 | ||
The fastest production motorcycle for a given year is the unmodified motorcycle with the highest tested top speed that was manufactured in series and available for purchase by the general public. Modified or specially produced motorcycles are a different class, motorcycle land-speed record. Unlike those records, which are officially sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), production model tests were conducted under a variety of unequal or undefined conditions, and tested by numerous different sources, mainly motorcycling magazines. This has led to inconsistent and sometimes contradictory speed statistics from various sources.
Contents
Gentlemen's agreement to end competition
The competition to create the fastest production motorcycle ended in a truce that lasted about 8 years, after just over a century of one-upmanship by motorcycle manufacturers that began with the 1894–1897 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller and ended with the 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa. A gentlemen's agreement was reached among the major motorcycle manufacturers to limit the speed of their machines to 300 km/h (186 mph), starting with 2000 models.
After the 1999 Hayabusa sent shockwaves by exceeding the Honda CBR1100XX's record by more than 10 mph (16 km/h), and rumors and leaks from Kawasaki hinted that their upcoming 2000 Ninja ZX-12R would pass the 200 mph (322 km/h) milestone, some regulators and politicians in Europe called for an import ban against high speed motorcycles. There were fears that there would be, "an outbreak of illegal racing as riders try to break the 200 mph barrier." To preempt regulation and avoid negative publicity, the manufacturers voluntarily ended the race to ever higher speeds.
Sources vary as to whether this unofficial agreement is precise or only approximate, and whether it is defined as 300 km/h or as 186 mph, though the European and Japanese manufacturers normally use metric units. While Honda did announce that its motorcycles would not go faster than 300 km/h, Suzuki and Kawasaki would not speak on record about this issue. The agreement between them and the other brands has never been officially acknowledged by the manufacturers, though media sources report it via unnamed informants, and by testing the top speed of motorcycles known to be capable of exceeding the arbitrary maximum. So for 2000 models and later motorcycles, the question of which brand's bike was fastest could only be answered by tampering with the speed limiting system, meaning that it was no longer a contest between stock, production motorcycles, absolving the manufacture of blame and letting those not quite as fast avoid losing face. But the speed war continued underground, out of the spotlight, with fierce competition among enthusiasts of the "200 mph club", albeit with the slight technical modification necessary to bypass the speed limiter, separating that war from the ostensibly at-peace world of stock motorcycles.
Breakaways from the agreement
MV Agusta advertised their 2007 F4 R 312 as capable of 312 km/h (194 mph), hence the "312" in the name, "because MV sees no reason to abide by the manufacturers' agreement ... Politics be damned: MV is Italian and the Italians have a national imperative to make their bikes as fast as possible," in the opinion of motoring journalist Roland Brown. Italian magazine Motociclismo claimed to have achieved 193.24 mph (310.99 km/h) testing the F4 R 312, more or less confirming the claimed speed and tying, if not exceeding, the 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa's tested speeds of 188–194 mph (303–312 km/h). Only this one Italian source claims this top speed. Sport Rider did an in-depth review and were only able to achieve a 185.4 mph (298.4 km/h) top speed. They also go on record to say that a major horsepower increase would be needed to achieve MV Augusta's referenced top speed.Motorcyclist did a review and only achieved 183 mph (295 km/h) and just reference Motociclismo and manufacture for the 193.24 mph (310.99 km/h) top speed.
Cycle World reported that "the same BMW who instigated the 'agreement' in the first place" had broken it with the 188-mile-per-hour (303 km/h) BMW S1000RR, whose top speed was reported in July, 2010.
The 2013 Ducati 1199 Panigale R was delivered with an electronic speedometer that blanked when the motorcycle exceeded 186 mph (300 km/h), leading commentators to question if Ducati was signaling their withdrawal from the Gentleman's Agreement.
In 2014, Kawasaki announced that the upcoming Ninja H2R will have a non-street legal "track-only" version making 296 hp (221 kW) that will not have a speed limiter, reaching 210 mph (340 km/h) in testing, but Kawasaki did not specify whether the street-legal version, which has about 200 hp (150 kW), will be speed limited to conform to the gentlemen's agreement.
Fastest production motorcycles
Several models went out of production before being surpassed by a contemporary with a higher top speed. Until a model was introduced that was faster than any previous motorcycle, the fastest bike on the market for a given year was actually slower than an earlier, out of production bike. Models which are actual top speed record holders have their make, model, and speed in bold font, while slower models which were only the fastest in their own time are in italic. For example, in 1956, the Vincent Black Shadow remained the fastest motorcycle to date, with a 125 mph (201 km/h) top speed, but it was no longer in production. The fastest model on the market in 1956 was the BSA Gold Star Clubman, which at 110 mph (180 km/h) was not a record holder, but is listed for the sake of illustrating a more complete timeline.
*^ Other models that tied the Trident at 125 mph (201 km/h) are the 1972 Laverda SFC and Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. †^ Rear wheel horsepower. See Motorcycle testing and measurement.