Website hits are a straight measure of popularity – better still the particular pages people are clicking on. Data from MCN’s website, with its plethora of new and used bike reviews, plus bikes for sale, makes for interesting reading, as revealed recently in trade paper British Dealer News.

It’s no surprise that Honda tops the hit charts, making up 17.4% of bike review reads. The top ten almost mirrors that of new bike sales, with Honda followed up by Yamaha (11.5%), Kawasaki (10.9%), BMW (9.1%) and Suzuki (8.6%). Triumph, Ducati, KTM, Harley-Davidson and Aprilia rounded out the top ten. Dividing bike review hits by sector revealed that naked machines were the most popular at 24%, followed by supersport, adventure sport, sports/tour and custom. Interest in electric bikes had increased since 2022, but only to 4% of the total.

Honda also dominated MCN’s classifieds, with the company taking five places in the top ten of most frequently viewed models. Surprisingly, given its small market niche, the GL1800 Gold Wing took top spot, followed by the NC750X and Africa Twin – the current top three also reflect seasonal changes. Gareth Evans, Online editor at MCN, said: “Adventure bikes are becoming increasingly popular as the weather turns.” That was reflected in the overall figures, with 16% of classified hits going to adventure machines.

Jim Freeman, Chair of the BMF, said: “MCN has always reflected the marketplace and its no surprise to see the big H in the top spot. The market’s obviously changed a great deal from the days when some of us used to head for certain newsagents in Farringdon EC1 the day before the official publication day. Why? Because the MCN advertising offices were in EC1, and they got bundles of copies about 12 hours early. The printers used to load the van up with copies for the local newsagents, so if you happened to buy a copy, you got an overnight start on the classifieds, many were the bargains picked up.”

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of Apao Opp – Unsplash