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Speed. Power. Precision.
A motorcycle is a perfect marriage of all three.
Automobiles and motorcycles were developed concurrently and have evolved over the same amount of time. A car represents safety, and a person’s first car is their step into the freedom of the open road. The motorcycle is freedom without protection. There are no walls to keep a person comfortable or safe on a bike. That’s one reason that they’ve become synonymous with “Cool.”
If you see a character who is meant to be a rebel against society, chances are they’ll ride a motorcycle. If a character is supposed to be “awesome,” they’ll probably be on a motorbike. Part of it comes from the associations with speed and danger. Another factor is that a motorcycle has a profile not far from a horse, so it can invoke a modernized image of the noble, mounted warrior.
A lot of it is just that a motorcycle looks really cool.
LEGO, and I knew that! I had dozens of LEGO Motorcycles growing up. Even before I was given my Mom’s old LEGOsets, I would make motorcycles out of LEGO bricks. After I got the sets with official LEGO motorcycles, almost all got used until they wouldn’t fit together anymore.
Fortunately, I had almost no end of motorcycle sets. LEGO has created hundreds of motorcycles over the decades.
Bottom Line Up Front: The Vintage Motorcycle laps its competition easily. It’s got a decent amount of generic bricks to build with, and it’s designed to make three different builds from the included pieces. Best of all, it’s still available in stores at the time of writing!
Criteria
With the number of motorcycle sets that LEGO has released, it could be hard to decide which counts as “the best.” I’m going to use about four criteria to determine their order in this Best LEGO Motorcycle Sets guide.
- Design – LEGO has been making motorcycles for the better part of a century. Unfortunately, not every set is equal. If the collection does more with its design or focuses more heavily on the motorcycle, it will get rated higher.
- Innovation – There are thousands of potential design choices for a motorcycle, and LEGO is all about creativity. If it effectively uses that, it will go further down the list.
- Power – A motorcycle is still one of the most cost-efficient vehicles a person can get. It gives you a lot of value for the money it costs to buy and fuel. If a LEGO set gives you more value for the dollar, it will get a better spot.
- Feeling – Half the fun of motorcycles comes from the feeling they invoke. They’re cool, and no mistake about it! If a set triggers that innate sense of coolness in me, it’s gonna get a higher spot.
21.) Chopper Cops
- Year Released: 1993
- Pieces: 67
- Theme: Town
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
The LEGO police have a long and involved history with motorcycles. We’ll talk more about that as the list goes on.
Instead, we’re going to start with a more straightforward build. Two officers have their own police vehicles in this set. One of them is a helicopter for various sky-related activities.
The other is a motorcycle! It’s up here at the start of the list because it takes a whopping six pieces to put together. The body is made up of just ONE piece! (Without so much as a grand line to chase!) It’s one of the sets I most remember from my youth, so it earns a spot, just not a great one.
20.) Set 5531: Police Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2005
- Pieces: 18
- Theme: City
- Minifigs: 1
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
Twelve years later, LEGO released a set that was at least much more focused than number twenty.
It included a police officer and a motorcycle, and that was it. It had 18 pieces, several of which made up the Police minifig.
The motorcycle had the rest of the pieces, but even that number was inflated, as many were single-layer “stud” pieces meant to serve as the lights and the siren. Much like the number directly above this, it’s not bad. There are just better ahead.
19.) Captain America’s Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2016
- Pieces: 25
- Theme: Marvel
- Minifigs: 1
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
Motorcycles look cool.
It’s a fact that many properties know and take advantage of. The answer was obvious when it came time to choose a vehicle for Captain America to ride into battle. Put the American Knight onto the steel horse, and let history play out.
Cap has a couple of different motorcycles throughout the films, though he doesn’t always use them as intended.
This one is part of the Captain America: Civil War line, though it looks like it was inspired by the opening scene of The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The motorcycle is still made up of fewer, larger pieces rather than multiple smaller ones. However, there is no prominent Avengers branding, so the parts can be used for any motorcycle build!
18.) Police Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2003
- Pieces: 11
- Theme: 4 Juniors
- Minifigs: “1”
- Approximate Skill Level: Tutorial
LEGO is one of the most accessible toys on the market. They’ve made sets aimed at just about every demographic, so it’s difficult to say they have a “target” demographic anymore.
However, I typically imagine kids of about six to fifteen being the primary audience that enjoys LEGO. You start when you’re old enough to be trusted not to eat the bricks and continue until something else catches your eye.
