2025 in Review: The Year’s Biggest News Stories
With the calendar about to change to 2026, it’s a great time to look back on some of the big news stories from the year that’s coming to a close, and contemplate what we might be facing as riders heading into the new year.
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These are the top stories that caught our attention in 2025.
Sales Trends
It’s hard not to notice the doom and gloom message swirling about the motorcycle industry these past few years, and 2025 was, unfortunately, no different. Many riders in North America, and to a slightly lesser degree, Europe, are aging out of riding, and there aren’t nearly enough new riders coming in to replace them all. Younger generations are apparently reluctant to put the time, money or effort into motorcycling due to financial challenges and the fear of injury.
Reports earlier in the year were particularly ominous, proclaiming foot traffic in dealerships was down 40 percent, while prices of new bikes have surged 40 percent in the past five years. Production and distribution costs are soaring, profit margins are shrinking, and dealerships are closing. News headlines do not paint a rosy picture of the future.
Change can be good, and a massive correction like this will force manufacturers to get more creative and make bikes more desirable for consumers, if they’re going to survive.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, since the bounty of inventory on nearly all new bikes equates to some great deals to be had for buyers. Global markets, particularly in India – the largest motorcycle market on the planet – were up this year.
Old Names, New Machines
If there’s one thing that can help spark nostalgia-based enthusiasm amongst us riders, it’s recalling a legendary motorcycle brand, or an homage to coveted machines from earlier years. There are some key companies with ample brand credibility in their name that would like to leverage that recognition with some new models.
India’s TVS Motor Company purchased Norton back in 2020, unveiling four new models at last month’s EICMA show – including the Manx and Manx R streetfighters, and the Atlas and Atlas GT adventure bikes.
Mahindra, another Indian brand, has revived another classic British brand with BSA coming back to market with three models including the Gold Star 650, Bantam 350 and Scrambler. Another blast from the past, BSA relaunched another old nameplate by unveiling their new 334cc Thunderbolt adventure bike. Unlike the new Nortons these BSA models are affordable machines that should be accessible to many.
Famed Italian brand MV Agusta is back again, too. Snatched from the jaws of bankruptcy, again, the Russian Sardarov family is set to pour more money into the exotic bike company, with Timur Sardarov back at the helm. We’re optimistic for the 1000 Superveloce Serie Oro that looks to carry on the MV Augusta tradition of producing sensual-looking, high-performance (and high-cost) motorcycles.
New Owners, New Leaders
Things were looking pretty grim for KTM, the vaunted Austrian brand that’s synonymous with tough ADV bikes, and wildly fun street rides like the 1390 Super Duke R Evo. But after India’s Bajaj Auto helped KTM meet a court mandate to pay down some debt to the tune of 600 million Euros, Bajaj is now taking over full control of KTM. Sweeping in like a financial super hero, Bajaj saved KTM (and sister brands, Husqvarna and GasGas) from liquidation and financial annihilation. It also means KTM can resume production of their beloved models, which is good news not only for the riders who love KTM, but also the supply-chain companies that help produce them.
Harley-Davidson has undergone a quantum shift in leadership this year, too, as its former CEO and riding enthusiast, Jochen Zeitz, retired from the position amid some particularly tough times at the Motor Company. His replacement? A seasoned executive named Artie Starrs whose experience is well outside the motorcycle realm. Starrs is tasked with righting a lot of wrongs, and seems to be keenly focused on doing so. Priorities include improving things for dealerships and planning a new entry-level machine to help combat dramatically sliding sales. There is also an apparent renewed focus on the company’s extensive history, including its founding family, and Milwaukee. Our hopes are with Starrs to help Harley-Davidson thrive, but he’s got a tough road ahead.
Electric Avenue
Perhaps not at the rate that manufacturers would prefer, awareness and adoption of electric motorcycles is increasing. Mainstream companies like LiveWire and Zero Motorcycles continue to launch new models, pushing the industry forward. As technology continues to advance, prices are becoming more attainable, range is increasing, and charging times are getting shorter.
Triumph’s 33 New Models
On a much more positive note, it seems nobody told the folks at Triumph that times in the motorcycle industry are tough, since the British brand has announced 33 (!) new, or notably updated models for the 2026 model year. This is a monumental feat for any company, let alone one that’s not even one of the world’s biggest bike companies.
Triumph has seemed to make some solid moves ahead of the industry curve as of late, with their smaller 400cc models doing especially well, leading to massive growth for the company globally. So much so that they’ve added the Tracker 400 and Thruxton 400 to the lineup. They’ve also added a Trident 800 into the mix.
The new and updated portfolio includes higher-performance variants of Enduros and street bikes, electric bikes for kids and dirt bikes for off-road racing. Those are just the ones we know about so far, with two-thirds of the new models still tightly under wraps. Even if most of these prove to be refreshed or trim-update variants of existing models, Triumph seems to be bucking the trends and giving riders everything they’re asking for.
While we don’t have a crystal ball to determine what exciting news will happen in 2026, there will surely continue to be some massive shake-ups, with exciting technology implemented, and riding segments splintered into even more variants to appeal to whatever under-served crumbs of a market segment are out there.
Jeff Wilson
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