Motorcycle Industry Changes: What to Expect in 2026

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Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
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Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. The fall is often a time to reflect on the past year and see what's coming next year. And this is even more evident with motorcycles as around much of the Northern Hemisphere, our riding season is coming to a close, and as our start to think of hibernation, our eyes may look towards what the new brings. We'll look at some changes in the industry, as well as a few bike updates that are coming that might be enticing, So let's start with a few changes that are happening, at least from an ownership and leadership perspective. the first one, which we've covered a little bit before, is that KTM is now owned by Bajaj. And when this was announced, and now that it's been a couple of months at this point, we're starting to see a more consistent flow of bikes coming into dealers. So that stop-and-go production and the lack of bikes coming in appears to be behind us for now.
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Obviously, some of the new model releases and/or production changes is still yet to be seen.
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So this will continue to evolve, and I expect with their focus on creating some of the efficiencies from a cost basis that KTM had not had in the past, we will start to see some more change arise over the next year.
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So 2026 is going to be very interesting for KTM. Of course, Harley's new CEO has been announced. Artie Stars joins to lead Harley, he had previously served as the CEO of Top Golf.
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Given Jochen Zeitz, the previous had come from Puma, it seems that Harley has a little bit of a history of picking leaders from outside the industry. At least that's what their board has been doing. And with Golf often aimed at a more affluent purchaser, and that same approach that we'd seen from Zeitz, it seems likely that Harley will continue with that approach, moving further away from their working class roots.
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And as we discussed in the wrap-up of Zeitz' 10-year episode, the focus on affluence buyers hasn't really moved the needle from either a revenue or a profit perspective after five years of the strategy. So I'm not sure that doubling down on this is going to be the most effective. as I'm recording this, the new CEO has only been in the seat for less than a month, so a lot of changes that he may want to do to the organization have not yet emerged. But I think this is going to be really telling for the next year for Harley-Davidson, is what is their plan? How are they going revive this brand? Because it well beyond its working-class roots. The average selling price of a Harley-Davidson today is over $30, 000, and that's out of reach people who are buying motorcycles today.
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we consider that the median income in the United States is less than $40, 000 a year, $30, 000 on a bike is making it really out of reach. So I would love to see Harley get a little bit more of the lower-cost bikes into the market. There is some discussion that this may be coming, but until it really starts to prove out that they're taking that to heart and not just focusing on that for other markets will really remain to be seen. And of course, some of the most recent news when it comes to ownership and leadership changes is that Polaris is spinning off Indian Motorcycle, and it's now moving to a private equity firm ownership, with Polaris maintaining a small equity position. And while the American cruiser market has been underperforming in recent years, and Indian effectively killed off the FTR, their one bike that was really outside of that segment, Indian hasn't really been lining Polaris' pockets as it did with the surge of motorcycle sales during the pandemic. In fact, it was only in 2023 that they actually became cash flow positive.
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Indian, while they make some amazing bikes, and they've gotten a little bit of excitement, and it's seen as an alternative to Harley, they've too been really not yet emerging into that highly profitable nature. And some of the bikes they really push, their high-end bikes are over $30, 000 once again.
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that do get underneath that $10, 000 price point, One of the things that I think is still to keep an eye on is private equity often has a bad perception as an approach that takes the few good assets in an organization, sells those off and drops the rest.
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And often this is to the chagrin of fans of the brand. And often the organization emerges as a shell of their former selves.
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Now, whether that happens with Indian remains to be seen, the private equity firm, Carolwood, which will be taking full control of Indian in the first quarter of 2026, has mostly focused on real estate and restaurant chains. So they have no experience with the manufacturing. Is that a good thing? What does look promising is that they've tapped Mike Kennedy to be the new CEO. Now Kennedy was previously a CEO of a power sports dealership group.
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He was also the CEO of Vance and Hines, an exhaust manufacturer, and he'd held roles at Harley Davidson for about 26 years. So there's no question that he has the right experience to be able to lead Indian. It may prove to be a perfect comparison of approaches with Harley now tapping a golf executive, while Indian focuses on someone with decades of motorcycle experience.
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The motorcycle industry, of course, never stands still.
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And we have been seeing a lot of new manufacturers try to get out into the market. For a long time, it's been mostly fairly stable when it comes to the players that are out there, but there have been a few new ones. And with both Harley and Indian getting new leadership, the market could be ripe for new entries into the cruiser market.
