TOP 10 Motorbikes - The World’s Greatest Ever!
January 17, 2007If you stumbled upon this blog, chances are you spend more time in front of the computer than watching TV. But that doesn’t mean we have miss out on the good things the boobtube has to offer. That’s the reason why torrents and YouTube are so popular nowadays.
As a rider, there was an episode that I have long been wanting to catch which was part of a series shown in the Discovery Channel. I wanted to see it way before I started blogging. In fact, a clip from that show was what I featured in my very first post here. The series is called “Greatest Ever” which ranks the Top 10 machines through thorough research and interviews from experts. They had episodes which featured Sports Cars, Tanks, Fighter Planes, Helicopters, Weapons and Construction Machines. I’d never seen any of those (they never interest me anyway). But the episode on Motorbikes is what I wanted to catch. I’ve only seen the segment for Vespa (which ranked no. 8!) and was curious what the panel said about the other bikes in the Top 10; who wouldn’t be?
The other day, I finally found the complete set of links to the other nine segments from that show and I want to share them here. The bike declared the Greatest Ever was a surprise. I thought it will be won by the Ducati but as it turned out, it wasn’t just about speed. The no. 1 barely does 40 kph, but it still was voted by the experts. Interesting, isn’t it?
I’ll be posting the video clips here and place the specs/stats of each bike featured as provided here.
Harley Davidson Knucklehead
Year: 1936
Power: 36 HP
Engine capacity: 1,340 ccm
Weight: no info
Top speed: 145 km/h
Rank: 10th
So are you really up to spending the next hour or so watching the remaining clips here? If so, let’s proceed with the countdown from no. 9 to numero uno!
Moto Guzzi V8
Year: 1955
Power: 68 HP
Engine capacity: 498.5 ccm
Weight: 150 kg
Top speed: 275 km/h
Rank: 9th
Vespa (PX 125)
Year: 1977
Power: 8 HP
Engine capacity: 123 ccm
Weight: 106 kg
Top speed: 87 km/h
Rank: 8th
Brough Superior SS 8
Year: 1923
Power: 25 HP
Engine capacity: 981 ccm
Weight: no info
Top speed: 128.7 km/h
Rank: 7th
Britten V1000
Year: 1993
Power: no info
Engine capacity: 999 ccm
Weight: 138 kg
Top speed: 303 km/h
Rank: 6th
This one’s impressive as the whole bike is built from scratch in a garage by just ONE man in the 90’s! Too bad, John Britten passed away at such a young age. 
Triumph Bonneville T100
Year: 2001
Power: 64 HP
Engine capacity: 865 ccm
Weight: 205 kg
Top speed: 180 km/h
Rank: 5th
Listen as Jay Leno comments on this bike’s one unecessary feature and heads on to deliver a punchline at the expense of Vespa. Vespa fans should not take offense though as Jay also does have a Vespa in his bike collection. 
Y2K (o.k.)
Year: 2002
Power: 316.8 HP
Engine: Gas turbine
Weight: 208.7 kg
Top speed: 402.3 km/h
Rank: 4th
Honda CB 750 (K0)
Year: 1969
Power: 67 HP
Engine capacity: 736 ccm
Weight: 218 kg
Top speed: 200 km/h
Rank: 3rd
I actually felt bad for this bike since it was too perfect (speed, comfort, no vibration, etc.), it was deemed too boring.
Ducati 916
Year: 1995
Power: 109 HP
Engine capacity: 916 ccm
Weight: 201 kg
Top speed: 254 km/h
Rank: 2nd
Honda Cub
Year: 1958
Power: 4.3 HP
Engine capacity: 49 ccm
Weight: 65 kg
Top speed: 40 km/h
Rank: 1st
Have you spotted the Vespas in all throughout the show? If you didn’t, try to notice the bald guy’s (Mat Oxley) background in his interviews the next time you watch any of these clips.
So, what have you discovered today?
-o-
{▫}
J0HNRANA
john[dot]rana[at]gmail[dot]com
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Discovery Channel’s The Greatest Ever motorcycles is great for bike enthusiasts. I was also surprised on what bike was picked as number one, i have to agree with the hosts as all of them unanimously voted the Honda Cub50 as the greatest ever. Amusing was how they trashed the bike literally and still ran. The CB750 was just perfect, but they find it too boring. Then I wonder why there is only one sportbike included (no.2) and why any of the CBR929, Yamaha R1/R6, Kwak Hayabusa/Z1200/636 were not included in the list. They also changed the motorcycle scene in some way or another.
Ah yes!
Syempre Honda User ako eh!
ha ha it goes about 22 mph i thought it would be te fastest motorbike the dodge tomohawk wow my dad got one of them of ebay for 10£ but it didnt work
knuckleheads were never 1340cc as shown on this page.
there were two models, an EL 61 cubic inch, and the FL 74 cubic inch model.
80 cubic inches rounds to 1340, which some ULH flatheads were, and of course, the big twins of the 80′ through mid 90’s.
74 cubes is 1200cc. the 61? you do the math.
I’ve noticed that the BMW had been snubbed. What?! Yeah, I hear yah. Ok so it’s a very short list. But come on, it’s indestructible (so they claim).Besides nothing says money like BMW.
ang lupit talaga ng mga hapon. ganyan sila ka tindi sa research. they consider everything… efficiency,economical, durability, user friendly, pati environment they always consider before building machines like these. hindi lang sila banat nang banat. sana ganito din gumawa ang mga pinoy. rock n roll heart n soul!
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My Cub here in Tokyo goes 70mph no problem.
i really wouldn’t like to cry going 70mph on a cub lol…..by vespa its better asd
i need many motorbikes photos
is the cub the granddaddy of all u-bones?
if so, then does it mean that today’s u-bones are the descendants of the greatest motorcycle ever?
hehe! ang napiling no. 1 ay pang-masa talaga. kahit sa tricycle pwede sya eh! nagtataka lang ako kung bakit walang naisamang kahit isang “off-road” man lang. popular pa naman to lalo sa mountain hikings! puro speed and qualities lang pero may laban ba mga yan sa mga lubak at baha? hehe!
Does anyone know where I can buy this on dvd?
I was glad to see the CB750 make it to the no. 3 spot. I collect vintage Hondas and have two of these; one CB750 that is my “rider” bike. I recently went on a ride with several bikers all of who had, newer street and cruiser bikes. My 750 stood out as being smoother and more user friendly; it took all of the others much more time and steps to get going. Once we did get going, my bike kept up with all of them and outperformed most.(even the 1300 cc bikes) I personally don’t find that boring at all. Especially for a 35 year old bike. The only boring thing for me was waiting around for everyone else.
Where are all the great touring bikes like BMW, and Honda Interstate?
Dude these videos are no more avaialble to watch. Any other link?
Hey Sunny! I just checked and all the videos are still in working order in YouTube. Check them out again.
wow i need to get 1 of those
Hey,
I ride a Vespa
I am missing the BMWs as well from the countdown, especially the R100. Never heard of the Y2K before ..
Hi, how did u calculate the speeds etc? A mile is 1.6km, so when they say 129mp/h it’s not 129km/h, and 250mp/h isn’t 303km/h but 400km/h
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