Favorite Motorcycle Auctions of 2025
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Term
cam cover
The cam cover is a part of the engine that helps keep oil inside and protects important moving parts. It's usually made to look nice since it's visible when you open the hood.
Term
carburetor
The carburetor is a part that helps mix air and fuel so the engine can run. It's important for how well the car performs, especially in older models.
Company
Singer
Singer is a company that takes Porsche cars and makes them even better, focusing on how they look and how they perform. They create special versions that are very unique.
Concept
artistry in automotive design
Some car makers believe that cars should not only work well but also look beautiful. Ettore Bugatti, for example, thought that every part of a car should be designed like a piece of art.
Term
exhaust system
The exhaust system is what takes the gases produced by the engine and sends them out of the vehicle. It helps make the car run better and quieter.
Car
Ford Model T
The Model T is a famous car made by Ford that was very affordable and helped many people own cars for the first time. It was produced for almost 20 years and changed how people traveled.
Term
liquid-cooled engine
A liquid-cooled engine is a type of engine that uses liquid to keep it cool while it runs. This helps the engine work better and last longer.
Term
overhead cam
An overhead cam is a part of an engine that helps control how the engine works. It is located above the engine's cylinders and helps the engine run more efficiently.
Car
Porsche 996
The Porsche 996 is a version of the famous 911 sports car made between 1999 and 2004. It was the first 911 to use water cooling instead of air cooling for its engine, which was a big change for the brand.
Term
water cooled
Water-cooled engines use liquid to keep the engine cool, which helps it run better and last longer. Most modern cars, including newer Porsches, use this system instead of air cooling.
Term
miniature radiator
A miniature radiator is a small part that helps cool down the engine. It works like a regular radiator but is much smaller, making it easier to fit in tight spaces.
Term
emissions requirements
Emissions requirements are rules that cars must follow to make sure they don't pollute the air too much. They help keep the environment clean by limiting harmful gases from vehicles.
Term
push to start
Push to start means you can start your car by pressing a button instead of using a key. It's a newer way to start cars that many modern vehicles have.
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that can handle rough roads and outdoor adventures. It's popular because it looks cool and is great for people who love to explore nature.
Car
Honda Civic
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people use for everyday driving. It's known for being easy to drive and very dependable.
Brand
Vespa
Vespa is a popular brand of scooters from Italy. They are known for their unique look and are often used for city commuting.
Car
Aston Martin Vanquish
The Aston Martin Vanquish is a fancy sports car that looks great and goes really fast. It's made by a well-known brand that has a history in racing.
Term
427 V8
The 427 V8 is a big engine that makes a lot of power. It's often found in fast cars and is popular among car enthusiasts.
Company
Brodix
Brodix makes parts that help engines perform better, especially in racing. They are famous for making high-quality components for cars, especially those made by General Motors.
Car
Honda S600
The Honda S600 is a small, old sports car that was made a long time ago. It's special because it has some unique features that make it fun to drive, and people who like classic cars really appreciate it.
Car
Porsche Carrera GT
The Porsche Carrera GT is a super-fast sports car that many people dream of owning. It's famous for its amazing speed and how fun it is to drive, making it a topic of excitement among car fans.
LIVE
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Bring a Trailer podcast. Alex Porter coming
to you from San Francisco headquarters of Bring a Trailer, joined once again today by
Tyler Greenblatt, manager of our motorcycle team. Hey, Tyler.
What's going on, Alex? You have been up at the office a lot recently, which has been
a delight. You've been riding the train, which is weird for a Moto man.
I have become like the biggest public transportation enthusiast over the last
three months. Well, we screwed that up already.
I know, I know. But it's been great. You've been here a lot. And you mentioned yesterday,
you were here for our Days of Thunder pod, which hopefully everyone's enjoying,
but which went up last week. And then you mentioned it's been a while since we talked
about bikes. Could it really have been May since we talked Moto's last time? It was after the
quail, right? It was right after the quail, but I want to say we haven't had a bike dedicated
episode in a while. No, we haven't. There's been so much going on, so many topics,
movies, the year games. So it's been a while. We've been distracted by other things,
but it is time to talk Moto's again. So stoked to do that with you. I think we also talked about
that we had crossed the 10,000 motorcycle auction threshold. And now where are we at?
We're 11.5, something like that. We've done another 1,000 plus since then.
Yeah. I want to say by the time this comes out, we'll be at 11.4 per go.
Keeping your team busy, though. Yeah, you're telling me. When we last talked about bikes and
volume, that would have been when we crossed over our 10,000 mark back in August 2025.
Gotcha. And now it's just kind of a fun number to see.
But that's so that's, gosh, less than six months, and we've done another 1,000 plus,
almost 1,500, 1,400, crazy. Yeah. That's been about the trajectory for the last couple years.
That's wild. Does it make you sick of motorcycles or are you still stoked to see what comes across
your desk? What a great question. No, I think I'm still pretty stoked. Okay. One of the neat
things is, and maybe one of the things I've gotten to enjoy, we've got such a great team of folks who
work on them here at BAT, who are motorcycle specialists, that a lot of times I don't see
some of the, I don't want to call them mundane because I love them all, but like your CB750s,
your CB450s. The ones that were running in volume, you're tending to, your alt-tees are our activity
today. We're going to talk about our favorite motorcycle auctions where we each came up with
our own top 10 for 2025. And I think probably a lot of Tyler edited bikes are going to end up on
our two lists. Yeah, me because it's the stuff that really got us excited in the community excited.
Yeah. It's not the stuff I have in my garage necessarily, but there's some really cool things.
And it's like, bikes are just such, they're beautiful pieces of art. Cars are too. I'll
admit that, but I think there's a bit more intricacy with a lot of these, especially some of the
pre-war motorcycles that we've listed. 100%. And so it's like seeing them on my screen,
not as great as being in person or riding, but you can still make out a lot of them.
Yes. So we actually have bikes almost every day that we've not seen before on VAT.
That's amazing. So disclaimer for listeners, and you already know this well, I don't ride,
I don't know that much about motorcycles. And I do, I'm so glad you said it. I think of them
as maybe the perfect aesthetic statement of like a motor vehicle, right? Like I admire them for
their beauty and for their technology. Which is all on motorcycles. So like I know something
about them, but I think that's what a lot of people like about them. And a lot of dudes are
clearly buying them to put them in their man cave, right? To just look at them.
Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, every single detail on a motorcycle is out in the open. You know,
when you start to get into late 80s, fully ferried plastic sport bikes, you know,
they're even shapely. I mean, they're shapely and beautiful. And we may even talk about one of them
to that or a few or a few of them. But for the most part, they're really, I mean,
you pull those fairings off and it's like the details are still there. But going back into
the early 80s, even, you know, there's details, the little end caps on a cam cover, that's got to
be designed because it's visible. What the timer cover looks like on the bottom of the engine.
It's like, that's got to be designed because it's going to draw people in the engines black and
the covers chrome, people are going to notice it. And that goes all the way back to, I mean,
kind of my personal favorite kinds of motorcycles, the pre-war stuff, where every single thing,
every little lever knob, the parts of the carburetor, it's like everything is just so
beautifully designed because it's visible. So it's both mechanical, but it's also visible.
