The 12 Best New Updated Adventure Motorcycles For 2026

Now we've got boatloads of new and exciting adventure bikes on the market for 2026 and so in this video we'll go through my pick of the bunch of them in price order ascending. And I've got to say the most affordable and therefore the first on the list might be one of my favorites and also one of the biggest surprises. It's the BSA Thunderbolt which was launched at Eichmarin Milan in November and I think I've got to admit that you know I wasn't really expecting them to produce something that looks so seriously off-road capable. You see BSA has had a bit of a resurrection lately after being bought by Indian manufacturers Classic Legends with their first bike being the Goldstar 650 then more recently the 650 Scrambler along with a new 350 version of the Bantam. Now this one the Thunderbolt builds upon that Bantam platform with the same liquid-cooled 350 single-cylinder engine but it just wraps it up in this adventure bike chassis which like I say you know actually looks pretty good. We're talking spoke wheels with a 21-inch front, some proper knobbly-bobbly Dunlop tires, appropriately specced brakes, some decent ground clearance as well from some relatively long travel upside-down forks and monoshock and then a tall wide handlebar with some handguards as well, a little bit of a windscreen and so it all comes together to look like something that could go toe-to-toe with something like the Himalayan. The thing is that I really like about it though is the styling package it's not super retro it's you know a little bit retro influence but it's also got a bit of rally influence as well and for some reason it just all comes together to make for a very desirable looking bike and also something a little bit different. I guess the only downside is that little 350 single it makes under 30 horsepower peak so this isn't exactly going to be a you know long distance touring kind of adventure bike especially if you want to go two up or with luggage but I would expect it to come in fairly affordable with the Bantam for example starting at three and a half grand. It's super cheap, undercuts even the Enfields and so I'd expect this one to maybe come in at like four and a half or five. So yeah maybe not your main bike but it could be an awesome little second bike if you do fancy a bit of soulful mud plugging. That said the mid to small capacity adventure market has been booming over the past couple of years and so there are plenty of brilliant options elsewhere for similar money or a little bit more. Last year we had the CFMoto 450MT for example the new 390 Adventure like I say there's always the 450 Himalayan too but for 2026 we've got almost everybody throwing their hat in the ring like this one from Kawasaki the new KLE500. Thing is with this bike as well it still comes in at under £6,000 but you do get a 500 parallel twin that makes around 45 horsepower so you're close to the maximum that's allowed for an A2 compliant bike. Then you know the chassis spec looks decent if not outstanding you know considering the price it looks like a fairly well specced bike looks fairly well finished as well you've got the TFT dash and so the only real caveat I guess with this one is that it doesn't look particularly tall. I've seen a few comments on my videos about this bike criticizing the ground clearance it comes in at 185mm and so maybe this isn't the choice if you want like a you know a hardcore off-roader something like the KTM 390s might do that sort of thing a little bit better but if it's for moderate adventure riding and a bit of gravel work then this could still do the trick. I will say as well it looks a lot better in the slightly more expensive SE spec with a bit more protection the taller windscreen but the thing that really does make the difference is the better selection of paint jobs. Still I reckon the bike to beat in this segment now is almost certainly the BMW F450gs which has had so much hype building up to its launch in November but I will say you know having seen it in the flesh at EICMA the initial signs do look very good although of course the proof is in the riding which we'll get around to at some point still that new 450 twin makes really good power as well for the class. Weight looks a so it really does look quite competitive and also you've got that BMW know-how in terms of building an adventure bike that's both good on and off road. Then you've got the appeal of that baby GS styling which it really does you know pull off quite nicely and a couple of little USPs like their new easy ride clutch which is like a centrifugal clutch so you've got a bit of twist and go if you like that style of riding and also the fact that the engine uses a 135 degree crank with parallel twins in this sort of class it's usually a 180 which in my experience sounds a little bit flat or a 270 is probably the most common now which has more of that v-twin kind of sound but it's so common nearly every parallel twin uses that at the moment so this hopefully has a bit of a distinctive signature sound and feel. Pricing starts at £6,990 so a little bit more than some of the competition although I will say that I think a lot of prospective buyers will be wanting that GS trophy paint job for the proper baby GS look and also the spoke wheels as well really finish it off and unfortunately if you head on to the configurator and spec those two things up well you're looking at closer to £9,000 which certainly sounds a little less appealing. Now before we get on to the next bike I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Lightlock and give them a massive thanks for supporting the channel and sponsoring this video if you've got a one of these or any other bike for that matter you know like myself I'm sure it's your absolute pride and joy and so you want to do everything you can to make sure that it doesn't get stolen that's why we work with Lightlock who make these special angle grinder resistant coatings for their locks and that means they're and I'm serious about this far superior to a regular non-armored lock in fact it's barely worth using a non-armored