What would you do, if money was no object? For a lot of us, the obvious answer is to go about getting our hands on every single bike we ever wanted. Of course, then you’d also need somewhere to store them all—preferably, so they were all displayed in a pleasing manner and also easily accessible. Maybe throw in some period-correct leathers and helmets—and obviously race-specific gear if your taste runs to racing machinery.
If all of that sounds extremely up your street, then you’re in for a treat with this video from road racer Lee Johnston. In it, he takes viewers of his YouTube channel on a tour of what he believes to be the most massive collection of bikes in the U.K. Whether it’s the largest or not is unclear—but what is absolutely crystal clear is that it’s a truly amazing variety of machines on display here.
There are plenty of race bikes and superbikes, of course—including an astonishing array of ex-Joey Dunlop machines. The owner is clearly a huge U.K. road racing fan, and even has both the IOMTT course and a massive photograph of Joey Dunlop painted on one wall of the hangar where all these bikes currently live.
On top of those, though, are also a fair number of road bikes—from multiple eras, multiple brands, and multiple countries. A lot of times, collectors are heavily into one (or maybe a handful) of brands, and go crazy collecting all the special bikes they can from their favorites. Other times, it’s all about one type of bike—all Italian bikes, perhaps, or all British bikes. This collection is a mix of many different types of things, and it’s clear that whoever owns it just loves motorcycles, road racing, and motorcycle history.
There are far too many interesting machines that you’ll glimpse in this walkthrough to even begin to list them all. Bikes as far as the eye can see, including Suzuki RG50 Gammas, Honda NC30s, some very early Ducatis through to 998s and 999s, a gorgeous selection of vintage Yamaha race bikes, all the Japanese Big Four ‘70s legendary machines you could want to see in one place, and of course a fair selection of Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons, and more.
Three extremely special bikes we spotted include a Yamsel race bike (raced in the ‘70s, Yamaha engines stuffed inside frames crafted by Colin Seeley), an extremely lovely old Excelsior, and a Yamaha OW-02 race homologation special. Are there even more gems in here? You’d be hard pressed not to spot more than a few, and it’s the kind of place where you’ll probably see something new every time you watch this video.
If you have a spare 22 minutes, sit down and take a good look at this amazing collection. Would yours look similar, if given the opportunity? What bikes would you have in your garage, if money (and storage space) were no object?
