Bike of the Year: what we learnt

‘Moaners might point out the Ducati’s imperfections (that noisy screen) but we don’t care’

Getting the bikes together for Bike of the Year, riding them, prodding them, looking at them and talking about them always raises some interesting points. This is what we learnt this time around…

How it makes you feel is still the most important thing: we were all set to give top slot this year to the Triumph Tiger 1200. The Triumph is a staggeringly good motorcycle, and the engineering behind it is really clever and innovative. But here’s the problem, it just didn’t get us excited the way that the Desertx did. The Ducati isn’t as technically interesting or as innovative as the Triumph, but everyone who rode it came back grinning. The Desertx is a great package, with good features and, crucially, it makes you feel great. And that is what a good bike should make you do. Moaners (and Triumph freaks) might point out the Ducati’s imperfections (mainly that noisy screen) but we don’t care. We’ll stuff the earplugs in a bit further and enjoy the ride.

Theme of the year? Platform engineering: there are a lot of good new bikes for 2022, but most of them aren’t really new. They are re-workings of existing models. Obviously Yamaha are the masters of this with the CP2 and CP3 engine ranges which give us the R7 and XSR900, both in the top five, but everyone’s doing it; the Ducati’s 937cc engine is shared across multiple models, the Honda NT is based around an Africa Twin, the Speed Triple RR is just a mildly re-worked Speed Triple, the Husqvarna Norden is a KTM 890, etc. And it’s not a bad thing, if it means that we get more choice and better value.

The BSA is here (well, almost, fingers crossed): we were among the very first to ride the new bike, and while the performance will not set your trousers on fire, it is an astonishingly complete package for a marque that hasn’t properly produced a new bike for 50 years. Roll on 2023.