This content reviews a selection of new and updated sports bikes for 2026, presented in ascending price order, highlighting their features, performance, and target appeal.
Mind Map
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Now, we've got plenty of interesting
looking, new and updated sports bikes on
the market for 2026. And so, here we go
with my pick of the bunch of them in
price order ascending. And of course,
with it being sports bikes, this one
gets pretty expensive. But we'll kick
off with a relatively humble bike,
Honda's CBR500R.
A nice looking bike, well-made as well,
and also makes decent power for the A2
class with 47 horses peak from its
parallel twin. The only thing I will say
though is perhaps it's not the most
exciting bike in this class owing to the
fact that it comes in a little bit heavy
with a curb weight of 194 kg. That makes
it about 15 kilos more than bikes like
Kawasaki's Ninja 500 or the Yamaha R3 or
KTM's RC 390. I guess the whole point of
this class as well is to be light and
agile. So, is there still a reason to
consider this bike in 2026? Well, one
thing is the fact that it's now
available with that e-clutch or
electronic clutch. And so that makes it
one of the very few twist and go style
bikes on the entire sports bike market.
On the one hand, if you are riding more
aggressively, it gives you those
clutchless up and down shifts like a
quick shifter. But on the other, if
you're riding in town traffic, it does
mean you can ride it as a twist and go,
which gives it a little bit of
practicality. So yeah, this might not be
the choice if you want to set, you know,
your best ever lap times, but it could
be a good versatile allrounder with this
little technological trick up its
sleeve. Moving up a class though, we've
got Yamaha's R seven, which has been
refreshed for 2026 with a bit of tech
that opens up quite a lot of features.
You see, recently Yamaha have been
updating their CP2 powered bikes like
the M07 Naked, the Tracer 7 Sports
Tourer, the Tenner 700 Adventure Bike
with electronic ride bywire throttles,
replacing the traditional cable pull
throttles of previous iterations. Now,
that means they can fit it with more
contemporary features like riding modes,
like cruise control as well, and also
even some of the basics like traction
control, which was missing on all of
these bikes up until relatively
recently. So, yeah, the R seven for 2026
is the latest CP2 powered bike to get
this update. And they've also taken the
opportunity to add an IMU for cornering
sensitive rider aids. A TFT dash now
with connectivity which really does look
a lot more upto-date than the LCD dash
that it replaces. And they've also made
a few tweaks to things like the
aerodynamics, the chassis, and also the
ergonomics. That makes it, you know, up
to speed with the competition. But I do
think there are two things that stand
out about it that maybe make it the
sports bike to choose in 2026. One is
purely vain, and it's the fact that it's
now offered with this 70th anniversary
paint job, which they say takes its
inspiration from the Yamaha Super Sport
bikes of the '90s, including the
original R seven, which was their world
superbike homologation special. For me,
I saw it in the Flesher Ike and I
thought it was one of the best looking
bikes of the show. But then also
consider the R seven. If you're looking
for something that's not super powerful,
it comes in at 72 horsepower peak. Not
super expensive either. It still comes
in at under 10 grand, but also hasn't
been watered down too much in terms of
the riding position. A lot of these
middle weights can be sat up to make
them more usable as a road bike, more
approachable for newer riders as well.
But for me, the R seven still feels, you
know, fairly aggressive and focused. And
so definitely one to look at if you're
looking for a middleweight that's still
got that proper sports bike riding
position. Next up though, another 4
grand will get you a pretty serious bit
of kit. And that's the new KTM 9990 RCR.
Now, I say new, this was actually a uh
2025 bike, but that was before KTM ran
into serious financial difficulties uh
which resulted at the beginning of 2025
in them putting themselves into selfadministration.
