Our world is home to some weird and wonderful motorcycles. From insane supercharged liter-bikes with upwards of 200 ponies, fire-breathing custom creations, to rolling pieces of art disguised as motorcycles, you could say we’ve pretty much seen it all.
But as it would turn out, taking a trip down the obscure and ultra-rare motorcycle rabbit hole will unearth bikes a lot of us have never even heard of. Case in point would be this Norton F1R, a rotary-powered superbike that’s set to go up for auction at UK-based auction house H&H Classics.
Not a lot is known about the Norton F1R, as evidenced by its very short and very dry Wikipedia page. But what we do know is that the F1R is hella rare as it is and that this particular F1R is even rarer, as it was the very first model ever produced. That’s right, this bike is the owner of Frame #1, and was the first P55 F1R to leave Norton’s Shenstone factory.
It was produced on April Fool’s Day of 1990 and has only ever had one owner for the past 34 years. No joke.
The F1R is one of the very few motorcycles to come with a Wankel rotary engine—and for good reason. Rotaries are notorious for their (lack of) reliability and short maintenance intervals, but in exchange, provide a lot of linear power. The F1R’s 588cc liquid-cooled twin-rotor mill pumped out an impressive-for-the-time 94 horsepower despite being nearly half the displacement of other bikes with similar power outputs.
That said, this particular engine has been rebuilt, presumably after blowing its apex seals. It now sports high-compression rotors, twin-plug trochoids, and Mikuni flat-side carbs—components that command quite the premium in the aftermarket scene. It also has a new exhaust system, too.
But perhaps the coolest thing about this bike is that it isn’t just a for-show prototype, but an actual ex-race bike. It was raced in the Battle of the Twins series in Germany for five seasons where it saw lackluster success. But hey, the mere fact that a rare rotary-powered prototype survived that long is a win in and of itself. Since then, the bike was used mostly for exhibition purposes.
This ultra-rare prototype is going under the hammer on October 30, 2024 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull. The auctioneers expect it to fetch anywhere between £52,000 to £56,000, or around $68,000 USD to $73,000 USD—quite the chunk of change for a bike pretty much nobody has ever heard of.
What do you think? Is this rather obscure piece of motorcycling history really worth that much money? One thing’s for sure, though, and it’s that its rotary engine will surely sound silky smooth rowing through the gears. That is, of course, if they can manage to start it up.
