10 of the most expensive Classic British Bikes

This time it’s 10 Great British Bikes if money is no object

This time we look at 10 of the most expensive British Classics there always been those bikes that are just that little bit Out Of Reach a bit too expensive but let’s imagine for a few moments that you’ve got I you know a maing AR has died and she’s left you a ton of money so what do you do what are your

Options here are 10 great options if you’re really into classic British bikes and money is No Object the aerial Square 4 ah yes this Square for a concept it is said at least was conceived on the back of a Matchbox by by Edward Turner in 1928 at least that’s the legend it’s a

Good story and we’ll stick to it whether it’s true or not who cares now Turner did pedal his concept design around to various companies most of whom were not interested in the slightest a however were different and they set him up with an office and a design staff to help

Prove the concept and surprisingly the first model is a very compact little bike it’s of only 500 cc’s and fed snugly into the frame previously used by a sing single cylinder 250 early models of course were a single overhead cam and the carburetor was fitted at the front

Of the engine and aiel did take a blown version of the 500 to Brooklyn’s to try and set some speed records this of course wasn’t successful largely so The Story Goes due to multiple head gasket failures and there in lies one of the two Achilles heels of the design it can

Run very hot for those back cylinders and trying to make the thing breathe is not easy with both Inlet and exhaust tracks being sub optimal for really high performance breathing but the machine wasn’t perfect primary balance so provided a smooth effective tourer and so that is the direction that aiel very

Much stuck the design first enlarging it to 600 cc’s then redesigning the engine completely with full crankshafts and overhead Valves and though cooling was improved the engine still didn’t breathe fantastically even in 5 CC form early thousands had one exhaust each side later ones are really noticeable by

Having twin exhaust on each side of the engine and of course aluminium head and bevels these final versions make around 40 horsepower compared to 34 horsepower for the earlier models but the machine was never intended as a performance mount a good thing too cuz it could be outperformed by much smaller engines but

They were less smooth and sophisticated this was the ultimate gentleman’s conveyance although a rare beast and of course as fits the video very expensive Vincent hrd now the case of Vincent hrd it really doesn’t matter which model you choose they’re all going to be really expensive but they’re all beautifully engineered

And they’re all exquisitely designed whether it be a postwar single or v twin it’s going to be expensive whether it’s a black shadow or one of the more touring based bikes but if money is absolutely no object and settled for nothing else than a pre-war bike like

The series a this is a single cylinder version of course that would later be developed into the series a repede now those series a Reds are very functional in terms of design plumbers nightmare they’re often called and they look amazing perhaps the best looking of all Vincent simply because that they have

That slightly chaotic look to all the plumbing but has there ever been a more purposeful looking machine of course the series 8 is not perfect all that power and torque really overwhelm the gearbox for example but it is rare and therefore extreme extremely valuable and desirable but of course there’s the black shadow

The iconic Vincent highly collectible and highly desirable and a big performer let’s not forget but Phil vinent had something more groundbreaking under his sleeve and that of course was the black prince a bike it seems that basically nobody wanted at the time making it incredibly rare and thus ey wateringly

Expensive if you can find one the BSA rocket through the rocket free was bsa’s take on the all new three-cylinder engine it was basically Triumph design but the management decided they needed a BSA version of the engine 2 which critically delayed the bike’s introduction into

Full production the R3 did go on sale in 1968 but this is only a few months before the arrival of the CB750 from Honda they can argue the pros and cons of the bsa’s overhead valve engine but it’s probably the ogal design and it’s on usual styling the most affected sales

Especially in the all important US market now there they’re very similar the two engines are not exactly identical they do share most of the same components but the barels on the BSA are actually Lean Forward slightly some Publications will tell you that the whole engine was tilted for but this is

Not correct for the engine is very much of a trium design right down to those dual cam shafts and external push rod tubes although internally it’s a little bit more mixed because the ball and stroke is 67 I70 the same as a BSA 250 and the crankshaft was now one piece

Forging replacing the earlier bll top design from the prototypes as we moved into the 70s BSA would restyle the design to fit more of American tastes moving it away from those early ogal designs which to some extent did help to improve sales but by this point the Hond

