What's the FASTEST Motorcycle you have ever Mounted ?

265kph on the speedo of a J model GSXR-1100 on a normal two-way country road between Buxton and somewhere. I just recall having to look further and further into the distance to actually focus, as everything within 100-150m was a blur. Maybe the speedo over-read but I believed it - it was flat stick with mot much left in it. You didn't need a lot of road for it to get there either. Rock solid too it was. Slowing down to 200 felt quite legal!

Never felt dangerous - you don't need max velocity to have experienced that! Can sympathise with Exmoor and the tank slapper on the TL1000!!
 
2. 177mph on the satnav,  in my unrestricted Supercharged 5 litre Jaguar XKR with 510bhp.  and still pulling very strongly when I backed off.  Just shipped it last Sunday to England for sale before it killed me.  Fantastic machine in every way possible and sounded like a full NASCAR when you nailed it in Sport mode.

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Hi mate, I used to work in the engine plant where they made those engines. (Along with the 5.0 litre normally aspirated engine and the V6, all built on the same assembly line). I spent nearly 13 years there until last February. I worked on building them and in the test area for a while. Lovely engine and it was held back a fair bit (tales from the engine evaluation plant where the dyno had to be uprated after prototypes broke the 750bhp limit dyno). Early versions also ruined the gearboxes and that was one of the reasons they were not released with even more power
When the plant closed I was working on maintenance covering the cylinder head and engine block cnc machining area. Even though those the lines were old it was impressive to see, especially the engines fully built leaving the lines every 38 seconds or so or the ford 4 cylinder engines every 20 or so seconds. 3600 engines a day at the plants peak output. Where do / did they all go?
 
Ducati Panigale 1199 - 180 rwhp, brilliant but flawed.

BMW HP4 - 193 rwhp, beast but no real character.

Aprilia RSV4 - only 172 rwhp, best package of the lot with scalpel like handling.

All those dyno figures on same dyno.

Luckily my friends introduced me to the track where I realised I didn?t really know how to ride, and so began a six year education. Slowed me down considerably on the road and made me enjoy riding more, especially the Jota.
 
my modified ZX 14 Kawasaki, 300 kph limiter bypassed, head work, fuel and ignition tuning, cats removed, ceramic wheel bearings, wheels and tires very carefully balanced. 11,400 rpm in top gear...... closed course, not on public roads

when I use it as my sport tourer I fit bar risers, Laminar lip screen edge, and Givi hard bags ;)
 
Speed is relevant to whatever the machine is, 80mph on a C90=terrifying, 80mph on VFR=barely breaking into a sweat. Fastest bike I rode was GSX 1100 only went to about 80mph though, was long enough to tell me it was a soulless heap of shite, as much character as a vacuum cleaner.
 
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Spider Wales said:
GSX1100R, I topped 150MPH, in about 85/86/87, that was fast enough for me!
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Indicated 175 mph, Super Blackbird, German autobahn Y2000 en-route to the 'Ring doing top gear roll-ons with a ZZR 1100. It was still pulling...but like Spider Wales, having seen off the ZZR it was enough for me. I agree with Paul Marx though, anyone can go fast in straight line with the right bike, it's through the twisties that really count.
 
Holdie said:
Indicated 175 mph, Super Blackbird, German autobahn Y2000 en-route to the 'Ring doing top gear roll-ons with a ZZR 1100. It was still pulling...but like Spider Wales, having seen off the ZZR it was enough for me. I agree with Paul Marx though, anyone can go fast in straight line with the right bike, it's through the twisties that really count.
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Which is why a big Laverda twin built in the early 70's is more than I need to put a large smile on my face. It's still way too fast to avoid licence evaporation if the throttle is twisted wide open in anything above 2nd gear outside the city. So tripling the horsepower is meaningless to me (but I'm happy to bump it up by, say 30% on the SFQ :cool: ).
 
I had a kid on a GSXR 750 pull up beside me at a red light (I was on my DUCATI S4Rs). He told me that he had recently done 285 km/h on it. I said that was great and then I asked him how fast he could stop. He just gave me a head tilt similar to a dog trying to understand a sound...😁
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Which is why a big Laverda twin built in the early 70's is more than I need to put a large smile on my face. It's still way too fast to avoid licence evaporation if the throttle is twisted wide open in anything above 2nd gear outside the city. So tripling the horsepower is meaningless to me (but I'm happy to bump it up by, say 30% on the SFQ :cool: ).
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That is exactly why i love these old cars and bikes,
To be excited by a modern you have to go extremely fast, down the straits and in the corners, both = short life expectancy.
With these old crocks you really need to drive, you really need to feel and work together, and when you get it right,
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you are still fucking slow compared to a fast modern, but usually a lot safer when you get it wrong.

Julian
 
julian said:
To be excited by a modern you have to go extremely fast, down the straits and in the corners, both = short life expectancy.
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I agree Julian. I usually drive old clunkers (both bikes and cars), but a couple of years ago I decided to get something more comfortable than the Jota for doing long distances on. I was looking for a Ducati Multistrada but ended up buying a 2008 Benelli Tre-K 1130. It's way more modern than any vehicle I've ever owned. It also has way more power and speed than I could possibly use on public roads, even if I had the capability to handle it.

The bloody thing will do 250kph without raising a sweat and still have another gear to go, even though I've geared it lower than stock. It would probably do close to 300kph if I wanted it to, but I don't have the skill to ride it at anything like that kind of speed. Sure, all you need to do is open the throttle on a straight road and hang on, but if something went wrong I doubt I'd have the reactions to deal with it.

It's a fucking awesome bike compared to all my other old heaps of crap (nothing later than 1985) and it's undoubtedly safer at legal speeds because it does everything so much better. But to get the same fun factor as the old clunkers, you need to go a whole lot faster.
 
+1.
That's why I drive this when I'm not on the bike.
It gives me the thrill I look for while on the road, without having to travel at three figure speeds.
Since almost no-one feels threatened by it, you can hoon around without people getting upset, mostly.
On the rare occasion I've been pulled over, the conversation turns to their Mini memories, a finger gets wagged and I'm sent on my way.
What's not to like?Mini med small.jpg
 
Perfect,
I think everyone has memories of hooning around in minis.
Saw a mini van just today, totally original, looked perfect.
Well done (y)
 
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