Motorcycle Documentaries You Need To Watch [2024 Edition]

Why We Picked It:

TT3D: Closer To The Edge is one of those documentaries that takes the "Point a camera and let the talk" approach, and it works brilliantly in this case. The main focus of the documentary is the enigmatic Guy Martin, whose Lincolnshire accent is so thick that you sometimes need to turn on subtitles, as he pursues his dream of winning the Senior TT, the most prestigious and competitive race of the entire fortnight that the Isle of Man TT takes place over.

Other riders covered include TT legend John McGuiness, Isle of Man's most competitive racer Connor Cummins, Australian challenger Cameron Donald, and a few others that have made their name at the races. The documentary crew also, ironically, covered one of the TT's that had the most non-fatal crashes, and at the end of the documentary talks with those injured to give the perspective that a few broken bones won't stop these guys and girls from putting it all on the line at the TT.

What makes the documentary a must watch is the on-board camerawork, as well as the "Down in the trenches" viewpoints of the riders, team owners, mechanics, and fans that attended the 2010 Tourist Trophy. It's unfiltered, uncensored, and very raw, and in a sense makes you feel like you're actually there, especially if you can find the 3D version.

Originally released in Region 2 as a 3D stereoscopic Blu-Ray or DVD, it can be found on many streaming sites and, if you look carefully, can even be found on YouTube on some documentary channels, completely free to watch.

Why We Picked It:

At the pinnacle of motorcycle racing is the Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship, often simply referred to as MotoGP. Throughout the years since its formation in the mid-1990s, it has seen legends formed, champions arise, and rivalries form that transcend seasons, and sometimes even the sport.

Hitting The Apex was a massive undertaking, following six top tier riders in the 2014 championship: Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Marco Simoncelli, and Casey Stoner. It highlights their friendships, rivalries, on-track clashes, and every one of them pushing to be the absolute best they can be on prototype race bikes with over 200 HP that weigh less than 200 kg.

Narrated by Brad Pitt, the documentary is one of the most intimate films made about the sport, with real opinions, real accidents, real issues, and real emotions portrayed throughout. If you are a fan of MotoGP in any sense, this is an absolute must watch documentary, even though it was about a season nearly a decade ago now.

Despite being a few years old, it is available on most streaming services including Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and in some regions, Netflix.

Why We Picked It:

We riders always get asked: "Why do you ride?" Sometimes it's with an undertone that speaks of admiration, but more often it's said with the a tone of voice speaking to if all your marbles are still in the bag in your head. Yes, we might be slightly nuts for swinging a leg over a hot, reciprocating piece of metal slung under a tank of explosive liquid that only has two wheels, but that is the exact craziness that this documentary explores.

If you ever need to explain to someone why you ride and you just can't find the words, this is the film to share with that person. Interviewing everyone from racers, builders, mechanics, all the way down to the common everyday rider, it is an examination of the passion, the freedom, and the sheer thrill of getting a bike under you and the joy that comes from twisting your right wrist.

It is about as direct and deep a documentary as you could ever want, and we here at webBikeWorld often found ourselves unconsciously nodding at many of the points and reasons brought up. There is very little narration, and it is more about the stories, the history, and the emotions of it all than anything else. Definitely worth your time!

It can be found on YouTube as a rentable documentary, and is available on Amazon Prime Video in the USA. Other services that let you watch it as a rental include Google Play, Vudu, Vimeo On Demand, Apple iTunes, and Xbox Video.

Why We Picked It:

Being Evel is a documentary that was a passion project of Jackass creator and star Johnny Knoxville, who served as producer and is the primary narrator and interviewee of the documentary. It is an examination of Evel Knievel's life, from his earliest interactions with a motorcycle all the way to his death in 2007.

The documentary itself also examines the rise of motorcycle stunts from a fringe carnival attraction to mainstream TV coverage, mostly due to Evel's uncanny ability to entertain and build up the suspense of his stunts in a masterful way. It also examines many of his near misses, accidents during his lifetime that could have been fatal but that he always seemed to be able to recover from.

What makes Being Evel one of our favorite documentaries is that the pacing is superb. It never feels slow or boring, nor does it feel like it's rushing at all. In fact, when the documentary ended, we were surprised than an hour and a half had gone by as it felt like it'd only been 15 minutes. That view is reflected in this documentary having a nearly perfect score on review aggregation sites, including 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the highest scores of any documentary on this list.

The documentary is available on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV only in the USA. For those outside of the USA, if you search for it, it is available on YouTube but with many ads present throughout.

Why We Picked It:

Fastest is an interesting documentary, as it was the "middle" film that Mark Neale made about MotoGP, except that while Fastest is about the series as a whole, it takes a very in depth look at the rise and championship winning ways of Valentino Rossi for a good third of the documentary.