The 4 Juniors line was aimed at the very earliest part of that demographic, with bricks smaller than DUPLO but more significant than regular bricks. Anyone over four years old could safely and happily play with these sets.
This one has all the parts to build a large motorcycle and policeman. It’s one of the builds with the smallest number of pieces on the list, but it gets some points for fostering creativity in a younger generation.
17.) Mailman on Motorcycle
- Year Released: 1984
- Pieces: 26
- Theme: Town (Postal)
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Tutorial
While LEGO motorcycles and the police have a long history, they’re not the only men and women in blue that LEGO has glorified. LEGO has released many sets starring the United States Postal Service in many roles.
This includes a minifig on a motorcycle and several two-by-one flat bricks printed to look like letters. There’s also a happy LEGO citizen to receive mail and an openable LEGO box. I want to focus on the LEGO box just a little because this is the earliest I’ve seen this particular design, and I know LEGO would go on to use it as a generic storage container for everything from gold and jewels to small animals.
The motorcycle is still a single piece (aside from the sidecar), but it’s generic enough to make any motorcycle a person could want.
16.) Norton Motorcycle
- Year Released: 1976
- Pieces: 133
- Theme: Hobby Set
- Minifigs: 0
- Approximate Skill Level: Advanced
LEGO is a pretty accessible toy. As long as you’re old enough not to eat the bricks, you can probably find something interesting. However, LEGO has never been content to rest on its laurels and has constantly tried to grab other demographics.
In the 1970s, LEGO aimed to grab the model hobbyists with their Hobby Set line. This was aimed at older demographics who were assembling ships-in-bottles, model trains, and model automobiles.
This set is one of the latter and appears to be based on a 1975 Norton Commando motorcycle. It’s one of LEGO’s earliest sets dedicated to a multi-piece motorcycle design, and it was great fun to put together!
…Even if it usually got disassembled to make other motorcycles, I was more interested in.
15.) Police and Motorcycle
- Year Released: 1976
- Pieces: 86
- Theme: Building Sett with People
- Minifigs: “3”
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
While number 15 was one of the first, it wouldn’t be the last. This one came out the same year and continued LEGO’s relationship with the police.
The motorcycle is easy enough to assemble and even made of standard bricks! After you finish it, it can be broken down and used in almost any other build. It’s also one of the last things released to be built to scale with these “maxifigs.” Not long after this was released, LEGO switched to scaling everything to the size of the minifigs we know and love.
However, it will always have a place in my heart for being the basis of a police-motorcycle-themed LEGO Transformer.
14.) Rally Car and Motorbike
- Year Released: 1978
- Pieces: 65
- Theme: Town
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
I was never a big fan of racing.
I was always more interested in cooler things, like staying home and building race cars out of LEGO.
…Okay, so I was never THAT Cool, but I did put this set together a surprising number of times. I think I was fascinated by the Shell logo on the rally car itself. I grew up in rural enough Kansas that I didn’t see a Shell station until I could drive.
Although it’s meant to be a rally car, I was a little confused by the fact that a police minifig was included. Regardless, he was here with his motorcycle, and that motorcycle was pretty cool. It’s basic enough that it can get put together quickly and taken apart just as quickly, and it can be made into almost any design you can think of.
13.) Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase
- Year Released: 2008
- Pieces: 79
- Theme: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Minifigs: 3
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
Indiana Jones is always on an adventure! With LEGO, there’s no end to the places that Indy can go, the treasures he can “recover,” and the enemies he can face.
This set is based on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and features Indy and his father trying to get away from someone in a uniform with a gun. If we’re going by the film’s logic, their opponent is almost assuredly a nazi. However, LEGO is primarily aimed at kids, so it makes sense that they didn’t put them in more obvious clothing.
The motorcycle in this set comes with a sidecar! Unfortunately, it’s also made up of pieces that can only be a motorcycle and a sidecar, so it loses some points.
12.) Wolverine’s Chopper Showdown
- Year Released: 2013
- Pieces: 199
- Theme: Marvel Superheroes – X-Men
- Minifigs: 3
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
I know I usually hate licensed sets but hear me out!
I was named after Wolverine, which is my list, and I loved this set.
The helicopter is nice. It’s got luscious colors, and it’s not branded at a glance. It may be aesthetically very X-Men, but that doesn’t change the fact that it could be any red and black helicopter.
