Vice City Motorcyclopaedia

Version: Final

0. Legal stuff
1. A quick note about this FAQ
2. General bike tricks and tips
3. Faggio
4. Pizza Boy
5. Freeway
6. Angel
   - 6.1 Alloy Wheels of Steel
   - 6.2 Hog Tied
7. Sanchez
   - 7.1 Guardian Angels
   - 7.2 Dirtring
   - 7.3 Dirtbike Track
8. PCJ 600
   - 8.1 G-Spotlight
   - 8.2 PCJ Playground
9. Credits

0. Legal stuff

*This FAQ was written by El Pinguino. You may not make any money from it nor
may you alter any part or all of it in any way. You may not distribute it 
for access in a public place (such as a website) or place it in any document
for publication without the express permission of the author. The author 
reserves the right to remove this document from any place at any time.
Finally, do not link directly to this document. Instead, link to www.gamefaqs.com

*Send your (sensible) questions and comments to ElPinguinoNSA@hotmail.com. 
However, this is the _Final_ version of the FAQ, so I'm not going to change its

1. A quick note about this FAQ

*This is a no-bull FAQ. That means there's nothing in here that you can find in
the manual. It's a waste of my time, and I'm not in the habit of including huge
amounts of text from the manual just to bump up the size of my FAQs. 

*This FAQ is entirely the product of my own play of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
on the PS2. None of the content is from game guides (unlike other FAQ writers,
who have unscrupulously taken chunks out of the official Brady guide). However,
I AM NO LONGER PLAYING GTA:VC, so any new additions will just be ones that have
been emailed to me and I've tested.

*The inclusion of motorcycles is, in my opinion, the most interesting
improvement from GTA3 to Vice City. Sure, helicopters are good for transport,
but you can do so much more with the bikes. With that in mind, I've put
together a short FAQ on Vice City's two-wheeled wonders.

2. General bike tricks and tips

2.1 Jumps

*Remember that when you take a jump in a bike, you have much more control over
your landing. Push down on the d-pad while in the air to pull back on the bike,
so your back wheel hits the ground first. Push up on the d-pad in the air to
lean forward, pushing down on the front wheel. Ideally, when you land, the back
wheel should touch down before the front, and the wheels should be parallel to
the direction in which you're moving. Land at too great an angle and you'll
probably fall.

*If you pull back or push forward too far in the air, Tommy will fall, and
falling off a bike drains health like the ebola virus. Especially if your bike
lands on you. 

*If you want to stop as soon as possible after a landing, to stop yourself
skidding off a rooftop for example, hold the handbrake (R1) and the normal
brake (Square). All bikes in the game skid to one side when the handbrake is
applied, so take that into account and hit the appropriate direction. If the
bike skids to the right, you might want to hold Left to prevent yourself from
skidding off the side of a rooftop. Alternatively, you might hold Right to pull
further to one side to avoid skidding off a rooftop ahead.

*When lining up the jump, don't reverse too quickly down ramps or you'll fall.

*You can pull off some great Insane Stunts on bikes simply by hitting ramps in
the correct position. If you clip the side of the ramp the back of the bike
will kick out, and if you hold the appropriate direction you can get a 360 
degree spin, or even more. Remember to land properly though.

*If you pull back enough in the air, it sometimes counts as a flip. Pull back
too far and you'll fall off.

*My jump stats, all gained on bikes:
 - Distance: 101.4m (332.6ft)
 - Height: 24.3m (79.7ft)
 - Flips: 2
 - Rotation: 701 degrees
2.2 Ground stunts

*There are two types of bike ground stunt: wheelies and stoppies. The game
measures both in distance and duration.

*Remember, the Dual Shock 2 has analogue buttons, so you can vary the pressure
on the button for different strengths. Experiment.

*Stunts work best on clear roads. When a bike hits a car, the car wins. The 
beach is useless for stunts, because all vehicles except the BF Injection slow
down loads on sand. Escobar International Airport, in the south of the West
Island, is a good place to try stunts because it's big and open, with few 

*A wheelie is when the bike travels with the front wheel off the ground. To do
one, pick up some speed and pull back on the bike. Pull back too far and you'll
fall off. The game only starts counting wheelies after five seconds, so a seven
second wheelie will count as two seconds, and a four second wheelie won't count
at all. 

