March 1, 2026

Motorcycle Industry in 2026: Sales Down, Middleweights Rise, and New Trends Emerge

The motorcycle industry in 2026 faces declining sales in major markets, but growth in the middleweight segment, emerging brands, and new trends suggest a dynamic and evolving future. Demographic shifts and affordability play key roles, while electrics and innovative accessories present fresh opportunities for riders and manufacturers alike.

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00:00 - Introduction

00:35 - Sales trajectory

06:20 - Age of riders

08:02 - Brand highlights

10:50 - Growing ADV segment

14:56 - Growing middleweight segment

20:26 - Electric

23:51 - Wrap up

WEBVTT

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prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.

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Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. In today's episode, we'll look at what is happening in the motorcycle industry as we head into the 2026 riding season. We'll look at what happened with sales last year, how the demographics of riders could be a factor in the decline. But there's also some bright spots for 2026 with some growing segments and brand celebrations coming in 2026. So let's start with some of the sales trajectories because I think this is something that might put a little bit of damper onto people's spirit when it comes to motorcycling. And I like to start with bad news and then move into some of the better news. let's begin with in the U. S. Now in the U. S., sales for 2025 were down 7.6% year over year. And in Europe, sales were down 9.1% year over year. So it sounds like for the markets where most of our listeners are, that sales are way, way down. Now, if we look at the IIHS, which is Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, they show that registrations have been on the climb since 2002, going from about 4.3 million to 8.8 million in 2023.

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while sales may have been slowing down over this trajectory, the number of registrations has been continuing to climb each and every year. And the thing we have to think of is that sales are not a negative, You're not like giving bikes away and just not having them anymore. This is just a slowdown in the number of new bikes coming into the market, which are increasing the registration. So it's not that people are getting rid of the bikes necessarily. They're just not acquiring new ones. Now, I will say that in the U. S., the reality is tariffs in the U. S.

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probably didn't help. Most brands that we have available to us are not American brands, and therefore they could be subject to significant tariffs, thus weakening demand. And this sort of bears out when you look at some of the premium brands around. Now, while two of the brands that I'm going to mention are actually American brands, they are still sold typically at premium prices. So for Harley-Davidson, its average selling price has been around$30, 000. They don't really have an entry-level bike anymore.

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They don't really have bikes that are where most people can afford them. They're really a very high-tier manufacturer at this point. this is affecting their sales. In fact, globally, Harley-Davidson sales were down 12%. And in North America, they were down 13%. Now, remember, U.

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S. sales were only down 7.6%, which means that they are outpacing the overall market decline, which suggests that Harley took the brunt of the decline. Now, another major manufacturer in the U. S. would be Indian Motorcycle. And with Indian now coming under private equity ownership, we probably won't get numbers released for the entirety of 2025. But they did show the numbers for the first half of 2025, which was a 2.1% drop in the first six months of the year. It's highly unlikely that they've turned that around in the latter half of the year. So we can anticipate that they had that.

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Now, obviously, not nearly as bad as Harley-Davidson. Indian has been, in many ways, growing.

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They've been stealing market share from Harley-Davidson because they still sit in that same segment typical cruiser-style bikes, which works quite well for a lot of the American riding population, especially if you're in the Midwest, where there's a lot of really straight roads and highways. Now, here, the other brands we have to look at are some of the other premium brands.

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And BMW had, which is really surprising for them, they had their first decline in more than a decade with a 5.1 reduction in unit sales globally. Now, U. S.

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sales actually were also nearly as bad as what we saw with Harley-Davidson with a 14% decline in the U. S. This was, of course, BMW being built not in the U. S., probably a direct result of tariffs. It really would dampen demand. The other one that's kind of interesting, though, and this is when you look at it from a U. S.

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perspective, not from a global perspective, is Ducati. Now, Ducati has been a premium brand for quite a what's interesting is that in 2025 they did have a sales decrease of 7% globally which kind of fits with what we saw in Europe of about a 9.1%.

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So, they actually were still doing better than the overall European market. But the really interesting story for U. S.

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listeners is it was a 4% increase in the U. S. people weren't buying the Harleys, they weren't necessarily buying the Indians, but it seemed they were more likely to be buying the Ducatis. And this is really an interesting Now in the past, and this is why I brought up some of that registration data, what's interesting is that used sales have been continuing to climb.

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And this is, while we don't have sales data yet for 2025 on used data, it's likely that this was a sweet spot especially as a lot of the a lot of the prices of bikes have continued to climb.

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If you think of $30, 000 as an average selling price for a Harley Davidson, the number of people who can afford to buy a brand new bike is fairly low, which means you probably saw a lot more transactions occurring in the used bike market. And this is where the registrations and the used sales will help us have a better indication of what's going on there. Now in likely hit in Europe sales. And we talked about this in an earlier episode where a lot of the bikes were effectively preloaded into 2024 to beat that cutoff for 2025 in Euro 5. And therefore, we're seeing a little bit of a reduction in sales in 2025. The real question, and this is something I would say, is for our European and our U. S.

