THE National Motorcycle Museum sale takes place today, and the action catalogue is full of classic and retro motorcycles, scooters, and racing machines.
But with so many bikes to choose from, and a vast array of estimated prices, it can be hard to pick out the bikes you could actually see yourself riding. Bidding is opening very soon though, to help you out, we’ve trawled the catalogue and are bringing you the pick of the crop from the National Motorcycle Museum, H&H auction sale.
1. 1949 Vincent HRD Black Shadow - est’ £55,000 - £65,000
No self-respecting auction catalogue is complete without a Vincent adoring its pages, and the NMM sale is no different, with this tidy (and fairly keenly priced) Black Shadow looking like the halo bike of the sale.
Its guide price, while not to be sniffed at, is still much less than some examples of the bike go for and this example is thought to be one of only 41 Series C bikes ever produced.
View the bike here.
2. BSA Vetter Rocket 3 'X-75 Hurricane Prototype' - est’ £28,000 - £32,000
We reported on this BSA Vetter Rocket 3 a couple of weeks ago, and it is a very significant part of the UK’s motorcycling history - not least because it was dreamed up and partly developed in the USA.
View the bike here.
3. 1967 Velocette Thruxton - Ex Bol d'Or racer - est’ £16,000 - £18,000
A Velocette Thruxton in this condition is a rare beast. A Velocette Thruxton in this condition with provenance from one of the world’s most famous endurance races is a bit of a holy grail bike. It’s thought the bike was exported to the Bol’ in 1967 and was re-registered in the UK in 1990.
View the bike here.
4. 1994 Ducati 888 - est’ £9,000 - £11,000
If this Ducati 888 actually goes for its estimate, it looks to me like a bit of a bargain! These things are going the way of the 916, which is what we can see happening with 748 right now. Five to seven years ago you could pick up an 888 or an 851 for not much money at all, and on today’s market, they are fetching well over £10k on a regular basis. If you are looking for a cost-effective classic that is relatively easy to work on, and that is only going to go up in value, a V-twin sports bike of this era (especially a Ducati!) is not a bad shout at all!
View the bike here.
5. 1960 BSA DBD 34 Goldstar - est’ £11,000 - £13,000
With its modern sibling now fully out on the UK’s roads, the profile of the original BSA Gold Star is only growing, and like with the Ducati above, values are rising. This extremely tidy example has been in the same ownership since 1997, has been used very little in that time and has only had some recommissioning before use.
View the bike here.
You can check out all the bikes in the sale here.