*A stoppie is when the bike travels with the back wheel off the ground. To do
one, pick up some speed, then release X and hold R1, Square and Up all at once.
The bikes tend to gradually rotate during the stoppie, because R1 is being 
held, and if they rotate too far you'll fall off. Also, if the bike tips
forward too far you'll fall off. 

*Although not a stunt, all bikes can do a very sharp turn, which sometimes 
proves handy. Hit R1+Down-Right or R1+Down-Left to do it. If you're going too 
fast, you'll fall off (by now, you might have realised that it is VERY easy to 
fall off a bike).

*My ground stats for the bikes:
 - Wheelie distance: 80.1m (262.8ft)
 - Wheelie time: 12 seconds
 - Stoppie distance: 150m (492.1ft)
 - Stoppie time: 15 seconds

*My stats are poor. People have done wheelies and stoppies for 20 minutes or 

2.3 Bike speeds

*Instead of just arbitrarily giving each bike a rating out of five for speed, I
thought I'd do a proper test. At Escobar International Airport, there's a 
runway running from southwest to northeast. I timed how long it took each bike
to get all the way from end to end.

*For each bike, I've given its time for "Normal" and "Duck Trick" riding. The 
"Duck Trick" is the speed advantage gained by lightly holding Up while driving,
which makes Tommy duck behind the handlebars. If you care about the science 
(and obviously Rockstar North did), it's because keeping low behind the 
handlebars reduces air resistance, allowing the bike to speed up.

*Times are listed under the section for each bike. 

2.4 Bike toughness

*I've done a test of bike durability, by shooting each bike with a Laser Scope 
sniper rifle and seeing how many shots it takes to set them on fire. It turns 
out that it's a useless test, because each bike is equally bulletproof, 
requiring 7 shots to be set on fire. Strangely, this doesn't mean they are all 
affected by collisions the same amount, but as there's no way to conduct a fair
collision test, I've had to estimate the durability based on my play of the 
game. In the respective bike sections, there's a note if the bike is noticeably
strong or weak.

2.5 Bike Magnets

*Remember in GTA3 how driving a certain car would cause specific other ones to be
more common on the streets of Liberty? Well, it works for the bikes in Vice City.
It should raise your chances of seeing the bike you want as your cruise around,
but it doesn't seem as effective as it was in GTA3. Here's a list of which
vehicles attract which bikes:

*Faggio - Stallion, Manana.
*Pizza Boy - n/a. Only appears at Well-Stacked Pizza.
*Freeway - Linerunner, Pony, Rumpo, Boxville, Walton
*Angel - n/a. Only appears at Big Mitch Baker's.
*Sanchez - Comet.
*PCJ - Cheetah, Infernus, Banshee.

*Thanks to Randy Jenkins for one of the few useful emails I've had. 

3. Faggio

*Description: The Faggio is the Vice City version of the Vespa Piaggio scooter.
It has the most irritating engine noise in the game.

 + The Faggio is extremely manoeuvrable, making it the easiest scooter to weave
through traffic. 
 + It is also front-wheel drive, making it the bike of choice for stoppies. Get
some speed and hold R1, Square and Up in the usual way, but occasionally tap X 
as well. With this technique, you can stoppie for as long as your fingers can 
take it. ---This Just In:--- Several extremely anal people have emailed me in a
huff to tell me that no motorbike on the planet is front-wheel drive, so there
you go. However, the Faggio is still good for stoppies. ---Ends---

 - The Faggio is extremely underpowered, so picking up speed takes a while, and
once you hit the top speed it's not earth-shattering. As a result, it's 
terrible at jumps. It also seems to be extremely top-heavy, thanks to its tiny 
wheels, so it's bad at landing. 
 - The Faggio can't wheelie particularly well. You have to work up a lot of 
speed to pull off a decent one.

*Locations: There is a parked Faggio on the east island. From the Malibu Club 
(check your map), head south. Take the right-hand road at the fork (not the 
bridge, which goes directly west)and continue heading south past the police 
station. The Faggio will be in an alcove on your left, but like so many things 
in GTA:Vice City, it doesn't always appear.

