Although we usually love the custom motorcycles at Bike EXIF, you can also see us glued to our screens during the MotoGP season. We love racing, and by extension, Motorcycle Racing. The engineering on a proper MotoGP racing bike is confusing and often applied to more advanced custom builds.
But the motorcycle itself is only part of the package. Once the engineers had created it, the team’s designers had the daunting task of combining the team’s corporate identity with the numerous sponsor brands, to create a distinctive paint color. be at 200 mph.
Those are jackets that are remembered for many years, sometimes becoming iconic. Who could forget Valentino Rossi’s Camel-sponsored yellow Yamaha or Suzuki’s Lucky Strike era?
We’re almost halfway through this year’s season, so we thought we should pause and inventory this year’s MotoGP racing bikes. We’ve ranked them by who we think has hit (or failed) their goals and noted designs that we think will continue to be remembered.
10. GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Remember the Tech3 blue, silver and orange KTM from 2020? Or blue GO!!!!!! Yamaha from the early 2000s? What about last year’s Tech3 bike; mostly orange with the bold KTM logo on the side?
This year’s Tech3 nominees are nowhere near as exciting as any of them.
Renamed GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernandez are essentially running KTM RC16s under the GASGAS banner (if you didn’t know by now, KTM owns GASGAS). So they took the same approach as last year and kept the paint color simple—the signature color of the brand, accompanied by their logo.
It’s no different from the bikes that GASGAS specializes in in other areas, like motocross, enduro and racing. Except the base color of the brand is red… like another brand with more experience in MotoGP. If there’s one paint color that needs some serious imagination before 2024, it’s this one.
9. CryptoDATA RNF The new CryptoDATA RNF paint color would be at the bottom of the list, if not for the fact that, unlike GASGAS, they actually added some graphics to their bike. Using what the team calls a “bold combination” of green, black, blue, red and rose gold, the team’s Aprilia RS-GP looks like every part of it is made of. by a different designer that no one knows what the other part is. doing.
Its parts look great. But throw it all into one picture, and it’s a mess that’s seriously lacking in cohesion.
However, we bet this is not the fault of the team’s designers. RNF renewed themselves in 2023, swapping from Yamaha to Aprilia for their bikes and from WithU to CryptoDATA as their main sponsor. Chances are, the graphic designers behind this were given an impossibly long list of colors and textures that had to be included.
The blue block used in the front looks great, as does the olive green tail. But the line that divides them (they call it rose gold but it’s closer to a pale coral pink) doesn’t do the bike any favors. And a thought for the Italian dairy company, Sterilgarda; they must have been the last sponsor to sign in, as their logo appeared to have been pasted at the last minute.
8. Yamaha Factory Race If you don’t know Aldo Drudi’s name, you’ve definitely seen his work. He’s responsible for countless racing bike helmet designs and paints, and he’s designed all of Valentino Rossi’s helmets. Drudi also wrote the design of this year’s Yamaha MotoGP—but despite his lineage, we don’t feel it.
Last year’s Yamaha bike was sleek and intimidating; a striking blue and black design accented by the Monster Energy logos has somehow managed to look less garish (as Monster Energy logos often do). This year’s bike retains that tone but adds some gray to accentuate the YZR-M1 in an urban camo-inspired design.
Yes — urban camo. Welcome back to the mid 90s. Vanilla Ice will approve, no doubt.
The YZR-M1’s ‘fun’ design could be an attempt to appeal to a younger audience. But, like a balding middle-aged man wearing tight jeans and Converse sneakers, it’s trying too hard.
7.DucatiLenovo The biggest news from the factory Ducati camp at the start of the season is that Pecco Bagnaia has chosen to run the number 1 plate in front of his bike this year. It was a bold move by the defending champion; The last time someone won a back-to-back championship with number 1 was when Mick Doohan did it in 1998. But so far, it has paid off.
The second big news is that Monster Energy has joined as a sponsor. As for the rest, most of the design of the Desmosedici GP remains unchanged until 2023, except for some subtle tweaks.
That’s good… I guess. Ducati has been involved in MotoGP racing for 20 years now and almost exclusively on red bikes. Sure, it’s not as stylish as the tri-color design Rossi and Hayden experimented with in 2012, or as cool as it was when Fila sponsored the team—but it’s not the ugliest looking bike on the grid.
6. Racing Mooney VR46 Valentino Rossi’s team is another that hasn’t changed much (or less) for 2023. But that’s a good thing.
