AllMoto's Motorcycle Investor mag

Motorcycle Investor mag

Works racers offered by Bonhams

1965 MV Agusta 500 and 1977 Suzuki RG500 XR14

April 4, 2026, by Guy 'Guido' Allen

Grand Prix motorcycles ridden by legends such as John Surtees and Barry Sheene are the headline acts for the upcoming Bonhams Spring Stafford sale, on April 25-26

The 1965 works MV Agusta Grand Prix racer has in incredible past. It's believed to have been ridden by Mike Hailwood and/or Giacomo Agostini – the records of who and in which race no longer exist.

Adding to its lustre is the machine was owned for a considerable period by two- and four-wheeled world champion John Surtees (pictured above). Long after retiring from top-level competition, he bought the MV and then rode it in a host of non-championship and demonstration events.

From the Bonhams auction description: The machine offered here is believed to date from 1965, the year Mike Hailwood was joined at MV by Italian rising star Giacomo Agostini. Hailwood had already bagged three consecutive World Championships for MV in the 500 class and would add another to his tally in 1965 before leaving for Honda. Agostini finished runner-up in '65 and would take the first of his seven consecutive premier-class World Championships for MV the following year on the new three-cylinder.

In a 2005 letter to the current vendor, John Surtees states: "This machine is of the type that was raced in the senior class of Grand Prix racing by the MV Agusta team until 1965. It is a development of the same type of machine that I rode up until September 1960. This particular machine was the only one that the factory kept as a complete machine after they had transferred to running the new smaller three-cylinder machines. The bike remained in the factory race department until the decision was made to sell all the ex racing team stock, with the exception of some machines which were built up for the MV Agusta Museum.”

The sale estimate is Au$300-420,000 (US$211-290,000, GB£160-220,000, €180-250,000).

See the listing here

Next up is a Barry Sheene 1977 Suzuki RG500 – also a works bike and one of the machines he used to win his world championship.

According to the Bonhams listing: As with many works Grand Prix machines of the 1970s, exact frame-and-engine allocation for every individual event cannot now be conclusively established. However, the surviving race records conclusively establish frame '1201' as one of the two principal Suzuki works XR14s campaigned by Barry Sheene throughout his championship-winning 1977 season.

The team structure changed for 1977, with Sheene and his two new teammates – Pat Hennen and Steve Parrish – responsible for managing their own campaigns, albeit still under the Texaco Heron Team Suzuki banner. To say Barry dominated the 1977 500cc World Championship would be a gross understatement: out of that year's 11 rounds, Barry won six, finished 6th and 2nd in two of the others; and either did not start or retired in the remainder. He took the title with a total of 107 points, 27 points ahead of Steve Baker. Following a by-now established pattern, he was once again Shellsport 500 Champion, Motor Cycle News (MCN) Superbike Champion and MCN 'Man of the Year'.

The sale estimate is Au$300-380,000 (US$210-260,000, GB£160-200,000, €180-230,000)

See it here