There isn’t a red blooded male on the face of the Earth who doesn’t, in some small way, want to be like Steve McQueen. British motorcycle manufacturer Métisse Motorcycles has joined forces with Steve McQueen’s estate to produce a 300 unit production run of the bike you see pictured above and below and make that dream a reality.
It’s called the Métisse Desert Racer and it’s an exact reproduction of the bike that Bud Etkins and Steve McQueen built together for competition use in the 1960’s. The bike has a reconditioned, period correct 650cc Triumph twin, a single Amal carburettor, a Mk III chrome-moly, nickel plated, oil bearing frame (like the original), chromed steel wheel rims, period chromed exhausts, scrambler rear tyre, trials front tyre, Amal competition levers & twist grip. A period Triumph front hub with BSA rear, along with an authentic colour coded tank, seat and panels. It even has Steve’s signature on the fuel tank.
It even has Steve’s signature on the fuel tank.
Pricing is not as bad as you might be expecting, a lot of hours would need to be rolled into a bike like this so £14,000 seems fairly reasonable. There are a few additional options and an order can be placed with a deposit of £3,500, build time is estimated at 8 weeks and there are currently about 200 of the original 300 slots remaining.
If you’d like to check out the site and fight the urge to sell a kidney to buy one, visit the website here.
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