Types of motorcycles, with real examples

People sort motorcycles by what they're built to do: where you sit, how far you go, and on what surface. There's no single official list, but the same handful of types comes up everywhere, and rider training programs teach a core six. Indiana's, for one, names standard, cruiser, sport, touring, dual purpose and three-wheeler (Ride Safe Indiana).

Below is every common type, with real models of each from VehiclesDB, a catalog of 6,391 motorcycle models from 288 makes built from official vehicle registers. For every example we use the type the manufacturer itself files the bike under, quoted and linked. At the end: which types people actually register most.

The main types of motorcycles

Standard and naked bikes

The all-rounder. Upright seat, footpegs under you, handlebars at a natural height, little or no bodywork. A "naked" bike is a standard with the fairing stripped off, often with a sporty engine. Good first bikes, good commuters, fun on a back road.

• Yamaha MT-07 and MT-09: Yamaha files them as "Hyper Naked" (Yamaha).
• Kawasaki Z900 and Z650: "Supernaked" (Kawasaki).
• KTM 390 Duke: "Naked Bike" (KTM).
• Triumph Street Triple: one of Triumph's "Roadsters" (Triumph).
• Suzuki SV650: "Street" (Suzuki).

Cruisers

Low seat, feet forward, hands up, a relaxed lean back. Built for easy riding rather than speed.

• Harley-Davidson Fat Boy: "Cruiser" (Harley-Davidson).
• Indian Scout: "Cruiser" (Indian Motorcycle).
• Kawasaki Vulcan S: "Sport Cruiser", a cruiser with a sportier engine (Kawasaki).

Touring motorcycles

Built for long days and long trips: big fairings and windscreens, luggage, a comfortable seat for two. Heavy, so they're happier on the highway than in town.

• Honda Gold Wing: "Touring" (Honda UK).
• Harley-Davidson Street Glide: "Grand American Touring", Harley's name for its touring line (Harley-Davidson).

Sport bikes

Race-bike shape and performance for the road: a full fairing, a forward lean onto low handlebars, high footpegs, a high-revving engine. Superb on a track or a twisty road, tiring in traffic.

• Yamaha YZF-R1 and YZF-R7: "Supersport" (Yamaha).
• Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R: "Supersport" (Kawasaki).
• Suzuki GSX-R1000: "Sportbike" (Suzuki).

Sport touring

A sport bike made comfortable enough for long distances: a more upright seat, a bigger screen, room for luggage. The Yamaha FJR1300 is a classic of the type; Yamaha sells it as "supersport touring" (Yamaha).

Adventure motorcycles

Tall, upright touring bikes with long-travel suspension, built to keep going when the tarmac turns to gravel. Big tanks and luggage racks.

• BMW R 1300 GS, filed under adventure on BMW's site (BMW Motorrad).
• Honda Africa Twin: "Adventure" (Honda UK).
• Suzuki V-Strom 650 (registered as the DL650): "Adventure" (Suzuki).
• Kawasaki Versys 650: "Adventure Touring" (Kawasaki).

The labels blur at the edges. The Yamaha Ténéré 700, built for long trips on and off road, is filed under "Touring" on Yamaha's US site (Yamaha).

Dual sport

A street-legal dirt bike: lights, mirrors and a plate, but light and tall enough for trails. Lighter and more off-road than an adventure bike, less comfortable on the highway.

• Suzuki DR-Z400S: "DualSport" (Suzuki).
• KTM's EXC range, such as the KTM 300 EXC and 350 EXC-F, filed as "Enduro" in Europe (KTM) and as dual sport in the US.

Off-road and dirt bikes

Built for dirt only: motocross bikes for tracks and jumps, enduro and trail bikes for long rides through the woods. Many are for closed tracks and private land only, so they never appear in road registers at all.

• Honda CRF450: the CRF450R is in Honda's "Off-Road & Trail" range (Honda UK).

Retro and modern classics

New bikes built to look like the ones from the 1960s and 70s: round headlights, spoked wheels, chrome, but modern brakes and electronics. Café racers, scramblers and bobbers are styles within this group.

• Triumph Bonneville T120: one of Triumph's "Classics" (Triumph).
• Yamaha XSR900 and XSR700: "Sport Heritage" (Yamaha).

Scooters

A step-through frame you sit in rather than straddle, a floor for your feet, small wheels, an automatic gearbox and storage under the seat. From city 125s to "maxi scooters" with big engines for the highway.

• Yamaha XMAX 300: "Scooter" (Yamaha).
• Yamaha TMAX, which Yamaha calls a "maxi scooter" (Yamaha).
• Vespa GTS, the classic Italian scooter (Piaggio Group).

The smallest scooters (usually 50cc) are mopeds in most registers, and we list them separately: see the mopeds.

Three-wheelers

Trikes and three-wheel scooters. US federal rules still count them as motorcycles: a motorcycle is a motor vehicle "designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground" (49 CFR 571.3).

• Piaggio MP3: a "three-wheel scooter" with two wheels at the front (Piaggio Group).
• Can-Am Spyder: filed under "3-Wheel Vehicles" (Can-Am).

Which types of motorcycles people actually register

Here are the fifteen motorcycle models most often found in the official registers that record motorcycles by model, with their type and how many of those registers record each:

Motorcycle	Type	Registers that record it
Yamaha MT-07	Naked	11
Yamaha Tenere 700	Adventure (Yamaha US: touring)	11
Yamaha MT-09	Naked	11
Kawasaki Z900	Naked	10
Yamaha TMAX	Scooter	11
BMW R1200GS	Adventure *	8
Yamaha YZF-R1	Sport	11
Ducati Monster	Naked *	10
Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R	Sport	10
Suzuki GSX-R1000	Sport	11
Kawasaki Versys 650	Adventure touring	10
Kawasaki Vulcan S	Cruiser	10
BMW R1300GS	Adventure	9
Kawasaki Z650	Naked	11
Yamaha FJR1300	Sport touring	10

* Ducati's and BMW's websites didn't open for us, so these two types are our own reading, not the maker's label. Every other type is the one the manufacturer uses, linked above.

The order is by popularity: for every model the registers give a rank per country, and we combine them. Two things stand out. Naked bikes lead: five of the fifteen, including the top one. And cruisers barely show up, just the Vulcan S; most of these registers are European. Harley-Davidson has more models in our catalog than any brand except Honda, spread over many names, so no single Harley model ranks this high. The full list, most registered first, is on the motorcycles page.

Where this data comes from

The motorcycle models come from the official registers that record motorcycles by make and model, mostly in Europe plus Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Ukraine. Our catalog records each model's make, name, the countries that register it and how popular it is there; it doesn't record a type. The types on this page are the manufacturers' own, read from their websites on November 11, 2026, and linked next to each model.

More guides

• Motorcycle brands, A to Z: every motorcycle maker, ranked by real registrations.
• Types of trucks and types of vans: the same guide for working vehicles.
• Truck brands: the makers of the trucks and who owns them.
• All motorcycles, A to Z: every make and model in the catalog.

Building something for riders, an insurance quote, a parts shop, a marketplace? The same motorcycle makes and models come from the vehicle API with kind=motorcycle, or as a download.