What have been the big new stories affecting biking and motorcycling in the last month? What new bikes have been announced? What licence or market changes have been made? And what interesting bikes or people have hit the headlines?

In the first of a new series of monthly news round-ups, we find out!

After the doom and gloom which came with December’s end-of-year official UK bike sales figures, which were down year-on-year by a full 19.3%, there’s now some cheer with the news that the Motorcycle Industry Association’s official UK bike sales figures for January are up 16.1% on January 2025.

Total sales for the month were 4201 machines, among which some of the most popular models were Honda’s affordable retro roadster, the GB350S, and, in the adventure bike category, BMW’s evergreen R1300GS.

In a shock move, historic US motorcycle brand Indian announced this month that it had completed its change of ownership from Polaris to LA-based private equity firm Carolwood LP.

The move comes after the V-twin cruiser specialist and rival to America’s Harley-Davidson revealed another sharp sales decline from around 30,000 bikes globally in 2023 to just 25,792 in 2024. 

Relaunched after years of dormancy by ATV and snowmobile giant Polaris in 2013, it’s thought that, despite an impressive range of bikes and significant sporting success, Indian did not meet the long-term, high-profit growth goals required to stay part of Polaris’s core strategy. 

Indian, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, will now operate as a standalone company with the transfer of its manufacturing facilities and around 900 employees.

New CEO Mike Kennedy, a former Harley-Davidson executive, said:

“2026 will be a special year to honour our history, but more importantly, to drive the brand into the future with a renewed level of commitment, focus and clarity that can only be found as a stand-alone company."

While most new 2026 models were unveiled at the big autumn shows in Milan and Birmingham, there are still plenty more to come.

Moto Morini, the Italian brand now owned and built in China, has just announced its new Alltrhike 450, a good-looking, A2-compliant 450cc twin-cylinder adventure bike, now on sale for just £5,299.

Ambitious new Chinese brand QJMotor has also just announced its racy-looking SRK921 naked roadster, which has a 921cc inline four-cylinder motor good for a claimed 127.4bhp, MV Agusta-alike looks, and impressive cycle parts all for just £8699 (plus a £300 on-the-road charge).

While for some, most exciting of all may be not one but two new Ducati’s. The ‘second generation’ DesertX adventure bike is now powered by the brand’s latest 890cc V2 twin-cylinder engine (in place of the old 937cc version), as also now used in the latest Monster, Hypermotard, Panigale, and Streetfighter, and also gets updated styling and spec to suit. It’ll cost £14,995.

And, even more stylishly, the new, limited edition (just 873 will be built) Formula 73, a retro-style premium sportster based on the Scrambler platform but with styling inspired by the legendary 1973 Super Sport 750 Desmo, which set the template for nearly all Ducati V-twin sportsters that followed.

But late January and February also saw the passing of two of motorcycling’s ‘greats’.

Artist and illustrator Paul Sample, who created the legendary ‘Ogri’ motorcycling cartoon strip which graced the inside back cover of Bike magazine for nearly 40 years, passed away at the end of January.

While the founder and owner of the USA’s Barber Motorsports Park and its adjacent Vintage Motorsports Museum, George W. Barber Jr, who made his fortune in his family’s dairy business before turning to motorsports and philanthropy, passed away peacefully at the age of 85 on February 15.

The museum, in particular, has become a must-visit attraction for riders across the globe, with 1800 motorcycle exhibits.

One of the world’s biggest auctions of classic motorcycles took place in Las Vegas at the end of January, with the star record-breaking lot being this, an ultra-rare prototype example of Honda’s legendary ‘first superbike’, the 1968 CB750.

Apparently, this example was the very first CB750 to arrive in the US, and is characterised by its pre-production ‘sand cast’ crankcases and sold for a record-breaking $313,500 (£232,701)!

So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed our first news monthly roundup - see you in the next one!