Retro & Classics

25 Motorcycles Worth More Than Most Supercars

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Thousands of motorcycles are made every day for all sorts of purposes. Whether they are a nice cruiser or built super-bike, the options are truly endless. Throughout the years, most bikes have fallen to the wayside, replaced by modern tech and design. And yet, some antique bikes have risen in value well over their original MSRP to become valuable collector’s pieces.

But rarely do motorcycles of any kind get be worth above $100,000. Some of the ones that do, however, become valuable because of their limited production or racing history, and the best of the best can skyrocket to unimaginable numbers. From vintage British racing bikes that could outrace a Jaguar XK120 off the showroom floor to modern feats of engineering and design that utilizes today’s strongest and lightest materials within their bodywork, the most valuable bikes in the world come in every type.

I’m not going to define what a supercar is here, because we’ll be here all day trying to define blurry lines. In my opinion, a true supercar cannot cost more than $1 million dollars. It just doesn’t seem right for something that’s not ridiculously fast nor extremely powerful to cost almost as much as a brand new Hennessey Venom GT.

So that’s the benchmark we’ll set here, above $200,000 to $1,000,000 for a motorcycle. It takes a special type of bike to be considered truly valuable, worth more than most recognizable supercars like a Ferrari or a Porsche GT3. I hope you enjoy my list of 25 motorcycles more valuable than most supercars.

25 1894 Roper Steam Motorcycle – $425,000

This is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) motorcycles ever invented. Though this particular one was built 27 years after the first Roper, it’s one its owner used personally before his death in 1896 from a heart attack. Two were built and the other is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute, though this one went up for auction in 2011 in Las Vegas. It failed to meet the reserve and went back to its owner, who didn’t really lend it out for display, with a lone showing in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame to celebrate inventor Sylvester Hayward Roper, who invented the bike from his hometown in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

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