A 48-CYLINDERKawasaki-based special that stars in one of YouTube's most-watched motorcycle videos ever is up for grabs if you can muster a cool £1 million and hit the “buy it now” button.
Created by Simon Whitelock of Red Dog Superbikes in Potters Bar (www.reddoguk.com), the 4200cc two-stroke holds the Guinness World Record for the most cylinders on a land vehicle. And yes, it's a runner.
The £500,000 starting price might seem a tad steep, but with with more than 5 million views for one 30-second video of the machine running on YouTube – the placing it eighth on the 'most viewed' list if you search the site for “motorcycle” - there's little doubt it turns heads. Only problem is, you probably won't be able to actually ride it.
The advert says that while you're welcome to go to see the bike, test rides aren't on offer since it has never been ridden and “probably never will be”.
Each of the bike's 48 cylinders comes from a Kawasaki KH250 triple, put together in six rows of eight cylinders each. Those rows are all effectively individual straight-eight engines, with their own crankshafts (yep, that's six crankshafts) all geared together to a single BMW shaft-drive transmission.
In fact, the bike is really a 49-cylinder since it has a totally separate 75cc single under the seat that's used as a starter motor.
Although it's pretty unlikely anyone will actually stump-up the half-million pound starting price, let along the £1 million “buy it now” - there are certainly no bids yet – the ad does say: “If you can't afford the price perhaps we can build you something similar.”
A 48-CYLINDER Kawasaki-based special that stars in one of YouTube's most-watched motorcycle videos ever is up for grabs if you can muster a cool £1 million and hit the “buy it now” button.
Created by Simon Whitelock of Red Dog Superbikes in Potters Bar, the 4200cc two-stroke holds the Guinness World Record for the most cylinders on a land vehicle. And yes, it's a runner.
The £500,000 starting price might seem a tad steep, but with with more than 5 million views for one 30-second video of the machine running on YouTube – the placing it eighth on the 'most viewed' list if you search the site for “motorcycle” - there's little doubt it turns heads. Only problem is, you probably won't be able to actually ride it.
The advert says that while you're welcome to go to see the bike, test rides aren't on offer since it has never been ridden and “probably never will be”.
Each of the bike's 48 cylinders comes from a Kawasaki KH250 triple, put together in six rows of eight cylinders each. Those rows are all effectively individual straight-eight engines, with their own crankshafts (yep, that's six crankshafts) all geared together to a single BMW shaft-drive transmission.
In fact, the bike is really a 49-cylinder since it has a totally separate 75cc single under the seat that's used as a starter motor.
Although it's pretty unlikely anyone will actually stump-up the half-million pound starting price, let along the £1 million “buy it now” - there are certainly no bids yet – the ad does say: “If you can't afford the price perhaps we can build you something similar.”