Had well and truly taken over the market but BSA weren’t done yet they bought in a young American Craig Veta who did a really nice design job to create the x75 which went down like a lead Bloom of the guys at the factory who completely failed to see the bike’s design

Potential but by that point BSA was pretty much going under and when the bike did eventually appear it be badged as a Triumph it was really a BSA Rocket 3 all along but even then the company continued to fail to appreciate the bike’s potential and just didn’t promote

The thing at all it was a complete not of sales failure and therefore a desirable classic today the cry eagle flying G produced not surprisingly in centry Coventry Eagle is best known for its small capacity bikes but did produce a very nice range of rather more glamorous V twins alongside them although

Admittedly in tiny numbers although established earlier the company began to use the cry Eagle name in 1897 and within a year was experimenting with engine kits to fit to their body bicycles during the 1920s the company would produce motorcycles with engines from all kinds of suppliers from bers Blackburn and even matchless this

Was a small company and was badly affected by the depression their scale back motorcycle production concentrating mostly on bicycles with the majority of their motorcycle production now being lightweights powered by Vil engines but they did produce their glamour models such as the flying gate in small numbers

As well this is roughly equivalent to a bro Superior of the period offering similar levels of performance and glamour but with that truly gorgeous black and red paint job like Bru Superior centry Eagle did not survive after World War II consequently their machines are rare and extremely collectible today the vet

Venom the Venom was the last of the line to make use of the high cam velocet engine the Venom was introduced in 1955 alongside its 350 C Viper stable mate both were based of more humble basic touring models with the Venom being based of the 500 CC MSS but fitted with

A high compression piston and an aluminium barel allbe with a cast iron liner and this another tuning mods would raise Peak power to 34 horsepower at 6,200 RPM enough for a top speed of around 100 mph and the Chassy was very good despite being a simple braze log

Construction and of course there that neat vellocet rear suspension adjustment system too clearly this was a bike designed to go head-to-head with bsa’s gold star model and certainly in the early days it wasn’t quite as successful but gold star production would end in 1962 and the velocet would go on for

Several more years consequently there quite a lot of the Venoms around relatively speaking so the standard Venom will often be slightly less expensive than a gold star but only slightly but if you determine to empty Pockets that little bit quicker there’s always the odd Rarity such as the

Scrambler but if you really want a sporty road racing overhead valve valet then the fron is the only bike for you the Norton enter for some the inter is the ultimate race replica originally introduced as the cs1 in 1927 and designed by Walmore this was Norton’s first overhead cam

Racer but after a major redesign of the Works bikes in the early 30s the bike went on to become a fast road bike and this then is the TT replica or the international the bike could be ordered you the 1930s with all manner of mods

That would allow you to use it as a road racer and the bike would go on to have an amazingly long production run lasting all the way until 1958 despite being by that time very outdated and somewhat underpowered but the long production run does not mean it was built in great

Numbers and year- on-year production numbers were very modest as a as a consequence these bikes are very rare and very desirable especially the post 1950 bikes with their featherbed frames and with many of these bikes being raced until they dropped to pieces or having their frames stolen to create Trident

The numbers that have survived are consequently very low so if you want the race replica you best dig deep the BSA gold star designed by Vel page the BSA gold star was introduced in 1938 and was a development of the earlier Empire star the first model was a 500cc M24 this run

In aluminium head and barel and was perhaps one of the most beautiful bikes that BSA ever created now of course the interruption of World War II means that the bike was only produced for a short while before the war actually started started so numbers are low and thus a

High degree of desirability for these early machines and the postwar bikes which finally appeared in 1948 initially as a 350 with the 500 starting later of a very different design and though it’s often forgotten is the 350 that actually carried most of the other success in terms of competition the 500 would take

A couple of more seasons to finally hit his winning ways but when it did it was unbeatable in fact so much so that it would kill off Club miration in the UK the grid being occupied almost exclusively by gold stars now the gold star is very much like many of the

Machines here in other words it’s the very early and fairly late models that are the most desirable the dbd series very much the Pinnacle of development for these particular machines it’s not hard to see why the gold star is so popular achingly beautiful and of course with proven race success but it’s