The satellite Ducati racing bikes of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi wear a black base paint, with bold stripes running along the sides. One has Rossi’s signature yellow and the other is orange to represent the team’s main sponsor, Mooney.
It’s a striking color combination, but what really makes it great is how the graphics complement the bike’s silhouette. Despite the fact that there will be no less than eight Ducatis on the track this year, the VR46 team will have no trouble getting spotted.
Of course, we also wouldn’t object to the bold all-yellow paint job.
5. Red Bull KTM . Factory Race Did the KTM factory team even update their paint colors for 2023? We cannot say. Is there anything going on here other than a massive Red Bull logo? Uncertain. Does RC16 look super cool and lightning fast? You then.
Remember when tobacco brands were allowed to sponsor racing teams? That era produced some of the most iconic armor ever seen. Ducati and Marlboro, Honda and Rothmans; you’re visualizing them when we list them, right?
Here’s the deal: energy drink companies are the new tobacco sponsors. In fact, Red Bull isn’t even an energy drink company anymore—they’re a huge sports media company that also happens to make energy drinks.
Just like Red Bull Racing’s F1 cars, the Red Bull KTM factory bikes have become iconic. In 20 years, we’ll all remember the glory days of Brad Binder and Jack Miller—and comment on what KTMs look like in 2020.
4. Aprilia race The 2023 season will be remarkable for Aprilia for two reasons. For starters, they will have two more bikes on the grid, running on the RNF Aprilia team. Second, they have lost the right to make concessions thanks to Aleix Espargaró’s outstanding 2022 season.
One thing that hasn’t changed is Aprilia’s racing style. The factory team’s RS-GP race bikes come in the same black, red and purple colors as last year, with little or no changes. And we’re perfectly fine with that.
Unpainted, the RS-GP is the best-looking bike on the grid. And the combination of a black base coat with kinetic red and purple stripes only improves it. Standing still or in motion, the Aprilia A team’s RS-GP is simply one of the best looking cars on the track—even if its drivers are struggling to get it to the podium right now.
Our only grip? It needs more purple. Much more purple.
3. The Gresini . Race Gresini’s 2022 bike combined the team’s Pantone 2122 blue with Ducati’s signature red. But it feels a bit slap the dash.
The team’s designers cleaned up the Gresini bike’s graphics for 2023 and it looks incredibly sharp. There is a clearer split between powder blue and red, with red stripes cutting across the middle of the bike. A white streak on the handles and inside the flaps adds a neat look.
Sponsor logos don’t draw attention—and on top of that, the leather jacket designs by Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio blend in perfectly when they’re in attack.
So far, they have not been able to achieve as much from the Desmosedici GP as what Enea Bastianini did last year. But without a doubt, this is one of the most beautiful machines on the track.
2. RepsolHonda It turned out to be a difficult year for Repsol Honda. They are the only team with two MotoGP champions on the team, but Marc Marquez and Joan Mir have spent more time on the gravel than at the top of the timesheets so far this season.
One thing that hasn’t changed is Honda’s relationship with Repsol. They’ve been together for nearly three decades now—so it’s no surprise that their paint colors stay the same through 2023.
The Honda RC213V once again wears the signature white, orange and yellow Repsol graphics. This year though, they seem to have tweaked them to be a bit brighter, making the bike even stand out more than before. (Bonus points for the orange wheel too.)
There’s no denying it—Honda and Repsol are an iconic couple. And that makes the RC213V the closest thing to a modern classic available in the MotoGP paddock.
1. Prima Pramac . Race Pramac have started their 2022 season with a crazy white, blue and red paint job. Then Italian insurer Prima signed on as main sponsor and Pramac changed their design midway through the season. The blue has been swapped out for purple (Prima’s corporate color) and the team’s Desmosedici GP has gone from distinctive to completely immobile.
There’s a big difference between adding a new color to an existing design and creating a paint color from scratch with an established palette. That is why the Prima Pramac Racing design was born in 2023.
Red might seem like an obvious nod to Ducati, but it’s actually Pramac’s corporate color and is significantly brighter than Ducati’s red. It stands out against a striking white background and is interspersed with purple patches, with the entire design tapering towards the back.
The new interface is somehow cleaner and more chaotic than before. And as it stands, it’s the best-looking bike on the grid — and one of the fastest.
Image source: MotoGP.comDucati Press, KTM Press