*Speed test: 23.9s normal, 19.4s duck trick

*My grade: E

4. Pizza Boy

*Description: The Pizza Boy is a Faggio with a pizza compartment attached. The 
irritating engine noise remains, but now there's the added bonus of a garish 
red-orange colour scheme.

 + Same pros as the Faggio
 + The Pizza Boy is required to do the pizza delivery missions. Get on a Pizza 
Boy outside a Well-Stacked Pizza place and the missions should start 
automatically. Deliver the pizzas by drive-bying the customers (R2 or L2 + 
Circle). When you complete Pizza Mission Level 10, Tommy's maximum health rises
to 150. 

 - Don't use R1 to turn, just use the d-pad. R1 turns more sharply, but you 
lose most of your speed when you use it. Using the d-pad alone has a worse 
turning circle, so start to turn earlier. Turning properly makes the pizza 
missions much easier.
 - Do the pizza missions on the East Island. Lots of customers are close 
together, mainly on the beach. Getting to the beach can take a while if you
only follow the roads marked on the map. There are several shortcuts. For example,
from the Malibu, head south. Almost immediately on your left is "Standing Vice
Point", which has some Body Armour there. Behind that is a little gap that leads
to the beach. There are plenty more, so make sure you know them all before trying
to complete the Pizza Boy missions. There's nothing more annoying than failing the
final Pizza Boy mission and having to start again and listen to that annoying
engine noise for another 10 missions.

*Locations: Outside or behind any Well-Stacked Pizza restaurant. Check your 
map. Sometimes they don't appear. Just drive away and come back a few minutes 

*Speed test: 24.4s normal, 19.5s duck trick 

*My grade: E+, for the health bonus.

5. Freeway

*Description: A hog. A big greasy Harley-style hog. Nice engine noise.

 + Reaches a pretty high top speed.
 + Looks and sounds great.
 + As the heaviest bike, it's most likely to survive a clash with a car.

 - The Freeway is too back-heavy to stoppie, and wheelies are hit and miss.
 - It has the worst turning circle of all the bikes. You could do the sharp 
turn, but at higher speeds you'll fall off.

 -Turn early and hard, but don't use R1, to retain maximum speed and avoid 
careering off the side of the road.

*Locations: They tend to be found in abundance near Big Mitch Baker's (see 
Angel section for directions), but I've seen them all over the city.

*Speed test: 18.5s normal, 17.5s duck trick

*My grade: C

6. Angel

*Description: A Freeway, customised to Big Mitch Baker's preferences. Stars and 
stripes colour scheme.

 + Same as Freeway except...
 + Higher top speed than the Freeway
 + Heavier than the Freeway, the Angel can knock Mananas out of its way. It 
takes a lot of punishment before being blown up.
 - Even worse turning circle than the Freeway
 - Slightly worse acceleration

 -The Angel forms a part of Big Mitch Baker's missions. You can use it in his 
first mission, "Alloy Wheels of Steel", and you have to use it in "Hog Tied".

*Speed test: 17.7s normal, 16.4s duck trick

*Locations: Outside the Greasy Chopper in southeast Downtown. Get on the main 
road that runs up the eastern side of the West Island, and head north. Where 
the road splits in two, take the right-hand road, and you'll see it on your 
right. Very near the Skumole Shack save point.

*My grade: C+

6.1 Alloy Wheels of Steel

*This is the first mission for Big Mitch Baker, found at the Greasy Chopper.
An ace of spades will appear on your map if you can do his missions.

*Compared to other racing missions like "The Driver", this is really, really
easy. If you've used the Angel a little bit beforehand and know how to judge
turns without losing speed (see Freeway section), you should complete this
first time. 

*When the race begins, just keep up with the other three racers. Try and knock
them off their Freeways by barging into them with your heavier Angel. When
they get to the first tight turn (near the Hyman Condo), at least one will fall
off. Make sure you don't. The other two both fall at least once later on,
especially if there's loads of traffic. Try and knock them off their bikes, but
don't risk falling off yourself. Actually, if you're fairly good with the Angel
you could fall off and easily catch up. Having said that, if you're fairly good
with the Angel you shouldn't fall off at all.

