The 10 Greatest Performance Bikes Of All Time

1. 1923 BMW R32

The 1923 BMW R32 was the Bavarian company’s first (successful) attempt at a motorcycle, and quite unbelievably, even though the R32 was released over 90 years ago, it is still clearly identifiable as a BMW. There are not many motorcycle manufacturers who can claim to still be using technology first introduced on its very first bike.

The boxer motor itself was completely revolutionary, and the way it came about is absolutely fascinating. Due to the Treaty of Versailles, BMW had to turn their attention away from aircraft. Seeing a gap in the market, BMW started to produce engines for the Victoria motorcycle company based just up the road in Nuremberg. But the boxer motor that BMW provided was being mounted longitudinally, causing major overheating problems.

So when BMW came to design their R32, legendary engineer Max Friz had the bright idea of mounting the engine horizontally. This way, the engine would be cooled by the air rushing over the cylinder heads; overheating problems solved.

The boxer engine was very powerful for its day (8.5hp) and its unique design helped bring BMW sales and racing success (a supercharged boxer, the BMW Type 255, won the 1939 Isle of Man TT). But the engine was not the only revolutionary design feature on the R32. The 1923 machine also featured a shaft drive instead of chain, reducing the need for time-consuming maintenance.

Both the boxer engine and shaft drive designs can still be found on the BMW R nineT, the R1200 GS and K1300S to name just a few. The R32 put BMW on the map, and its unique designs made sure it stayed there.

2. 1955 Vincent Black Shadow

When the Vincent Black Shadow was released back in 1949 the automotive press went into collective meltdown. The word ‘revolutionary’ is frequently bandied about, but the Black Shadow can truly lay claim to changing the future of the performance motorcycle. The C Shadow, a tuned version of the earlier bike, produced a deeply impressive 55bhp from its innovative 998cc V-twin engine. This allowed it to crack the magic 120mph mark - 124mph to be precise. Back in the 1950s this was the equivalent of hitting the double ton; absolute madness.

Most riders of the time hadn’t seen anything like the Shadow and its innovations go way beyond its monster of an engine. The bike featured mono shock rear suspension (most bikes were using fixed rear ends), dual front brakes, Girdraulic front forks and a frameless chassis. A quite extraordinary leap forward in design.

3. 1959 Triumph Bonneville

When you here the name Triumph you immediately think of the name Bonneville. The two names are synonymous with one another. The moniker was originally inspired by Jack Wilson’s 1956 motorcycle land speed record of 214.17mph, which he set on his Triumph Thunderbird. When the time came for Triumph to pick a name for its new sports bike, it made absolute sense to use the name of the Utah-based salt flats.

When the T120 (named after its theoretical 120mph top speed) was released in 1959 it immediately became the class-leading sportsbike. The bike was actually based on the ageing Tiger T110, but featured a new swingarm, high-compression pistons, twin carbs and a one-piece crankshaft. With its racy looks and British style, the Bonneville was an instant hit. And a certain Steve McQueen secured the bike legendary status by riding his personal machine from filmset to filmset. The Triumph made motorcycles cool.

4. 1969 Honda CB750

Modern day four-cylinder superbikes owe a lot to this old Honda. Granted, MV Agusta had already released a bike with its own interpretation of the four-cylinder layout, but Honda was the first company to make everything work as a comprehensive package.

The bike didn’t actually do anything particularly groundbreaking (apart from the bike featuring the world’s first production disc brake), but what Honda managed to do was create a smooth, powerful and reliable machine. When most of the world was still riding outdated and unreliable Triumphs, the Honda was a breath of fresh air. The CB750 effectively finished off the British bike industry, but it’s important to remember that we wouldn’t have bikes like the Honda Fireblade or BMW S1000RR had the CB not been created.

5. 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750F

Motorcycle journalists the world over have named the legendary Kawasaki Z1 as the ‘father of the superbike’. Well, if the Z1 is the father, the Suzuki GSX-R750F is most definitely the son. The GSX-R was one of the first road going motorcycles to be derived from a full-on racing machine. Suzuki’s XR41 was a successful world championship racer and it even experienced success at the fearsome Isle of Man TT.

This gave Suzuki the perfect platform to create its new superbike for 1985. With 80bhp and weighing just 176kg, the Suzuki dominated every group test on its release. And it was so fast and capable that it also kicked off the era of the production racer. Winning on Sunday and selling on Monday has never been so apt.

6. 1992 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade

The release of the CBR900RR signalled another quantum leap in the superbike game. It was so influential that Motorcycle News claimed that it: “changed how sports motorcycles were built” and effectively “wiped the floor” with its competitors.

