It’s ‘new bike’ season – the time of year when at shows like EICMA in Milan and Motorcycle Live at the NEC crowds flock to see the new motorcycle models for 2025.

But hand in hand with that, inevitably, comes to the end of the road for some older models, ones that have been superseded, or haven’t been updated to the latest Euro5+ regulations, or simply dropped due to poor sales.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that those models aren’t still being produced or aren’t still on sale elsewhere.

In the UK, in recent years, many loved models that have fallen by the wayside have included Suzuki’s supersport GSX-R family, with the 1000cc superbike GSXR1000 dropped at the end of 2022 for failing to meet Euro5 and the smaller 750 and 600 deleted earlier still – but did you know you can still buy them overseas?

There are plenty of others, too. Yamaha’s brilliant FJR1300 sports-tourer may have ‘died’ in the UK after 2022, but it’s fit and well elsewhere. So is Honda’s brilliant air-cooled four-cylinder retro roadster, the CB1100, and even Kawasaki’s old KLX250 trailie.

And, speaking of ‘old’, you’ll also be amazed at how old some of the more obscure ‘new-bikes-still-on-sale-overseas’ can be – some of which haven’t been seen in the UK for literally decades. Remember Yamaha’s XV250 Virago? Yup, that’s still on sale. In fact, you can also still buy a new Yamaha 1980s two-stroke trailie, the DT175, if you know where to look.

So, we did. Here’s our Top 10 round-up of the best bikes that are no longer on sale in the UK - but ARE elsewhere!

Let’s start with the obvious one – the GSX-R1000. Suzuki’s one-time TT-winning superbike may no longer be offered in the UK (where, despite Brexit, it no longer complies with Euro5 so isn’t homologated for the Eurozone) but it surely is in other parts of the world where the EU regulations don’t apply. The most obvious of these is the US where it currently starts at $18,649.

Interestingly, though, it’s not the only one – with both the smaller GSX-R750 AND GSX-R600, neither of which has graced UK shores since 2017, also remaining on sale. The same is also true in places like New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa.

If big sports bikes aren’t your thing, how about big four-cylinder roadsters like, say, Honda’s CB1100EX The air-cooled, retro-inspired, street bike is also no longer available in the UK after being offered (belatedly) from 2013, later joined by a more aggressive, sporty RS version from 2017 before both were sadly dropped, again for failing to meet Euro5, at the end of 2021. But guess what, you can still buy them new – this time in Japan, although perhaps not for long. According to Honda Japan’s domestic website, you can still buy the ‘Final Edition' of both, with the EX priced at 1,362,900 yen.

Oh, and if those bikes’ 88bhp isn’t enough to get you excited, Honda Japan also still offers the old CB1300 which departed our shores way back in 2013. They even offer a tricked up ‘SP’ version with Ohlins suspension and Brembo brakes…

Speaking of big Japanese 1300s that no longer come to the UK, Yamaha’s long serving, shaft-drive FJR1300 sports tourer may have slipped off Blighty’s mortal coil again due to Euro5 at the end of 2021 but, once more, due to the lack of Euro regulations, it’s still being made and on sale elsewhere – although, admittedly, those markets are now drying up, too.

Now no longer offered in the US, either, the 144bhp four-cylinder heavyweight does however currently remain on sale in Canada (where its website lists its price at $21,599.00) and in Australia (at $34,649.00AU), and probably elsewhere, too, although we gave up looking…

Big bike rarities aren’t limited to sports bikes, roadsters, or sports-tourers, either. While Britain seems to have fallen out of love with Japanese cruisers (only Honda of the ‘Big Four’ now offer a cruiser larger than 650cc) that’s certainly not the case overseas and especially outside of the Euro zone. Suzuki’s big-engined, 1800cc hot rod style M1800R Intruder, for example, departed these shores over a decade ago but is still listed in, among others, South Africa (where it costs R247 950). But the biggest market for such bikes is, unsurprisingly, the US, where you can still get not only the M109 but also the smaller 800cc version, Kawasaki offers its big 1700 Vulcan and Honda still sells its outrageous Fury. There are others, too, but we’ll come on to those…

… because, yes, not only are there still plenty of ‘big’ Japanese cruisers available globally, even if they aren’t on sale in the UK anymore, there are plenty of middleweight and even smaller ones, too. If you can cast your memory back to 2016 (which was the last time this one was offered in the UK) one of the best was Kawasaki’s VN900, which is still on sale Stateside where it’s called the Vulcan 900. This version (there are two) is the Classic and costs from $9399.