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markets, is can this turn around in 2026 with many of the newer lower cost models that are beginning to come online? now one of the big things that we have to think really the age of riders. And this is where I think Harley-Davidson really focuses on their $30, 000 bikes is the thought being as you get older, you have more disposable income. You're more willing to invest in a more expensive bike as you get up older. And in the U. S., the average motorcycle rider is in their mid-50s. So this is not a young kid just getting their license as an average rider. They're continuing to increase in terms of age. In Canada, it's the early 50s is the average rider age. Whereas in Europe, the average rider is somewhere between their late 40s into early 50s. So in general, we do tend to be a bit of a rider demographic. this really does start to show a little bit more of a passion. While there are definitely some riders who begin their riding journey in mid-life, many of us have been riding for a long time. And that passion is still a big part of it. And I think this is something that the manufacturers still have to understand and reflect on is they do have an audience who's keen on it. But if they only cater to that audience with the very expensive bikes, they're not going to get people who are coming into the market and then will grow with them. So we really do need to see more affordable bikes coming on. And as we talked about in our episode about some of the Chinese bikes that have come onto the market that are looking really outstanding and amazing, this is starting to change.

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We're starting to find some of these lower cost offerings come out, which could start to affect some of this age of riders.

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Now, I did promise that we would talk about some of the positive things that are coming into 2026.

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And I really want to begin with some of the brand highlights here. So the first thing is, of course, for our UK listeners, this is probably not new news to you. But Norton is finally returning to the U. S. market.

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And this is a really exciting development. Norton, of course, is legendary for some of their bikes of previous generations.

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And seeing them come back into the U. S. market is going to be a real shot in the arm of having another brand that can fit into that nostalgic aspect We also have a few brand milestones coming up. In fact, in 2026, both Royal Enfield and Indian are celebrating 125 years since their founding back in 1901. And Ducati is going to be celebrating their 100 year since their founding, so later this summer. So this is really exciting just to see that some of these brands that are around have been continuing to put out product for a long, long time.

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Now, of course, both Indian and Royal Enfield aren't exactly the same companies that they were.

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Royal Enfield, of course, was the manufacturing arm of the original Royal Enfield. They just kept building them, but the brand is still the same brand that has been around. Indian Motorcycle, of originally went out of business in 1953. Several different efforts to regroup it came together, and the most successful thus far was when Polaris bought it and brought out a couple new bikes in 2014.

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But, of course, this year it's now going into private equity ownership, and they've brought in an industry insider to really focus on running that organization, who comes from both Harley Davidson and Vance and we talked a little bit about how some of overall market sales were down, particularly in Europe and in the US. Now, I think the vast majority of the sales in Europe being down was really due to Euro 5, where we saw almost an artificially increased number of unit sales in 2024, and therefore it's come back to more of them, maybe a more normal sort of set up in 2025. But in the US, that deterioration, as we showed, really mostly was happening amongst the very expensive Harley Davidson, Indian, which really focus on the cruiser of category of motorcycles. And while these are awesome bikes, there are a lot of fun bikes, they aren't the most popular bikes in the industry, nor are they necessarily ideal for all parts of the world. They work great for a lot of straight highway riding where you're going to be going in a lot of the Midwest. But if you're trying to carve through tight, twisty roads in European mountains, that's probably not the best bike to have. what we're seeing is really a growth in adventure bikes. And this has been a story that has been going on for many, many years at this point. They're continuing to grow and grow as a segment.

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Globally, it is the most popular segment, and this is probably helping to explain some of the drops for Harley. Now, Harley does have the Panamerica, so they do have an entry into this class. But it's kind of an oddball. It's really, I think they're struggling to get people who are not already Harley riders to consider the Panamerica. And a lot of riders who are already Harley riders aren't interested in adventure bikes. So they're in this weird sort of situation of they're not appealing to other riders, nor are they appealing to their existing riders to change categories. And that's making it a bit of a challenge for them.

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And as we covered in our Chinese motorcycle shift gears episode, many of these new Chinese brands have really been pushing into the ADV segment with both affordable and compelling choices with brands like Moto Marini and the X Cape or the Kove 450 Rally. These are bringing good looks and value to the market in 2026. So we will continue to see some of this segment continue to emerge. And when we think of both of those bikes are selling for on about a third the price of a typical Harley at this point, it's really, really hard for people to say, yes, I'm going to go for that big cruiser when you could get a good bike for a third the cost. Now, another thing that is starting to happen is we are seeing more and more aftermarket brands begin to emerge. a lot of this is interesting because it seems to be that this is a result of people keeping their bikes for longer. Probably because the bikes to buy a new one are just so expensive. So they're going to keep riding their old bike for a much longer period of time, continue date, and adding on some new Farkles every once in a while is a nice way to make your old ride feel fresh. So some of these new brands continue to emerge, make that a real viable possibility.