Before the Honda the closest we had to a full-on superbike was Suzuki’s powerful, but portly (200kg+) Suzuki GSX-R 1100. So when the Fireblade was released, with its 122bhp, 893cc engine wrapped up in a lightweight 185kg package, the superbike game changed forever.

7. 1994 Ducati 916

The 916 is arguably the most famous and influential bike of all time. The beautiful bike from Bologna dominated on the track, on the road and even in popular culture (featuring in Charlie’s Angels). Much of this success can be attributed to Massimo Tamburini’s iconic design. The single-sided swing arm, underseat exhausts and perfect proportions resulted in a timeless classic. Much like the Jaguar E-Type, the bike transcended boundaries. Even F1 guru Gordon Murray bought one purely for its aesthetic design.

The bike became an icon in the UK for its on-track success. In the 1990s, Grand Prix racing had a very limited fan base. Why watch a bunch of Europeans ride around on 500cc two-stroke racers when you could tune in on a Sunday and watch King Carl Fogarty battle it out with 1000cc production bikes that you could actually go out and buy at your local dealership?

The late 90s was truly a golden era. Oasis was on the radio, speed cameras were rare, petrol was cheap and magazines like Fast Bikes made hooning a weekend pastime. And with Carl’s success in WSBK the beautiful Duke became everyone’s dream bike. It is unlikely that we will ever see such an influential machine again.

8. 2003 Honda CBR600RR

When you think of a class-leading supersports bike you probably don’t think about the 2003 CBR600RR. With its lack of torque it’s certainly not the most thrilling middleweight on offer. But we actually owe a lot to the little Honda, as it effectively kick-started the 600cc supersport category.

If you wanted a 600 before the RR you had to settle for bikes like boring and sensible CBR600F. The RR changed all that. Based closely on Valentino Rossi’s RCV GP racer, the small Honda was the first truly focused sports 600. And with its brilliant steering and legendary stability, the RR achieved great track success. Unfortunately the 600cc class has been dying out in recent years. Maybe we need a new CBR to bring it back to life?

9. 2010 BMW S1000RR

It is easy to forget that not so long ago, BMW was considered a bit of a joke in the biking community. With heated grips, boxer engines and shaft drive, you only rode a BMW if you were a middle aged man with a beard who liked to ride everywhere in a strictly upright position. Either that or you were a copper. As a result, BMWs were the opposite of cool.

Now as we all know, BMW has had no problem in producing some of the best performance cars of all time. The M division has created some truly iconic machines like the E30 M3. But their Motorrad division never seemed to get it quite right. They had some quirky designs, like the R1100 S Boxer Cup, but they never seemed to get the pulse racing.

So you can imagine everyone’s surprise when in 2010 BMW launched its first superbike, the S1000RR. And not just content with releasing a middle-of-the-road sports bike, the S1000RR was designed with world domination in mind. With a 200bhp (at the crank) 999cc inline-four, mated to a stacked gearbox and a sophisticated electronics suite, the S1000RR moved the game on by at least five years. Now, in 2015, almost every bike in the superbike class (bar Honda) has taken BMW’s lead and has adopted a quick shifter and advanced electronics.

Not content with sitting still, BMW gave its class leading superbike an overhaul in 2014, releasing the limited production BMW HP4. For the first time in history, a road bike was given a semi-active suspension system, Dynamic Damping Control (DDC). Using advanced sensors, the system can detect how hard you are riding and will automatically tailor the shock and fork damping for the specific situation. So no need to fiddle about before with settings before you go on a track day or if you want to take a pillion. We’ve now seen these systems being rolled out by manufacturers like Ducati, but BMW is still leading the way.

10. 2015 Honda Mugen Shinden Yon

The Honda Mugen Shinden Yon is a slightly left-field choice, and it isn’t even a road bike. But we think it deserves a place on this list. The world is moving on and it is widely accepted that we won’t be able to keep burning fossil fuels forever. Even with this realisation, bikers can be a hard lot to please. When the Isle of Man TT Zero (a race for zero emissions motorcycles) was introduced back in 2009 there was a general consensus within the motorcycling community that this was all a waste of time.

Oh, how things have changed. The best way to convince someone that a new technology can be revolutionary is to show them first hand. And you can’t pick a better venue than the technical and challenging Manx Mountain Circuit. This year, TT legend John McGuinness guided his Honda Mugen to first place in the TT Zero with a lap time of 18:58.743, which equates to an incredible 119.279mph.

His average speed is faster than some of the 600cc lap times set in the 1990s, and is quicker than the sidecar lap record (116.785mph). The 100mph mark was Mugen’s aim back in 2009, so to nearly achieve 120mph in 2015 shows the incredible pace of progress. These bikes genuinely show us what we might be riding in the not too distance future. And if they’re really that fast, that’s fine by us.