It's there's a, there's a second component of building a motorcycle that a lot of cars just
don't like, you know, Singer obviously would probably be the one that comes to mind where
it kind of does everything. Yes. Ettore Bugatti believes strongly that every part needs to be
beautiful. So when you look at the engine of a Bugatti or the suspension pieces, they're all
art. I mean, his dad and brother sculptors and made furniture and stuff, right? So they
believed in the artistry and you're totally right. It's really well said that motorcycles
really carry that tradition. I think we've talked about this on the podcast before,
either with Zach or you and me. I'm such an exhaust snob, right? Like where, where it's placed and
how it's like, but that's not something you always have to, I mean, you maybe have to worry
about the exhaust outlet on your car, but what's going on underneath unless you have the car on a
lift or you're a real wonk, you don't care that much about how the exhaust looks, right? There can
be ugly welds on it and stuff, but all that is visible on a motorcycle. That's right. Yeah. And
actually you just reminded me about exhaust. I have a personal favorite motorcycle exhaust system,
believe it or not. I don't know if anyone else does, but I definitely do. I do. Well, you own
one of my favorites of all time, which is the CBS because you can see the six headers coming off the
front, which is amazing. And I guess Benelli's look like that too, right? Yeah, real similar,
but six header pipes coming off the front of your motorcycle motor. That's hard to beat. It's cool
for sure. But as you well know, it also has that Honda like we're prepared to build a million of
them. Correct. Kind of vibe. Yes. So the stamps are very visible. Yeah. So it's cool to see, but
it's also really not all that artistic. It's not as aesthetically beautiful as you need it to be.
Exactly. Yes. I require an aesthetically beautiful exhaust system on my motorcycle.
Tell me about the 20s, 30s bike. Yeah. So really it's Harley Davidson, of course,
came out with this exhaust system. It was right at the time when bikes were getting loud,
you know, we're a little bit past the point of horses being scared on the road. That was kind of
like maybe 10 to 15, but by the Model T, I mean, cars and bikes were pretty much sure,
maybe more even the norm than horses in a lot of places. But by 1929, they were starting to think
like people are using these things, especially the Great Depression would have been in effect.
So motorcycles would have been in fact, certainly by 1930, starting to get just a little bit more
of how can we make this quieter? How can we make this a more usable piece of transportation? More
affordable and more people want them is what you're saying. Right. And I mean, the Model T
totally screwed up motorcycles for history, because that was always their thing. Because
you'd have a car for cheap. Yeah, because you can get a car for the same price. So it really
kind of messed things up. So motorcycle manufacturers after the Model T just had to do something.
And by 2930, they were starting to make some pretty good power. And they were also kind of
becoming fun. And the companies were also trying to come up with ways of making them quieter. And
what can we do to kind of make them a bit more? Does the 30s Harley or 20s Harley sound the same?
I mean, still the same, the twin, same angle and everything, right? Do they sound similar?
Well, we're going to go on one of our Harley conversations again. But yeah, so the deal with
Harley is they all have the same firing order. And it's a trademarked thing. And I can't remember
the exact, what would you call it, fine order, but it's the timing where the rear cylinder hits
really shortly after the front cylinder. So they kind of fire in quick. That's what gives
a distinct sound. And that goes back to the 20s? Yeah, they did it for power and just to get torque
out. And now you have to do it. And now they're trying to figure out how to do that with liquid
cooled engines now. And it's not easy. Nobody would ever build a 45 degree liquid. And they've
gone overhead cam, right? And all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So actually, one of our colleagues just
bought the new Sportster. Shout out to Chris Everett, who just picked up a new Sportster. And
it's a liquid cool bike. I mean, gorgeous, beautiful, just like a Harley should be.
But not Porsche either, right? It's overhead cam. It is overhead cam. Yeah. So the new kind of their
off road dual sport type of bike. That was kind of the first, a modern one anyway, the V-Rod,
of course, liquid cooled overhead cam. But the Pan America was the first version of the kind of
current generation of Harley saying, all right, we're tired of running these engines too hot and
not being able to pass emissions. So it came to Porsche eventually too. And Porsche maybe even
helped Harley originally, didn't they? Because so interesting. Yeah. Because they were the last two
to go from air cooled to water cooled. Right. So Porsche actually designed the V-Rod engine,
which came out in 2001. Early on. That's right. And Porsche had just done that three or four years
before. I had never put that together. No, about the 996 coming out right before they
wanted to do the same thing. Yeah, I wonder if there was a little bit of succession right next
to each other. Volts were I can did it 20 years earlier or whatever, right? Yeah, that's really
cool. Yeah. Do they still try to make, I presume they do, they try to make the motor look like
an old air cooled motor, right? Even maybe with fake fins on the cylinders and stuff. So the big
twins are still in fact air cooled. Okay. They've got a little tube of liquid cooling that goes
around the exhaust valve in the head. Really? Yeah. So a little bit of cooling goes. Is there a
little miniature radiator somewhere too? Yeah, there is. Yeah, there's two miniature radiators.
At least it was the last one. But you can hide them, right? They don't have to be visible. They
don't have to be sitting out in front of the motor. You can, they're the size of an oil cooler.
And then when there's two of them, like half the size of an oil cooler. I mean, it's that
small, but it's just enough so that they can run them just to within like emissions requirements.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And heat. Wow, I didn't know what a clever solution. I actually love that.
It's extremely clever because their audience maybe demands it. They demand it, right? They
demand it. When they came out the system right around 2016 or so, the buyer 10 years ago was
very much we buy air cooled 45 degree motors that sound like a Harley. Yep. Today, 10 years later,
I don't know if that's still kind of the case. They've got an electric bike now, don't they?
Or did that fail? Well, yeah, they did have an electric bike.
That's 10. Yeah. Unfortunately, like a lot of kind of fun Harley things over the years,
they de-accessed that part of the company. And Livewire, I want to say it is its own thing now,
but I also want to say it doesn't do anything. So it's like, we didn't fail. We just stopped.
Yeah, yeah, totally. Exactly. You know what the deal there is.
We withdrew from Vietnam. Yeah, that's actually where I was going with that. I'm sure you knew
a quote there. I knew where you were going. Awesome, dude. Finish your story. What's the
Harley 1929-1930 Harley exhaust system? They're trying to make it quiet.
We have listed one. So it'll be a 1929 Harley Davidson Model J. So now this is going back to
2021 and it's got a sidecar and just 29 and 30 Harleys are just so beautiful. And they've
got some cool things, one of which I love, dual headlights. That's only those two years.
But the other thing is this exhaust system that comes out on either side of the bike and has
its normal muffler, but it also has this like bonus muffler. And what I'm kind of a picturing,
you'll, I'm sure love this. It looks almost like an extra fuel tank on a jet that's desired
like on a space shuttle or something that's designed to be jettison. It just looks like
it's plopped there like a belly tank or a wing tank, an external fuel tank. Oh, look at that.
So there's one of these on the other side as well. I feel like I have actually seen that before.
Wow. I thought it was a part of the mechanical, it almost looks like a chain cover or something
or like it could be part of the transmission or something. Yeah. So I'm saying it's an odd part.
It's hard to like say whether or not it is quite desirable or does somebody repop that?
I don't know if anyone repops it. Okay. I also don't know if anybody beyond me cares.
No, I think it's super cool for somebody who collects that era of Harley. Like they want that
if there's a weirdo part, you know, like my dad had that Vincent repeat, he listed on BAT and he
had this weirdo windscreen for it that was like aluminum and he like he had. Oh, perfect. Like
people like the weird add-ons, I think, right? Like they like a weird addition or an optional
piece. I mean, if I had a 29 Harley, I would need that. Yeah. I mean, it's like one year only kind
of stuff. You also get a front brake from 28 and above. So 29 also has the benefit of being able
to actually stop. It's still a jockey shifter though, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was the case
well through a... Does that go post-war? Yeah. That goes all the way on police bikes. It actually
went up until like the early 70s. Really? Yeah. You could actually... What was the argument there?
