Rare British Hesketh Motorcycle 

What a beautiful bike. Still fabulous 40 years after launch.

The first time I ever saw one of these was Expo 86 in Vancouver Canada. I thought it was one of the best engineered motorcycles I ever laid eyes on. Saved my nickels and dimes and bought a red 1982 with 3462 miles on it October 30, 2003. I rode it for ten years, logged on nearly 20,000 miles. It was one of the smoothest motorcycles I've owned, very comfortable seat. It seemed like a top heavy bike until you got used to riding it. It's far from being the fastest bike out there. There are only about four in Canada, two in museums and others in private hands. I drove it in Western and Eastern Canada and northwestern states and believe me I never saw another one. I rode it, it wasn't a trailer queen. Any time I parked it there were always people coming around to look at it, didn't know what it was and had never seen one before. I thoroughly enjoyed this bike but since I usually had four or five bikes it got so I rode it less and less. I had this bike the longest of any bike, I've been riding since 1969 and I'm on number 43. The best way to sum this bike up is as my friend would say 'an English Ducati'. (minus the handling)

The best feature I've watched so far on the Heskith. So well explained, nice to know the South African connection. 👍

I saw one in LA in 2016. Such a unique bike.

When I was working for British steel in the early 80 I remember seeing the drop forge dies for this engine and components , and the man himself

Amazing machine , got pulled by a copper outside Scarborough on the way back from the races , he was test riding it for the police , we were all over it !!!!!, only seen one in a magazine, not seen one since!!; we said " can we have a look at your bike mate " , he said " you might as well lads , im going to have a bloody good look at yours " !!!!!

Such a beaut🤩

Remember working on the prototype engine

I was a schoolboy in Ayrshire Scotland when they came out and there was a guy local to us that got one. I’ve never seen another on the road since

I remember when it came out. The bike seemed enormous in the day. Now it's a mid sized or to some a small engine. You can see them on classic bike sales websites normally still here in England. Funny you mention Aston Martin as they have recently designed the first ever AM motorbike. I don't know if it will go on sale tho.

Great video 👍

Sold mine a few months ago…wonderful machine but too tall for me now my knees are crooked. Very sad

Weslake,?!??..... did they build engines for motorcycle speedway as well? Greetings from Germany.

Lord Fleetwood heskeths estate is in the outskirts of the seaside town where i live in merseyside , he died of a heroin over dose .

If ever a project was doomed from the outset, that was it...

Astralite wheels for road bikes were crap, no real weight saving and had to return wheel as they could not measure correctly the original wheel I gave to them in person at the factory, The Hesketh factory tied to sell me one of their bikes when I visited for about half the price of a house. This bike had square section aluminium tube frame and still weighed about as much as half a house.

Is that a turkey on the tank?

Hi Everybody , anywhere in the eighties, I am 76, I was with my Moto Guzzi 850 on the Stelvio Pass in Italy. A group of Swiss bikers arrived and also stopped for a drink. One of them was driving a .....Hesketh. But on the tank was a sticker of Ducati. The problem was the homologation in Switzerland, so we were told by the owner. And according to him, when the sticker tells you it is a Ducati and the engine is a V or L engine, an official agrees it is a Ducati. A moment later a real Ducati biker arrived at the top. The Hesketh owner draw his attention and said: hey, this is next year's Ducati 😀 The biker lifted his eyebrows one inch but then laughed heartily, he knew it was not true. But he didn't know the brand "Hesketh" either. TIP: In case you arrive at this " Passo dello Stelvio " you can, more or less legally, drive to the Rifugio Piróvano wich is at 3018 !!! mtr. WOW Google: "The road to Piccolo Pirovano Hut in the Alps is not for the sissies" Also try: Passo di Fraële and the two lakes. Lago diCancano and lago di San Giacomo. When the dams were built in the 50's all the stuff they needed was transported by electric lorries.