Sam Sunderland: On a record-breaking journey round the world by motorbike

Sunderland certainly deserves the publicity, but their Swiss SPEEDWEEK writer has some objections. But first things first: the official entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest round-the-world motorbike journey belongs to the British couple Kevin and Julia Sanders. Between 11 May and 22 June 2002, they circumnavigated the globe on a BMW R1150GS in 19 days, 8 hours and 25 minutes. They covered 31,319 km, averaging around 1,600 km per day.

As Guinness World Records closed the category for transcontinental speed records on public roads shortly afterwards for safety reasons, their time is still regarded today as the officially recognised Guinness world record to be beaten.

The attentive SPEEDWEEK reader will immediately notice: but the Sanders couple were on the road for 42 days. That’s correct; the clock is stopped during the unavoidable ferry and air freight crossings between continents.

This rule also applied to Urs ‘Grizzly’ Pedraita’s round-the-world journey, who, starting on 3 August 2014, circumnavigated the globe on a modified Victory Cross Country in 16 days, 12 hours and 19 minutes, covering 24,741 km. On 6 May 2018, Swiss rider Isa Müller set off on a BMW S1000R and returned to her starting point after 23,120 km and 17 days and 7 hours. She is therefore considered the fastest woman ever to have travelled round the world by motorbike.

More recent: At the end of 2015 and the end of 2025, Canadians Ryan Kluftinger and Connor Bondlow, with cameraman Edwin El Bainou in the passenger seat, completed the circumnavigation in 16 days, 23 hours and 27 minutes, with the stopwatch never being stopped. However, they did not ride the same motorbikes around the world; instead, two prepared Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally bikes were waiting for them after each flight. They also chose a route with the fastest possible flight connections between the continents, resulting in a total distance of 21,059 km. This adventure is documented on film under the title ‘Yalla Habibi!’ on the FortNine YouTube channel.

This brings us, belatedly but nonetheless, back to Sunderland. He set off at 3.30 am on 5 September from the Royal Observatory in the London borough of Greenwich, aiming to beat the record set by Kevin and Julia Sanders in 2002 (namely 19 days, 8 hours and 25 minutes).

Whilst promotional photos in the run-up to the ride still showed Sunderland riding the current Triumph Tiger 1200 in Red Bull livery, he set off in the middle of the night on Triumph’s next-generation model. The as-yet-unveiled Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer features significant revisions to the front end, including a new twin-headlight design.

Fährt Sunderland seinen Rekordversuch mit der 2027er Triumph Tiger 1200?

Foto: Red Bull

It’s not entirely without risk for the British manufacturer: if the new motorbike withstands the rigours without a hitch, it will be the ultimate proof of reliability. A technical fault in full view of the public, on the other hand, would be highly undesirable.

Sunderland aims to cover over 29,000 km on his route, which requires a daily average of just over 1,690 km – meaning an average speed of 100 km/h over a daily riding time of up to 17 hours.

The (then) Guinness World Records rules for a round-the-world motorbike journey set out a strict framework. Sunderland must travel continuously in one direction from west to east, pass through two antipodal points on opposite sides of the globe, and complete the entire journey on the same motorbike. During the flights across the oceans, the measurement of pure riding time stops – but the clock for the overall logistics continues to tick relentlessly. For Sunderland, swift processing at airport customs and at national borders becomes a crucial factor.

Sunderland’s route is divided into six sections: the first stage covered 3,773 km in two days, travelling from London through southern and eastern Europe to Istanbul. From there, he travelled by air freight to Bangkok (Thailand). The journey now continues by motorbike to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). After another flight, the route crosses the Australian continent from Perth to Sydney. Following a stage across the North and South Islands of New Zealand, the longest section awaits: across North America from Vancouver to Montreal. The final leg will then take him from Casablanca in Morocco, via Spain and France, back to the starting point in London.

Sunderland had originally planned to set off on this round-the-world journey as early as July 2025. Just a few months ago, Triumph brand ambassador Sunderland was recovering from a serious training crash in which he suffered a fractured vertebra, which threw a spanner in the works of his original schedule. Provided he can maintain this gruelling pace amidst normal road traffic and avoids breakdowns, he is expected back in London in around three weeks. Sunderland’s journey can be followed live online.