Two motorcyclists speeding along Kamehameha Highway on the North Shore were hospitalized early this morning after one bike clipped the rear of a car, lost control and collided with the second cycle, police said.

One biker was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and the other was hospitalized in serious condition, police said. No one in the car, a four-door sedan, was injured.

Police said the double motorcycle crash occurred at 2:05 a.m. on Kamehameha Highway, three-tenths mile north of Pa'ala'a Uka Pupukea Road. Investigators said both cycles — a blue 2008 Yamaha XV driven by a 32-year-old Wahiawa man and a black 2005 Yamaha Midnight Star driven by a 38-year-old man — were heading north.

When the two bikers attempted to pass a red 2006 Chevy Impala driven by a 54-year-old Kahuku man, the blue motorcycle struck the car's left rear bumper and lost control.

It then sideswiped the black motorcycle, causing both to skid off the road and into the left embankment of the highway, police said. Both bikers were thrown and sustained multiple head and body injuries. They were taken to The Queen's Medical Center — the biker on the blue cycle in critical condition.

Neither biker was wearing a helmet, police said, adding that speed was a factor. It was not known if drugs or alcohol were involved, police said. The highway was closed throughout the investigation, and it was reopened at 5:41 a.m.

The crash occurred near the location of a fatal hit-and-run wreck on Tuesday in which an 18-year-old bicyclist was killed after a speeding vehicle — believed to have been a flatbed truck — veered onto the highway and struck the young man at around 1:35 a.m.

Investigators are still searching for the driver and have appealed to the public for information.