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And, of course, one of the ones that's going to be coming into the U. S. market is a Chinese company called Benda. They'll be bringing out some really interesting designs like the LFC 700, which has a ridiculously wide rear tire and a little bit like the Ducati Diavel. And while the smaller capacity engine might prove to be a barrier to the traditional cruiser buyer, likely low prices that we'll see from a Chinese manufacturer could offer an entry as Harley has been sitting at an average selling price of$30, 000. So for those people who don't have the pockets to buy a Harley, this might get them into that bike style or segment that they've always wanted, but it was just now so unaffordable. It was this unobtainium with the prices that both Harley and, quite frankly, Indian have been charging. Now, the other one I want to mention is CF Moto. CF Moto has, of course, continued to increase the number of models that they have available. They're another Chinese manufacturer, so they're coming at very compelling price points. They've been doing some amazing stuff in Europe and getting a lot of interest in the European market. They are expanding, of course, in the U.
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S. market as well, and the dealer network is slowly improving So this could be another brand that emerges, again, finding a way to undercut from a price perspective many of the other, let's say, legacy brands that are out there and offer an alternative that might be able to get some newer riders in who, especially if you're a brand new rider, you don't want to invest $30, 000 on brand new big Harley. If you're not even sure if you really like this activity, it's a lot of money to plump down. So something that's a little bit more having more of these manufacturers offering some lower cost entries could be the rekindling, especially if they're more interesting visually than some other brands.
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I mean, Honda, of course, has things like the Honda Navi, which is about $2, 000, but it's really kind of more of like a very small scooter with its, what is it, 125cc engine. It's, yes, it gets you onto two wheels, but it's not really something that you're going to go out and take onto the highway or something. You're going to really want something more in that five to 800cc engine range just to be practical highway riding. I mean, I have a vespa 300cc. It can get up to highway speeds, wide open throttle, it's about 80. it takes a long time to get at the highway speed.
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while it's possible, I think realistically, you're more in that, as I say, about 500cc to kind of deal with highway speeds, at least here in the US.
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So let's talk about a couple of the bike updates that are coming out that could be really interesting. I think if you are in the market or thinking about getting maybe a replacement bike or an additional bike. These are some bikes that I think are kind of interesting around the globe that are coming onto the market in 2026. And maybe there'll some interest for you. I'm going to break these into the segment within motorcycling that they begin with. So I'm going to start with catch all of dual sports, off-road and adventure bikes. And of currently adventure motorcycle or segment, if you will, the most popular category of bikes globally. And it's not surprising why they're just very comfortable with plenty of space versus the cramped ergonomics of a sport bike or the clam shape that you get with a forward control cruiser. And that long suspension travel means poor quality roads are pretty much a non-issue. Potholes just sort of seem to disappear. Whereas cruisers could stand to improve with their almost laughably small, typically three inches travel, doing little for expansion joints, let alone speed bumps or potholes. That aesthetic of go anywhere appeals to a lot of people, even if their most common trip is just to a local Starbucks. But let's kick off into a few of the models that are coming out that you might want to take a closer look at. So first I want to talk about the Ducati Desmo 450 EDX.
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Now this is an off-road bike coming to the market in 2026, really intended for enduro and cross country racing. And this is similar to the previously released MX or motocross bike, but with some tweaked suspension in a little bit larger two and a quarter gallon tank, along with an 18 inch rear wheel, really exciting to Ducati get into this segment, as a new kind of opportunity for them. Ducati was always thought of as sports motorcycles. And as the sports bike market has kind of slowed down, I think Ducati has been branching out more fully. And the other bike that they've been doing some of that branching out with, of course, is the Multistrada and the Multistrada V4 Rally is going to be coming with some new updates in 2026, Most of their updates are going to be focused on electronics, including a forward collision warning and what they call the Ducati Vehicle Observer. And this uses about 70 sensors to manage things like stability, traction control, wheelie control, and of course, the ABS system. The Rally is most similar to the R1300GS Adventure, meaning that it has a larger gas tank. In the Ducati application with the Rally, it's almost eight gallons. this is giving you more long distance riding capabilities. While it is a bit of pig when it comes to weight compared to some of the lighter weight models because of all that fuel that you're carrying, it is for a lot of people who are just not taking their adventure bikes out on dirt roads or really trails. This does create a really compelling option. It's a great highway bike, great for going long distance. And of Ducatis are well known for carving up corners. Now, Yamaha, of course, has the Tenere World Raid. And unfortunately, this is something that we don't see in the U. S.