I have no idea. Why did a policeman need that? Yeah. Is there a weapon or something in the way? I think
the idea is that you can maneuver by using the clutch with your foot. It kind of kept a hand
free. Oh, totally. Maybe for using a radio or something so you could kind of creep along.
Or firing your pistol, firing your revolver. That's what everybody says. And that's... So
Indian famously, you may or may not know, uses a left side throttle. And the biggest thing is that
that's because the police officer needs to be able to fire his 38. Which is a big thing,
that's for sure. He used to pull it out of his shoulder harness and... His Colt Python. His Colt
Python, yes. Yeah. His 500 and just start unleashing on other motorcycles of the 30s. But no, that's
not true. It was just a random thing. Just nobody knew what they were doing. It was like...
Old things that stick around. Porsche having the ignition on the left-hand side for Le Mans
or whatever. Which I think if you buy a 992 Turbo, you still have the push to start on the left side.
Is that true? I think so. It certainly went up. I mean, your 996 had it. Mine did, right? So...
Yeah. I would get in and just had to remind myself every time. But then it becomes tradition.
And people want it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Just totally off-tangent. But I've just had this
weird thing with cars lately where I've had cars that are just all so different. We're back to
Porsche, but where the fuel tank is different on all of my cars. Where the windows... Where to open
the windows on a Tahoe versus a Bronco versus a Porsche versus... It's like all these different
things. They're all in different places. So I never know where to go. I can't do anything
automatically. There's nothing like getting out of one of your cars and into the other and being in
a trance-like state and making the mistake of either stabbing your left foot down on the break of
an automatic because you were just in a manual. Or this just happened to me yesterday. I got out
of my Civic daily driver, which is pretty easy to drive into the Porsche. And the change from one
clutch friction point to the other. And all of a sudden, you can't drive the other car because
muscle memory is the other. I've been embarrassed myself many times with those kinds of things.
Kind of a funny thing, right? How all cars... Or you hop in your Porsche and you stab the
key into the dash on the right-hand side of the... I've done that. Oh, man. Yeah. I've never been
in that big of a rush. But yeah, I could totally see where that happened. You don't have kids, dude.
Yeah, that explains it. I've got nowhere to be. Nothing to do. Nothing going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Should we dive into our game that you came up with? You want to set it up? Yeah. What you
asked us to do today, which I thought was a really fun exercise. It's kind of a project that I wanted
to do when we hit 10,000. But I think as you well know, maybe more than anybody else or at least
as much as anybody else. A lot has been going on between August and now. Yes, you allegedly pitch
this to me and I have no memory of it nor of the email. You were very polite about it.
We talked about this in August and I was like, oh, we hit 10,000 bikes on the site. Let's do
a top 10. I actually had the idea of doing an overall top 10. Of all Modos ever, which would
be fun and hard. That would actually take some real research. That could be a lot of fun too.
But now that it's early February, I don't think we're too late to do a top 10 of 2025. No. I had
so much fun doing this research. I think we should go through and we'll start each with
top 10. We'll work our way up to number one. The only problem is we're going to have overlap,
obviously. So I think what we'll do is we can take turns and then if one of us has that same
bike on their list, we'll just both talk about it at the same time. But most of this exercise is
going to be saying how beautiful I find a bike and then you're going to have to tell me why it's
either cool or not cool because a lot of these are just things I connect with emotionally. A
rider might have a very different opinion about whether this is actually a cool bike or not.
Yeah. That's one of the problems with motorcycles. Like I would say, every motorcycle is an
enthusiast vehicle. So you're not going to get a lot of that's not cool from me. But I will also
be the first to admit some of these, at least on my list and just from scrolling through the site
before this, some of them are actually pretty, pretty cool. And then we can do honorable mentions
or whatever. There's probably some significant stuff, even with 20 picks that we're not going to
get to. So let's make sure we leave a little bit of time for that too. Definitely. Yeah. A lot of
just beautiful, beautiful bikes, just wonderful bikes too. I mean, I mean, doing the research
for this is 2025, that's our best year for motos ever, right? In terms of quality,
quantity, like, interestingness, beauty, all that, right? Yeah, 100%. We listed more in 2025 than
any other year. But one of the neat things is we just spanned such a massive collector world
of motorcycles. I've got all my favorite bikes represented on my list, right? Almost every week
are certainly regularly throughout the year, some kind of premium motorcycle. So that's always
kind of the fun stuff, the visible stuff, a lot of stuff that I get to work on regularly, which
I'm extremely appreciative of just because that's just a totally different world than what I go into
my own garage and look, there was one point where we had three premium motorcycle listings on at one
time. No kidding. Was that in the summer? It was in the summer. Yeah. Don't tease them yet,
because I bet some of these are on our list. They definitely are. Awesome. You want to go first
with your number 10, or should I go first? I'll go first. Okay, great. And I'm curious if this
one made your list. Okay. A good place to start. You know, nothing against these, but it made the
top 10 list, so like, not really sure what could be negative. It's pretty good. A little out there.
I'm going to go with, we've listed a few of them, the Christian Dior edition Vespa. No, definitely
did not have this on the list. Did you not have that? No, I remember the listing, but I did not
have that on the list. Talk to me about it. We actually sold three of them this year. The first
one came in the door, and one of our specialists on the site, Chris, is kind of our mini bike,
scooter, small displacement expert. He worked on the first one, which we did in June. But now
that I'm looking at it, we actually did four of them this year. Geez, look at the prices on these
things. I had forgotten that. Yeah. Well, that was, so that was kind of the fun thing. We had no idea.
The cheapest one was 40 grand. Yeah. Yeah. We had no idea. Over 50. Yeah. You didn't know this was
a thing? No, no, we had no idea. So Chris and I were talking about this, and he was like,
do you know about these? And I'm like, yeah, that sure looks cool. We had a coach edition
Vespa last year, which was kind of cool, but it was kind of like a after the fact modified type
of thing. It certainly didn't go for anywhere near these kinds of numbers. But so we ran this
Christian Dior limited edition Vespa 946. By the way, these are modern Vespa's. Oh, yeah. So 2021,
2022. So modern, I want to say large frame Vespa's, which are great. I have a buddy who's been daily
riding these for like 10, 15 years now, maybe he's put tens of thousands of miles on a bunch of
them. These are good little scooters, aren't they? Yeah, they're all four strokes. And you could
pretty much ride these wherever you want. He's graduated up to a 300, I think, and it's like
almost freeway capable. He started with a 150 and has worked his way up. Yeah, it is. But now the
Christian Dior is so cool. They've got all these amazing little one off details. And then the next
one comes and it's got, so this is the $53,000 one that you mentioned. I'm looking at that one.
It actually had the matching trunk on the back, the Christian Dior trunk. And just so like,
again, I was not aware this was a thing. And now this is so cool. And then one comes in just
like with a lot of different cars and bikes that we see over the years. We get a good result of one
and then they all come in, right? Yeah. And then we saw three more in quick succession. So I've
been having a lot of fun. Amazing. That's such a good pick. It's fun. It's lighthearted. Didn't
know about it either. I remembered seeing this flash across the top, but did not remember these
prices. Really fun, Tyler. That's great. I will admit right up top. I was debating about whether
to throw in like utility vehicles and some of the novelty stuff. Hopefully you have some other ones.
