2014 Middleweight Mash-Up Six-Way Shootout! + Video

It’s easy for us to get carried away in the spirit of the MOment, no matter what kind of motorcycles we’re testing here at the MO. Manufacturers are constantly showering us with the latest greatest machines: $30,000 six-cylinder sport tourers? We love them. $15,000 retro nakeds? Fantastic! Cruisers? Fresh surprises every year, including the new Indian Scout.

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But when we say the middleweight Twins in this shootout (plus KTM’s overachieving Single) really are some of our favorites, this time we mean it. These are the bikes people actually buy in bulk, the ones that let the kids get a foot in the door, bikes you could ride to work every day and embarrass way more expensive ones in yon canyon on the weekends. While the OEMs spare little expense in engineering their one-percenter models, these bikes walk a tightrope between performance and price, between high-tech and bottom line, which seems to really bring out each manufacturer’s very best thinking.

Affordable performance for everyman, a chicken in every pot and four valves, too. With no further ado, we bring you six awesome bikes we could actually buy ourselves (God forbid it should ever come to that), from lowest-ranked on the official MO six-man Scorecard to most desirable. In this bunch, even the loser is a winner.