McQueen motorbikes made to order

Good Monday morning to you all! It might be too late for Christmas present ordering, but here's some news of an interesting new model.

A small Oxfordshire manufacturer are producing replicas of a Metisse bike that was customised and raced by the late actor and bike fanatic Steve McQueen.

A team of four in Carswell, near Farringdon, have made a limited edition of 300 Desert Racer models that faithfully represents McQueen's original bike that he rode competitively in the mid 1960's, complete with his signature. The bike retails at £12,999 exc VAT.

McQueen and his friend, the Great Escape stunt rider Bud Ekin, bought the Metisse Desert Racer frame and customised it. The bike was then used in competitions in the Californian desert in 1966 and 1967.

Gerry Lisi, owner of Metisse, said: "It was mostly a competition bike, used in motor-cross racing and trials. It is a bike from the sixties and Steve McQueen was particularly fond of it. He said it was 'The best-handling bike I've ever owned and the power, it's like supersonic'."

Story from BBC Oxfordshire.

Bikes available from Metisse-Motorcycles.com.