lock as we found out when we went to their factory to do a cutting test and it took us about I think it was less than 10 seconds to cut through the regular lock whereas their x3 one of their locks that uses this baronium coating shredded two discs before we gave up and also really depleted the battery on the battery powered angle grinder like I say I don't understand why you'd use a cheap lock on an expensive motorcycle especially given how ineffective they are against one of the most common methods of nicking bikes and so if you fancy picking one of these up then do head to the link down in the description below to find out more and you'll also find down there a discount code specifically for our viewers which doesn't exist anywhere else on the internet it's 15 pounds off it's the biggest discount that they offer and so I definitely recommend using that if you're thinking about picking one up before the discount code ends but next up we've got Norton who must have knew that they'd have to do something a little bit different in this very busy part of the market now the sort of mid-capacity adventure bikes in order to be able to stand out and that's exactly what they've done with the new atlas if you look at the aesthetics of the rest of the bikes in this market you know it tends to be rugged it tends to be dirt bike inspired it's very graphical whereas this bike that they've gone for is where it couldn't be much more different it's minimal it's got very clean lines and they say they've gone for you know like a luxurious aesthetic both to this bike and the rest of the new bikes in their lineup to match with this new premium branding that they've come up with and a new position for Norton on the motorcycle market you've got to say it does the job it definitely stands out but also under the skin it looks like it should make for a pretty decent ride there's a new 585 cc parallel twin tubeless spoke wheels as an option adjustable suspension a pair of radial front brake calipers a spacious riding position lots of luggage options and also an absolute boatload of tech there's keyless heated seats and grips lean sensitive rider aids with cornering cruise control wheelie control hill hold control launch control connectivity and also this nice big dash and also some very flashy looking switchgear to manage it with so clearly they've tried to build something that's you know a little bit of a cut above the rest of the middleweights and with it being a Norton i'd fully expect that to be reflected in the price which is still tbc i'd expect you know eight or nine grand but still you know one to demo if you're looking for a bike that isn't too big in terms of adventure bikes but still has all the bells and whistles and also that slightly modern classy styling package but we're up around the 10 grand mark now and that means we're getting into the mid to large capacity bikes and i've got to say one of my personal favorites is the 750 trans out from honda now it might not be the most off-road aggressive middleweight adventure bike you probably look to a tenere for example for something like that but if you want a more balanced adventure tourer with a bit more focus on road riding then this is a brilliant choice with that very lively 90 horsepower parallel twin and also you know particularly sweet handling on the road that i think goes better than it looks like it should now for 2026 though the trans out gets a couple of updates one is that it now comes with their e-clutch system and so that means like that new centrifugal clutch on the f450gs you can ride this one as a twist and go although with the e-clutch it's an electronic actuator taking control of things rather than a mechanical centrifugal clutch there is however still a clutch lever so you can override the clutch if you want to slip it so low speed maneuvers or off-road work for example and so yeah this gives it a point of differentiation in that middleweight market that might make it look fairly tempting for anyone who likes that ease of use on top of that though honda uk also announced that they'll be offering this sp edition for 2026 which was previously on sale in other european markets it's basically like an accessory pack so you get some extra protection thrown in like the sump guard and the engine bars but i think the main reason to go for it is that slightly throwback looking sticker pack of course i think it enhances the looks a bit it makes it look a touch more exciting but also you might want to get it to protect your paint as well for this sort of money though i think i would find it very hard to resist if i was looking for a new bike the new cf moto 1000 mtx now the exact price is still tbc but you'd expect it to be good value as usual from this chinese brand and initial expectations are saying that it should come in around the 11 to 12 000 pound mark thing is though much of the underpinnings are shared with ktm like the punchy parallel twin which is derived from their 990 so expect well over 110 horses plus the low hanging fuel tank design you get plenty of capacity i think it's 22 and a half liters but it hangs so low that it doesn't really come at the detriment of the handling it makes these bikes very easy to ride even if you've got the tank fully fueled up suspension is from kyb as well you've got tires from pirelli there's a full suite of electronics too and i'd also say i think anyway cf moto have absolutely nailed the looks on this one in fact cf moto are one of the few chinese manufacturers that i think have managed to create a bit of a distinctive signature style and for me the blue the pink the white and the general cf moto shapes well they always work pretty nicely but this new flagship adventure bike is no exception moto guzzi's lineup though has stayed pretty much the same for this year you've still got the v85 air cooled adventure bikes you've got the v100 liquid cooled more modern feeling stelvio but they have changed the finishes with some new paint jobs for 2026 and some of them i've got to admit do look rather nice there's the v85 strada the more street biased version of that bike which i think looks fantastic