There are some fun youtube videos demoing bike performance, e.g. Ninja H2's doing 0-250MPH in 26s [0], outdragging a Bugatti [1] and outpacing an F1 car and an F16 fighter at the same time.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_n7ru1e-rg [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi5_GQ78wM8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ESq00zi7bU
As another commenter said, you rev a Ninja (just like a sports car) and launch it using the clutch.
In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes to go). But acceleration is modest, so motorbikes and cars will soon go past.
And of course electrically-driven vehicles are also capable of producing torque at 0rpm, hence their acceleration advantage.
I doubt a bicycle would actually cross the starting line before a high end bike or car would surpass it. A 180lb rider would produce about 90lb of torque at most (assuming 6” crank) and that’s only for the instant that the crank is parallel with the ground.
A high end car would deliver significantly more than 90lb of torque instantaneously by dumping the clutch (or using launch control).
I can get off the line faster then automobiles, they aren't racing / clutch dumping at the lights. Traffic is so heavy and with so many intersections, it's typically pointless for automobiles to race off the line anyways.
As I filter past daily the same Pagani and Bugatti and LFA and Tesla S and NSX. :D
Having said that, I am very used to riding bicycles and (large) motorbikes around town, and from waiting for lights to change if I'm on a bicycle I'm generally first away even when motorbike riders are getting competitive (never mind cars).
The advantage of the bicycle is generally only a few feet, of course.
The Veyron might weight 20x as much as you and your bike, but has over 300x the power output of the best sprinters in the world.
Given equal reaction time and equal interest in racing, I am doubtful your cycling advantage would last for more than inches against a high end sports car.
In a racing start, a well-driven torquey car (like the Veyron) will also launch faster than a motorbike - at least to start with. Once the speed increases, the acceleration drops and the motorbike can then use its superior power-to-weight ratio (which it can't fully use off the line). Eventually - once speeds are well into triple digits - a fast-enough car starts to catch up with the motorbike again (due to better aerodynamics).
If you aren’t standing up sprinting, you’re definitely not going to be getting anything close to your “body weight torque”.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7528120_Torque_and_...
Once you are in third though displacement takes the lead, and my smaller engine bike is at a disadvantage!
Of course, for touring there's now the H2 SX Ninja(!)
Rev engine, slip clutch to launch, versus slip clutch and immediately begin putting on the power.. no matter what, you need to engage the clutch and add throttle. The motor has so little mass it's not like it takes a long time to get it spinning before dumping the clutch on a low-torque motorcycle, and you can rev before the green.
And regardless of what you're riding, you'll be across the intersection before most cars have even begun moving.
ZX9: lights change, rev engine, dump clutch.
None we're talking about general around-time riding, waiting for the lights to change here. The point is big torque means less delay between seeing the signals change and starting to move.
No disagreement that if the ZX9 is sitting on the line with the revs already in hand that it's going to be away first.
> This means there are quite a few that will do sub 3 seconds to 60, and sub 5 seconds is practically the norm.
This was the give-away - pretty sure very few humans can do 60 mph on a bicycle, unless they're drafting.
Frankly my favorite is the European “moto”
‘Bike’ is short for bicycle. Motorcycles are also bicycles so they’re also bikes.
Bikes don't tend to have high torque in general, but their light weight and gearing are designed to maximise what torque they do produce. This means there are quite a few that will do sub 3 seconds to 60, and sub 5 seconds is practically the norm.
What this means is that you can more easily get past, and through, traffic because you can safely take advantage of gaps that no car can. Also, that sense of having your arms ripped out of their sockets and hanging on for dear life is fun.
Still, there's something to be said for going really fast as well: the feeling of the world blurring past you, and the road or track flowing and snaking underneath you like mercury, is hard to beat (if sometimes a little terrifying).