What is a tourer motorcycle?

Everything about a tourer is chosen to make an entire day in the saddle bearable rather than exciting. The fairing and screen push the wind up and over the rider instead of straight into their chest, the seat is shaped for hours rather than an afternoon, and panniers or a top-box swallow the luggage a long trip needs. Suspension favours a smooth ride over sharp handling, and many tourers add features such as heated grips, cruise control or a passenger backrest that a sports bike or naked roadster would rarely carry. The archetype is worth knowing about, because it did not start out as one. Honda’s GL1000 Gold Wing arrived in 1975 with a liquid-cooled 1000cc horizontally opposed four, and Honda’s own history of the model says plainly that it “was designed as a supersport model, due to the popularity of large-displacement supersport models in the United States”. Riders and the accessory trade turned it into the touring machine the name now means, by bolting on the fairing, the screen and the luggage the factory had not fitted. The category was built by its owners.

The trade-off is weight and size. Tourers are among the heaviest bikes on the road, and they're built for motorway miles rather than a quick dart through town, which is exactly what their owners want. As with every style name here, nobody official defines where a tourer stops and a sports tourer starts. The types of motorcycle page explains that, and points at the one categorisation UK law does make.

Our touring motorcycle art page pairs the bike itself with road posters from routes tourers actually ride. Riders who prefer a lower, more relaxed stance tend to like the cruiser too.

Buying for someone who rides all day? Motorbike gift ideas is a sensible start.

Written by Craig Fearn, Throttlefolio. Last updated 9 September 2026.