Interesting to note that it prices aren’t quite as high as the RGS model these days although I seem to remember them being much more evenly mat matched in the past now this may be for a couple of reasons one of course the average classic bike rider is let’s face it

Getting a bit older so starting the things isn’t exactly easy and of course they’re not the most practical bikes given the nature of modern traffic the RGS is that little bit easier when it comes to riding through Modern traffic so will we see gold star prices falling

Through the floor I shouldn’t hold my breath if I was here the tri Bonville t120 now in case you’re wondering the T and t120 stands for tiger and tiger was the sporting models in Edward Turner’s Triumph range from the 1930s onward the first parallel Twin Tiger was the tiger 100 of

1939 and indeed this model would reappear postwar but would soon be supplemented by the the 650c tiger 110 the 110 was of course based off the earlier Thunderbird but had an aluminium barel but just a single carburetor now Turner viewed these models as Sports tours rather than competition bikes

Hence the slightly conservative styling and this would be applied to the first t120 when it made its bow in 1959 however the all important American Market weren’t keen on the ra State styling so in 1960 they gave the bike a forign restyling job to create the iconic look of the first pre-unit Gils

And for some these pre-unit machines are the most beautiful and the most desirable of all bonil but they’re not necessarily the most capable the machine were gradually developed especially in terms of its chassis throughout the 1960s with unit construction arriving to the engine in 1963 but is perhaps the

Iconic 1968 model year which is the most sought after of the unit construction machines because this is the point at which the engine chassis and styling all came together to make a truly perfect Triumph or so say the fardos at least Ro Superior the story of Bru Superior

Starts when George Bru left Bruth motorcycles and created Bru Superior which as you can imagine pleased his father no end his father of course being Mr Bru the owner of Bru motorcycles who laughingly J that his bikes are now probably called Bru inferior and you don’t need me to tell you that Bru

Superiors go for insane money at auction he’s a strange thing in their day Bru superiors are not as expensive as you might think because while we all talk about the ss100 the ss80 with its side valve engine was by far Bru superior’s most popular machine and was in fact not

As pricey as you might think in its time with the equivalent model from Royal Enfield actually costing more money but Bru produced high quality machines but he produced them in tiny numbers but George Bru was a sharp businessman and he understood the importance of publicity he created unusual one-offs

Different ranges of machines machines just for sidec car use for example engineering pieces of excellent like the Golden Dream which while only ever built in tiny numbers was great publicity for the brand and thus did George create a motorcycling icon and the fact the company didn’t survive the war only

Serves to greatly intensify them myque and so while it isn’t always the case in this case Rarity brings extreme value and so for most of us the ownership of BR Superior is only ever going to be a dream the BSA rocket gold star the BSA rocket gold star or RGS

Represents a swans song for the venerable a 10 range of motorcycles now the RGS can ostensibly be seen as a sort of Parts spin special using a super rocket engine and a gold star frame although in truth the gold star frame was modified for use on the RGS the

Engine was a post 61 super rocket motor with a 9:1 compression ratio and a 357 Sports cam shaft which despite the use of just a single carburetor an AAL carburetor with spec standard for Road versions gave just 46 horsepower with 50 horsepower available if mods such as a

Gp2 carburetor were fitted and there were lots of modification options available clip on bars close ratio gearbox whatever the rider chose the machine makes use of a Siamese exhaust which goes into a gold star silencer giving the bike a distinctive sound unlike any of the earlier a10s styling

Of the RGS is of course exactly the same as that of the gold star so truly beautiful one of Britain’s most iconically beautiful motorcycles I believe but of course as very much an End of Line Parts spin special if you will this is not a machine that was

Built for any great length of time and by 1963 production had ended after only a year as a consequence these machines are rare and desirable but extremely capable it’s easy to see why these bikes are so desirable one the performance and above all the styling of the iconic gold

Star but with easier starting and better Road manners that then is the RGS one of the bikes or collections of bikes would you like to see as cover in a future video perhaps you got a bike we can use for a test ride either way get in touch below hope you enjoyed that

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