Two auction world records fell at Bonhams’ Stafford Sale, held during the International Classic Motorcycle Show on 25-26 April 2026. The auction, led by Barry Sheene‘s 1977 World Championship-winning Suzuki RG500 and a 1965 MV Agusta 500cc Grand Prix bike associated with Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, generated £4.2m in total sales against a low estimate of £2.2m.
As reported ahead of the sale, Sheene’s RG500 XR14 (below), the very bike he rode to title glory in the final race of the 1977 season, was offered for the first time in almost 40 years. Fierce bidding saw the bike hammer for £506,000 including fees, more than double its £160,000-200,000 estimate and setting a Japanese motorcycle auction record.
The MV Agusta was the most headline-grabbing lot of the auction however, selling for an eye-watering £967,000 including fees – more than six times its low £160,000 estimate. The 1965 works bike is believed to have been campaigned by both Hailwood and Agostini during MV’s halcyon period in the mid-1960s and had previously been owned by motorcycle and Formula 1 world champion John Surtees.
Not only did the MV Agusta (below) set the world record for an Italian motorcycle sold at auction, at the current conversion rate it came within roughly $10,000 of becoming the most expensive bike ever auctioned. That accolade remains tied to the 1915 Cycle V-Twin Board Track Racer sold at the 2025 Mecum Las Vegas sale, which crossed the block for $1.32m including fees.
Further highlights included the limited-edition 2015 Honda RC213V-S (£186,300), the ex-Peter Hickman 2019 Smiths Racing BMW S1000RR (£88,550) and a circa 2005 replica of the 1885 Daimler Reitwagen (£48,300). All figures include fees.
‘The Bonhams Stafford Sale at the International Classic MotorCycle Show was a landmark event in the bike community, that will be remembered by those who attended for years to come,’ said Bonhams’ international department director of collectors’ motorcycles Ben Walker. ‘We established two new world records, for the price of an Italian and Japanese machine sold at auction and got very close to the outright world record for the auction sale price of a motorcycle.’
View the full auction results here.
