silhouetted, and that's really, you know, when you're
17:15talking about Harleys, generally, you're talking about the crown jewel of that
17:18package is the engine, and, you know, you mentioned high output versus 121 VVT,
17:24and, you know, I really enjoyed the VVT motor when I rode them, you know,
17:29in the other bikes in 23, but the high output, you know, you get a little extra
17:34something-something.
17:36You're sacrificing fuel economy just a little bit.
17:38Yeah, but you're getting a little, you know, you get that bang, bang,
17:41and, boy, it just delivers an experience that really is world-class.
17:46Yes, absolutely.
17:48Best sport bike.
17:50Pretty much the most supernatural sporting motorcycle.
17:53That's kind of what we go for here.
17:55We're looking for highest performance, best of the best.
17:59It's been so many different things over the years, and this year,
18:03we actually picked a motorcycle without lights.
18:06We picked a racing motorcycle, essentially.
18:09It's the KTM RC8C.
18:12Absolutely mind-blowingly cool, lightweight, high-power, track-focused.
18:18You know, this was a very interesting category to talk about this year
18:22because, obviously, you look at what BMW has done in this space over the last
18:25couple of years, look at what Ducati has done with the Panigale,
18:28but you asked a really important question, I think, early on,
18:31which is, if we were going to load up a bike in the van and head to the track,
18:35which one would you be most excited to roll out of the van?
18:38And it was really hard to argue against the RC8C.
18:41I think that balance of weight and power is, oh, it's such a perfect balance that
18:47they've got in this bike here.
18:49And I think the other thing is KTM, it's just that you go through the spec sheet,
18:55the features list on this bike, and it's everything that you would want
18:58from a track bike, from the brakes, the suspension, and just everything,
19:01the feature-wise on it, and you're like, that is the cream of the crop here.
19:05Yeah, it is a factory race bike that you can actually own in the sense of the word.
19:10I mean, it's 135 horsepower, which you go, well, Panigale's got 200 horsepower,
19:15but it's 313 pounds.
19:18That's it.
19:19I mean, it is featherweight, plenty of torque with that parallel twin engine
19:22that it's got, and the handling is ridiculous.
19:26And, you know, our test rider said that this bike, it's never been so easy to go
19:31so fast around a corner.
19:33It's not that it's super sharp-edged that you have to be the best to be able to get
19:39the most out of it.
19:40It's that it gives you more and lets you do more than any other sport bike has ever
19:46done on the track.
19:46And that's the point.
19:48Yep.
19:48Yeah, I mean, I think especially in the sport bike world, we get so hyper-fixated
19:52on horsepower numbers, right?
19:54But at the end of the day, especially for going and doing track days and things
19:57like that, what is the motorcycle that's going to allow you to work on your skill
20:02set and to just enjoy your day?
20:04And at the end of the day, you're not wrapping up just completely physically
20:07and mentally exhausted, right?
20:08And I think a bike like this, where you have that balance of weight and power,
20:12is, I think, it's the perfect example of a bike.
20:14Yeah, that's the thing.
20:14It's this super exclusive, super well-finished, super cool bike that is
20:21actually rideable.
20:22It's not something that you're going to buy and you're going to put in your living
20:25room and stare at it, although you could because it's got so many jewels on it,
20:30but you're going to take it to the track and actually use it and wear it out.
20:33As we're having this conversation, it reminded me of being at dinner,
20:36having the great fortune to be at dinner with both Peter Egan and Malcolm Smith at
20:41the same table, and we were talking about qualities of motorcycles.
20:44And Malcolm Smith, didn't matter what kind of motorcycle it was,
20:47he looked at us and said, weight is the enemy.
20:51And so you get a lightweight motorcycle like this with 130, you get on a race bike
20:55and you get on a racetrack and you get on it with the right tires,
20:58the experience is out of this world.
21:00Yeah, it's completely elevated.
21:02And that complements you as a rider and allows you to do the things that you need
21:05to do rather than fighting the machine.
21:07Absolutely.
21:08And that's what this bike is doing.
21:10It's just elevating everything and elevating anyone that gets on it.
21:14Yes, 100%.
21:15I guess you can't be any more ready to race.
21:19There you go.
21:19Well done.
21:20I feel really good about ending with a category that is one of the most versatile
21:25kinds of motorcycles we've ever seen, Best Adventure Bike.
21:29Few motorcycles have made such an impression as founding the class and
21:34maintaining a level of performance and supremacy for decades.
21:39It's the BMW R1300GS.
21:41Yeah, new displacement and model for this year.
21:46It just is the next evolution of what is the adventure bike.
21:53Like if you closed your eyes and imagined adventure bike in your head,
21:57what do you see?
21:58You see a GS.
21:59Almost everyone sees a GS.
22:00And there's a reason for that.
22:01They've founded the class.
22:03They've driven the class.
22:05And with this new bike, they've made it even better in many ways.
22:12The GS has been a winner always because it can do all the things really well.
22:17And they made the circle bigger, the other things it can do.
22:20It's now lighter.
22:21It's got more power.
22:23It's got a new engine that they've mounted the transmission underneath the engine
22:27instead of behind the engine, shortens up the bike a little bit,
22:29livens up the handling.
22:31But at the same time, makes it easier to ride in tough,
22:34technical terrain when you're off-road.
22:36It just, it does everything exceptionally.
22:39And that is what a GS is.
22:40It's got more performance.
22:42It's got more of everything.
22:44More of everything.
22:44More of everything, but it's still a GS.
22:47You can ride it off-road all day and then go, you know what?
22:51On second thought, I'm going to ride to Alaska.
22:53And just go.
22:55And you would be happy doing it.
22:56And it's just, there's so much comfort.
22:58There's so much performance to it.
22:59But at the same time, that comfort is still there.
23:02And it's such an enjoyable motorcycle for long periods of time.
23:04I think an important extension of that conversation is the fact that BMW
23:08recognized that the competition was closing in on it, right?
23:11There had been an evolution in the space to more aggressive adventure bikes that
23:14were maybe a little bit more off-road capable.
23:16And they've answered in all the ways that they needed to.
23:19You've got just a little bit more aggression and performance
23:21out of this latest package.
23:22Again, less weight, more power, right there.
23:25But yeah, so there's this sharpness to the new bike
23:28that you may not have had on the previous generations.
23:31But then at the same time, like you said,
23:33they didn't lose any of those qualities that have
23:35made a GS so successful over the years.
23:37Yeah, they didn't lose any of the GS-ness.
23:39Yes.
23:39While getting more out of it.
23:41No matter what, you look at it, it's been this way for now 43 years.
23:46The GS is the gold standard of the adventure class.
23:49It is still the bike.
23:50It's still the bike that other manufacturers are chasing.
23:53Absolutely.
23:54Yeah.
23:56That's our list.
23:5710 best bikes of 2024.
23:59We know you have an opinion.
24:00Get down in the comments.
24:01Sound off.
24:02Let us know what you think.
24:03All I can say is, we truly live in the best of times.
24:07Keep on riding.