If you think of humans five thousand years ago, a caveman-type figure is probably what comes to mind. But no, it turns out that even that far back, humans had come up with dice for the purpose of gambling. And why do we gamble? To win a bunch of cash, so we can buy a ton of cool shit obviously. And if you’re looking for a place to spin the wheel and then spend the winnings, where better than the 34th Annual Vintage & Antique Motorcycle Auction in Las Vegas, run by Mecum Auctions. Over four days, starting on the 29th of January, more than 2000 motorcycles will go under the hammer, and there really is something for everyone. So, we’ve sifted through them all and plucked out our picks, the bikes that would get us bidding if we’d won the jackpot.

First on the block, is a bike that you just had to own 110 years ago if you wanted to be winning races on the board track and the dirt, a 1915 Cyclone. This stunning example has been rebuilt to as new condition by expert restorer Stephen Wright, and he’s done an incredible job. The eye-popping yellow paint was the signature colour for the short-lived company, and an identical example previously owned by Steve McQueen sold for the best part of a million bucks a few years ago.

But to us, what makes the Cyclone so worthy of taking pride of place in any collection, is just how ahead of its time this machine was. It’s visually and mechanically stunning, and that 61ci motor makes a wonderful noise, perfect for racing in Billy Lane’s Sons of Speed series.

Green Frame Ducati 750 Super Sport

Talk show host and serious automotive collector Jay Leno always says his favourite category of vehicle to acquire are those that are original and unmolested. And of the just 401 Green Frame Ducati 750 Super Sports ever built, this might just be the last totally original example. Achingly beautiful, the company has never looked back since its introduction and the value of such a bike is only going to climb.

Sure, a restored example is ‘prettier’, but this is a true time capsule example, still wearing its original paint and all the bumps and scraps of a motorcycle that has been ridden the way the original designers always intended.

1972 Harley-Davidson XRTT 750 Road Racer

An auction in Vegas wouldn’t be complete without plenty of Harley’s and by far our favourite is this 1972 Harley-Davidson XRTT 750 Road Racer. Much is rightly made of the Japanese and their dominance of the early superbike arms race, but when it came to passing chequered flags in first place, few have ever done it better than the XR.

Of the 200 examples of this variant ever built, it would be hard to find one in better condition, and from the big front brake to that iconic body and paint, it’s simply a pleasure to the eye. Lightweight and powerful, the TT did plenty of winning on the street course, while its dirt track variant dominated AMA and Mr Evel Knievel jumped his XR to superstardom.

1975 Honda Factory PK XR

Staying in the ’70s, but with just a tenth of the capacity, is this incredible one-of-one 1975 Honda Factory PK XR. If any bike proves that a reproduction can be better than the original, this is it, and it’s a full 100-point catalogue-correct XR75 “PK” (Paul Kaitz) Factory Edition replica. Ensuring that it rides as good as it looks, its got a full 4130 chromoly frame, and from that foundation, absolutely every part of the bike has been built to perfection.

It earned it a full feature in VMX magazine, but what makes it so cool is the nostalgia it inspires for so many. A time when heading to your uncle’s farm, meant riding the hell out of screaming, small-capacity dirt bikes; and they were proper fast!

1972 Kawasaki H2 750 Mach IV

But if you really want straight-line speed, then the creations of the legend that is British motorcycle builder Allen Millyard, are hard to go by. In his tiny back shed, with a cup of tea and one of his wife’s famous cupcakes, Allen has built some of the craziest motorcycles of all time. Viper V10 engine on two wheels, check, a handbuilt V-12 Kawasaki, of course and then there is his 5-litre aircraft engined custom.

But if you want to own a Millyard to ride on the road, it’s hard to go past his handbuilt four-cylinder, 1000cc, 2-stroke H2 Kwakas. To the untrained eye, they look like a factory bike, but even a machine known as the widow-maker was never fast enough for Allen, and with some basic tools he’s built four of these screaming smokers, which sound like a grid of F1 cars.

1967 Honda CR450 Factory Daytona 200 Race Bike

Definitely not as crazy, but even more rare, is this 1967 Honda CR450 Factory Daytona 200 Race Bike. The only other one in the world is housed at the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi, Japan. It’s an early example of the engineering prowess of the Big H, and the company’s ability to build a bike for any race you could possibly dream up.

The 444cc Parallel-Twin was good for an astonishing 134mph, and everything about this motorcycle was a warning sign to the world of just how brilliant Honda would become. Offered fully restored to its factory specification and including notes from the team manager from its racing debut at Daytona where it set a class lap record, it’s Honda history at its finest.

1980 Rickman Honda Predator

Today you can go and buy a superbike off the showroom floor that isn’t far off its WSBK siblings in terms of performance; they’re frighteningly fast. But in the early ’80s, sports bikes were simply too heavy to haul ass with their still air-cooled powerplants. Enter British brothers Don and Derek Rickman, champion racers themselves, their excellent-handling Metisse scrambler frames, designed to fit a multitude of powerplants, outshone most factory efforts in the ’60s.

And this 1980 Rickman Honda Predator would do much the same two decades later. Their frames were better than anything anyone else could produce, Honda joined the program to add the powerplant, and the suspension, brakes and wheels were all ultra high tech. It’s engineering to truly be admired, and a motorcycle that would add another excellent talking point to any collection.

These are just a handful of the more than two thousand motorcycles that will go under the hammer in just under a week in Las Vegas. So, for now, we will just have to daydream about a future time when hitting big means we can bid with the best of them. But these events are a great chance to roll down memory lane and appreciate some of the truly great motorcycles from yesteryear. Tell us, what would you be bidding on?

[ Mecum Vegas Motorcycle Auction ]