Best bikes of 2023

Best bikes of 2023 Where did 2022 go? Yep, time flies, which is bad for the number of candles on my next birthday cake, but very good when it comes to lovely new bikes. We’ve rounded up the best of the hot, fresh metal that dropped around the EICMA Milan show time, and put it under the MSL magnifying glass. There’s a heap of adventure bikes and naked roadsters, and a few other special treats, too. We can’t wait to swing a leg over all of these sweet machines…

Ducati Diavel V4

Four pots for Ducati’s mental super-cruiser

The Diavel is one of those bikes which, if you haven’t ridden it, is very hard to explain just how good it is. Back in 2010, Ducati took the best of its superbike powertrain and chassis kit and transplanted it into a cruiser-shaped device. Seemingly developed by the same engineers and test riders who made its Panigales, the result was, amazingly, a cruiser which went like a low-seated supersports bike.

The Diavel used Ducati’s superbike V-twin motor up until 2022, but with the firm moving its performance machinery to the V-four platform, the Diavel had to change for 2023. And what a change. The new Diavel V4 uses a version of the 1,158cc Granturismo motor as seen on the Multistrada, which makes 168bhp, and has massive 37,000-mile valve service intervals with 9k oil changes.

You don’t get desmodromic valves, but you do get a slick cylinder deactivation system that turns off the back cylinders when idling and cruising under low throttle loads. That cuts fuel consumption, emissions, and heat generated between your legs: cunning stuff.

Probably the best part of the styling is the silencer design: it has four little exit pipes which look a bit like a Gatling gun, which is properly hilarious. Even more hilarious is the optional ‘Spitfire’ race pipe which has four inline outlets and adds 12bhp while cutting 11kg from the 223kg all-up weight.