The Brits have earned a reputation for making brilliant motorcycles. They really hit their stride in the 1950s and 1960s, when the power that companies like Vincent and BSA managed to coax from their engines made their machines awe-inspiring, even terrifying, for anyone who tried to ride them.
Many of the best bikes to come out of the UK ended up in the collection of Herb Harris, a Texas lawyer who loves British motorcycles. Harris, who recently retired, now devotes himself to a three-man Vincent motorcycle restoration business, and bikes that pass through his hands are known to be exceptional pieces. Among the bikes to pass through his shop is the legendary Vincent HRD Black Shadow bike that Rollie Free rode to a speed record in 1948 (150 mph), stretched out over the bike like Superman wearing nothing but swimming trunks.
Now, Harris is putting some of his best bikes up for sale, through Bonhams' Las Vegas motorcycle auction in January. Included in the auction are “cutaways,” or demo bikes and engines with sections removed to show potential customers, typically at auto shows, the engineering underneath. The coolest of that specific bunch is the BSA Goldstar Clubman cutaway, whose parts could be moved by hand to show how it really worked.
The collection is a majestic spread of post-War British engineering from the time when bikes were just getting fast and dangerous. Click through the gallery above for our favorites.
