Best Sportstourer: 2019 Bikesales Bike of the Year Awards

The 2019 Bikesales Bike of the Year (BOTY) Awards recognise excellence across 11 separate motorcycle categories.

And here’s how it will work. After a massive five-day test through-north-east Victoria in early November – branching out from the beautiful town of Bright – we'll whittle our shortlist down to an outright winner to be announced on Thursday, December 5.

Let’s continue the 2019 BOTY by announcing the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS as the winner of our Sportstourer category.

Far harder to say than it is to ride, the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS is a technological tour de force that sees the iconic Italian company turn its considerable engineering prowess – and expertise usually focused on razor-sharp sportsbikes and fire-breathing nakeds – to the sportstouring niche, where performance and handling share equal billing with ergonomics and practicality.

And for this, MV Agusta's first appearance in the Bikesales Bike of the Year Awards, it's hit the nail on the head with the Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS – the highest-spec member of MV's Turismo Veloce family that's also equipped with MV's new Smart Clutch System for lightning-quick automated gear shifting.

The SCS system sees the clutch lever retained so the Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS can be ridden like a traditional bike, or the rider can simple opt to ride it in fully automatic mode. The system also sees the bike come with a park brake, to prevent the bike from rolling away at rest depending on whether the SCS is engaged or not.

Priced at $35,890 ride away, the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS falls firmly at the premium end of the sportstouring segment – as, could be argued, did the $26,995 KTM SuperDuke 1290 GT that represented the category in last year's Bikesales Bike of the Year Awards – but just a few moments aboard this machine soon reveals its considerable charms.

We're not talking about prodigious levels of power and torque here – the 798cc triple produces a claimed 110hp (81kW) at 10,150rpm and 80Nm at 7100rpm – but when the available grunt is on tap in a fairly svelte 192kg (dry) package with superb suspension, a taut chassis and powerful brakes, you have a recipe for pure riding pleasure.

It's narrow through the flanks and very agile – in short, it's a delight to punt hard through a set of corners, and wouldn't be out of place on a track day.

The 2019 MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS is available in a trick red/black/white/green livery.

There are four different variants of MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800: the base 800, then the 800 Lusso, the 800 Lusso SCS, and our model of the moment: the 800 RC SCS. 'RC' stands for Reparto Corse – essentially the brand's racing division – and it comes with integrated sat-nav, a bike cover, and a numbered certificate of ownership.

Global production of the Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS was limited to 250 examples.

It has well-thought-out ergonomics befitting a sportstourer's wide brief. That is, it's comfy enough for highway mile-eating thanks to roomy ergonomics and the protection offered by the front fairing and screen, yet it's still sporty enough to let you hunker down behind the bars when you're going for it, the bike slingshotting you from one corner apex to the next to the raspy howl of that in-line triple.

There are four ride modes to choose from plus eight-level traction control (with lean angle sensor), a bi-directional quickshifter, ride-by-wire throttle and Bosch ABS with stoppie mitigation – it's one smart bit of gear.

In short, the MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 RC SCS will get you to the bends in comfort and then, once you've reached them, you'll be laughing like a loon.

Congratulations MV Agusta.

When it comes to LAMS-approved sportstourers there isn't exactly an abundance of options – so lucky then, that one of the few protagonists – Yamaha's Tracer 700, or MT-07TR – is so damn good. Light and manageable, the Tracer 700's 655cc parallel-twin engine produces enough go to be fun while stopping short of being intimidating – just what you want for this bike's target market. It's also nicely made and quite the looker, we think – and it comes fitted with hard panniers as standard. This isn't just a learner machine; the Yamaha Tracer 700 is an accomplished middleweight sportstourer in its own right, and one that taps into grassroots motorcycling enjoyment in a big way. The Yamaha Tracer 700 is priced from $14,149 plus on-road costs.