Who dares wins, or so they say, and that maxim proved truer than ever when it came to the bikes and manufacturers that grabbed attention at the EICMA show in Milan. Bold designs that pushed forwards in terms of performance or technology were the stars of the event and those that played it safe went all but unnoticed on the sidelines.

Given the never-ending popularity of identikit adventure bikes and the sales resurgence of retro machines that might be something of a surprise, but it’s an indication that even while individual riders might be notoriously conservative when it comes to putting their own money on the table there’s still an enormous appetite to see motorcycling as a whole forge ahead. If EICMA is a fair indication, that future isn’t going to be the all-electric vision that’s been plied by multiple governments, but one that sees the increasingly innovative application of combustion engines as part of a mixed array of powertrains tailored to suit their purpose.

Compared to previous years, the revelation of the 2025 event was the incredible advances made by Chinese brands, even just over the last 12 months, putting the established order on notice. Look, for example, at CFMoto: there may not have been as many new models on display there as from some rivals, but the V4 SR-RR superbike that made its debut at the event – clearly a near-production machine – was one of the standout highlights of the show. Sure, there are other bikes that can match the V4 SR-RR’s claim of over 210hp in a sub-200kg superbike, but the very fact that this comes from CFMoto and not Ducati, BMW or Aprilia, and at a time when Japan’s Big Four seem to be losing interest in the superbike market altogether, felt like it could be the first signal of a changing of the guard. And that’s before we even get into the fact it demonstrates a genuine attempt at active aerodynamics that work in corners as well as in a straight line. Will it be legal in racing? Perhaps not, depending on the reading of the rules. Is it really needed on the road? Absolutely not. But nor is 210+ horsepower, and CFMoto clearly understands the difference between need and want… Riders looking for the ultimate two-wheeled tech will surely want active aero even if they don’t need it, and when similar moveable wings hit the mainstream consciousness in 2026 when the world’s highest-profile motorsport, F1, adopts the idea, you can be sure others will be scrabbling to get in on the action.

CFMoto wasn’t the only Chinese brand grabbing attention, either. Benda, despite its relative unfamiliarity, surprised with an array of innovations including its 250cc P51 concept bike, combining a boxer twin with an electric motor for 800cc-equivalent performance, as well as an array of new engines including a straight six. Developing new ICE powertrains seems to be a Chinese forte at the moment, even if they’re standing on the shoulders of giants by cribbing existing ideas, and it’s refreshing change. Many Euro and Japanese brands have been extending the life of their old engines rather than investing in new designs thanks to the belief that electric power will be taking over all too soon. The Chinese willingness to pour development resources into new engines and technologies even when there’s no cast-iron guarantee that the resulting machines will be a sales success is reminiscent of the way Japan’s Big Four created endless radical new models 35 years at the peak of the country’s Bubble Era – a time that’s still fondly remembered as a motorcycling high point. The idea that we could be returning to such rapid development is a mouthwatering prospect, regardless of where the innovation comes from.

EICMA also showed signs that that reticence to develop new engines in Europe and Japan is fading at last, though. Honda’s V3R might have been shown in bare form last year, but this year’s show model made the leap from ‘concept’ to something resembling a running prototype, and there were sighs of relief at the news that the E-Compressor electric supercharger shown in 2024 remains a core element of the bike as it makes its way towards production. It’s going to be intriguing to find out how well forced induction can work on a bike when the boost pressure is created by an electric compressor, unencumbered by lag or reliance on building boost in proportion with engine revs or exhaust flow, as well as how a four-stroke V3 engine sounds and feels.

Over in Europe, MV Agusta’s five-cylinder concept engine proved that China and Japan don’t have the monopoly on innovation. Another indication that companies believe that blanket electrification of motorcycling is still a long way off, it’s a clever move by MV to create an engine layout that’s never been seen before, and one that could become its signature in the future. When half the job in attracting customers is to stand out from the competition, having a twin-crankshaft, square-five engine will put MV into a winning position from the start. Like Honda’s E-Compressor V3, it’s something that we all want to at least experience, just to see how it differs from the more conventional engines that have dominated the landscape for decades, and also like the Honda design, it’s intended to reach production at an unspecified date in the future.

Innovation is risky, but it also offers big rewards. Not long ago the idea of Ducati ditching V-twins for V4s, and steel trellis frames for cast aluminium monocoques, seemed unthinkable, even to the point that the brand itself liked to emphasise how much like a V-twin its original Desmosedici MotoGP bike’s V4 engine was, and insisted on using steel tube frames even in MotoGP. But as it turned out, customers didn’t really care about how many cylinders the bikes had or what the frames were made of: as long as the bikes were better than the competition and looked good, they kept coming. Or we can look to Triumph, which forged ahead with three-cylinder engines back in the 90s when it was a format that had been largely ignored by the mainstream, in doing so establishing not just itself but cementing the triple’s place in motorcycling.

EICMA 2025 showed there’s an appetite for the unusual in motorcycling at the moment, and perhaps even the emergence of a new order if the Chinese industry continues its current rate of advancement. The next few years will be fascinating.