The set is pretty setting-agnostic, but I think it was modeled after a scene in 2009’s X-men Origins: Wolverine. It has a Magneto minifig along with Wolverine and Deadpool (although thankfully, Deadpool is based on his comics incarnation rather than the one from the film).
The motorcycle comes in ten pieces, and its components can really only be used for a bike. However, it can be used for ANY motorcycle, so that’s a plus!
Wolverine and Deadpool may be two of the least kid-friendly Marvel characters, but they make for enjoyable LEGO characters.
11.) Set 1924 Motorcycle
- Year Released: 103
- Pieces: 1983
- Theme: Technic
- Minifigs: 0
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
LEGO is a simple toy in concept. It typically uses a set of plastic bricks with short studs to lock together and build a design. Some of their sets have variations on the idea, but that’s the basic premise.
The Technic line added further complexity by changing that formula. It included more extensive elements, including gears, slots, and rods, to create builds with more moving parts.
This motorcycle is one such example. It doesn’t have many standard bricks in its build, but it does have plenty of plastic rods common to the Technic line. The rods are just the right size to fit in the tubes of most LEGO bricks, so there’s some crossover. Its components can also be combined with other Technic sets to form larger builds.
10.) Chopper
- Year Released: 2022
- Pieces: 163
- Theme: Technic
- Minifigs: None
- Approximate Skill Level: Advanced
While we’re on the subject of Technic, let’s talk about a more recent example.
This design, released just last year, is basically the updated model of number 11. It’s based on a different motorcycle style, but the concept is the same. It combines the technic rods and gears with a few basic bricks.
When you put it together, it can be rolled around like a motorcycle or sat on a shelf like a model. It’s also aesthetically pleasing, and the pieces can be used for any number of other builds.
9.) Motorcycle Transport
- Year Released: 1983
- Pieces: 42
- Theme: Town
- Minifigs: 1
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
This one makes it so far for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is the novelty that came with this build!
As a child, the idea of putting a perfectly good vehicle onto another vehicle always amazed me. I also loved the clever way that this was put together. You could literally load the motorcycle onto the bed and drag it around. It’s a simple thing but unique to an eight-year-old!
The motorcycle is another piece that was manufactured to be a motorcycle. It has a grand total of five parts, including the wheels and a decorative yellow brick for each side to represent saddle bags. However, it was so well-made that it not only survived my Mom and me but also survived for me to pass it on to my own children.
8.) Jay’s Golden Dragon Motorbike
- Year Released: 2022
- Pieces: 137
- Theme: Ninjago
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
Ninjago is a franchise that has become so popular that it’s almost become a spin-off from LEGO.
It’s about a fantasy world inspired by Americanized Eastern folklore. The world started as a simple story about a few brightly-colored ninjas fighting to save their world but has since evolved into a very complex world that is dripping with lore.
Magic and technology both exist in the land of Ninjago, with things like dragons and spells occupying the same realm as radio, television, and motorcycles.
Jay is one of the main characters of the series and the Ninja Master of Lightning, so it makes sense that he’d be the one to get an electric motorcycle from the main cast. The bike is very stylized, with bricks that can only be used for this build. However, the design is so unique and beautiful that it merits a higher standing.
7.) Skull Motorbike
- Year Released: 2011
- Pieces: 157
- Theme: Ninjago
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
Ninjago didn’t get silly overnight. It started off silly, and then just kept running with it.
This is one of the earliest examples of how utterly ridiculous it would revel in getting. This is the skull motorbike used by the first villain faction from the program. The Skullkin, or the Skeleton Army, were full of nameless skeletons that wanted to cause trouble for the Ninja heroes. When they had to go fast, some of them would use bikes like these to cause the ninja heroes trouble.
This has all the same issues as Number Eight. However, the design is MUCH Cooler! It also includes more bricks that can be used for other builds, including the flame bricks! I recall stealing a motorcycle helmet from another set and using this to make my own Ghost Rider LEGO set. It was amazing!
6.) Fire Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2013
- Pieces: 40
- Theme: City
- Minifigs: 1
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
Speaking of fire…
I’ve never seen a fire department with a motorcycle as part of their equipment, but it makes sense. Motorcycles are small, agile vehicles that can slither through traffic to get where they need to be. If one person with a fire extinguisher and professional know-how could get to smaller fires like this faster, they’d be invaluable! Timing is everything!
