MotoGP Bike Weight: How much does it actually weigh?

While F1 cars weigh 9 times more than the weight of the drivers, the MotoGP bikes are double the weight of an average adult male and are quite heavy to handle.

The petite riders argue how big riders having an unfair advantage while riding these enormous bikes. Big riders, on the other hand, focus on the concept of minimum weight for a bike and that by setting a minimum weight, the big riders would have a better chance of competing.

When Marco Simoncelli (183 cms/72 kgs) and Valentino Rossi (182 cms/67 kgs) submitted a proposal to MotoGP to examine having a combined minimum weight for both bike and rider in MotoGP, just as in the 125cc class, it raised quite a few eyebrows. Dani Pedrosa (160 cms/51 kgs) who was criticized in the past for not being made for riding heavier, bulkier bikes, made a sneering comment, “Try being smaller.”

157 kilograms is the minimum weight of a MotoGP Bike. If your bike weighs less than this, you might get disqualified for breaking a technical regulation.

Moto2 and Moto3 both have combined minimum weights, but MotoGP (up to 800cc and above 800cc) has a different weight criteria. The following are the minimum weights permitted:

MotoGP (up to 800cc) - 150 kg

MotoGP (from 801 to 1000cc) - 157 kg

Moto2 motorcycle + rider - 215 kg

Moto3 motorcycle + rider - 152 kg

The weight may be checked at the initial technical control, but the main control of weight is done at the end of practice sessions or at the end of the race where they are rejected/selected accordingly.

For the Moto2™ and Moto3™ classes, the weight checked is the total of the rider with full protective clothing plus the weight of the motorcycle, far apart from MotoGP class of up to 800cc and between 800-1000cc.

Since MotoGP bikes are specifically built for certain riders and not for the general public and are not legally available for purchase or driving for people like us, as a matter of fact, it is actually hard for us to imagine driving such a gigantic bike. It’s difficult for engineers to adapt bikes to suit riders who aren’t of average build and it’s more difficult than ever for those riders to ride the bikes.

We can never understand what happens behind those closed doors, but we can only have an idea of how much effort it takes for a rider to ride these sizeable bikes not made for a build like his.