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but it's less of a direct fit or made specifically for that one model of motorcycle. These are a lot more of universal type of offerings that are coming out and allowing people to augment their bikes in a lot of different ways. And not even in ways that people thought of once traditionally. So a couple of great examples of this. Think of the Beeline GPS. And I've mentioned this on the program a few times, but I love this little GPS unit. And it is running off of an application that's actually on your phone, but your phone is tucked away, maybe in a jacket pocket. It's nice and safe and secure. It's not sitting out on your handlebar, getting shaken to death, getting impacted by all sorts of wind and rain and everything. It's protected. And you just have a really simple indicator on your handlebar. And what I love about that device is the mount, because it's such a lightweight device, you can just have a couple of rubber band mount and I can move that between bikes incredibly easily.

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So the expense that you have of moving a GPS onto multiple bikes is significantly cheaper than you would have with a traditional, let's say like a Garmin, unit that you would mount on and have that very expensive mount to hold it in place. Or even if you were to use a mount for your phone, again, to keep your phone secure, it's a much more expensive mount.

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You've got to then have a special case to hold your phone in most to work with that mount.

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So it's just, it's a much larger expense. This is why I really like things like the beeline.

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Another area that you'll see is a lot of the sort of the cameras that people are putting onto their bikes now to capture those moments of their rides. While we may not think of these really as traditional accessories, they are something that is adding into your experience and keeping your love of riding alive. If you can replay some of your rides and capture them and share them with others, or even just for your own enjoyment, it's a way to just keep your spirit alive for that Now, another area that is growing for motorcycling is really these middleweight bikes.

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Triumph just announced their new Trident 800. This is a triple engine, a little bit larger capacity than the Trident 660, which came out a few years ago, but was also updated recently.

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And we a number of manufacturers who are coming out with also other models in this middleweight category. And when we say middleweight, this is usually somewhere in that generally about 400 to 1,000 cc range, which feels like a pretty wide range. But once you get above 1,000 cc, most people will refer to those as being full-sized bikes. And as you get below 400 cc, they may be smaller entry level bikes. This sort of mid-range it allows for things to be a lot more cost-effective. And I think this is why it's becoming really interesting. You have brands like Ducati. They're pushing their V2, as opposed to their V4, which is a much more complex engine, it's a much more expensive engine. The V2 allows them to have another entry, a little bit smaller capacity, a little bit less complexity, and then offer that into lower-cost bikes. Again, this is the real benefit is I'm not paying the premium for a full-size bike, but I have something that's a little bit more capable than maybe an entry-level bike of less than 400 cc. BMW is coming out with 450cc parallel twin GS probably within the next year.

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Triumph has this whole new 400cc line. There's just a number of bikes that are coming various ranges within this middleweight, you think of some of the top tier models that manufacturers have, they are still getting some updates, but it's clear that that market is much more limited. And people want good value bikes. And I've said many times before that I think 100 horsepower is perfect for street use. Yes, it's not as powerful as 150 horsepower, 200 horsepower, 230 horsepower sport bike. And that's true. But on regular streets, 100 horsepower will still get you a nice, fun bike. It's going to be quick.

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It's going to be thrilling through a lot curves that you're doing. Sport riding. You're going to have a good time when you're around that 100 horsepower range. Now, obviously, if it's a 800 pound bike and 100 horsepower, it's not going to be as much get up and go. But if you're just thinking again of these middleweight bikes, that's going to really hit into that sweet spot. That's why I love the Trident 800. This is coming in a little over that 100 horsepower range, a very lightweight bike. It's under 500 pounds. And it's going to be a fun, sporty bike. And it's not going to break the bank because it's about $10, 000 for that bike. I could buy. It's really hard to make an argument into this for expensive bikes. And the big thing to remember is part of the reason why I really like this 100 horsepower range for street riding is you have to

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It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

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And this can save you thousands of dollars with a middleweight over a full-size bike. So I think the sweet spot is really beautiful. Now, I had a BMW S1000R. It was an awesome bike.

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A lot of fun. 160 horsepower.

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And it was detuned from the double R to make it a little bit better for street use. So it had a little bit more torque. It was a little bit more oriented towards when you're in street use. But still, the number of times I was able to hit full throttle and hold it for more than a second or two, I could count on five fingers over the, what, I had that bike almost a decade. There's just not a lot of opportunity to use those bikes to their full potential on public roads. And a track, totally different story. And that's why I think once you get in above that 120, 130, 140, 150 horsepower range, it's so much power that you don't have the opportunity to really use it on the street. And that makes it a lot less fun because you know that the bike is, you're not pushing the bike as much as it could. And when you've got something that's a little bit less power, you can still have fun with it, but you're just pushing it a little bit more.