This motorcycle is made up of uncommon bricks but is more standardized than others. There’s also some livery and some printing on pieces, but some are removable. The motorcycle will always be red, but it doesn’t necessarily always have to be a fire-branded motorcycle.
5.) Motorcycle Shop
- Year Released: 1981
- Pieces: 171
- Theme: Town
- Minifigs: 2
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
What could be better than one motorcycle?
How about three, in different shapes and colors?
The individual motorcycles themselves are all made of big, hulking singular pieces except for the wheels and accessories. However, there are three of them to choose from, made to look different from each other. The fact that they’re color-coded just makes them all that much more remarkable!
For my part, they ended up being Power Ranger Shark Cycles most of the time, but they could be almost anybody’s bike.
Of course, safety comes first, and this set also includes three matching motorcycle helmets.
(Also, I always loved playing with the little wrench. I thought it was adorable.)
4.) Street Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2015
- Pieces: 375
- Theme: Technic
- Minifigs: 0
- Approximate Skill Level: Advanced
Motorcycles come in many shapes and sizes. This one is modeled after a much newer bike than most other Technic models.
Like others in this line, it uses the rods and gears common to the technic line. However, there are a few differences with this set. Although it wasn’t the first or last time we’d see it, it included a chain that added to the realism factor and helped the wheels rotate in time.
It’s not the most realistic set that LEGO ever made, but it’s close.
3.) Set 8875-2 Motorcycles
- Year Released: 1980
- Pieces: 377
- Theme: Technic
- Minifigs: 0
- Approximate Skill Level: Advanced
This is the cream of the crop when it comes to the Technic Line.
Despite being made almost fifty years ago, a better Technic LEGO motorcycle hasn’t been released yet. This would easily take the top slot if I were making a Best of LEGO Technic Motorcycle list.
Not only does this set have everything you need to make a motorcycle, but the finished creations all have the working wheels and gears that are the hallmarks of this line.
That’s right, I said creation(s)! Plural.
This set lets you make three distinct motorcycle builds, all of which are designed to actually have rotating gears and moving wheels when they’re finished! If this had been made of more standard LEGO bricks, it would have been a shoo-in for the first place.
2.) Motorbike
- Year Released: 1978
- Pieces: 26
- Theme: Town
- Minifigs: 1
- Approximate Skill Level: Beginner
I hear you asking: “Why did this little thing get second place?”
This is where LEGO motorcycles started. This is the first released set created with the intention of an average minifig to sit in a seat made for them and drive it around. It wasn’t the first they made. However, it was the first they made to scale with their minifigs.
It wasn’t the prettiest build they’d ever made. It wasn’t the largest or most versatile, but an essential piece of LEGO history. It was also made up almost entirely of the same bricks in every set, which I love.
1.) Vintage Motorcycle
- Year Released: 2023
- Pieces: 128
- Theme: Creator (3-in-1)
- Minifigs: 0
- Approximate Skill Level: Moderate
Well, look at that! It’s almost like I knew this would be in the first place when I wrote number three!
Honestly, all kidding aside, this is the best Motorcycle that LEGO has ever made. It’s sleek and beautiful and fulfills the fantasy of wanting a steel horse of your own. Staring at the finished product, you can almost hear the engine purr and smell the exhaust.
If you don’t like this configuration, then don’t worry! There are two more you could make instead!
LEGO has created two lines called “Creator.” The first was marketed to kids and was a precursor to the 4-Juniors line I mentioned above. The second was the opposite and focused on selling more complicated builds to older kids. This is from the latter. It’s got a good mix of regular bricks and technic pieces, and it’s not licensed or branded, so this build takes first place by a wide margin!
Conclusion
Motorcycles are beautiful machines. They’re an economical transportation solution. They don’t have a lot of frills, but they’ll get you where you need to go, and they’ll do it quickly. They also look pretty cool.
As long as even one of those is true, it’s safe to say that there will always be LEGO motorcycles sliding through the brick highways and LEGO sets straight to prospective builders’ imaginations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What was the First Motorcycle-themed LEGO Set Released?
Answer: The earliest I found was Police Officers and Motorcycle from the list above!
Question: What was the Last Motorcycle-themed LEGO set Released?
Answer: LEGO is CONSTANTLY releasing new sets that include and revolve around motorcycles! They’re incredibly common!
Question: Are there Any Currently Available in Retail Stores?
Answer: Yes! Many! Currently, my choice for the best LEGO motorcycle set, Vintage Motorcycle, is still available in most retail shops for a reasonable price!