Ex Barry Sheene 1977 Grand Prix title-winning Suzuki RG500 heads to auction
The actual ex-works Suzuki XR14 that carried Barry Sheene to his second 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship is set to sell at Stafford, marking the first time in nearly 40 years the bike has emerged from private hands.
At the Bonhams Spring Stafford Sale on 26 April, during the International Classic MotorCycle Show, one of the most significant Grand Prix machines ever to surface in the UK will cross the block: Barry Sheene’s 1977 World Championship-winning works Suzuki RG500 XR14.
But this isn’t just any XR14. This is frame 1201, making it one of only two factory bikes Sheene used in his 1977 title defence, and the very machine he rode across the line in the final round to seal his second and final 500cc crown. The sister bike remains with the Sheene family. This one apparently hasn’t been seen publicly in nearly 40 years.
By the mid-’70s, Sheene wasn’t just a Grand Prix motorcycle racer; he was a national figure, with his fame rivalled only by the F1 ‘playboy’ James Hunt. Adding to the allure of the bike is the fact that his 1976 title very nearly didn’t happen, after Suzuki pulled the plug on its factory GP effort. To keep the dream alive, Suzuki’s UK importer stepped in, running the team under the Texaco Heron banner. Sheene repaid that faith with five wins and the championship wrapped up with races to spare. The following year, Sheene and the Texaco Heron team managed six wins from 11 rounds, building a 27-point margin over the Yamaha YZ500-mounted American, Steve Baker.
Bonhams has confirmed the machine will be offered without reserve, guided at between £160,000 and £200,000. Works 500cc two-strokes don’t exactly circulate on the open market that often, and fully documented, title-winning factory bikes tied to Britain’s most charismatic world champion are rarer still.
After Sheene’s era, frame 1201 passed into the hands of Peter Agg, the man instrumental in keeping Suzuki’s GP presence alive in the first place, before entering its current ownership in 1987, where it has stayed ever since.
The auction for the bike will be taking place on April, 26 at the Stafford Sale - The International Classic Motorcycle Show, Stafford, UK. Alongside Sheene’s headlining Suzuki will be around 90 other notable machines, including the expansive Rex Judd Collection.
More details can be found on the official website.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