*If you're really having trouble with the race, don't park in the marker when
the race starts. Instead, get a little run up and clip one of their bikes with
your Angel. This automatically starts the race, but hopefully you'll have kept
enough speed to get a decent head start.

**Alternate strategy** (thanks to Philip Whitehead):
I noticed that the other three bikes seemed to take the corners alot better than
the Angel I was on.  So when I restarted the race instead of taking a bike from
outside the bar I just walked up to one of the racers and stole his. I won the
race by miles. 

Two benefits 
- You now only have two other bikes in the race 
- Your Angel handles like a PCJ 600 

6.2 Hog Tied

*Big Mitch Baker's third and final mission. See 6.1 Alloy Wheels of Steel for
details on how to get there. Make sure you have full health and body armour
when you start the mission. If you prefer, you can bring a PCJ to use instead
of the Angel, but there's not much difference, and you're going to have to use
the Angel for the last half of the mission anyway.

*When the cut-scene ends, get on one of the Angels parked outside the Greasy
Chopper. With your back to the Greasy Chopper, head left. Turn right at the
first opportunity, so you're heading north. Keep going north, and you'll see
a white staircase on top. Hit the staircase dead straight at high speed and 
you'll clear the road and land on a rooftop, getting a Unique Jump in the 
process. Still on the bike, go down the stairs on your left, running over or
shooting any enemies in your way (remember, you can shoot forwards on a bike).
Mitch's Angel is in the furthest garage from the stairs. Get to it, get on it
and make your way back to the stairs. Watch out, some of the guys have
shotguns. Head back up the stairs and use an air vent to jump the barrier and
get back on the street. You'll make the last bit a lot easier if you don't
fall off when you land. Just get back to the Greasy Chopper as quick as
possible (south and then left when the road becomes four lanes). Apparently
Gang Burritos will try and kill you on your way back, but I didn't notice any.
Mission done. You can now do the final Love Fist mission.

7. Sanchez

*Description: A dirtbike. Sounds like it's broken down.

 + A good balance of speed and manoeuvrability.
 + The Sanchez is the bike of choice for wheelies, because when you pull back, 
it locks out at a certain angle, so it's difficult to pull back too far and 
fall off. Its speed also helps.
 +Out of all the bikes, the Sanchez loses the least speed on the beach. It's 
not as good as the BF Injection for driving on sand, but it's the best bike for 

 - It's distinctly average.
 - It's really easy to fall off during a stoppie on a Sanchez
 - The Sanchez is the weakest bike; it takes little damage before exploding, 
which means it's best not to use a Sanchez for multiple successive jumps.

 -There is a nice little glitch for the Sanchez. If you bump into an obstacle 
at low speed, with the Sanchez at an angle, the bike gets tipped over, with 
Tommy still on it. It bounces up and down a bit before becoming upright again.
Bizarrely, the game registers each of those bounces as a flip. As a result, 
I've had an Insane Stunt Bonus where I got 0.5m distance, 0m height and 3 

*Speed test: 17.8s normal, 15.5s duck trick

*Locations: For me at least, this seems to be the scarcest bike. The only way 
I've managed to get Sanchez to spawn all over town is to store one in my 
garage. I found that one around the Hyman Condo/Hyman Memorial Stadium area. It
seems to be a hotspot for bikes. In the mission "Cap the Collector", the 
collectors ride around on a Sanchez, so if you're really desperate, steal that 
one and stick it in a garage.

*My grade: B

7.1 Guardian Angels

*A mission for Diaz, who lives on Starfish Island. His map symbol's a big D.
I've only included it for the Sanchez bit, which has proved tricky to some.

