The experiment is over… In 2013 the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) Race Committee allowed motorcycles with two-piece clip-on handle bars to run the famous Race to the Clouds, but in the following years, the committee has questioned the value of that rule. Now it seems that the majority of sportbikes cannot return to the fabled Colorado race.

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The PPIHC has a 97-year history, and over the years, motorcycle racing has been an off and on component of this legendary race. Motorcycles competed in the very first Pikes Peak race in 1916, but due to World War I, two-wheeled competition didn’t return until the fifties and then the seventies. Eventually, finding insurance for motorcycle racing up Pikes Peak became nearly impossible due to frequent injuries and the death of Bill Gross Jr. in the 1982 race, but eventually the AMA got involved and helped solve the insurance problems and allowed the motorcycle races to continue in the 90s.

Through all of the highs and lows, the rules for the PPIHC did not allow bikes that came with clip-on handlebars as original equipment. That changed in 2013, and since that rule change, Bobby Goodin and Carl Sorensen have died while riding clip-on sportbikes in the epic race. Now the Race Committee has brought back the rule that bans two-piece clip-ons, and many people are not happy about it.

“I don’t understand it,” PPIHC 2015 winner Jeff Tigert tells Roadracingworld.com, “I don’t know if they’re trying to bring some kind of safety aspect to it by outlawing those kind of bikes… Personally, I don’t see that being any safer.”

The racing committee continues to say that it is no longer comfortable with that type of bike competing in the PPIHC, but critics are sticking to their guns as well. Do you think the new handlebar rule will make the PPIHC safer? You can voice your opinion on our Twitter and Facebook, and keep following our motorcycle accident blog for the latest developments.