'Race on Sunday, sell on Monday' has been the mantra of motorcycle manufacturers for a very long time. And the theory still holds water. The race bikes are of course quite different from their road going cousins but now the manufacturers have brought that difference down to a few components.

The technologies that makes the race bikes touch amazing speeds are now available in production bikes and they travel just fast.

We bring you some of the fastest production bikes that ply the roads the world over and their riders swear by them.

BMW K1200S - 268 kmph

The BMW K1200 has enough power to accelerate from a standstill to 100 kmph in just 2.8 seconds and that is fast by any standard. After the whiplash effect, the needle in the speedo keeps climbing until it shows 268 kmph.

At one point of time it was neck-and-neck with the fastest production motorcycles in the world until the others pulled away to the distance. But 268 kmph is still a very respectable top speed and something that needs certain expertise to handle.

Ducati 1098s - 271 kmph

The Ducati 1098 is a 1099 cc L-twin sport bike manufactured by the Italian giant. It was launched on November 8, 2006 for the 2007 model year and replaced the earlier generation 999. The 1098 has a power output of 160 bhp and weighs just 173kg.

These figures gives the 1098 one of the best power-to-weight ratio of any production sport bike ever made and this is the reason why the Ducati is able to touch speeds of 271 kmph.

Aprilia RSV 1000R Mille - 281 kmph

The RSV Mille and limited-edition RSV Mille Factory are high performance V-twin powered motorcycles made by Aprilia with a 143 bhp, 998 cc engine built by the Austrian company Rotax.

In 2006, the RSV Mille Factory won the Maxisport category for Masterbike and the bike touched a top speed of 281 kmph.

Yamaha YZF R1 - 283 kmph

The Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycle which was introduced in 1998, and upgraded ever since, was the first significant motorcycle in the true litre class (1,000 cc). With a top speed of 283 kmph, the R1 took the class closer to the racing category.

It set new benchmarks with regards to handling and high speed rideability and all the other manufacturers followed suit.