14 Best New & Updated Retro Motorcycles Of 2020

The retro motorcycle scene is still going strong in 2020 so here are 14 of my favorite new and updated bikes. A lot of the footage used here was captured at EICMA last year where many of these models were announced and I got to see them up close but before we get underway if you're new here and you want to see more list videos like this plus the latest motorcycle news and reviews then I think most of us are pretty familiar with the Triumph Thruxton. It's been one of the most popular cafe racer style bikes since its launch in 2016 and this year Triumph made a whole bunch of updates to make an already great bike even better. The headline change is an increase in peak power now producing 103 horsepower as opposed to the 96 of the Thruxton R with the peak occurring at So essentially more revs and more power. Triumph managed a 500 rpm increase to the redline of the Thruxton by using a lighter crankshaft, balance shafts and clutch to reduce engine inertia by 20%. There are also magnesium cam covers and thin walled engine covers which combined with the other changes helped to bring their overall weight down to 197 kilograms dry versus 206 for the base Thruxton and 203 for the Thruxton R. The RS uses the same fully adjustable Showa forks and Ohlins shocks as the Thruxton R but the brakes get an upgrade for 2020 with slightly higher spec Brembo M50 calipers. The Pirelli Diablo Rosso 3 tyres of the R have also been swapped for Metzeler Racetec RRs which Triumph describe as super sticky. The finish has been revised too with the gloss and chrome of previous models making way for a more matte blacked-out look. I really like the premium graphical option which they call matte storm grey and matte silver ice especially with the optional seat cover and fairing. The Thruxton has always been my favorite cafe racer on the market and I can't really see that changing with this iteration. Once motorcycle dealers are back to normal business I'll be sure to take one of these out for a spin and post a proper review. Triumph also released the latest bike in their factory custom lineup with the Bobber TFC and it looks pretty damn special. It gets all of the same engine upgrades as the Thruxton RS that we mentioned above but it still retains the high torque variant of the Bonneville twin with a Bobber specific tune. It's capable of 86 horsepower at 6,250 rpm and a 110 newton meters of peak torque at four and a half thousand which is a good 10 horsepower more than the Bobber Black and four newton meters more peak torque. It also gets the same Brembo M50 brakes as the RS with a Brembo radial master cylinder and a span and ratio adjustable lever. Suspension also gets a massive upgrade over the Showa forks and KYB shock of the Bobber Black with Ohlins fully adjustable upside down NIX30 forks and a rebound and preload adjustable Ohlins shock. The finish on the TFC bikes is always second to none and this Bobber model is no exception. Clip-on bars and multifunction rear lights neaten up the overall silhouette of the bike and the machined yokes, instrument bezel and carbon panels all add a touch of class. There's also the TFC paintwork on the tank with lots of gold detailing running throughout the bike, a real leather seat with embroidered Triumph logo and a titanium arrow exhaust with carbon end cap. Yes it's about five grand more expensive than the stock Bobber but that's quite a lot of extra spec and finish. Yes I know another Triumph but there are plenty of fellow Triumph owners subscribed to this channel so I thought I'd get them all in first. This is a special edition of the T100 and T120 built to celebrate the relationship between Triumph and the desert racer turned stunt rider turned Triumph dealership owner called Bud Ekins. The most noticeable feature of the two bikes is the red and white paint job which features a heritage Triumph logo as well as Bud Ekins logos on the tank and front mudguard. Triumph have also added some premium spec finishing items to the bike to elevate it as a special edition with a Monza fuel cap, LED indicators, diamond knurled grips, bar end mirrors and dedicated black engine badges. The Bud Ekins special editions will also come with a collector's certificate of authenticity signed by both Triumph CEO Nick Bloor and both of Ekins's daughters. The fundamentals of the bike remain the same with the engine, chassis and equipment of the T100 and T120 all unchanged but for the right collector who was a fan of Ekins or Steve McQueen who he so often stunted for this could make a special bike to own. Although Kawasaki had both the W800 street and cafe back on the market last year there was no direct replacement for the original W800 with its more traditional shiny chrome look but for 2020 it's back and inherits all of the technical updates that were made to both the street and the cafe. It now has ABS as required by law which means that a disc is now used on the rear instead of the drum of the last model and there's a stiffer frame owing to larger diameter tubes as well as thicker 41 millimeter forks. A new LED headlight finishes off the front end. The 773 cc parallel twin which uses bevel driven cams is hardly gonna set the world alight at 47 horsepower but then again it's not exactly designed to be a performance machine. It's more about old-school style and charm like many of the bikes on this list. At £8,495 though I'd be eyeing up the Triumph T100 for only an extra 400 quid. When I first saw the MV Agusta Super Veloce concept in the flesh at last year's London Motorcycle Show it was love at first sight. To me it's the perfect balance of new and old and it had some beautiful finishing touches when you looked at it up close. Many concept bikes are eventually a bit disappointing when they're finally produced with all sorts of concessions to practicality and homologation requirements that sapped the magic out of the original idea but I can't say that it was the case with the Super Veloce when the two production variants were