Bike stunt riders are a totally totally different breed. Whereas the remainder of us are simply making an attempt to maintain our bikes upright and sometimes pop an honest wheelie, these guys are out right here just about defying the legal guidelines of physics.
Working example: Magnus Carlsson, a 51-year-old Swedish stunt rider who not too long ago set the document for the quickest handlebar wheelie at a mind-bending 202.67 kilometers per hour—that’s round 126 miles per hour. Loopy stuff.
In the event you’ve by no means seen a handlebar wheelie earlier than, effectively, merely have a look at the picture above. As an alternative of sitting on the seat like a traditional individual, you climb onto the handlebars. Then, as if that’s not already loopy sufficient, you pull within the clutch, rev the engine to the moon, and dump the clutch to pop a wheelie. It’s a staple in most stunt riders’ repertoire, however doing it on the pace Magnus did simply raises the stakes a lot larger.
Clearly, to attain such a feat requires dedication. And I imply plenty of dedication. Assume three many years of the stuff. Magnus isn’t some daredevil who simply wakened someday and determined to go for a document. In truth, he first tried a handlebar wheelie approach again in 1992 and tried to set a document three years later at Sweden’s Skövde Airport.
Through the years, he stored perfecting his method, refining his steadiness, throttle management, and precision. The handlebar wheelie wasn’t only a stunt to him, because it was the stunt to rule all of them being the one which took essentially the most effort and a focus all through his profession. So when he lastly broke the 200-kilometer-per-hour document in June 2023, it was the fruits of over 30 years of dedication.
In fact, a stunt like this isn’t attainable with out the correct machine, and Magnus had the proper one: the KTM 1290 Tremendous Duke R. Extensively considered one of many craziest bare bikes ever constructed, this bike packs a monstrous 1,301cc V-twin engine that churns out a ridiculous quantity of energy and torque. It’s a motorbike that wheelies virtually too simply—only a flick of the wrist and the entrance finish desires to elevate. And whereas it’s not precisely constructed for handlebar stunts, if there’s any machine that would make this document attainable, it’s the Tremendous Duke.
KTM has since upped the ante with the 1390 Tremendous Duke R, refining the already-insane components with much more energy, higher electronics, and sharper dealing with. And with the (significantly) excellent news following the model’s near-death expertise late final 12 months, there’s an opportunity Group Orange’s bikes will proceed breaking information.
And hey, if stunt riders like Magnus are nonetheless selecting their machines, that’s obtained to rely for one thing, proper?
Picture by: Guinness World Data
Carlsson additionally set a document for the longest distance sitting backwards on a bike.
However simply once you suppose he may decelerate, Magnus went and broke one other document a couple of months later—this time for the longest distance driving a bike backwards. He lined an astonishing 306 kilometers (190 miles), shattering the earlier document of 202 km (125.5 miles). Apparently sufficient, his steed of selection was one more orange machine, a KTM 390 Duke, full with a basket on the rear seat with a few water bottles for Magnus to remain hydrated all through the course of the journey.
So yeah, hats off to Magnus, a dude who’s proof that stunt riders don’t simply push limits—they utterly erase them. As for me, I’ll keep on with making an attempt to get my wheelies somewhat extra constant. But when there’s ever a world document for “most time spent excited about doing a handlebar wheelie (or different loopy stunts, for that matter) earlier than taking flight,” I’d simply have a shot.
