Motorcycle competition at Pikes Peak dates to the very first running of the hillclimb in 1916, when Floyd Clymer — later famous for his repair manuals — won the inaugural motorcycle class riding a British Excelsior. Despite that early participation, motorcycles did not feature consistently at the event for much of its early decades, competing only in isolated years: 1916, 1954–1955, 1971–1976, and 1980–1982. The dangerous mass-start format used during those periods left riders unable to see the road clearly until dust settled through the first several corners, and two separate incidents — in 1976 and 1982 — caused motorcycle racing to be suspended. In 1982 a competitor was killed after being struck by another rider.
Motorcycles returned as a permanent fixture in 1991, after a timing system was developed that allowed competitors to be dispatched in staggered waves of five rather than simultaneously. Bill Brokaw and Sonny Anderson organised motorcycle competition for two decades from that point. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, quads — which contested motorcycle divisions — frequently set the fastest two-wheel times. As the course began to transition from gravel to asphalt starting in 2002, motorcycle machinery evolved accordingly: motocross and flattrack bikes gave way to supermotards and eventually road-biased sports motorcycles once the full paving was completed in 2011–2012.
The motorcycle outright record stood as a target that took decades to approach single-digit minutes. A landmark came in 2012 when Carlin Dunne, riding a Ducati Multistrada, became the first motorcycle competitor to complete the now fully paved course in under ten minutes. Dunne went on to win the motorcycle division four times overall.
The fastest motorcycle time ever recorded at Pikes Peak was set by Rennie Scaysbrook during the 2019 event, riding an Aprilia Tuono V4, with a time of 9 minutes 44.963 seconds. That run took place on 30 June 2019, the same day that four-time winner Carlin Dunne was fatally injured in a crash near the finish line while piloting a prototype Ducati Streetfighter V4. Dunne's accident occurred less than a quarter of a mile from the summit.
Following Dunne's death, the Pikes Peak organisation suspended all motorcycle competition pending a review. After the 2021 event, the review concluded and motorcycle racing was permanently discontinued at the hillclimb. As a result, Scaysbrook's 2019 time of 9:44.963 stands as the definitive and final motorcycle outright record for the course, with no possibility of it being broken under the current format.
The motorcycle outright record reflects how profoundly the course's conversion to full asphalt changed the performance ceiling for two-wheel machinery. Times that were impossible on a mixed gravel-and-tarmac surface became achievable once traction conditions improved. Dunne's sub-ten-minute run in 2012 marked that threshold; Scaysbrook's 2019 record refined it further. The record now stands as a historical artefact, preserved by the end of the discipline at the event rather than by any lack of competitive interest.