>>>I’d think trail bikes because they’re easier to do stunts on than racing bikes. My first ride on a Bultaco Alpina 350 started with a wheelie and I didn’t even know it till the guy who was helping me out told me what had happened once I came back down the street.<<<
My bet is they are sportbikes - and they are very easy to do tricks on. The epitomy of “fast” is the modern day 1000cc sportbike (hence the term “Literbike”). They will do 186 mph (300kph) stock off the show room floor - and that’s only because of manufacture’s agreements with european version of AMA. They can go faster. They put out about 180 bhp (weigh about 450lbs wet), redline around 13,750rpm, 0-60mph in about 3 seconds, and easily pass 100mph in first gear (six speed trany). They make all high-end stock sport cars (Corvettes, Mustangs, etc.) look silly off the starting line and there after - and for a fraction of the cost. But they’re not for eveyone.
There is an old saying: “The motorcycle is God’s way of weeding out the Gene Pool. The Literbike is God’s way of determining whether the weeding worked.” I love mine!
I was a SEAL, crossed oceans solo on sailboats, that sort of thing. But I thank God that he whispered in my ear on about my 4th or 5th borrowed dirtbike excusion, that I would never live to be old or bold if I went that path. But I love everything you wrote, what they represent in human/engineering terms, and I love to include them in my novels.
Matt "now all my thrills are vicarious" Bracken
(Along with small STOL planes, insanely fast boats etc.)