We don’t often talk about bikes on this site, but every now and then a crotch rocket piques our interest enough to put finger to keyboard. The latest to do so is a heavily-modified Honda CBR1000, which propelled its rider at a scarcely believable 265mph.
This astonishing feat was achieved by Al Lamb, who rode his 400hp Honda CBR1000 across a mile-long stretch at the Bonneville salt flats. He was clocked entering the mile at a Veyron-frightening 264.647mph and exiting it at 265.795mph. If independently ratified, it would mark a speed record for bike on which you sit pretty much upright.
There are faster two-wheeled contraptions, of course. Bill Warner rode a heavily modified Suzuki Hayabusa on an airstrip at over 311mph last year, but that was achieved over a 1.5-mile-long air strip and the bike in question was fully streamlined with almost no part of the rider exposed.
Al Lamb said: “It’s you, the salt and your bike. It’s a boy and his dog on race fuel. It’s riding the rocket. When you’re on a run it’s a mixture of anxiety, adrenaline rush, pure excitement and hyper sensitivity. It’s total concentration. 400Hp wide open on about 10sq inch of tyre contact.” We’re guessing being a tiny bit insane also has something to do with it.
Obviously, you’d never catch us doing this sort of stunt in a million years, but we can admire it from a distance. The entire feat was filmed and the resulting footage is fairly spectacular. Watch for yourself below and let us know whether you’d risk life going this fast on something without a single airbag.
Al Lamb’s 265MPH Bonneville Run – *AMA/ FIM Fastest Motorcycle In The World – Sit On (Average Record Speed 263mph) 2012 from COLORFULgrey Zach Settewongse on Vimeo.