unveiled at EICMA. Firstly the Seri Oro which is MV's name for their most premium line of bikes is hard to distinguish from the concept. It has the same fancy Keneo wheels, a beautiful 3x1x3 Arrow Exhaust system, carbon fibre bodywork, CNC'd components, an Alcantara seat and a leather tank strap. The only major change seems to have been the yellow screen swapped out for a clear one which makes sense if you actually want to ride it. Although the bike is based upon the F3 800 the new bodywork and revised components really transform it into something much better looking at least to my eye. A cheaper base model was also unveiled and forfeits the carbon for plastic fairings whilst retaining more of the standard F3 800 parts like the fuel cap, wheels and exhaust. But it does still offer the overall shape of the original concept only a more accessible price point. I rode the F3 800 briefly last year and it was a blast. So the same performance figures of 148 horsepower in a 173 kilogram package but with beautiful retro styling layered on top makes for a very attractive motorcycle indeed. Moto Guzzi released a couple of new variants of the V7 for 2020 with a 10th anniversary edition of the racer and a special edition S model of the unfed V7 stone. Both still have the same 744 air-cooled transverse v-twin which is good for about 50 horsepower and 60 newton meters of peak torque. Suspension is fairly basic but good enough and braking is taken care of by a single four pot Brembo at the front and a two pot at the rear. The curb weight is around 209 kilograms which isn't bad compared to some other retros and it does have that massive 21 litre fuel tank which gives it a decent range. The racer has a new fairing and seat cowl with red graphics and a 10th anniversary logo. You also get the distinctive red frame of course and a shiny chrome tank with an anodized Red Eagle badge. LED lighting is now used all round with a new headlight, smaller LED taillight and some slimmer indicators. On top of that the rear mud guard has been narrowed and the bar end mirrors are also new. Just 750 of the limited edition V7 3 stone S will be made. It gets the same new LED lighting and bar end mirrors as the racer but it has a much more muted finish in line with the rest of the V7 range. The S has a satin chrome tank which I absolutely love, a leather tank strap, a saddle with a bit of extra detail and red shocks to add a pop of colour. Out of the two the S is my favourite. I'm not sure I could live with the red frame of the racer but the S still looks that extra bit more special than the base V7. Blacked out versions of retro bikes aren't really a new thing. Triumph have done it in the past with the T100 black, T120 black and Bobber black for example and Ducati have also produced a dark variant of the Monster in the past. Now they're back at it again with the Scrambler Icon dark although they've taken the simpler finish as an opportunity to knock 700 quid off the price making it the cheapest bike in their range. The tank is black, the seat is black, the engine covers, the wheels and the bodywork. In fact the only non-black items are the exhaust system and the fuel tank side panels. It's pretty much the same as the Scrambler Icon with its 803 cc air-cooled two valve V-twin producing 73 horsepower and with a wet weight of 189 kilograms it's one of the more performant budget retros on the market. It also gets cornering ABS as per the rest of the range which is unusual at this price point of seven and a half grand. There's a couple of downgraded finishing items like the basic round mirrors and bulb indicators as opposed to LEDs which have helped Ducati to cut the price of the Icon dark but ultimately it represents a new cheaper way to get on the Ducati ladder without sacrificing performance. They also announced an update to the 1100 Scrambler this year with the new Pro and Sport Pro models. The Pro carries on where the previous generation left off with the same 1079 cc V-twin which is good for 86 horsepower although it's been updated to meet Euro 5 emissions regulations. The frame and subframe, hydraulic clutch with servo assisted slipper, Marzocchi forks, KYB shock, Brembo M4.32 brakes, Pirelli MT60 RS tyres, the three riding modes and cornering ABS and traction control all remain the same but there's a new paint job called Ocean Drive, a new seat trim and a shorter rear mudguard with a swingarm mounted license plate holder like the Scrambler 800. The twin exhausts have also been revised moving from under the seat at either side to a more typical Scrambler arrangement stacked on the right. The Sport Pro has a few performance upgrades like fully adjustable 48 millimeter Ohlins forks and preload and rebound adjustable shock. The bars are narrower and lower and the bar and mirrors finish off a sleeker look. It also comes in this new matte black finish with oversized 1100 logo and a brown saddle and combined with the gold anodized forks it would be my pick of the two from an aesthetic perspective. There was something a bit awkward looking to me about the last generation but the Sport Pro has the right tweaks to make a sweet-looking ride. Based on the super popular MT07 the Yamaha XSR 700 is essentially a retro body kit. It uses the MT's 689 CC parallel twin as well as the frame, suspension, brakes, wheels and electronics but the retro hardware, tank, saddle, lighting and mudguards add an old-school flavor. There's not a great deal new for 2020 apart from the punchy red and white paint scheme and gold painted wheels but personally I really like the look of this finish so I thought it was worth highlighting in this list. The same paint job is also available on the larger XSR 900 which is based upon the triple cylinder MT09. A new entrant into the retro category the Suzuki V-Strom has been redesigned for 2020 with their DR big of the 1990s in mind and as such gets a square headlight, beaky front mudguard, yellow paint job with a blue saddle and some gold rims to boot. It's also had some changes to the power, specs