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    mardi 10 février 2015

    The coolest bikes from Bonhams’ Paris sale 27 January 2015


    Artcurial looks set to steal the limelight during this year's round of Rétromobile auctions with the Baillon collection - but while most are marvelling at the ‘barn find of the century’, motorcycle fans can quietly immerse themselves in the preview of Bonhams’ 47-lot motorcycle sale…

    Miniature memories

    There are machines in there that any motorcyclist of a certain age would dearly love to have in his (or her) collection. The one I’m particularly coveting is the simply stunning Moto Guzzi V7 Sport in a classic ‘lime’and red paint scheme. This is a motorcycle that I have longed to own since the age of seven, when I was given not one, but two tiny models of it by different people.
    I still have them, but have never managed to acquire the real thing - and probably won't be doing so now, either, since this genuine, unrestored, low-owner example is likely to top €20,000.

    Kawasaki's legendary Mach III

    Another ’70s classic that’s making me all nostalgic is a mint-condition example of Kawasaki’s legendary Mach III, 500cc, two-stroke triple. I once bought one from a man who lived on the fifth floor of a tower block and kept it in his sitting room. We did a deal at the time-honoured rate of ‘one pound per cc’, and then had to remove the entire front end in order to get it into the tiny elevator.
    Back on the ground floor, I bolted it back together, fired it up and enjoyed a crazy, smoky, 200-mile ride home without a hitch, revelling in the discovery that the Mach III’s acceleration was every bit as aggressive as legend suggested. The one on offer at Bonhams is tipped to fetch €14,000.

    BMWs and Benellis

    A little less should buy an original and low-mileage example of BMW’s first, true, road-going sports bike in the form of a 1977 R90S, complete with period ‘smoked orange’ paint scheme, while a 1972 Benelli 750 Sei – the six-pot superbike that preceded Honda’s CBX by several years – could realise up to €38,000.
    The high estimate is accounted for by the fact that this is one of three prototypes created before the then-radical machine entered production in 1974. It is also the actual bike that was displayed at the Guggenheim Museum’s celebrated ‘Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition between 1999 and 2002.

    A horde of Huskies

    The sale also offers an impressive selection of small-capacity MV Agusta sports bikes and racers from the ’50s and ’70s, together with a Husqvarna scrambler raced by the renowned Swedish rider Bengt Aberg at Saddleback Park, California, during the 1970s Inter-Am series. It’s estimated at €15,000 - 18,000.

    Vincent

    Vincent fans, meanwhile, can choose from a well-restored and ready-to-ride series C Black Shadow at €50,000 - 70,000 and another, more patinated example at €80,000 - 95,000. 
    See them all at Le Grand Palais, Paris, on Wednesday, 4 February from 9am - 5:30pm, prior to the sale the following day at 12:30.
    Photos: Bonhams
    All lots from Bonhams' Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais sale can be found in the Classic Driver Market.

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