2025 Motorcycle of the Year

Every year, crowning a Motorcycle of the Year sounds straightforward — until it isn’t. Sometimes, one bike rises above the rest. Other times, the story is bigger than a single model. Motorcycle.com has precedent for this. In 2023, we gave the award to Suzuki’s 800 platform, and in 2016, Triumph’s Bonneville platform took top honors. The point is, we've recognized families of motorcycles when a shared platform fundamentally moved the needle for performance, design, real-world usability, or was somehow a big deal for the manufacturer or the industry in general. This year, that distinction belongs to Ducati’s new V2 platform.

Already, we’ve ridden and reported on the Streetfighter V2, Panigale V2, and Multistrada V2. And Ducati’s already announced the upcoming Monster and Hypermotard V2, with the DesertX and likely others queued up to benefit from the 890cc V-Twin.

What makes this V2 special isn’t just that it’s new — it’s that Ducati deliberately went smaller. In an era where bigger numbers often dominate spec-sheet bragging rights, Ducati took the opposite approach. In downsizing from the previous 955cc V2, Ducati knew it had to make up for it by making the new engine more adaptable, more efficient, and ultimately more useful across wildly different motorcycle genres. 

That was done in several ways, as explained in our primer on the V2 engine. This includes Intake Variable Timing, the change from desmodromic valve actuation to traditional valve springs, and much more. IVT allows the engine to deliver flexible torque at lower rpm while still pulling hard up top. That elasticity is exactly what lets the same core engine feel at home in a sport-focused Panigale V2, a hooligan-ready Streetfighter V2, and a long-legged Multistrada V2 — without any of them feeling compromised.

Some motorcycles earn recognition purely on performance. Others earn it because of what they represent. The KTM 990 RC R manages to do both, which is why it receives an Honorable Mention for Motorcycle.com’s Motorcycle of the Year.

There’s no avoiding the context here. Over the past year, KTM has been under immense pressure, with financial turmoil and the very real specter of near bankruptcy hanging over the company. Times like that usually mean what comes out the other side is cost-cutting, consolidation, and safe bets. What KTM brought us instead is none of that — it showed up with the 990 RC R, a motorcycle that feels like a defiant statement of intent. In a way, totally on-brand for KTM. Granted, much of the development and R&D for the RC R happened before the company’s near collapse, but KTM could have easily scrapped the project and we’d all understand.

KTM’s 947cc Parallel-Twin has been a hit with us because it’s a powerhouse with the kind of urgency and character that embodies KTM’s Ready To Race mantra. The torque delivery is immediate, the midrange is meaty, and the top end has enough punch to keep things exciting.

Equally impressive is how well the RC R’s chassis comes together. Borrowed and revised from the 990 Duke platform, the frame brings a sense of stiffness and precision that translates beautifully once fairings are wrapped around it. Adding a linkage to the shock brings an extra element of control and refinement to the rear end that the standard Duke doesn’t have. The result is a fully faired sportbike that feels planted, sharp, and communicative. We experienced a little hesitation with initial turn-in, but we’re not ruling out the tires as the culprit here. Tires, obviously, can easily be replaced and change the handling profile. 

Taken as a whole, the 990 RC R does something KTM hasn’t done in a long time: it firmly reasserts the brand’s presence in the full-size, fully faired sportbike segment — a sandbox it hasn’t played in since the RC8 was discontinued a decade ago. Sure it’s not perfect — a notchy quickshifter dulls some of the fun, engine heat can get a little toasty at slow speeds, and the need to purchase certain electronic features as options is especially annoying — but the bones are all there. 

For a company that’s endured so much turmoil, releasing a motorcycle this good after a 10-year break is no small achievement. That’s why the KTM 990 RC R earns our Honorable Mention. It may not take the top trophy, but it impressed us enough that we had to give it a nod.