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market. But what's going to be changing, at least for the European market, is it's going to be getting some lean, sensitive electronics. Now, that fully adjustable suspension makes the bike more compelling than the relatively pedestrian model that we get here in the United States. Hopefully, Yamaha realizes that they have a potential runaway success here and brings it in to compete with some better equipped BMW and KTM mid-sized adventure models that are currently available here in North America. Now, another motorcycle to take a look at would be bikes like the Triumph TF450C. Now, Triumph, of course, is another European brand getting into the off-road space.
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And perhaps sensing some of the issues with KTM over the past year has inspired both Ducati and Triumph to enter this segment. And this new bike, along with the 250cc variant, gives Triumph some models now in cross-country, enduro, and motocross. But don't count KTM just yet. KTM 690 Enduro-R has often been thought of as a unicorn that allows you to have a more off-road focused bike while still allowing for some extended pavement miles. the 690 Enduro-R is getting a major refresh this year. Perhaps the most useful is replacing that tiny little LCD display on the outgoing model with a full TFT, like some of the other bikes in the KTM ADV line. Now, the engine has been revised to ensure compliance with updated emission standards. And they also wanted to stay at the top of the most powerful single-cylinder engine podium.
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What's really exciting, and this is one of the complaints a lot of people have had for KTMs, is the philosophy sort of suggests that they have a lot of performance. some people jokingly call it ready-to-maintain because you're always having to do a ton of maintenance on these bikes. The intervals of doing things on them are ridiculously low in some cases. Like, if you've got one of the true dual sports, like the 500, you've got to be changing the oil every, like, 10 hours of use, at least from a race Some people do extend it if you're doing a little bit calmer, What they've done with 690 here is they have extended some of these service intervals. So it went from 10,000 to 15,000 kilometers for basic oil changes, and from 30,000 to 60,000 kilometers for valve clearance checks. And this will help make it a little bit more of an option for a lightweight ADV bike. If you're going to be putting on or longer miles onto your ADV bike, but you want something that can really get more into the trails, the KTM 690 Enduro R is a really interesting option. Now, while it is heavier than some of the smaller dual sports, let's say like the KTM 500 that I mentioned, it's still about 100 pounds lighter than a typical mid-size adventure. So if you were to look at the KTM 890, the BMW F900GS, the Tenere 700, all those bikes tend to be in the upper 400-pound range. So anywhere from like 450 to 490.
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Whereas the KTM 690 is more around 350 pounds. So you're saving about a hundred pounds or more getting into that bike. And this could offer some really capabilities for people if their mission is a little bit more off-road oriented, but not so much that we're a 500 that's going to be dreadful to take onto any sort of highway for extended miles. This could be a really interesting option. Now, the other thing that they're adding into here is more electronics to allow you to have different ride modes and traction, both on and off-road.
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this is a little bit more interesting because the TFT, if you remember the older model had basically a little switch on there. You can switch between, effectively a, a throttle curve one or a throttle curve two. And that was kind of the extent of it. So having a full TFT, they're going to be able to have a little bit more options that you can change through there. So this could be a really cool bike to see coming into the market.
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And it sits at that crossroads between a dual a true dual sport, let's say, and a full adventure bike. So let's switch into the standard and retro style bikes.
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the standard bike, while it's not as popular today as it was in the sixties to seventies, when that was basically what all motorcycles were, they're still good all rounders. Although ADV bikes typically get some more sales because of some of the additional utility of the travel suspension and the ability at least to kind of go a little bit more off-road. But if you love classic standard motorcycles are still a great option. Now Ducati is updating the monster. It's coming in still with their 890cc V2, but with some tweaked visuals. frame is still long gone, but it does have more elements that evoke those older designs and it still stresses lightweight and it's expected to be about 410 pounds wet with the 3.7 gallon fuel tank filled all the way up. 111 horsepower might be down from the bigger Ducati figures, but for real world street use, I usually think that about a hundred horsepower is usually plenty to give you spirited riding, Especially when you consider that this bike is so lightweight, it's really fundamentally it's not about the absolute horsepower figure. It's the horsepower to weight ratio.
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This is only 410 pounds. So you're getting a good amount of power out of a bike that is substantially lighter than a lot of other bikes in the market. If I just think about my F 900 GS, it's also about 105 horsepower.
