Top Five Fastest Motorcycles in the World

Any list of the fastest motorcycles in the world brings with it a certain amount of insanity. Driving fast, turbocharged supercars seems dangerous enough with hundreds of horsepower pushing a metal box north of 190 mph. But, that would-be speeding driver has four wheels, crumple zones and airbags if something goes amiss.

If the speedster can’t handle the power and unforgiving precious of the planet’s fastest motorcycles, that rider has only body armor and a helmet between him and an afterlife in a bucket.

Also: Top Five Most Expensive Cars in the World

Most bike enthusiasts put the 2003 Dodge Tomahawk (above) atop the Fastest Motorcycles list. It seems an obvious move since some mad scientists put an 8.3 liter, 500 horsepower V10 engine in the middle of it. To put that into perspective, that was the Dodge Viper’s engine of the time. Some of those turbocharged supercars I mentioned are capable of 190+ that utilize an engine a little more than half that size. 

During the design phase, Dodge engineers claimed the Tomahawk would do north of 400 mph. After building it, they brought that estimate down to about 300 mph. So, why not simply install at #1 on the fastest motorcycles list and go about our business?

First of all, it was never really a production consumer vehicle and never street legal. It was a concept machine — a decorative show piece to feature Dodge aspiration and aesthetics. Now, it’s a museum piece. In production, it would have sat atop the fastest motorcycles food chain while costing in the mid six figures — and while splattering men’s corpses across the countryside.

Second, it never really achieved 300 mph because no maniac would try to ride a motorcycle or anything remotely close to it around or at more than 300 mph. Finally, it’s not really a motorcycle. If you look closely, it’s more of a quad bike with closely set pairs of wheels front and back.

In the end, we mention the Tomahawk as a little salute to two-wheeled speed — but the actual fastest motorcycles to go into commercial production are below.

Top Five Fastest Motorcycles in the World

TRENDING


X