Press — motorcycle buying advice

It’s March 2026. The roads are drying out, the evenings are stretching, and by all rights this should be one of the busiest, most optimistic moments in the motorcycling calendar.

We tell ourselves younger riders are choosing retro bikes because they crave authenticity. Because they want steel frames, analogue dials and “real feel.” Because they’re rejecting rider modes and radar cruise control in favour of purity.

Motorcyclists across the UK have become used to one unavoidable reality: insurance is rarely cheap. Yet recently a new question has begun surfacing in garages, cafés and rider forums across the country. If a motorcycle is simple, modestly powered and relatively inexpensive to buy, why does it sometimes cost so much to insure?

Is premium motorcycling actually in trouble? Or is it simply maturing — like that rider who used to wheelie out of every junction and now quietly checks tyre pressures before a Sunday run? Let’s zoom out beyond one brand and look at the market as a whole.