7 Best New & Updated Cruiser & Tourer Motorcycles For 2024!

Now, pretty much all of the major motorcycle manufacturers have announced their full lineups for 2024, including Harley-Davidson, who usually come in a little bit later. So now that we've got a full idea of all the bikes that will be on the market for this model year, here are our picks of the best new and updated cruisers and American-style tourers, and we'll go in price order ascending. And as you can imagine, with Harley being involved, it does get pretty spendy. Starting at the most affordable end of the spectrum, we've got the brand new Kawasaki Eliminator 500, which can be snapped up for just under £6,000. Now, this bike is based upon their 500 platform that also powers the Z500 Naked and the Ninja 500 sports bike. And so you've got a parallel twin with a 180-degree crank that makes around the 45 horsepower mark. The curb weight is nice and low at 176 kilograms, and the seat height is also nice and low at 735 millimeters. So this should make for an excellent choice for anybody new to biking who fancies that laid-back cruiser stance and riding position. In fact, it comes in very similar to the Honda Rebel 500, which has long been a popular seller in that sort of market. But what I will say is the Kawasaki is about 15 kilograms lighter. The seat's a little bit taller as well, so you don't feel like you're fully scraping the floor. And perhaps the looks are a little more neutral as well, with the Rebel being particularly distinctive. So definitely do check this one out if you are already looking at a Rebel. And there's also, for another £400, an SE version that gets a mini headlight cowl, a slightly fancier seat, fork gaiters, and a USB-C socket up on the bars to finish it off nicely. Another £700 will get you a bike which I would consider to be far more desirable, and that's the brand new Royal Enfield Shotgun 650. You see, while the extra 150ccs of capacity don't necessarily get you much more in terms of top-end power, the Shotgun does have an extra 10Nm of peak torque, so it'll feel like it's got a bit more shove in the mid-range. And also, the 270-degree crank in this parallel twin gives it a much more pleasing character and sound at the exhaust. Then you've got the overall design style, which I think is just that little bit more authentic looking in terms of the slightly retro vibe that you'll find on a lot of these bikes. For me, that's massively aided by the steel cradle frame as opposed to the steel trellis on the Kawasaki, but also the genuinely air and oil-cooled engine as opposed to the liquid-cooled twin that definitely has a much more modern appearance. On top of all that, Enfield always offer a nice selection of paint jobs too, from the stealthy base model to the more bright and pop-in premium versions, whereas the Eliminator 500 at the moment is only available in the single black colourway. So yes, for me, I think I would have to take the Shotgun 650 out of the two, and that's despite the extra price and also considerably more weight. Now, we've actually got one of these arriving for test later this week, and so I'm hoping it's every bit as good as I'm expecting. Certainly, we were impressed by the Super Meteor 650 last year, and effectively, this is a very similar bike, but just with a slightly more sporty riding position and a more aggressive appearance. Now, there's no exact price confirmed for this next bike yet, but I'm expecting the new Motomarini Calibri 650 to come in around the £7,000 mark if their other 650 bikes are a decent gauge. Now, for your money, you're getting a decent parallel twin that makes around the 60hp mark, although it does get that 180-degree crank like the Kawasaki, which for me always makes the character feel a little bit flat. Still, it has to be said, it looks quite good if you like that slightly more modern aesthetic, and there's a lot of design flair and detail across the bike, finished off nicely with LED lighting all round and a distinctive daytime running light up front. I've also got to call out that almost Spider-Man-looking radiator guard behind the front wheel, which I think will be divisive and you'll either love it or hate it, but at least they've done something that makes this bike stand apart from the crowd. Now, the rest of the bike in terms of chassis spec looks decent if not outstanding, with comparable specs to something like the Enfield, but really, I think they're most likely to sell these bikes based upon those striking looks. Now, it's a big step up in price now to the next bike, with the BMW R12 coming in around the £12,000 mark, but it has to be said, you're getting quite a lot more performance and spec. This bike is powered by their 1200 air and oil-cooled Boxer twin, effectively the same as you'd find in their previous-gen R9T Retro, and so peak power is up at 95hp, which is really quite punchy for this category of bike. Elsewhere, you'll find good quality brakes from Brembo, suspension from Marzocchi, and a relatively slender wet weight of 227kg. So, I'm actually expecting this bike to handle in quite a lively fashion, and also the riding position looks fairly sporty too with mid-position foot controls, although I guess the Boxer twin sort of forced their hand on that one. I've got to say though, what I think I really like about this bike most is the styling. I really do think they've managed to make a good-looking bike out of this, and they haven't gone too far down that Harley clone route, which I think is for the best, because it