A rear axle for motorcycles comprises a torque or link bar and a fork that is elastically suspended to the frame and encloses a Cardan drive shaft in a first parallel arm thereof which is joined to a housing for the bevel gear pair driving the rear wheel. At both end portions of the torque bar there are provided a second pivot for connection to the frame above a first pivot of the fork, and a third pivot for connection to a floating member, respectively, in which the floating member is in turn supported within the housing for the bevel gear pair by a fourth pivot firmly joined to the hub of the wheel. The axis (F) of the third pivot is parallel to the axis of rotation (R) of the rear wheel.