The Elusive Gems: A Journey Through the World's Rarest Motorcycles

The open road has been the siren song for many, but only the lucky few have heard the call and managed to answer while perched aboard some of the rarest motorcycles ever to roll out of a factory. Sure, they’re modes of transport, but they are often rolling history, incredible visions of passion and riding culture that carried a rich narrative and legacy far beyond an ultra-limited production run. Here, we unravel the stories behind some of the rarest two-wheelers to ever grace roads across the globe, looking closer at why, despite being brilliant, they remain the motorcycle world’s unicorns.

The Vincent Black Lightning: A Bolt from the Past

The Lightning That Struck Once

But with only 33 of these turbo-charged motorcycles thought to have been made between 1948 and 1952, the Black Lightning is as rare as motorcycles get. It’s a pricey bike, and even at the time, only the most moneyed of track day drivers could afford to send one thundering around its circuit of choice. The Black Lightning’s claim to fame is being the subject of the fastest road production motorcycle in the world.

The Eccentric Hesketh V1000

Bold Beginnings, Troubled Times

The Hesketh V1000 was born from the fantasies of a speed-crazed aristocrat and, though the company’s machines were built to the highest technical standards, and to an ambitious design, they never quite got up to speed. The Hesketh story starts with the engine, which was created by a Formula 1 engineer with the best aspirations. Except that the engine was woefully unsuited to purpose. Most of the bikes developed serious engine troubles, and the first models sold poorly. Lotus wanted to get out quickly. The irony was stark: there were only 139 bikes built, of which many were returned to the factory for repairs, thereby wrecking the Hesketh brand and putting James Hesketh out of business before they could be saved by a fix.

The Powerhouse Vyrus 987 C3 4V

Exclusive Speed

It’s a late-capitalism fable of limitation and exclusivity, but the Vyrus 987 C3 4V is still an extraordinary machine of commitment to the purity of performance: just 25 were built, with a better power-to-weight ratio than any production motorcycle has ever achieved. It was also presumably so awesome that Tom Cruise had to have one. So where is it? Where is any of them? The Vyrus is everywhere and nowhere. You will see a Vyrus on the road once, perhaps twice; certainly no more than three times. It is as fleeting as it is exclusive.

The Suzuki SW1: A Retro Rarity

A Quirky Quest for Practicality

The Suzuki SW1 tried to take an old-school sensibility and apply it to modern, urban transport, mixing some of ’50s café racing cool with racks and a utility flavour to appeal to commuters looking for a practical runaround but who also wanted to look cool. Priced high compared with other mopeds of the time, though, it perhaps never hit the mark, making it to only a short production run before abruptly being cancelled. Its quirky design remains, however, a strange but interesting flashpoint in Suzuki’s history that reminds us how fickle the tastes of the motorcycle market could be.

Brabus 1300 R Masterpiece Edition: Luxurious Speed

A New Frontier for Brabus

Moving into two-wheeled transport, the 1300 R Masterpiece Edition is a luxury interpretation of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R Evo. It was engineered as a limited run of 50 examples, split equally between a black and a white colour scheme. While the company does not offer mechanical upgrades for this bike, simply offering the motorcycle in the signature Brabus style opens up doors to a new market. This signals the beginning of a new era for the company as it implies expansion into the two-wheel segment.

The Revolutionary Honda NR750

Innovation at a Cost

Honda’s NR750 married an oval-piston engine to a cutting-edge racing chassis with the lofty goal of being the ultimate, no-holds-barred superbike. Technical mastery and sheer horsepower took centre stage – the bike had around 200hp – and the potentially world-dominating NR750’s extreme cost ensured that it would be an uncommon machine, with only 322 sold new. It remains an artifact today, a two-wheeled masterpiece that pushed an apparatus to the edge of what was physically possible.

Beyond the Racetrack: Harley-Davidson's VR1000

A Foray into Superbike Racing

Harley-Davidson’s efforts to break into the superbike world and move away from its comfortable cruiser niche with the VR1000 was a risky venture. Despite Harley-Davidson installing an elite engineering and riding squad, the VR1000 never really found its feet. Only 50 were built to fulfil the homologation requirements, and it’s a rare artefact of the company’s brief crash into unfamiliar high-speed motorsport. The VR1000 highlights how difficult it is to adapt and evolve new areas of success.

The Legend of the Crocker Big Tank

The American Dream on Two Wheels

Perhaps the most mythical motorcycle ever built in the US is the Crocker Big Tank. Running from 1936 through 1941, the overhead-valve V-twin was powerful and reliable and spurred the loyalty of riders and racers alike. A self-starting powerhouse, and with no more than a three-year renaissance run, and a paltry production number of 30 or less, Big Tanks soared to the stratosphere as collectors’ items, commanding high prices at auction today.

The Dawn of BMW's Racing Legacy: The R37

A Pioneering Spirit

The BMW R37 may not have the volume numbers of many of its counterparts, but it cannot be understated how important this machine is. As BMW’s second motorcycle, the R37 was the first of countless race victories, helping to carve out the company’s legend as a motorcycle racing brand. Heavily built in 1927, only 352 R37s were sold but, thanks to its many on-track successes, it is now held in high regard by collectors and historians alike.

A Tribute to a Legend: Ducati 916 Senna 1

Speed and Grace

A powerful combination of two forces, a testament to the lost spirit of speed that’s fuelled by the spirit of giving: the Ducati 916 Senna 1, created in memory of Brazilian Formula 1 racing legend Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994. Made in honour of a man whose love for motorbikes was apparent from childhood, and whose donations to his home country are a testament to the superstardom that both sprung from and reinforced their pure love of speed. There are only 300 units of the Senna 1 — one for each of his Grand Prix wins — and each replica is a masterpiece of motorcycle design. It’s an apt final homage to one of the greatest formula racing drivers of all time, certain to become a collector’s item.

The Essence of "TANK"

Although in motorcycling the word ‘tank’ normally refers to the fuel storage area of the machine, in this context it is the whole of the picture. Each of the motorcycles we have visited is a ‘tank’, a vessel requiring filling with stories, with fresh ideas and inventions, with the dreams of the makers and riders. The bikes are not merely the sum total of their materials, a collection of metal, rubber and iron. The bikes are a cultural ‘tank’: of this strange, grid-defying, skirt-lifting, pain-loving, adventure-seeking, toy-like, explorer motorcycle world.

These wonderful machines ­— in the end, rare and invaluable testaments to human ingenuity and the unwavering quest for perfection — offer hope to future generations of engineers, designers and motorcyclists, keeping burning the delicate flame that lights the way for motorcycling’s future.