I'm all pure moto for my list. So hopefully that's okay with you. Okay. My number 10,
which you and I actually, I think did talk about when it came up, is the 1985 Pomoda DB1.
This was part of 1600 Veloce's motorcycle collection, which maybe you could talk about too.
They did really nice job photographing all those. But this looks almost like a toy to me. It's not
the crazy Pomoda with the weird forks, but it's more conventional. But man, is it pretty? And
speaking of, you know, you mentioned these ferret in 80s bikes. The faring almost looks like one
piece. Maybe it is almost one piece. I just think this is great looking sold for 8,500 bucks. And
man, I would love to just look at that thing all day in my living room or something. Definitely.
I actually had the pleasure when my friends was doing some work on a client's DB1.
So I was at his shop and actually got to see this bike in person.
You said this is the original Pomoda, is that right?
So this is, yeah, this is the original Pomoda. So this would have been a
tambourine-y design. So he also designed a lot of the early ferret in Ducati's as well.
And this is a Ducati underneath kind of?
This one is, yeah. Kind of just the neat Pomoda thing. But so D, Ducati,
K would be Kawasaki, Yamaha Suzuki, whatever they were running underneath.
Oh, I see. The first letter in the model name tells you what's the underlying,
okay, gotcha. Yeah, gotcha.
But yeah, no, that's what this is. This is just a big, beautiful piece of plastic.
Totally. That's all this is. But supposedly, my friend who rides them and has raised them
and loves them, apparently this is actually a really nicely riding bike.
Really? They ride nicely.
Yeah, this is actually a super high performance bike, even though it looks like what's the
Fast and the Furious quota. What are those little snacks we used to eat with the toys in the bottom?
Yeah, Cracker Jack toys.
It kind of looks like that.
It really does. It looks like the little thing that you like push off the side of your table.
The guy has a parachute, but that's part of what I like about it.
The livery reverence.
The livery is great on it. I just think it's a great looking bike.
This is not something I really know anything about.
Although I think it's what, a 750 Ducati Twin?
Yep. That's right.
That's actually probably a positive thing, right? That it's got solid running gear.
Yeah, that's a totally usable engine. You could ride that thing. Super easy to work on as well.
So it looks super exotic, but actually, once you get past the big plastics,
that's actually a pretty easy bike to ride and work on.
Awesome. So I haven't insulted you with my number 10.
No, that's a great...
You want to say anything about that collection?
600 and Voloche, one of our big sellers, brought in a bunch of rad bikes as part of that deal.
I presume you worked on that whole collection.
Yes. We had some fun with that one. I believe we called them the racing relics collection.
I mean, it was just kind of a fun way of bringing in a lot of these bikes. They were all projects.
Yes, this was a project by Gash.
None of them were in running condition, but a lot of them were in like as raced condition.
Or bikes like this Bimoto were not necessarily race bikes themselves,
but just had serious race heritage where if you're into race bikes, you would like this.
I mean, again, just wanted my living room.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, bud. What you got for number nine?
All right. My number nine kind of out there, it's totally not up your alley.
So I will be so impressed if you would have this one.
It's going to be the Brodix 427 powered Vanquish.
No. I don't even know what that means.
So it's got a 427 V8 in it.
What?
Yeah, big giant radiator. That's an actual two-wheeled motorcycle.
Sometimes you see V8s in like three-wheeled bikes.
This is a real two-wheeler and Brodix, which I'm not super familiar.
Maybe you've heard of them, but it's apparently a really high-end GM style engine builder.
Yeah, I think they're in dragsters a lot of the time.
I've definitely heard of them before.
So I hadn't heard of that.
And this has to be a completely custom frame too, right?
I mean, the thing is wild looking.
So it's custom in the sense that it's low production,
but there are companies that make V8 motorcycles.
Yeah. You know what I remember?
This is, sorry, we're going off 2025, but there was a, I think it was a Harley.
Something had a V860 in it, the little baby.
Oh, yes. I remember that bike.
Was it an Indian or was it a?
Well, it was a nothing really.
It was a Ford small block.
No, this was a flathead.
The little baby flathead.
The 136, keeping it flathead.
Oh, sorry, not small block.
Yes. A Ford flathead.
But the little one.
Yeah. Yeah.
It had that little four or five years ago.
I loved that.
Yeah. I want to say that was, it was called an honest Charlie.
Oh, was that an actual kit that somebody was doing for those?
Yeah. It was a manufacturer made them, but they weren't street legal.
I mean, those motors are little.
So you can fit them.
They're only a hundred and they're two liter basically,
but they're like a miniature version of the flathead.
Right. Yeah. So it's basically a toy.
Yeah.
But other people do do water cooled v8s, right?
Like it's like small blocks and stuff.
Boss Haas is probably the most famous one.
That's the one that like most people have heard of.
But this one was just super cool.
This is way more wild looking.
And also like a Brodyx motors.
Like that's a lot of engine.
Have a motorcycle.
Oh my God.
The gauges and obviously has to have a huge fuel tank, right?
Because it's so thirsty.
You know, yes.
But like how many miles are you putting on it?
It does have a huge fuel tank.
Just so like, you know, the valve covers aren't like where your
knees are.
But is this just a cruise downtown and rev a couple of times?
Yeah. Maybe do a big smokey burnout.
Honestly, I hope it gets used that much because it's kind of cool.
But maybe you just fire it up and rev it in the driveway.
Or like it just sits there.
Yeah.
You know, sometimes that happens.
But this one's got a riding video.
The guy, I love this riding video.
Definitely not encouraged just because we have some equipment.
Police who like to pop in on the side,
but we've got the seller riding this thing in the video.
The opening shot is him.
No helmet, no gloves.
And the title is 500 horsepower plus V8 motorcycle drive-by.
Love it.
Love it.
Man, great pick.
I'm so glad you're bringing the weirdo stuff because all of my stuff is going
to be a way more norm core.
It's going to be, again, like amateur stuff.
But you're going to bring all the taste in.
No, no, no.
Well, let's see.
Let's see what you think about my next pick.
You ready for it?
Yeah, what you got?
Okay.
This was right at the end of last year.
And I presume you edited this one, but maybe not.
A pair of BMW K1s.
We've had this a couple times, but they're often matching.
This time it was a yellow K1 and then a blue K1 Ultima,
which I'm not totally sure what an Ultima is.
Like the difference between that and a regular K1.
But I've always loved these.
They're super streamlined, faired in kind of,
I guess, Autobahn missiles a little bit.
But with a semi-conventional BMW motorcycle underneath, right?
They're just very striking looking.
Yeah.
It's basically a K-Bike underneath with this extreme aerodynamic bodywork.
And is it for like a sustained highway cruising?
I presume that's what it's for.
Yeah, it's a sport tour.
So this would be kind of like your Ducati ST competitor.
But is the aero functional?
It's not just for looks.
No, they designed to have like a .93 drag coefficient.
It's got somewhere ridiculously high drag coefficient.
And it was designed in a wind tunnel for that purpose.
Have you ever ridden one?
No, I've not ridden a K1.
I've ridden K-Bikes.
Would you be interested in riding one and see the difference to feel it?
See, I just don't know enough about aerodynamics.
You think you would feel it?
I mean, I would imagine, right?
It feels like you're pushing like, you would imagine you need less throttle at
highway speed to push through the air or not.
I don't even thought about that.
I'm just a total guess.
Again, I don't ride motorcycles.
I don't know.
But I've always thought they were striking looking and they come in pairs a lot,
which is interesting.