*Follow your map target to the multi-storey car park. Get in Lance's car and
drive to the new pink dot. Protect Diaz by shooting the Haitians. Shooting up
the Voodoos will kill a few, but make sure Diaz isn't in the way. Occasionally
Haitians will run up the stairs and attack you, and Lance will ask for help 
when he's being attacked. When you've protected Diaz for long enough, two guys
come along on bikes and steal the briefcase. Get on the bike that Lance frees up
and chase the other guy. Only shoot on straights, because if you screw up and
hit an obstacle you'll probably fail the mission. It's important to keep your
speed up and stay near the Haitian. Keep plugging away and he'll die, and the
briefcase is yours. If you're confident on a Sanchez, ride at top speed to get
alongside the Haitian, and shoot him from the side. It's much quicker, but it
takes a lot of coordination to keep up with him without hitting something.

7.2 Dirtring

*The Sanchez is used in the Dirtbike event at the Hyman Memorial Stadium in 
northwest Downtown. The stadium doors are open between 8pm and 12pm every third
day, and the bike is provided. All you have to do is walk into the stadium at 
the right time. If you want multiple tries without having to wait three in-game
days, save at the Hyman Condo at around 2pm on the appropriate day. Saving 
takes 6 hours, so when you load up it'll be 8pm.

*The Dirtring event is boring in my opinion, but it has to be done to get 100% 
completion. Most of it is fairly straightforward, with ramps and jumps and 
loops and the like, but there are a couple of problem areas. 

*First thing, do a lap of the actual track. It'll take well under a minute and 
it'll clear about 10 targets off your radar. One of the targets on the track is
slightly above the track, so you need to do a wheelie to get it. Remember, only
targets that you touch with your bike count. That's probably to stop people 
from getting off their bike and jumping onto them.

*The hardest bits of the track are the white concrete walls. They look like 
this from the side:
                  o               The "o"s are the targets.
            o     __
            _    /  \ 
           / \__/    \
          /           |
      ___/            |

They're as thin as your bike wheels, and you can only go one way along them 
thanks to the vertical bit at one end. This makes getting the second target a 
pain in the neck. My advice is to align yourself perfectly with the ramp, go up
it very slowly (don't worry, the Sanchez has plenty of torque so it won't slip 
down) and get the first target. In the valley in the middle, stop and realign 
your bike with the ramp, then get the second one. You can go faster on the 
second one. All in all, you could probably do each wall in 10 seconds. 

7.3 Dirtbike Track

*The dirtbike track is found on a grassy area to the northeast of the Hyman
Memorial Stadium, on the West Island. With your back to the stadium entrance,
head down either of the two roads heading east, and turn left at the end. 
Ahead of you should be a pedestrian area with a white floor. The track is 
very close; you should find it very easily from there.

*At the eastern end of the track is a Sanchez, next to a Rancher. Get on it
to start the dirtbike race timer. You have to complete two laps of the track,
getting the pink checkpoints along the way (to stop you cutting corners).
That's it. No time limit or anything. Each time you beat the record, you get
and even bigger cash reward, so you might want to start badly and improve 
each time if you want the money. Most of you will probably only do it for
100% completion though.

*Getting a decent time isn't hard. A lot of the track is 90 degree turns, so
approach them wide and use the handbrake early (R1) to skid round them 
without losing much speed. Make sure that when you're going over bumps you
don't turn in mid air, because that'll screw up your landing. Also, the very
first hill is quite steep, so you might need a run up. Half way into the 
first lap, you'll get a message telling you that it looks like rain. At the 
start of your second lap that rain will actually start. It affects the bike's
grip, so you'll need to use the handbrake earlier. The bike will also be 
more likely to spin out and throw you off.

*You might notice a group of Haitians on bikes following you. They're pretty
slow most of the time, but they might catch up if you make a mistake. They
pull you off your bike and attack you with meat cleavers, so make sure you
have a gun. The Haitians' bikes are Black Sanchezes, which I don't think you
can get anywhere else in the game, so if you want one, let them catch you, 
one and steal it.

*Target time: Under two minutes at least.

8. PCJ 600

*Description: Racing bike, looks like one of those Yamahas. Slightly whiney 
engine noise, and at higher speeds it sounds like it's going to explode.

 + The best acceleration and top speed of any vehicle in the game, making it 
the best for zooming around the city, and particularly for jumps. Don't bother 
trying Unique Jumps with anything else. This makes them a million times easier.
 + The handling is damn near perfect.
 + Handbrake turns retain most of your momentum when turning, and you don't lose
control as easily as with normal turns. 

