I unfortunately did not hear about this auction until it was over, so I apologize that I wasn’t able to give you a heads up on it. But “London’s First Dedicated World-Class Motorcycle-Only Auction” happened two weeks ago and they just published results, so you can at least take a look at what the sales prices were now. There was a lot of great Italian racers, a few of which I have to highlight here:
1964 Bianchi Bicilindrica Bialbero – sold for $170,191. One of the last Bianchi 500GP racers ever built. The rumor about this bike is that it was built for British racer Derek Minter, but Bianchi went backrupt before he was able to get it. None other than Lino Tonti was owed money by Bianchi and he took four trips in an Alfa Giulietta to bring it to his home. Also…it’s gorgeous.
Replica of 1956 Moto Guzzi V8 500GP – sold for $272,286. Makes you wonder what one of the originals would sell for! This replica of what might be the most famous GP racer ever was built about 15 years ago in Italy to 1956 factory specification. All hail dustbin fairings.
1951 Moto Guzzi Bicilindrica 500GP – sold for $154,944. Introduced at the 1933 Italian GP, this bike was successful at the highest level of racing for an impressively long time. 1951 was the last year of production, by which point the Bicilindrica was putting down 52 horsepower, and it had its last GP win at the ’51 Swiss GP in Berne. Apparently only approximately a dozen of these bikes were built as factory race bikes. This one somehow made it to South America where it was left to rot, though in the early 90s it came back to Italy and it was restored by ex-Guzzi race mechanics. About 50% of parts are repro, the other half are original parts that have been restored.
Some newer bikes:
1986 Cagiva GP500 Tipo C10 – sold for $108,360. An actual 500cc GP racer from the 80s, this Cagiva was “definitely” raced in the ’86 and/or ’87 seasons, though the exact history of who raced it at specific tracks has been lost. This bike used to be in the possession of Cagiva’s factory racing chief mechanic, though it traded hands in 1999. It’s claimed to have been effectively “untouched since 1987.”
1994 Honda RC45 RVF750R – sold for $46,458. You and I know the RC45 as the homologation special, produced so that Honda could compete in World Superbike. Well, here’s an example equipped with the factory HRC race kit, a Termi exhaust, and Ohlins steering damper because it competed in the Italian Superbike Championship from 1995-1997.
For the rest of the bikes, click here!