Yeah, this is not the first K1 pair we sold.
And whoever bought these, please tell us how it handles at speed.
Do you feel it or not?
Great colors on these.
And I just always like them.
I always like them.
I believe this is really testing my BAT lore.
I think the first, because we do it a fair amount now, but I believe the first time we
ever paired two vehicles in one listing was a pair of K1s.
I remember and they were red and yellow.
I think they were the first K1s we ever had on site and it was a pair of them.
That was definitely early.
Were you around for that or was that before your time?
Yeah, yeah, I did those.
I remember that.
You were probably the auction specialist back then, right?
Yes, and pairs are always kind of a challenge to write because you kind of have to make
sure the equipment's the same on both.
You're like, am I saying something about one that maybe doesn't apply to the other?
And we may have run a snow runner pair or something like that before that,
but that might have been our first one.
We've had some trios now, I think.
Maybe even we had a five too.
Yeah, we sold five of them at once.
But this Ultima though, this is also another one of those bikes that came across my desk.
And we had to ask the seller what this was.
So there's a couple pieces of information online about them,
but it was just like the last 100 K1s were these Ultimas.
And they had some interesting badging, kind of a neat color.
And this one was actually originally sent to Africa.
And it was on display at a BMW dealer before eventually making its way over here to join
up with this blue K1.
Yeah, again, I love this.
And it's a great pairing of colors too because the blue bike has yellow wheels and yellow
trim and then yeah, totally.
And the yellow is similar to Dakar yellow.
Maybe it is Dakar yellow.
I think it might actually be close.
It's awfully close.
All right.
So I haven't offended you with two of my picks.
What do you got?
What do you got for number eight?
Let's see.
My number eight, I am going to go with something.
I get a little bit out there.
We're going to, I was going to say pre-war,
but we're actually going to the middle of world for one.
If you'll join me.
I will happily.
Let me jump into my trench.
Yes, that's right.
And then we're going to rock it out of it on our Harley Davidson model W.
Okay, tell me about the model W.
Another one.
I don't know.
So yeah, W Sport.
I wish I knew more about where this even came from,
but this definitely looks like something that Harley Davidson found in Europe
and just tried to replicate.
So it's a boxer twin, but with the cylinders going forwards and backwards.
Yeah, look at this.
Yeah, man.
It's a really European styling.
You see it's got the acetylene headlight.
Yeah, man.
So that was still in used by the 20s.
I think right around then an electric model came out,
but people didn't trust it.
They still wanted their Magnitos for let the engine run
and we'll figure out lighting on our own.
A Shebler carburetor.
I've never even heard of that.
Oh, yeah.
Real popular stuff.
Bosch ignition system.
I wonder if it is modeled off for a German motorcycle.
Yeah, maybe.
That's kind of what I was thinking.
But, you know, as, as you probably know, I mean, they're.
It's a beautiful restoration on this bike, too.
Yeah, I actually haven't looked at this one
while this was, I mean, back in August.
So it's not like it was that long ago.
Man, for a bike of this caliber and quality
and also the interesting factor,
it's sold for 26 grand.
That seems like kind of a bargain
for such an interesting piece.
I know that's like a lot of money for a vintage motorcycle,
but still like, man, what a cool thing.
A 1920 V twin.
I mean, with the same level of restoration
would be easily twice that.
But this is almost a more interesting motorcycle
because of this bizarre engine.
So have you ever seen or heard of this before?
I have heard of them and you just never see them.
I've seen them in person and I've always been just fascinated
with, like we were talking about Harley-Davidson earlier,
how it's like they just have to do the same thing
for their customers.
But every now and then they do something
that's just to see what they can do.
And nobody buys it.
But then 100 years later, we're like, man, that is cool.
Because it differs.
Man, great pick.
Really interesting.
You see, you're giving me an education
as part of this, Tyler, which is honestly what I needed.
All right.
I have something weirdo from my number eight as well.
And this is another bike you and I have talked about,
another bizarre engine configuration.
And that is an Aerial Square 4.
We've listened to a few of these.
And I know that was a highlight at last year's Quill Modo too,
I think.
Or was it two years ago when a Square 4 showed up?
But I didn't know about these until I saw one
when my dad was having his Vincent restored.
We went and the guy was also restoring a Square 4.
So you're going to have to correct me if I'm wrong,
but it's two parallel twins sitting in a Square 4 cylinder
upright configuration.
I think it has two cranks that are geared together, right?
Yep, two side by side cranks.
It just looks great.
The exhaust looks great on it because, you know,
basically they have to come from all weird spots
to kind of come together.
I just think these are so interesting.
And I, when I first heard about it, I was like,
God, that can't work.
But you and others have told me they work fine, right?
It works just fine.
I've seen them work.
Do they work for a long time in heat?
I don't know.
You know, maybe the rear cylinders start to complain,
but no, I've seen them work.
I've seen them ride.
And yeah, it was two years ago.
You were right about that at Quill.
Wasn't it her last one?
You said it was kind of one of the stars of the show
when it showed up, right?
Definitely, yeah.
I've not heard one run.
Do they sound bizarre?
Or does it sound relatively conventional?
Not particularly, yeah.
It sounds like a funny twin, if anything, I guess I would say.
Someone who owns one is going to be like,
it sounds nothing like that.
But that was kind of mine.
You almost think it's like a vintage triumph coming down?
Well, totally.
It has that look, yes.
And then you kind of get a little closer
and you're like, oh, there's something else going on here.
Once you start to look at it, like the motor is big,
like, you know, because it's two twins basically.
Anyway, I've always liked those.
And you always talk about those.
I just love them.
I like it's similar.
That's why I'm fascinated with this Model W.
Harley now all of a sudden.
Anything that's weird, has a weird configuration.
I like those Honda S600s with the weird swing arm
independent rear suspension where there's the chains running down.
Like anything where it's like really bizarre technology,
I'm interested in it.
So I always like these.
And the fact that it's bizarre technology,
but in a pretty conventional looking motorcycle.
Otherwise, I just love that somebody was thinking outside the box.
Yeah, you're right.
I mean, you see an aerial square four and like, you know,
a square real, if you will.
And you look right to the engine.
Did you just make that up or is that a real thing?
I think I think.
But yeah, it's like from 20 feet away,
it kind of looks like a normal, but there's nothing.
It's not trying to look outlandish.
It's just trying to be as good of a bike as it can.
Not knowing whether or not a square four engine
would work, no one had ever done it.
Yep.
And this, by the way, this one sold for 17 grand in November of last year
is also just a really, really good looking one.
I think a lot of times they have dual saddles, right?
This one has like a solo saddle and it's a little sportier looking.
It's just a great looking example.
British number plate on the front fender, which I always like.
It's necessary.
Yes, I agree.
Anyways, one more aerial square four conversation for you.
Yes.
All right.
So number seven for you.
We're going to number seven.
We're going up quite a few years from what we've been talking about.
We're keeping the cylinder count the same though.
And I'm going to Ducati Desmos Hedici RR.
So the kind of Ducati's MotoGP super bike for the street.
It's like they didn't even put the turn signals are built into the mirrors.
So they basically put mirrors on and had this.
So they didn't even add turn signals.
It was really amazing to think about it.
This bike, when it came out, it just advanced the motorcycle game
in terms of what you could buy at a dealer so far
and was just totally unapologetic about it.
Which Ducati's done a couple times, right?
Yeah, they have a tendency to do that.
That's one of the things I love about Ducati.
I may or may not have a similar thing on my list.
