Best Value Motorcycle of 2025

The Hornet may not have won our recent middleweight naked bike test, but on our individual scores, I found myself forgiving a lot of its shortcomings because its engine is such a fun mill to wring out. Its 755cc Parallel-Twin seemed to get more excitable the higher in the revs you took it, which was all the reason we needed to keep the throttle pinned for as long as possible. Fortunately, the rest of the chassis was well balanced with the engine. Direction changes were fast and the overall package felt balanced considering its budget suspension.

Let’s not forget the electronics. For such an inexpensive motorcycle, the Hornet comes with a lot of features. You get a 5-inch TFT, selectable ride modes, multi-level traction control, adjustable engine braking, ABS, and a bi-directional quickshifter. That’s a lot of stuff!

Sure, its cramped ergos don’t give you much room to move around and actually navigating through the screen to fiddle with the electronics can be a pain, but for just $7,999, the Honda Hornet 750’s fun factor wins out. 

Honorable Mention

Of course, the Hornet 750 wasn’t the only bike that packed a lot for relatively little. In fact, CFMOTO’s 675SS wears the same price tag as the Honda and also offers a lot. For one thing, you have CFMOTO’s distinctive styling language that’s spread across its entire sportbike lineup. That alone is striking. You either love it or you hate it, but there’s no denying you’ll get noticed on it. Being a three-cylinder, the 675SS makes all the right sounds when you thumb the starter, and they only get sweeter the more you twist your wrist. Power is decent, too, coming in at 79.8 horsepower and 46.8 lb-ft of torque to the back tire. In street riding scenarios, which is its intended domain, fueling is smooth and power comes in at a linear pace without much choppiness or major dips in the powerband.

Being a sportbike, it’s reasonable to want to take the 675SS to the track, and that’s where things break down, at least a little bit. The engine leaves some to be desired up top, where it sits in a huge flat spot that starts around 9,000 rpm. Fortunately, you get a quickshifter for the upshifts. 

Overall, you get adjustable suspension, decent brakes (with stainless lines!), a very nice 5-inch TFT display, and an array of multi-level electronics. You do have to contend with footpeg positioning that seems odd, but an aftermarket pair of rearsets should solve that.

Let’s start where we usually do: the engine. We now have a true 1100cc Inline-Four engine thanks to a stroke increase of 3.3mm over the previous version, netting it at 59mm. Combine that with the 77mm bore and we get 1,099cc. On the dyno, we got 124.6 horsepower and 77.4 lb-ft of torque to the tire. Not crazy levels of power, but the torque graph is basically a flat line from 3,000 rpm to 9,400 rpm, meaning you get gobs of midrange torque anywhere you want it. 

This torque-rich engine is paired with a chassis that gets some choice upgrades in SE trim. We’re talking Brembo M4.32 calipers, steel-braided lines, and a fully adjustable Öhlins S46 shock. Other SE bits include heated grips and this exclusive colorway. As a sum of its parts, we not only loved the engine, but praised its chassis as well. That’s the perfect engine recipe for a sport-tourer. 

Well, almost. Touring means being able to carry things, and the Ninja 1100’s panniers are sold separately. Nobody likes to pay extra for what should already be on the motorcycle, but this is becoming a common trend. Also, navigating the menu on the 4.3-inch TFT isn’t the most intuitive process, as the combination of arrows, taps, and holds doesn’t make sense immediately, but if you were to own the bike then you’d get used to it quickly. Lastly, the brakes could be stronger, but that’s a fine example of the nits we have to pick to find something “wrong” with a bike.  

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