and equipment and I covered all of those off in my review of the best new adventure bikes for 2020. I've linked to that video in the description in case you haven't seen it already and there are a couple of other retro inspired adventure bikes in there like the Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel and the Ducati Desert X Concept. Those as I say are my pick of the new and updated models for 2020 but there are still plenty of great 2018 and 2019 bikes on sale this year so here's a quick run-through of the best of the rest. The 650 Interceptor and Continental GT Twins transformed Royal Enfield sales figures in the UK last year almost doubling compared to 2018 and it's easy to see why. They're great looking bikes with reasonable performance but the price point is hard to beat with the Interceptor costing just £5,699 in the most basic paint schemes and the Continental GT starting at £5,899. The Himalayan is also a big seller in the UK for Enfield again owing to its low cost, simple design and old school charm. Many commenters on my videos are begging for a mash-up of the two, the Himalayans off-road bias with the extra power of the 650 Twin. There's nothing on the horizon right now but you never know that's a bike I'd love to see for 2021. Just a couple of weeks ago Honda unveiled a stunning new concept the CBF which was inspired by their CB900F of the 70s and 80s. There's no word on whether it'll actually go into production but in the meantime the CB1000R that it's based upon already makes a great retro ride. Admittedly it's more on the modern side than many of the bikes on this list especially considering that it uses the last generation Fireblade engine to generate a hundred and forty three horsepower and has plenty of modern touches like the single-sided swingarm. But the neo sport cafe design language that Honda developed for the CB range including the CB650R, CB300R and CB125R definitely has a more retro look than the previous generation of CBs with plastic bodywork making way for metal finishes and a round headlight defining the front end. There's a full review of the CB650R linked to in the description. I borrowed it from Honda for a couple of weeks and thought that it was exceptional value for money around the seven grand mark. If those bikes are too modern for your tastes there's always the CB1100RS which offers less performance than the CB1000R but uses a more traditional frame design, twin shocks and a bit more chrome. And of course we have to mention the monkey bike and the supercub both of which are based upon iconic Hondas of the past. Also from Japan there's the Kawasaki Z900RS to consider. It's built upon the Z900 using the same inline-four but tuned down for a bit more mid-range and torque. But it has a different sub frame, seat, tank and finishing hardware to mimic the Kawasaki Z1 which was introduced back in 1972. This is one of my favorite looking retro bikes and it also gets great reviews on the road. Suzuki performed the same trick on their GSX-S1000, kitting it out with some angular bodywork to replicate one of the most distinctive bikes of the 1980s. The Katana is substantially more powerful than the Z900RS with 148 horsepower peak as opposed to 109 but personally the styling doesn't really do it for me. Perhaps if you own the original Katana or if you're particularly fond of that era then it might float your boat but I think it's a bit of an acquired taste. The BMW R nine T has been around for a good five or six years now and didn't get any major updates for 2020 but it just had to be on this list. There are a bunch of different flavors available with the cheapest pure model, the standard R nine T, the scrambler, urban GS and racer. The 1170 cc air and oil cooled boxer twin makes a good 108 horsepower and the rest of the equipment is well specced across the range. Personally I love the rugged look of the urban GS and that would be my pick of the bunch. I've never quite been able to decide on whether the Indian FTR 1200 is a retro motorcycle or not. You see it's supposed to look like a flat tracker specifically their FTR 750 race bike. A bike that's relatively recent but still has some design features that have been used on flat trackers for many years. Let me know what you think in the comments, should it be on this retro list or not? Either way it's a hoot to ride and there's a link to my review in the description. It makes decent power at 120 horses and is really well specced in the slightly more expensive S version. It's an engaging ride and also distinctively styled being pretty much the only production flat track inspired bike on the market. That might be about to change though with Harley registering documents that outline a tracker powered by their new revolution max engine so it could be in the works for 2021 but it'll have to be some bike to outperform the FTR. I know I included quite a few triumphs at the top but there are still a few others in their modern classic range that were launched in 2019 and ought to make it onto this list. The 1200 Scrambler XE was one of my favorite bikes that I tested last year with a big tall stance, plenty of power and lots of great tech to play with too. The Speed Twin also stands up well against the new bikes in this list. A more comfortable position than the Thruxton perhaps but not far off in terms of performance. And then of course the Street Twin and Street Scrambler are still worth a look if you don't feel like you need all 1200cc's of the other models. I've tried to be as comprehensive as possible there but I'm sure there are plenty of bikes I've missed which you can let me know about in the comments. I always enjoy receiving suggestions for other bikes I should check out. I'd also love to know which is your favorite on the list. If I could pick any right now it would probably be the Superveloce Ceri Oro for its pure Italian exotica. Let me know yours in the comments below and if you're new here and you want to see more videos like this, hit subscribe and I'll catch you next time.