in this lime green which they also put on the v7 sport last year and definitely want to go for if you like a bit of visual punch the v100 on the other hand i think looks very classy in more of a forest green with just a few contrasting accents just to make it pop a bit now recently yamaha have been working their way through their cp2 powered bikes in order to modernize them and fit them with ride-by-wire electronic throttles this opens up loads of modern features that makes them more competitive with the immediate competition like traction control riding modes and cruise control as well and so the tenere world raid is one of the latest bikes to get this suite of electronics on top of that though they've made some other tweaks while they were updating it so they fitted it with an inertial measurement unit so now some of the rider aids are lean sensitive they've upgraded the suspension i believe they've strengthened the frame as well there's a new steering damper better ergonomics including a one-piece seat and also a reshaped tank and a new larger tft dash along with the redesigned switch gear now the first world raid i've ridden it off-road at their adventure center it was one of my favorite bikes that i've ridden off-road in terms of these mid to large capacity adventurers just because of the suspension which is excellent the really usable engine and also the great ergonomics so i'd expect this new 2026 version to be as good if not a little bit better now to keep the tiger lineup a little bit fresh for the new model year triumph have introduced some special editions with both the 900 and 1200 versions available in either an alpine or desert edition the alpine is for the more road biased gt models the desert for the more off-roady rally models and all of them get a bit of a fancy paint job with the desert edition of the 900 looking particularly good to me on top of that though you get a few extras thrown in the 900s for example get some extra crash bars and also the acropovich accessory silencer fitted as standard whereas the 1200s get heated seats front and rear and also the rear facing radar for the blind spot warnings which previously was only available on the top of the line explorer models with the 30 litre tank one to keep an eye out for later this year though is the new desert x which had just been shown in this preview form at eicma and motorcycle live in november now the existing desert x is one of the best literish adventure bikes on the market with great performance both on road and off the super cool semi retro inspired looks and also a full suite of the latest technology the only thing that was a little bit long in the tooth about it was the tester stretta v twin engine but it looks like that's about to change with their new v2 engine in this particular concept bike that's already being rolled out to the panigale v2 the street fighter v2 the multistrada v2 the monster v2 and the hypermotard v2 having experienced it i can say it's a very lively engine it likes to rev it's also got plenty of bottom end torque as well because of the variable intake timing but i think perhaps most important for a bike like this is that it sheds quite a few kilograms versus that tester stretta and so you might end up with a slightly lighter desert x overall so yeah although we don't have the full announcement yet for this one i'm very much looking forward to it and i'd expect a much improved desert x to be fully unveiled at some point in the not too distant future maybe halfway through this year or worst case scenario you know october november now ktm's 1390 upgrade to their super adventure models was due last year but that's before they ran into severe financial difficulties which resulted in a series of court proceedings and also production got stalled too now indian manufacturer bajaj have swooped in to help out put in the funds and taken control and got production back up and running and so the result is we're actually starting to see some of these 2025 models actually hit dealers now for 2026 and also we've seen them at a couple of the shows like motorcycle live in fact that was my first chance i think to see the new 1390 super adventures up close and i've got to say they do look really quite impressive that super adventure r really looks the business with the new styling it looks very capable as well and all of them i really like the looks of this new tft dash which has their own signature style in terms of the graphics which i think are some of the best in the business and should make them nice and easy to use the biggest change though is perhaps the super adventure s evo with a new amt semi-automatic transmission which should make for a very capable quick but also convenient and comfortable adventure tourer so i'm sure that's a bike that'll be greatly appreciated if i can get hold of one after i get this leg injury sorted but while you know close to £20,000 ain't exactly cheap these lists rarely end without a ducati at the top of the pile the new multistrada v4 rs might not be a true adventure bike it's got that road by a 17 inch front wheel with the sticky tires but it is derived from their flagship adventure bikes the multistrada v4s and so i didn't really know which other list to put it in apart from this one i mean it's part sports bike now this rs model with that 180 horsepower v4 engine that's derived from the desmo version that's in the panigale part tourer i guess because it's absolutely dripping with you know conveniences and tech but i'd almost expect it to be ridden like a tall naked bike it almost looks like a a big supermoto whatever it is though i'm sure it's an absolute hoot to ride although of course if you do want to pick one up it's a substantial fee to own one coming in at £34,095 not exactly loose change but for that sort of money you'd want a very special bike and i think it firmly checks that box as always i'd love to know which bike you'd pick so do let me know down in the comments below do hit subscribe for more of the latest motorcycle news and reviews like this right here on motobob a massive thanks for watching today and we'll see you in the next video