The only thing cooler than owning a modern MotoGP machine is having a grand prix bike from the 500cc 2-stroke era. Nobody tell Ryan Wedding that I said that. And the only thing cooler than a 500cc 2-stroke GP bike is one that was ridden to a championship by the ultimate playboy motorcyclist—Barry Sheene. You have the chance to own the coolest bike.
Up for auction is the 1977 championship-winning Works Texaco Heron Team Suzuki RG500 XR14 that Sheene raced throughout the 1977 World Championship season. Famously, this was the second and final world championship that Sheene would go on to win, after taking the '76 trophy the previous year.
With Sheene as the pilot, this bike crossed the line six times in first place. That's the highest number of gold medals Sheene took home during a GP season, although the season only consisted of 11 races. He podiumed nine of the 11 events and, not to take anything from Sheene's talent, but if you're familiar with GP racing throughout the '70s, you know the Suzuki RG500 XR14 played a huge role in winning the championship.
The bike's square-four 2-stroke unit pumped out around 120 hp and weighed just 286 lbs, and was good for around 180 mph. Even by today's standards, it's a missile. But it's a more wobbly missile than we're used to with milk bottle caps for brakes. Just something to keep in mind if you're thinking of bidding. Another thing to know is that it's presented in 'as last raced' condition, which in my books makes it even more desirable.
It's difficult to pin down the authenticity of specific parts of GP bikes from this era but, as stated on the auction site, "As with many Works Grand Prix machines of the 1970s, exact frame-and-engine allocation for every individual event cannot now be conclusively established. However, the surviving race records conclusively establish frame '1201' as one of the two principal Suzuki works XR14s campaigned by Barry Sheene throughout his championship-winning 1977 season."
You can rest assured if you bid on this machine, you're bidding on the last GP bike Sheen ever won a championship on. The bike is being sold through Bonhams at the International Classic MotorCycle Show auction and is expected to fetch $205,000 to $255,000, which is more than I'll ever be able to afford, but I'll I'll be glued to my screen for the next 30 minutes looking at it.