Okay, but you don't have this one though.
No, I don't.
Okay, cool.
That's good.
But yeah, if you look at the seat, it's just a total race seat.
It's like other car manufacturers and Ducati does this themselves as well.
A lot of times they'll build these kind of special additions
and need bikes that are maybe super high performance and super special.
But they're also kind of designed for the person who is just going to be riding it
or displaying it.
This bike is built, like this is not a comfortable bike.
This is a bike for someone who's going to take it to the track and race it
and just beat everything.
But all of their bikes that are kind of in that infusion are so good looking.
They're incredible.
Yeah, they are.
And we just talked about our, we almost exclusively run these as premium auctions.
Yes, that's right.
They're so special.
So interesting.
And it's usually a great presentation.
A lot of black backgrounds and stuff like that.
Yeah, you have to.
So the one I'm looking at now also has the stock exhaust system, which is kind of
interesting.
The stock exhaust system is built into the tail section.
So it comes out to back.
I mean, see, I'm such an exhaust knob.
That's what I need.
I need something like that.
We're talking about exhaust here.
It's like Carrera GT a little bit, man.
So sick.
So you can get the race system put on, which empties out kind of under the
engine like a normal race exhaust does and more power.
But you miss out by not having that super cool tail section.
Got to have it.
Yeah, man.
Sick pick.
All right.
All right.
Number seven for me is one that even though it didn't sell, I feel like I had to bring
it up because I love these bikes and that's a broth superior.
You and I talked for years about when are we going to get a broth?
When are we going to get a broth?
We've had two now.
This was an SS80 and it had a sidecar, which was pretty rad.
Got a pretty strong bid.
Bid into the 80s.
Didn't sell ultimately, but man, what a great looking bike.
You and I were just talking about Lawrence of Arabia in the office yesterday.
We were talking about the movie because one of our colleagues, I believe it was Harrison,
saw it on 70 millimeter.
Yeah, that was the Harrison one.
Yeah.
And you and I were talking about the broth superior opening.
So they've been on my brain, that opening scene with Peter O'Toole on the broth.
These are such great looking bikes.
And for a while, my dad always said like, oh, this is the ultimate collector bike.
Like even above a Vincent, even above these other things,
maybe modern bikes have moved into that slot now.
But this is up there, right?
One of the most iconic motorcycles of all time.
It's kind of interesting.
I always thought that as well.
Just the numbers just don't seem to get there.
Like they have with your Indian fours or Crocker.
I mean, you're getting into a million dollars.
And then a lot of modern stuff too.
Right.
That we'll probably talk about some more.
But broth's just never, I don't know what it is about them.
Maybe they're finicky.
A friend had one and he never wrote it and we tried to start it and couldn't.
So like maybe that's why.
Vincent's had that problem too.
Maybe that's what it is.
Vincent's, I feel like they still have a little bit more ride ability.
The broth, I think this may be so out there that people don't know what to do with it.
It's so beautiful though.
It's like a work of art.
What an incredible bike.
And this one has the correct left side English sidecar.
So it's an actual English bike.
You and I talked about this bike when it was live.
And my favorite part is the clock.
I don't know if you'd call it a chronometer.
I don't know if you're a watch enthusiast, but it's got a clock in the sidecar.
So that when you're doing a rally, the passenger could keep track of time.
Chronometer is the correct time.
Chronometer, okay.
Yeah, thank you.
I know what I'm talking about.
You know what you're, I know what I'm doing.
You're the man, Tyler.
Yeah.
Let's get out of here.
All right. What do you got for number six?
Okay.
Number six.
Let's go with a 1949 Moto Guzzi Aeroni.
Oh, great.
Do you have any?
No, we haven't had any overlap so far.
Okay.
Tell me about it.
So this is just these Italian singles.
You have, there's like four different ones that all kind of look about the same.
And they're just, you get a 250 displacement, 500 displacement.
So the Aeronis are just kind of,
I don't remember when you were talking about this bike when it was on.
Yeah.
This was kind of a big one.
So the Aeroni is a 250, which in my opinion is the correct displacement for an Italian motorcycle.
It's just the right.
Because you want to putt-putt around a little bit?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it's not going to putt.
You could probably do 80 miles an hour.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Yeah, I would, I would think they're just not that heavy.
They're geared to move.
They're fantastic rally bikes.
So one of my dream events that I'd love to do is the MotoGiro,
which is, they run them in the U.S. too.
It's an Italian thing otherwise, but it's a time trial.
But your bike has to be under 250 cc's.
Need a chronometer, Tyler.
And so I need to get my chronometer.
I'll have that shipped over from England.
Oh man, Alex, now that I'm looking, the 49 that I loved was actually November of 24.
Yes, it is.
I didn't notice that because I was admiring the beautiful single cylinder leaned into the wind.
Yeah, you screwed up, Tyler.
But luckily we sold seven others in 2025.
There you go.
I like the 49 the best.
It was my dad's birth year.
And when you get into like the pre-50s, then it starts to feel old, I think.
Oh, totally.
Totally.
But yeah, so, but all of these are amazing.
We sold a 50 and a 52, 53.
So I mean, all of these are so beautiful.
Any of these.
Great stuff.
Great stuff.
Okay, let's see.
What was that number?
That was seven.
So we're going to, that was your six.
That was your six.
That was my number six.
Okay, so I'm going to do another bike with a leaned forward cylinder for my number
six, and that is one, I promise this is the last one I will do that didn't sell,
but it was so beautiful.
That is a 1976 Ducati 900 SS.
I've always loved 900 SS's.
You're going to remember this one because it was very beautiful.
Yes.
It had no miles on it, basically.
Bid to 66 grand, blue and silver.
I've just always loved these.
I'm such a dustbin faring guy.
And this is probably my favorite of all the dustbin farings.
It's so simple and elegant.
And a buddy of the guy who owned the shop where I used to work,
bought one of these out of a museum.
I think it was, is it just the regular 900?
There's an unfair version of this.
Isn't there one without a faring?
That would be the GT.
Okay.
So that would just be.
But it's the same chassis and motor.
And that was the first time I realized that that forward cylinder on the L-twin is like
laying flat and facing into the wind and the fins that are cooling fins run the other way
down the side.
I just love that.
So anyway, this is a beautiful bike.
I loved it.
It was one of your premium listings that you were talking about.
Ran it in July.
Beautiful bike.
I mean, maybe even though it's only halfway up my list,
maybe of all the things that I would actually want to own and learn how to ride,
that might be the one.
Yeah.
It's a really incredible four kilometers on it from one of our power motorcycle sellers,
a Moto Borgataro, who has something else coming out very soon.
Good tease.
That I think you're going to be blown away by.
Good tease.
That we are in progress on at the moment.
But yeah, he's brought a bunch of fantastic premium level motorcycles our way from out
of Brooklyn.
Oh, great pick.
Great.
Let's do our top fives each.
You keep going.
I've got kind of a cheater number five for you.
So you go hit your number five first.
All right.
See, I think we've got some overlap in the top five here.
So I think we'll be able to move through those a little quicker.
But my number one is really what I'm kind of excited about.
Let's get there.
All right.
So for my next one, just going back to Harley Davidson, WLA,
this is the actual World War II military motorcycle.
Yes.
This is like an icon.
Yes.
We sold three of them and then one that was kind of like modified.
So technically a WLA motor, but in a non-military spec.
But otherwise, we listed three and sold two, including one really lovely period.
Correct.
Like ready for the battlefield.
Totally.
Got a scatterer.