Another possibly much-missed mid-cruiser, meanwhile, was Yamaha’s XV950, as relaunched in 2013 and proved a sweet, 51bhp rival to Harley’s old Sportster before being dropped in 2021. It’s still available in the US (and elsewhere), called the Bolt, and costs $8999.

Nor are we finished with cruisers yet (well, actually, the UK is – that’s the whole point of this, but they are still available elsewhere) – even smaller Japanese cruisers are still to be had if you look hard enough. Remember Yamaha’s cute and accessible junior version of its XV535 Virago – the XV250?

While the original 535 was a sweet, willing introduction to bikes that lived in the UK from 1988 to 2004 its popularity was such that it spawned an even smaller version, the XV250, which was offered from 1995 to 2001. Well, that might be over 20 years ago, but the 250 lives on today, albeit in updated form, in the US where it’s now called the V Star 250 and costs from just $4799.

Nor do long lost Japanese 250s have to be solely cruisers either. Once upon a time (well, back in. the early 1980s to be exact, when the 250cc licence law still applied), the UK was awash with 250cc trail bikes. Back then nearly all of the ‘Big Four’ offered not just a 250cc two-stroke trail bike – but a four-stroke version as well, with Yamaha’s DT and XT 250s standing out.

More recently, Kawasaki’s more modern, liquid-cooled KLX250 stood out, being launched in 2009 before disappearing due to Euro4 in 2017. It still lives on elsewhere, though, again outside the Euro zone and most notable in countries such as the US, Canada and, here, Australia, which retain a fondness for trail bikes, with Australia also getting the KLX230, supermoto KLX230SM and KLX150.

Euro-departed Kawasakis such as the KLX isn’t now only the preserve of trail bike-friendly, English-speaking countries, either. Take, for example, that original retro-roadster – Kawasaki’s sweet W650 of 1999 (which predated even Triumph’s first Bonneville 800) which then grew into the W800 of 2011, was later briefly dropped then equally briefly reintroduced in 2019 before finally disappearing at the end of 2021.

Well, you can’t (entirely) keep a good bike down. The 47bhp bevel drive twin is still on sale in Japan (which also loves a good retro, especially if it’s Japanese) where it costs 1,243,000Y while Kawasaki also there offers a W230 plus the similar, Meguro branded K3 and K1.

Right, we’re getting towards the end, so let’s see if we can dig up some ‘real’ dinosaurs… and how would you react if I said you can still buy that Suzuki relic from, not just the Noughties, but the 1990s, it’s big, air-cooled thumper trail bike the DR650? The big, air-cooled, 644cc single was first launched into the UK as the DR650RSE where it proved a rugged and likeable workhorse before being dropped due to, you guessed it, Euro emissions regulations in 2001. A full 24 years on, however, it’s still on sale in the US (and others). Nor is it the only one.

Remember Kawasaki’s KLR650 which was also dropped in the UK in 2002? Well, that’s still available in the US, too, albeit in a significantly updated form.

Yes, you read that right – you can still buy Yamaha’s two-stroke, air-cooled trail bike from the 1980s – the DT175. You can also buy other similar versions, too. So yes, forget the Suzuki DR650, the prize for the overall ‘oldest bike you can still buy new’ surely has to go to Yamaha’s DT175 which was first introduced into the UK in, wait for it, 1976 – although there is a catch. The air-cooled, 171cc, two-stroke single became one of Britain’s most popular trailies during the ‘70s and ‘80s before finally being dropped so long ago we’re not even sure when.

Amazingly, however, it lives on in South Africa along with some other African markets, although it’s not technically road legal and is offered only as an ‘agricultural machine’ as is the DT125 and XT250, and also, in some markets, Suzuki’s similar TS185…