Motorcycle history was made by H&H Classics at the National Motorcycle Museum yesterday (4 March 2018) when the company sold two iconic bikes for new world record prices.
H&H’s line-up of 170 bikes included a number of gems that had the place heaving despite a week of atrocious weather that had kept people at home. The biking fraternity turned up in strength to bid for John Lennon’s 1969 Honda Z50A “Monkeybike” which made £57,500 And a fascinating survivor, a pre-production Honda CB750 which reached £161,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £35,000 to £40,000.
There was huge excitement for the John Lennon monkey-trail bike, XUC 91H, when its turn came to go under the hammer.
John Lennon used the bike as a fun way of getting around his Tittenhurst Park estate in Surrey, where he lived from 1969 to 1971. Prior to the sale H&H Classics estimated that the bike would sell for £30,000 plus.
Mark Bryan, head of sales for H&H classics motorcycle department, said: “Naturally we were thrilled to be entrusted with the marketing and sale of this bike, given its extraordinary provenance. So to achieve this price is hugely satisfying.”
The monkey bike had been acquired by John Harington from Henry Graham, of Hook Hampshire, who at the time was owner of a business in Farnborough Hampshire – Motor Cycle City in around 1971.
Henry Graham said that he had bought the motorbike from John Lennon, who was living at the time at Tittenhurst Park in Sunningdale, near Ascot Berkshire.
John Harington, the current seller, had kept the bike for the past 47 years, since buying it from Graham and had displayed it at various events and shows throughout that time.
The second historically important bike, the Honda CB750. It was estimated at £35,000-£40,000 prior to the sale but in an extended bidding fight finally sold for a total of £161,000 – a new world record.
A “late” pre-production model it is one of only four built, only two are known to exist, the other is in the USA and was famously sold on eBay in 2014 for a price of $148,000.
The two missing bikes suffered sad fates. A green version of this bike went to France and was never seen again and a red one was crushed about five years ago in the US.
This gold bike was first shown in Europe at the Brighton Motorcycle show between April 5-12 1969. It also appeared on the cover of Motorcycle Mechanics May 1969.
The idea for a four cylinder 750 wasn’t even discussed until June 1968. Honda built a 750-4 test mule with a drum front brake, then the prototypes, all in just six months! This bike’s every single part is different from a production model.