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And that's why I really like middleweight bikes and they are continuing to grow as a segment.

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We're seeing the excitement of riders buying into the segment.

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We're seeing the most new models coming into this segment. So it is really the area that I think we need to keep an eye out for in 2026. Now, whether some of the American manufacturers, be it Harley Davidson, Indian, get back into this, I don't know that they will. I think Indian's new CEO said they're really doubling down on the traditional cruiser market. They did get rid of the FTR a while ago, which I thought was a cool bike, but it wasn't really fit into that old style that they really were aiming for. And that Indian vintage is a beautiful, beautiful bike that they just announced. the problem is it's still going to be expensive.

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That's about a $20, 000 bike.

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It's still going to be more expensive than a typical middleweight. And as more manufacturers produce models in this range, this could turn some of that unit sales number decline that we talked about in the beginning of the episode into a more of a success story as the year progresses. Now, I do want to talk about one other segment, and this is one that I think some people had a lot of excitement in. It was sort of a unique situation, and it had potential growth. but it hasn't necessarily blossomed in the way that a lot of people perhaps hoped it would, and this is electric motorcycles, and I think they're in almost an odd spot today. If we think of just overall electric vehicle sales, there seems to have almost been a reversal in the growth of electric vehicle sales on a global basis. Now there are some spots where it is still fairly popular. I think Norway has a huge percentage, like 80-90% of all new vehicles. Vehicle sales are electric. But that is an outlier. It's not necessarily broad spectrum as it would be in other places. And I think this comes down to a couple different factors. Number one is that the range really is something that can trip people up. They're worried about the ability go for enough range before they have to stop and recharge the vehicle, whatever it is, be it a motorcycle or a car. And then the second factor into that is the number of charging locations.

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Now Europe is in a much better situation with this than we are in the US. And I think in certain use cases such as an urban environment, electric vehicles and electric motorcycles in regard can actually work incredibly well because you don't need to worry about range if I'm just running around in town, but a lot of motorcyclists, what we like about it is we just go and point a direction that we're going to head out to and ride and we might ride a few hundred miles in a day. And that's not going to work for an electric vehicle.

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So this has been a bit of a challenge for them. Urban electrics, I think that's the one spot where you're going to continue to the interest of riders, but also of manufacturers. But there is this weird middle ground that is starting to emerge.

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We have bicycles that have traditionally been fully human powered and we've been starting to add augmentation on to them.

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and the first few versions of these were were where they were a pedal assist. You would pedal and they would give a little bit more oomph, really great when you're climbing a hill, for example. But there's also been this sort of weird middle ground where you're starting to get bikes that may have a bit of a throttle on them, as opposed to just being a pedal assist. And they kind of are more of almost like a lightweight motorcycle than a heavyweight bicycle.

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We'll get to a light speed as well. And it's this weird sort of zone. They work really well for off-road because, of course, most of them cannot be legally registered for the road. But this weird space in between there is where we're starting to see some real innovation and interesting vehicles come out.

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And I think we're going to continue to see more of those in the coming year. There may be hitting a potential sweet spot because if you think of a typical off-road motorcycle, it might be 250, 300 pounds for a normal off-road dirt But these bikes are coming in even lighter than that. They may not have quite the same heavy-duty suspension. They're really kind of more like almost like a mountain bike on steroids as opposed to a dirt bike a welterweight. But they're a really interesting segment, and this will be another one, I think, an eye out for in 2026.

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So let's wrap up. We talked a bit about some of the sales trajectory that we saw in 2025 Of course, we talked about some of the age of riders. We're generally going to be in our late 40s to mid-50s between Europe, U. S., and Canada.

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That's generally where we are.

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But we also have some really exciting news with new brands returning to the U. S., such as Norton. We've got celebrations of major milestones, 125 years for Royal Enfield in 100 years for Ducati, And then we have the real excitement of the ADV segment continues to expand globally. The Swiss Army Knife bike is just so usable in so many different situations that it really makes a lot of sense for people. And middleweight bikes are hitting this sweet spot. They're not that entry-level bike, but they're also not this really expensive... Way too much technology, way too much engine capacity, way too much power for what we actually need on street use, and therefore many thousands of dollars more expensive. This middleweight is a really interesting we've got a lot of cool things that I think are still on the horizon for 2026. But my question for you is what do you think is the big trend for 2026 in motorcycling?

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Share your thoughts through the text to show link in the show notes or leave a voicemail at throttle and roast dot com slash voicemail. Thanks for I'll talk to you next week.