SUPER BIKE STIMULATION

Arguments will be made for other categories of sportbikes, but nothing delivers the emotion-evoking exotic personality and outright performance like a modern-day superbike.

Each is a brutally fast piece of industrial art optimized with everything it needs to strive for the fastest lap time and nothing it doesn’t. Superbikes are simultaneously raw yet refined. These machines are built solely to push the boundaries of pure performance, but addictive personalities beware: Superbikes can and will induce obsessive horsepower highs.

So, while there are a number of sportbikes on the market that mix in more practicality and comfort at a more affordable price, the open-class superbikes here—the Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory, BMW S 1000 RR, and Ducati Panigale V4 S—represent the pinnacle of motorcycle performance. With these machines, a combination of mass horsepower and knife-edge handling makes previously unthinkable lap times easily obtainable, while a rock-solid chassis begs to push the limit a little further. Of course, pushing the envelope means increasing the consequences, but sophisticated rider aids have made this level of superbike performance more accessible than ever.

Accessibility of raw capability is one thing, but cost of entry is something entirely different. Each bike being priced at roughly $25,000