makes this bike stand on its own two feet in terms of the looks. It's distinctively a BMW, and the Boxer twin is a big part of that look, but also I think they've just nailed the overall proportions and stance, and you've got some nice finishing components, especially if you spec it up with some of the option 719 stuff, like the billet parts, the paint job, and the gold rims. I'm massively looking forward to testing one of these out, and so definitely one to look at if you like the character of that Boxer twin, as well as the general BMW design ethos. Now, in a similar neck of the woods, you've also got the Triumph Bobber and Triumph Speedmaster, also twin cylinders around that 1200cc mark, with the Bobber being the more aggressive and stripped back, whereas the Speedmaster gets a little more chrome and bling, as well as a more sat-up riding position owing to those pulled-back beach cruiser style bars. Now, from both bikes, you'll get a similar peak power figure of 77hp, although really, they're tuned for torque, making well over 100Nm peak, fairly low in the rev range, and so there really is plenty of shove under acceleration. I should say, the Bobber is particularly low at 690mm in the seat, and so I'd definitely recommend checking one out and taking one for a demo, to make sure you can get along with that sort of riding position, but generally, these are super pleasant bikes to ride, and also have that typical of Triumph level of finish and attention to detail with the design. Now, all of those specs are the same for 2024, but specifically for this model year, there's now a Stealth Edition available for pretty much all of the Bonneville models, and so with the Bobber, it's a purple fade, whereas the Speedmaster gets a sort of red fade. Each will cost £800 on top of the £12,995 base price for these bikes, but I do think they finish them off nicely, and was actually lucky enough to go and paint one of these tanks at the Triumph factory when they announced them, so I'll link to that video in the description, in case you haven't seen it already. Almost double the money though, will get you one of the brand new Harley-Davidson Street Glides or Road Glides, which have had a big update for this year, inheriting a lot of features and design cues from their super premium CVO models of last year. The big one, at least visually, is that LED lighting at the front end, which has a much more modern look than previous iterations of these bikes, and personally, it's one that I actually quite like, but let me know what you think down in the comments. Now there are also performance upgrades, with a bigger, more powerful version of their Milwaukee 8 V-Twin, and there's a brand new 12-inch TFT display, which is absolutely humongous, and it now uses their Skyline operating system, which I have to say is very nicely designed, and really does make these bikes feel pleasant to use, as I found out from borrowing the CVO version last year. Now granted, it is a huge step up in price, and also a huge step up in weight, with the Street Glide being the lighter of the two, and still coming in at over 350 kilograms wet, but it has to be said, you're getting something here that has a lot of wow factor, providing you're into this sort of thing. Generally, I find from the comments on these videos, that Harleys are a little bit of a love-hate thing, and so you'll either think that this is a reasonable price for such a thing of beauty, or a senseless way to spend 27 grand, when you could buy two other awesome bikes for the money. In fact, this stance will probably only deepen further, when you consider the brand new 2024 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide ST, which comes in at £38,995. The idea of this bike is to take the standard Road Glide, and completely soup it up as part of their custom vehicle operations department, taking inspiration from the King of the Baggers race series, that has built in popularity over the past few years. So this bike gets the 121 cubic inch version of the Milwaukee 8V Twin, which makes well over 120 horsepower, and I think they say it's the most powerful version of that engine, that they've fitted into a factory bike, although there is a 135 cubic inch version, which you can buy as a crate engine, and have fitted at the dealer as a massive upgrade. Elsewhere, you've got a titanium exhaust with a carbon end cap, as well as a bunch of carbon bodywork, and so even though this bike comes in at 363 kilograms curb, it's still about 12 kilograms down on the previous generation CVO Road Glide. Brakes are from Brembo, with four piston radially mounted calipers on some wavy discs, and suspension comes from Showa, with full adjustability at both ends. So this is a much more sporty ride, than you'd typically expect from this genre of bike from Harley, and it's all finished off with a King of the Baggers inspired paint job, that features a Screaming Eagle logo on the side, and some popping red accents on the hardware. So look, a thing of beauty and brilliance, or a terrible waste of £40,000. Let me know which you think down in the comments below, and also I'll leave on the screen now, my full walk around of the CVO Street Glide from last year, where you can get the full details, including a lot of the similar features, to that brand new ST version of the Road Glide. Do hit subscribe if you've not already, if you want to see more of the latest motorcycle news like this, right here on YouTube. Many thanks for watching today, and we'll catch you in the next video.