Filmed over the course of the 2010 MotoGP championship season, and narrated by noted motorcycle super-geek Ewan McGregor, it is a perfect time capsule of one of the greatest periods in MotoGP history. This was the year that Rossi and Lorenzo battled tooth and nail, wheel to wheel, trading paint and more than a few heated words to each other, and then out of nowhere Casey Stoner came storming in between them and made it a three way battle for the title.

Much like with Hitting The Apex, the documentary crew had unprecedented access to all levels of the paddock, teams, riders, and even Dorna, the owners of MotoGP. It is one of those documentaries that you know is going to be good, but you sit riveted at just how close some of the fights were on the track... and off it.

Why We Picked It:

For some, motorcycles are not just about freedom and having the wind in your face. For some, motorcycles are expressions of art, designs that lived in their heads and they somehow magically bend, weld, and bolt metal together to make those designs come to life. Oil In The Blood is a documentary film about these special individuals known by a common title: Builders.

This is a documentary about all types of custom motorcycles, from cafe racers to streetfighters, from choppers to full on experimental prototypes. The official tagline of the documentary sums it up best, and really not much more needs to be said about the documentary otherwise:

"It's not a film about motorcycles. It's a film about motorcycle people."

In North America, it is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. In other regions, it can be found on, or rented on, YouTube.

Why We Picked It:

In today's digital age, the "Easy way out" is often the route taken by many. If your bike develops an issue, you attach a special plug to it and you get a diagnostic report in about five seconds. There is nothing wrong with that, especially with how high tech many new bikes are these days. However, there are some among us that reject the idea of the easy way out, and prefer to get their hands greasy and wrack their brains to solve problems the old fashioned way.

That is what this documentary is about. Filmed, produced, and directed by Clement Beauvais, it is a documentary that is filmed in the exact same way that those of the greasy hands work on bikes. Instead of being shot digitally, he used an old-school 16mm camera and film, so it has lots of slightly delayed focus moments, rack zooms, and film grain throughout. Even through it was released in 2014, it feels like a documentary shot in 1994.

The documentary travels the world, finding those who have found their way to happiness with a wrench, a rag, some blood, sweat, and tears, and two wheels beneath them. These are the people that keep the true spirit of motorcycling alive, and why every rider will tell you that part of being a motorcyclist is putting in the wrench time. It's just that these people have way, way, way more wrench time than you and I, and they deserve the recognition this film gives them.

It is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Why We Picked It:

If you're a rider with even an inkling of interest in off-road or adventure riding, then you have heard of these multi-episode documentary miniseries. If you haven't, they are three "Seasons" of actors Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman taking motorcycles on simply epic tours.

Long Way Round, from 2004, follows the pair on a couple of BMW R1200 GS Adventure bikes as they ride from London, England to New York City, USA, by taking the long way to get there. They went East, across Europe and Asia, then flew to Alaska and continued on from there. There were seven 42 minute episodes on the initial release, but the extended series has 10, and is the one shown on most streaming services.

Long Way Down, from 2007, follows the pair on the same bikes from John O'Groats in Scotland, down through Europe and Africa to Cape Town in South Africa. Much like the first series, the pair encounter a whole series of issues to overcome, making for some pretty engaged watching. The original miniseries was six 60 minute episodes, but the extended series has ten 60 minute episodes, and is available on most streaming services.

Long Way Up, the most recent adventure by the pair, is from 2020, documenting the pair's journey up the Pan-American trail from Ushuaia in Argentina, across South and Central American, ending in Hollywood in Los Angeles. The difference for this series is that it was done entirely on electric bikes, modified Harley Davidson Livewires, with the support crew in EV trucks prepared for the trip by Rivian. This series features 11 episodes of 45 minutes each, and was produced by and streamed primarily on Apple TV+, but is now availalble on most streaming services.

Why We Picked It:

For those that do not know the story, I won't spoil it here, but this is a movie that gets about 95% of the things right about New Zealander Burt Munro and his relentless pursuit of the motorcycle speed record. He has a 1920 Indian Scout that he modified almost entirely by himself, including shaving regular road tires to make slicks, forging his own engine internals, and modifying the Scout into a bike even Indian recognized after the record with its own special designation, the Scout Streamliner.

Starring Anthony Hopkins (who pulls of an actually decent Kiwi accent), it doesn't really dramatize much about Burt and his crazy antics, such as doing a speed test run on a Nevada highway and getting pulled over by the Highway Patrol and having a genuinely hilarious conversation.

There is plenty here for those that expect it from a movie, not a documentary, such as drama, suspense, tragedy, triumph, and just a generally good movie that gets a lot right about motorcycles. It is well worth taking the 2 hours and 10 minutes out of your day to watch, and is the only semi-fictitious "documentary" that we feel deserves to be included