Steve McQueen’s Husqvarna, Easy Rider Replicas Sell for Serious Dough

Retail motorcycle sales may be posting modest gains, but the rarified world of classic bikes with celebrity provenance is proving that the sky’s the limit when it comes to discretionary purchases.

At this past weekend’s Quail Motorcycle Gathering, Steve McQueen’s 1971 Husqvarna 400 Cross, identical to the bike he rode shirtless on the cover of Sports Illustrated, sold for a record $144,500. A 1925 BMW R32 pulled $139,000, and remember those Easy Rider replicas that were displayed in the Guggenheim’s Art of the Motorcycle exhibit? The “Captain America” and “Billy Bike” fetched $52,650 and $24,570 respectively; not too shabby for facsimiles.

But if you thought the Quail boasted big sales, just wait to see what unfolds at the Pebble Beach Concours this August. The famous car event will be holding its first live motorcycle auction– another Bonhams production– that will feature a 1954 AJS E95 “Porcupine.”

That bike’s estimated sale price? Well, according to Bonhams, “With the significant increase in demand for historical and rare machines at the top of the market, the estimate of $750,000 for this particular Porcupine offered in August’s sale is, in most experts’ opinion, quite reasonable.”