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Mark Hinchliffe·
Motorbike news
··3 min read

What are the most powerful sports bikes?

H2R
Kawasaki H2R

Anyone who says power isn’t everything hasn’t twisted the throttle on a powerful sports bike.

Unfortunately, the only places left to experience these bikes is on unlimited-speed roads, at track days and in that all-important 100m traffic light drag.

 

There may not be many places left to experience the full power of some of the world’s most powerful bikes, but it’s always good to know the power is there.

So we’ve complied three lists of currently available new sports bikes with the most power, the most torque and with the highest power-to-weight ratio using factory supplied power and wet weight figures for Australia. The figures may vary slightly for some other countries.

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Ducati Panigale shows its stuff at a track day

For interest’s sake, we have also included at what revs they achieve peak power and torque to give you an indication of where they get most of their thrust.

The king of power seems to be Kawasaki with its supercharged H2 and track-only H2R, plus its ZX-14R and ZX-10R also rating high. Check out the video at the top of this page when a H2 beats a Bugatti Veyron in a drag race.

The king of grunt is still the brawny Yamaha V-Max, but Kawasaki isn’t far behind with its forced-induction models and the normally aspirated Kawasaki ZX-14R.

If you were to include cruisers, Triumph’s 2.3-litre triple would be the undisputed king with 203Nm of stump-pullling grunt and several other cruisers would also rate high, including Harley’s 110 Twin Cam which makes 156Nm.

Power and torque are meaningless if your bike is a porker like the 310kg V-Max, so we’ve also compiled a list of the best power-to-weight ratio sports bikes and again the winner is the Kawasaki H2R track-only weapon which rates 0.67ptw.

So if you want a lithe sports bike with a good mix of heady power and gut-crunching grunt, Kawasaki should be your first port of call, or go to your local performance shop for a supercharger or turbocharger.

Honda RC213V-S road-legal MotoGP bike
Honda RC213V-S

POWER KINGS

1 Kawasaki H2R: 240kW

2 Honda RC213V-S: 158kW

2 MV Agusta F4RC: 158kW

4 Kawasaki ZX-14R: 154.5kW

5 Kawasaki ZX-10R: 154.4kW

6 Ducati 1299 Panigale, S: 150.8kW

7 Aprilia RSV4 RR, RSV4 RF: 149.8kW

8 Kawasaki Ninja H2: 147.2kW

8 Yamaha V-Max: 147.2kW

10 Yamaha R1 & R1M: 147.1kW

Yamaha V-Max
Gruntmeister Yamaha V-Max

TORQUE MONSTERS

1 Yamaha V-Max: 166.8Nm

2 Kawasaki H2R: 165Nm

3 Kawasaki ZX-14R: 162Nm

4 Suzuki Hayabusa: 155Nm

5 Kawasaki H2: 154Nm

6 Ducati 1299 Panigale, S: 144.6Nm

7 Ducati 1299 Panigale, R: 136.2Nm

8 Honda RC213V-S: 118Nm

9 Suzuki GSX-R1000: 116.7Nm

10 Aprilia RSV4 RR, RSV4 RF: 115.4

Leon Camier will race the MV Agusta F4 RC
Leon Camier races the F4 RC

LITHE MACHINES

1 Kawasaki H2R: 0.67ptw

2 MV Agusta F4RC: 0.55ptw

3 Ducati 1299 Panigale, R: 0.49ptw

4 Ducati 1299 Panigale, S: 0.48ptw

5 Kawasaki ZX-10R: 0.46ptw

6 MV Agusta F4RR: 0.44ptw

6 Yamaha R1 / R1M: 0.44ptw

8 BMW S1000RR: 0.43ptw

9 MV Agusta F4 & F4R: 0.42ptw

10 Suzuki GSX-R1000 0.40ptw

BMW S 1000 RR
BMW S 1000 RR

TECH SPECS (alphabetical)

  • Aprilia RSV4 RR, RSV4 RF: 149.8kW (201hp) @ 13,000rpm, 115.4Nm @ 10,500rpm, 193kg, 0.47ptw.
  • BMW S1000RR: 146kW (199bhp) @ 13,500rpm, 113Nm @ 10,500rpm, 204kg, 0.43ptw.
  • Ducati 1299 Panigale, S: 150.8kW (205hp) @ 10,500rpm, 150.8Nm @ 8750rpm, 190kg (R), 0.49ptw.
  • Ducati 1299 Panigale, R: 150.8kW (205hp) @ 11,500rpm, 136.2Nm @ 10,250rpm, 184kg (R), 0.49ptw.
  • Honda RC213V-S (track only sports kit): 158kW @ 13,000rpm, 118Nm @ 10,500, 172kg, 0.56ptw.
  • Honda CBR1000-RR: 131kW @ 12,000rpm, 112Nm @ 8500rpm, 200kg, 0.39ptw.
  • Kawasaki H2R (track only): 240kW (326PS) @ 14,000rpm (maximum power with Ram Air), 165Nm @ 12,500rpm, wet weight 216kg, 0.67ptw
  • Kawasaki Ninja H2: 147.2kW (200ps) @ 11,000rpm, 154.5Nm @ 10,500rpm, 238kg, 0.37ptw.
  • Kawasaki ZX-10R: 154.4kW (209.9PS) @ 13,000rpm (Ram air), 112Nm @ 11,500rpm, 201kg, 0.46ptw.
  • Kawasaki ZX-14R: 154.5kW (210PS) @ 10,000rpm (Ram Air), 162Nm @ 7500rpm, 268kg, 0.35ptw.
  • MV Agusta F4RR: 146.6kW (200.8hp) @ 13,600rpm, 111Nm @ 9600rpm, 202kg, 0.44ptw.
  • MV Agusta F4 & F4R: 142.3kW @ 13,400rpm, 110.8Nm @ 9600rpm, 203kg, 0.42ptw.
  • MV Agusta F4RC: 158kW with race kit (205-212hp) @ 13,600rpm, 115Nm @ 9300rpm, 175kg (with kit), 0.55ptw.
  • Suzuki GSX-R1000: 136.1kW (182.4bhp) @ 11,500rpm, 116.7Nm @ 10,000rpm, 205kg, 0.40ptw.
  • Suzuki Hayabusa: 145kW (194.4bhp) @ 9500rpm, 155Nm @ 7200rpm, 266kg, 0.33ptw.
  • Yamaha R1 & R1M: 147.1kW (200PS) @ 12,000rpm, 112.4Nm @ 11,500rpm, 199kg, 0.44ptw.
  • Yamaha V-Max: 147.2kW (200PS) @ 9000rpm, 166.8Nm @ 6500rpm, 310kg, 0.29ptw.
Suzuki Hayabusa sportsbike
Suzuki Hayabusa