List of fastest production motorcycles


The fastest production motorcycle for a given year is the unmodified 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, 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.

Gentlemen's agreement to end competition

After just over a century of one-upmanship by motorcycle manufacturers, beginning with the 1894–1897 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller, the competition to create the fastest production motorcycle reached a truce, with the arrival of the 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa, that lasted about 8 years. A gentlemen's agreement was made among the major motorcycle manufacturers to limit the speed of their machines to 300 km/h, starting with 2000 models.
After the 1999 Hayabusa sent shockwaves by exceeding the Honda CBR1100XX's record by more than 10 mph, and rumors and leaks from Kawasaki hinted that their upcoming 2000 Ninja ZX-12R would pass the 200 mph 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 manufacturer 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

advertised their 2007 F4 R 312 as capable of, 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 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, whereas Sport Rider were only able to achieve a top speed, stating that "it would take a major horsepower boost in order to make up the 8 mph deficit".
Cycle World reported that "the same BMW who instigated the 'agreement' in the first place" had broken it with the 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, leading commentators to question if Ducati was signaling their withdrawal from the gentlemen's agreement.
In 2014, Kawasaki announced that the upcoming Ninja H2R will have a non-street legal "track-only" version making that will not have a speed limiter, reaching in testing, but Kawasaki did not specify whether they planned to speed limit the street-legal version, which has about, 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 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 was not a record holder, but is listed for the sake of illustrating a more complete timeline.
Make & modelModel yearsEngineDisplacementPowerTop speedImageNotes
Hildebrand & Wolfmüller1894–1897Parallel twin'First production motorcycle.
Werner Motocyclette1898–1900Single'
Werner New Werner1901–1908Single'
FN Four1911–1931Inline four'
Scott two speed1912–Parallel twin'
Williamson Flat Twin1913–1920Flat twin
Pope Model L1914–1920V-twin'
Cyclone V-twin1916–1917V-twin'
Excelsior V-twin1918–1931V-twin'
Brough Superior SS1001925–1940V-twin'
Brough Superior SS100 Pendine1927–1940V-twin' Record held for 22 years
Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sports1934–1940V-twin
Crocker V-twin1936–ca. 1941V-twin'
Vincent Series A Rapide 1936–1940V-twin'
Vincent Black Lightning1949–1952V-twin'First to exceed Brough Superior SS100 Pendine after 22 years. Record held for 35 years.
BSA Gold Star Clubman1956–1963Single'
Norton 650SS1962–1967Parallel twin'
BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident1968–1975Inline three'
Kawasaki Z11972–1975Inline four'
Ducati 900SS1975–1982V-twin'
Laverda Jota1976–1981Inline three'
Honda VF1000R1984–1988V-four'First to exceed Vincent Black Lightning after 35 years
Kawasaki GPZ900R Ninja1984–1996Inline four'
Suzuki GSX-R 1100 1986-1988Inline four'
Honda CBR1000F1987-1999Inline four'
Yamaha FZR1000 "Genesis"1987-1988Inline fourBy some measures, faster than Honda CBR1000F.
Kawasaki Tomcat ZX-101988–1990Inline four'
Yamaha FZR1000 "EXUP"1989-1995Inline four'
Bimota YB6 EXUP1989–1990Inline four'
Kawasaki Ninja ZX-111990–2001Inline four'
Bimota YB8 Furano1992-1993Inline fourBy some measures, faster than Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11.
Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird1996–2007Inline four'
Suzuki Hayabusa 1999–Inline four'Last model before gentlemen's agreement.
Suzuki Hayabusa 2000–2007Inline four'Speed limited
Kawasaki ZX-12R2000–05Inline four'Speed limited
Kawasaki ZX-142006–Inline four'Speed limited
MV Agusta F4 R 3122007-08Inline fourFirst European motorcycle exceeding "gentlemen's agreement"; MV Agusta not known to have been a party.
BMW S1000RR2009-Inline fourBMW considered to have initiated the "gentlemen's agreement"; first party to agreement to exceed self-imposed limit.
Ducati Panigale R2013-V-twinTop speed achieved with OEM track-only exhaust system.
Lightning LS-2182014-Electric motorN/A218 mph First electric vehicle to hold the title of the world's fastest street-legal production motorcycle, to have won against ICE motorcycles in a professional road race, and to have won any such race using solar power.

Motorcycle excluded from the list

Some motorcycles were not considered to be the fastest production vehicles, for various reasons. Here is a list of some well known cars that have not been able to meet standards needed to be the fastest production motorcycles.