And there's a very, yeah, totally.
And it has, there's a very particular olive drab green that comes on those Harleys, right?
Like it's very distinctive.
Yeah.
This is an easy bike to over restore and make too shiny.
Correct.
You don't want this bike to be shiny, right?
You want to stay under the radar?
You want to look like it got ridden off the set of Saving Private Ryan.
That's exactly right.
And this one, it's got the blanket.
It's just extremely well presented.
Great pick.
Great, great, great.
I'm going to do a little bit of a cheater if you'll bear with me for number five.
I want to talk about Vincent's in general.
You know how much I love Vincent's.
My dad had a couple, basically one was under restoration my whole life.
It was the first Vincent we ever listed on site was his repeat, which he didn't sell.
He sold it right after the auction.
Very infuriating to all of us, to Randy Howard and myself.
We did not have R&M offers at that time.
I know.
But it was a labor of love for him.
And no, we definitely did not.
This is like 2017, I think.
That was a repeat, but it had chunks from, as you know, Vincent's gets mixed mashed.
But we had, in 2025, five Vincent's, we had a Comet, which is the single cylinder,
two repeats and two black shadows, all five sold.
So I just wanted to like, you know, shout that out.
Other than old Chuck, we have a really good sale record with Vincent's.
It's hard for me to pick one, but since I need to have a number,
I'll probably pick in January.
We had a 52 black shadow, which was very nice.
English number played all that stuff.
But I love all Vincent's.
I think they're so beautiful.
It'll probably always be basically my favorite motorcycle aesthetically.
And I think a lot of people think that, right?
It's like one of the aesthetic views.
I went to New York with some buddies, I mean, 20 years ago, I think it was 2006.
And there was one in the MoMA, right?
So it's kind of an icon of design.
And just love them.
Love that we list quite a few of them on BAT.
Love that we sold all five last year.
So well done, you and your team.
Great stuff.
And did you pick 52 because of the song?
No, that's the black lightning.
Isn't the song about a black lightning?
I thought it was just Vincent 52.
Or does he actually call it?
I thought it was a lightning.
Maybe that's wrong.
Okay. Well, someone will have to correct us on that.
But now I agree.
I mean, 52, perfect year for Vincent.
That's like the romantic year to have.
And then, yeah, to get a black shadow is just, that's perfect.
When my dad had the motor rebuilt on his repeat,
he had it built to black shadow specs by this pretty famous guy, Mike Partee,
who's now dead.
He was like a big builder.
And then he's like, can you paint?
He's one of the biggest.
Yeah. He's like, can you paint it black?
Because like it's shadow specs now.
And it was for a repeat.
And he was like, no.
Great. Good.
No. Good.
So I could have shadow power, but it cannot be black.
That's right.
Great stuff.
All right. So for our next couple,
I think we're going to start to overlap.
Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure you've got a four cylinder or two.
I have quite a few.
But my number four is actually, do you want me to go first?
Yes.
Okay.
Where do you go?
Okay. My number four, I think you're going to have this one too,
because you turned me on to this is the 77 MV Augusta 750 S America.
Oh, great. I actually did not.
Oh, but you turned me on to this bike.
Ah, God. You know, maybe it's one of those bikes that it was just,
they're so amazing, but it's almost like it's just so halo that it's,
you were telling me that this is not the thing.
And like I have kind of been obsessing on them and this one in specific.
So this was in November until for 76 grand.
It was premium bikes.
I remember you being excited about this one.
The aesthetics on this are just about perfect.
The little turned up fairing behind the seat.
I mean, everything about it, the tank shape, all of it spectacular.
Yeah. I mean, this is totally it.
We've talked about MV Augusta.
I thought for sure you were going to have this on your list.
That's fascinating.
You know, it was one of those things where like I said,
we like some weird things and the America is just such a perfect motorcycle
that it's not weird enough to me.
Yeah. Well, I'm picking a lot of them.
It's not weird.
I'm going through all the basic things here, but it is a spectacular one.
I'm glad you picked it.
I'm glad it made it onto the list.
Yes.
All right. What do you got?
We're getting close to our top three.
All right. What do you got for four?
Yeah. I think I'm going to have to start jumping into four cylinders here.
And I think I'm going to have to start with the Indian four.
Okay. How many did we list?
I think our biggest result ever is an Indian four.
And we had a couple last year, right?
Well, yeah, we had two last year.
Two.
Okay. We had three and 24, but we'd sold one of them for 108K in February.
So just actually just about a year ago.
And then we listed this just incredible 31 Open Fender,
which actually is my personal preference.
I like Open Fender Indians, not the Scooby Fenders that have one else like.
But that is like the iconic thing.
Yeah.
But yeah.
Yeah. So you also get the fuel tank inside the frame,
the back bone of the frame over the fuel tank.
But that one topped out at 95, but it is 42 Indian four at 108.
That was another premium example.
Just so much fun watching that premium category, you know,
describing to it and just seeing motorcycles pop up regularly.
I don't want to tease my number one, but last year,
I really would say was like the year of the four cylinders.
We had a lot of very significant large four cylinders.
And I do think you and I are going to overlap on our tops.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right. My number three is the Bermuda Tezi,
which is another one that you turned me on to.
And another, this wasn't a premium, interestingly,
but 78 grand on the result.
And this is maybe the iconic Bermuda, right?
With the forks that stick out forward.
Yeah. This is kind of the one.
Right.
So I actually had this one on my list as well.
Okay.
So I think we're actually right in the same place on the third.
We're in the title right now.
We're here.
Okay. So that was also your number three.
Yeah. I think it's either number two or number three.
Yeah. My recording system may not be as accurate as yours here, but.
We've only listed a couple of these, right?
And I think this is just an incredible one.
This is the second one we've listed.
Both of them have only had like a kilometer on them.
Right.
So people were buying them new to collect them almost.
Yeah. This was just a styling piece.
I have no doubt that a lot of people rode them,
but then also like I'm reading the first sentence of this listing
and one of a reported 20 examples produced.
Yeah.
So maybe they actually did not get rid of all that much.
Totally.
This is the third bike actually from the seller
that we've talked about so far.
Well, he does great presentations too.
Yeah. And you can tell how much of a difference it makes.
For sure.
I mean, you wouldn't buy this bike if it was like shot in a random
parking lot with like a porta potty in the back.
The studio shot and just how perfectly this is done,
that's what you're buying.
But no, a fantastic example.
I'm so glad you picked this one.
Everything about it.
And he's got a great shot of like all the fairings off of it,
but these are such an icon.
So weird the suspension and steering is so strange,
but man, they are just gorgeous.
It looks like something out of like an anime or something.
You know what I mean?
It looks, it's crazy that it exists in real life.
Like speed racer.
It's like a speed racer motorcycle.
But it's real.
All right. Let's see if our number two is overlap also.
I bet this is going to be on your number two.
I hope I'm not stealing your number one.
You ready?
All right. So that was just your number three then, right?
The Minota.
So let's go to number two.
All right. Let's see if this is crossover.
Okay. So this is the CR 750 style CB 750 sandcast.
Is that also yours for my number two?
That was my number one.
I knew it. I knew I was going to steal that is my number one.
Okay. Let's talk about it.
There's an argument that this would be my number one too,
except I have a cheater number one answer,
but this bike is so freaking beautiful.
Yes. I got to see this bike in person.
So this was listed by our friends over at More Imports in Monterey.
I want to say it's part of their postcards from Monterey collection sale,
which was honestly one of my favorite collection sales I've seen in a while,
where they just did postcards from different locations throughout Monterey.
