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.

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 the fastest only 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 & model Model years Engine Displacement Power Top speed Image Notes BMW S 1000 RR (second generation) 2019–present Inline four By some measures, faster than MV Agusta F4 R 312. BMW S 1000 RR (first generation) 2009–2018 Inline four By some measures, faster than MV Agusta F4 R 312. BMW considered to have initiated the "gentlemen's agreement"; first party to agreement to exceed self-imposed limit. MV Agusta F4 R 312 2007–08 Inline four First European motorcycle exceeding "gentlemen's agreement"; MV Agusta not known to have been a party. Kawasaki ZX-14 2006– Inline four Speed limited Kawasaki ZX-12R 2000–05 Inline four Speed limited Suzuki Hayabusa (first generation) 2000–2007 Inline four Speed limited Suzuki Hayabusa (first generation) 1999 Inline four Last model before gentlemen's agreement. Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird 1996–2007 Inline four Bimota YB8 Furano 1992–1993 Inline four By some measures, faster than Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11. Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 1990–2001 Inline four Bimota YB6 EXUP 1989–1990 Inline four Yamaha FZR1000 "EXUP" 1989–1995 Inline four Kawasaki Tomcat ZX-10 1988–1990 Inline four Yamaha FZR1000 "Genesis" 1987–1988 Inline four By some measures, faster than Honda CBR1000F. Honda CBR1000F 1987–1999 Inline four Suzuki GSX-R 1100 (G-H-J) 1986–1988 Inline four Kawasaki GPZ900R Ninja 1984–1996 Inline four Honda VF1000R 1984–1988 V-four First to exceed Vincent Black Lightning after 35 years Laverda Jota 1976–1981 Inline three Ducati 900SS 1975–1982 V-twin Kawasaki Z1 1972–1975 Inline four BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident 1968–1975 Inline three Harley-Davidson XLCH Sportster 1958–1971 V-twin Harley Handful Motorcycle Mechanics, September 1965, pp.47-49 BSA Gold Star Clubman 1956–1963 Single Vincent Black Lightning 1949–1952 V-twin First to exceed Brough Superior SS100 Pendine after 22 years. Record held for 35 years. Vincent Series A Rapide 1936–1940 V-twin Crocker V-twin 1936–ca. 1941 V-twin Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sports 1934–1940 V-twin Brough Superior SS100 Pendine 1927–1940 V-twin Record held for 22 years Brough Superior SS100 1925–1940 V-twin Excelsior V-twin 1918–1931 V-twin Cyclone V-twin 1916–1917 V-twin Pope Model L 1914–1920 V-twin Williamson Flat Twin 1913–1920 Flat twin Scott two speed 1912– Parallel twin FN Four 1911–1931 Inline four Werner New Werner 1901–1908 Single Werner Motocyclette 1898–1900 Single Hildebrand & Wolfmüller 1894–1897 Parallel twin First production motorcycle.

*Other models that tied the Trident at are the 1972 Laverda SFC and Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. †Rear wheel horsepower. See Motorcycle testing and measurement.

Motorcycles not meeting all criteria These motorcycles are mentioned here because they meet some of this list's criteria, and are often discussed in media in the same context as production, street-legal motorcycles, but they do not strictly meet all of the criteria, being limited production or made to order, or not generally available for immediate sale to the public, or are track-only and not generally street legal in Europe, Asia, and North America. Make & model Model years Engine Displacement Power Top speed Image Notes Lightning LS-218 2014–present Electric motor N/A The 216 mph record was set using an LS-218 modified from street-legal form, with "high-speed gearing and fairing". The top speed of the stock production vehicle has not been clearly defined by an independent, verifiable source. Otherwise, first electric vehicle to be considered for the position of the world's fastest street-legal production motorcycle, to have won against ICE motorcycles in a professional road-based event and to have won any such race using only solar power. Kawasaki Ninja H2R 2015–present Inline 4 (without/with ram air) Over (stock, standing mile) Excluded as the record-beating H2R variant is track-only and not street-legal.Ducati Panigale R2013-2017V-twinTop speed achieved with OEM track-only exhaust system.

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 (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 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 MV Agusta 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 (300 km/h), leading commentators to question if Ducati was signaling their withdrawal from the gentlemen's agreement.

In 2014, Kawasaki announced that the upcoming Ninja H2 will have a non-street legal "track-only" version (Ninja H2R) 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.

See also Motorcycle testing and measurement Motorcycle land-speed record List of fastest production motorcycles by acceleration

Notes