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So within handful of horsepower difference in there, but my bike is going to weigh a good 70, 80 pounds more than this monster.
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the monster will be even sportier feeling and not costing a huge fortune compared to some of the higher end, like the Panigale. Now, another bike that I think is really interesting in this group is the Honda CB 1000 F. Now, right now it's only been announced for the European and it has a full retro style bringing back the eighties completely. Now it remains to be seen as to whether we're going to see this over here on our side of the pond. But if you like that aesthetic of the eighties Japanese bikes, this is a really cool entry and I'm excited to see it come out. Now when it comes retro style there's one brand that pops up to the top of everyone's mind as they think of this. And that's Triumph. Now Triumph is doing a major refresh of their modern retro line. So the Bonneville T100 and T120 are getting lean sensitive ABS and traction control IMU on those bikes. And they're also getting a rain mode to help soften the throttle just in case that power is a little too much as you get into the wet.
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Now the T100 also has cruise control. Now, at least as an option, while it is standard on the T120, along with some LED headlights and a USB charge port.
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the Speedmaster and Bobber aren't left out with their sister models. each now has a larger 14 liter fuel tank. As the older tank was often a common complaint, focusing more on looks than on practicality.
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Another thing that they've done to add in a little bit more practical use is it has a wider, more padding on the seat on both models. And the Speedmaster also gets more support for the pillion. Now, similar lightweight wheels to the Scrambler model can improve unsprung mass, and the same electronics improvements with the IMU, USB, and LED lights arrive onto these two models.
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Personally, I absolutely loved the look of the Bobber. Before I got my R18, it was one of the bikes I really seriously looked at, but the small fuel tank did play a role in my decision because it was just so tiny, you would basically ride and then have to be like it. We're looking for fuel inside of a handful of miles, it felt like.
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very exciting to see this get a little bit more range and a little bit more comfort to have some of those extended rides while still having an amazing, cool-looking bike. Now, I hinted at the Scrambler has had some improvements, and specifically the Scrambler 900 has a restyling where they're bringing in upside-down 43mm forks with 120mm of travel front and rear, and a new lighter weight swing arm and wheels can make the bike feel a little bit more nimble with all that reduced unsprung mass. It also gets the IMU of the regular Bonnie's along with cruise control, LED headlights, and a USB charge port. And the bigger Scrambler, the Scrambler 1200 XE, also gets some improved suspension with Showa forks and twin Ohlins rear shocks, and both ends on that bike offer 250mm of travel. If you want a little bit more travel to perhaps a little bit almost like an ADV bike, the 1200 might be a better option for you, whereas the 900 is certainly going to be able to be perfectly happy on some dirt roads, no problem whatsoever. But you still have that great aesthetic, and a little bit more cost effective from a price point. Now, sport bikes are not quite as popular as they once were, although they are starting to get a little bit more interest coming into them in the past couple of years. And, of course, for the best performance, sport bikes are really hard to beat. The ergonomics, on the other hand, make them best savored in short stints. And while the rides might be short, they're always thrilling. And there's a couple of models that I do want to highlight in here. So, KTM is bringing back entry into sport bikes with the KTM 990 RC-R.
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They did abandon the segment for a few years, probably because of some of the financial difficulties in the market for sport bikes was not quite as popular for a while. this influx of cash from Bajaj appears to be helping. And KTM's ready to race mantra is perfect for that race replica styling of the 990 RC-R.
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Now, Ducati is often synonymous with sports bikes. And their Panigale has been an amazing entry into the space. design is a design that you look at it, and it just exudes Italian beauty. But they've taken it and amped it up a little bit in this new model that's coming out. So this is the Ducati Panigale V4-R.
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And who would have thought one little letter would mean so much?
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But the Ducati R models are their homologation specials, and they bring a track-only that you can run on the street.
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So if you want to have the bragging rights of the most powerful sport bike that you can buy today, the V4-R is the bike to look for.
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we covered some of the new ownership and leadership changes with KTM coming under the Bajaj umbrella, a new CEO at Harley, and Polaris selling Indian motorcycles. We also looked at a few of the new manufacturers that are gaining traction and some of them even coming to the market for the first time here in the U. S.
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Finally, we looked at a few of the upcoming model updates that are interesting for 2026. So, my question for you this week is what are you most excited for in 2026 in the motorcycle industry?
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Share your thoughts through the text to show link in the show notes or leave a voicemail at throttleandroast.com/voicemail.
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Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week.