And I was so excited to see that this bike was here.
We had actually listed this bike once before.
It was our friend Vic World listed it.
And unfortunately it did not sell a couple of years ago,
but this is a bike that Vic is Mr. Sandcast CB 750.
And I see him every year at Quail,
just a wonderful person and so interesting to talk to him about CB 750s.
And this is one that it's not a real CR 750 from the factory,
but it's a real CB 750 Sandcast turned into kind of the...
He, it's all factor. It's all the correct parts.
I mean, it's, there's virtually no difference.
It's as close as a clone as you can get.
Exactly. They're all just original CR 750 parts.
So I was so happy to see this.
Again, like the dust been fairing, the colors, all the Honda livery.
Just the color, all of it.
I love a plain CB 750, but man, I also really like the...
Another of my favorite bikes of all time is the Harley 750 racer,
which I think was built to compete against this, wasn't it?
There's like the weird...
The XR 750 TT.
Which has like this kind of same look.
I love those two, but...
We've been listing a lot of XR's lately.
This is as good as it gets, dude.
This bike is incredible.
That's why it's my number one.
Okay. All right.
So I stole your number one.
So what's your number two?
All right. So my number two...
I had a tough one because we listed a couple of them this year.
And I think just because I like the old stuff,
I'm going to have to go with this 1913 Henderson four.
Okay. Great. All right.
So this is kind of my number one too.
Did you go with the 18?
Yeah. Let me just spill the beans.
So basically my number one is a cheater.
And again, it's the four cylinders.
So it's the Aces, the Henderson's and the Indians.
We had a bunch of these amazing big pre-war
all the way back to World War I era, straight four bikes last year.
You and I talk about these all the time.
And there is some lineage between them, right?
So my cheater number one answer was like the Henderson's Aces and Indians.
We're all both talking about them.
So it seems like both you and I agree.
These were the great things of the year.
They were our biggest results.
They're great looking.
And there is some Aces become Indians or become Henderson's or how does it all work?
They all kind of became Indians.
So Excelsior Henderson came first
and then started the Ace Motor Company.
And then in 1927, Indian bought Ace.
And then that's when they launched their own four cylinder, the Indian four.
When we sold an early one too last year at 28,
which is actually probably my favorite listing of all time,
just because of the wonderful family that was selling it.
But there's a direct lineage.
And they're not in the grand scheme of things the most valuable.
But I mean, we're talking six figures for sure.
Sometimes with a two in front of it.
But I mean, bikes get into the...
Four beautiful air-cooled cylinders in a row.
That's kind of special.
I mean, they're just special.
Randy jokes that I can never go an episode without talking about airplanes.
It's aviation-like, right?
It looks like those early aviation air-cooled four cylinders are in everything.
And in fact, Curtis was a motorcycle racer before he started building.
Great engines too.
Totally.
He was a motorcycle builder.
And I think he'll motorcycle speed record for a while before he started building airplanes.
Yeah, that's right.
Whether we're talking about these Pomodas or these modern Ducates
or these early bikes to tie it back to your earlier point,
everything's out there and on display and it's kind of performance-oriented.
And that's similar to early aviation or even modern aviation, right?
Its form follows function and there's just a beauty in that.
Yeah.
The idea of what they've done with adding more cylinders.
I mean, that works.
Honda proved that in the 80s that you can add more cylinders and get more performance.
So I mean, these American motorcycle companies were doing this back...
I mean, Henderson's were like in pre-10.
I mean, I want to say like 07, you could get a four cylinder.
So I mean, that's the tech.
It's like get away from the V-twin because we can add more cylinders.
It's a narrower bike, lower center of gravity.
It's like, what's the problem?
And motorcycles didn't have four inline cylinders until our friend with the CB7 came in.
That's right.
But then they went the other way.
And they went the other way.
Of course, yeah.
They went the other way.
They realized that the back cylinder needed a little bit more cooling.
Even the squarial couldn't do that.
They had a terrible bike.
So all four in a row is great.
Yeah.
2025 was amazing, wasn't it?
It was great.
I love that.
And I am hoping 2026 ends up being another amazing year for bikes.
I mean, it's amazing that that part of our business has grown into kind of a business of its own.
I love it.
It's been so much fun working with all these fantastic bikes.
And it's a totally different group of sellers too.
Totally.
So that's just like what's so fun about it as well.
And I've gotten to know so many of them.
We've got to get you to do another pod interview.
You did the great one.
Oh, with David Lee.
Yeah, one of our more prolific motorcycle sellers.
So we've got to get you to do another one because we've got a big chunk of the community that
bike people.
Yeah, definitely.
This was a fun exercise, man.
I always appreciate doing this with you.
It's such a blast.
Yeah, I had an awesome time too, Alex.
Thanks, buddy.
And thanks to all of you for listening.
We, as always, are happy to take feedback, questions, concerns to podcast at bringitrailer.com.
Thanks for listening, and we will catch you next time.
About this episode
A lively discussion on the favorite motorcycle auctions of 2025 unfolds as hosts Alex Porter and Tyler Greenblatt dive into the latest trends and highlights in the motorcycle auction scene. They share insights on the impressive growth of motorcycle auctions, reaching over 11,000 listings, and reflect on the artistry and engineering behind motorcycles, especially pre-war models. The episode features a personal touch with favorite bikes and exhaust systems, while also touching on the evolution of Harley-Davidson's engineering, including their transition to liquid cooling. It's a blend of passion, expertise, and the aesthetic appreciation of motorcycles.
Original notes
Last year was, almost inarguably, our best year ever for motorcycle auctions. This week on the podcast, Alex and Tyler discuss each of their top 10 bikes of the year.
Along the way, they touch on a public transport admission; daily and weekly firsts; the care taken to design parts that will always be visible; their favorite exhaust systems; scaring horses off roads a century ago; the difficulty in modernizing the Harley-Davidson; left-hand throttles and Colt Pythons; Bimota and Harley trivia; odd partnerships and engine configurations; and a great run of big pre-war, air-cooled fours.
Mentioned in this episode:
10:37 1929 Harley-Davidson Model J w/ Sidecar
11:48 50-Years Owned 1951 Vincent Rapide Series C
17:387 Vespa 946 Christian Dior Limited Editions
19:59 1985 Bimota DB1 Project
20:03 The Racing Relics Collection from 1600veloce
22:55 Brodix 427-Powered 2010 Vanquish V8
23:43 Ford Flathead V8-60-Powered Custom Motorcycle
25:44 1990 BMW K1 & 1993 BMW K1 Ultima Pair
27:54 Lot of Five 1980 Chrysler Sno-Runners
29:02 1920 Harley-Davidson Model W Sport
30:57 1953 Ariel Square Four
35:50 1936 Brough Superior SS80 w/Petrol-Tube Sidecar
37:40 1949 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport
41:05 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA
42:25 Vincent Auction Results
42:41 1952 Vincent Black Shadow
44:07 49-Mile 1977 MV Agusta 750S America
45:17 1942 Indian Four
45:39 1931 Indian Four
46:20 1-Kilometer 1991 Bimota Tesi 1D 904 SR
48:03 CR750-Style 1969 Honda CB750 Sandcast
48:29 Postcards from Monterey Collection from MohrImports
50:02 1918 Henderson Four Model H
53:06 BaT Podcast Episode 67: The Davidlee8 Interview
Got suggestions for our next guest from the BaT community, One Year Garage episode, or (B)aT the Movies subject? Let us know in the comments below!
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