 - It is incredibly easy to lose control and hit something or fall off.
 - The PCJ gets thrown all over the place by bumps on the ground.

 - Learn to love this bike, and store a couple in your garages.
 - If you pull back just before you make contact, you can ride up the front of 
Cheetahs and Infernuses.

*Speed Test: 16.5s normal, 15.1s duck trick

 -Initially, they tend to be found in high numbers around the Hyman Condo and 
the bridge to Prawn Island from Downtown. Once you keep a couple in your 
garages, they become more common all around the city.
 -Sometimes one appears at Cortez' docks. To get there, head south from the 
Ammunation in Washington beach, turn right and head up the curved road. The 
docks are on your left, behind white building.
 -Apparently, there's a fixed location for the PCJ, next to Big Mitch Baker's
place. It's in "Howlin' Pete's Bike Emporium". Thanks to SONICSTAR337.

*My grade: A

8.1 G-Spotlight

*The last mission for the Film Studio on Prawn Island. Remember you need to
have finished the Shakedown mission in the main story to be able to buy assets.
There'll be a movie clapperboard icon on your map if you can take Film Studio

*Get a PCJ. See above for locations. Follow the pink dot to the office, and
head inside. Get into the lift (that's an elevator in American. Yuck.) and get
into the pink flash thing. Line up your bike with the open window and put your
foot down as hard as possible. Watch out for the guy standing in the way
though. If done properly, you'll fly over a gap (Unique Jump) and land in a new
pink flash thing. You might hit the wall, but if you don't, keep going across
to the next gap. Keep going from gap to gap, getting a few Unique Jumps, and
after about the tenth jump a ladder will drop down to ground level so you
don't have to go back to the beginning if you fall. The PCJ will probably be
smoking by the time you get there, so go get a new one. Finish the last half of
the course in the same way and you're done. Remember the tips for jumping
(2.1) and you should be okay. 

*I've been told there's a PCJ in the Film Studio lot for that mission. Thanks to 

*I have had many, many emails telling me that you can just do the mission by
landing a helicopter in each checkpoint. I hadn't put it up on the grounds that
it's the yellerbelly's way out, but I'm fed up of all the emails.

8.2 PCJ Playground

*Remember the Patriot Playground checkpoint mission from GTA3? This is the same
thing, only on a PCJ (duh). To start the mission, you have to get on a PCJ
parked in Ocean Beach. To find it, head south from the Malibu along the road.
Keep looking left, and you should see the bike parked in a corner on a grass
verge. It's up a slight hill, so you might not see it right away. 

*When you start the mission, you'll be told that you have two minutes to
collect the 24 checkpoints in any order. This is completely untrue. You have to
collect the checkpoints in the right order to finish within the time limit.

*Ride up the wooden ramps to hit the first checkpoint and start the timer.
Watch out though, if you take too small a run-up, you won't get over the second
ramp and onto the building, but you'll still hit the checkpoint. If you take
too big a run-up, you'll hit the first ramp too fast, miss the second ramp and
crash into the wall, still hitting the checkpoint. Both ways start the clock
with you in a bad position. 

* Once you're on the building, grab checkpoint 2 and fall into the alley. 
Don't lose too much speed, you'll need it to ride up the stairway and get 
number 3.  Grab 4, 5 and 6 in the alley, then ride up the staircase to get 7
in mid-air and land on the roof for number 8. Fall into the alley again to get
9, 10 and 11. Hit the little ramp on the right for number 12, but be careful
not to crash into the wall. Numbers 13 to 17 are in the alley as you turn
right into the road and head down into the mini-mall for checkpoints 18, 19 and
20. Turn right into the road after coming up the steps to get 21, turn left
into checkpoint 22. The jump to number 23 is on your left, but head right down
the alley, turn round and floor it to get enough speed to grab 23 and make it
to the roof. Brake hard on the roof to get 24 instead of flying off the end.
All done. My time: 1.34.  

9. Credits

*Thanks to Rockstar North for making the game, and to GameFAQs for 
being the most useful games site on the web.