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Own One of the Last Legendary and Lightning Fast Ronin Motorcycles for $70k

When Harley-Davidson shut down production of the brilliant Buell 1125, the team which would become Ronin Motor Works set to work righting that wrong.
Ronin 47 Motorworks 12 photos
Photo: Magpul Industries
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Based on the Buell 1125, the Ronin reimagining of that classic tossed the serviceable Showa forks and replaced them with a brutish-looking cast aluminum alloy set of forks and made ride tuning simple with a Penske mono-shock.

A cooling system featuring a radiator was used to cool the hellishly hot Rotax motor and a new exhaust system, controls, gauges, seat, LED taillight and an RFID-enabled key to enable push-button starting rounded out the changes.

But when the last two of 47 bikes rolled off the assembly line, Ronin production ceased for good. The workshop and design studio are closed and all the available spare parts are locked away in storage. It was sadly, always the truth that Ronin would clamp the doors shut after the limited production run of 47 bikes was complete.

And the story itself is intriguing. Who would ever have imagined that a company specializing in cutting-edge polymer and firearms manufacturing would build motorcycles? But Magpul Industries funded a motorcycle division and named it Ronin Motorworks, a company dedicated to the creation of a single model line, The 47, which was inspired by the story of the 47 Ronin Samurai from Japanese folklore. They were always meant to be exceedingly rare.

Ronin Motorworks snapped up all the available donor bikes back in 2009 after Harley-Davidson shuttered Buell production for good and the story began.

The 47 line featured a 1,124.9cc Rotax Helicon V-twin mill capable of generating a whopping 146 horsepower, and at just 425 lbs dry weight, the various 47 examples were capable of a top speed of north of 160 miles per hour.

While you might imagine that owning one of these rare-as-hen’s-teeth bikes would be out of the question, with all 47 standard Ronins having already been sold, but you can now own one for yourself if you have more than $70,000 around to shell out. While the original Ronin Motorworks 47 sold for $38,000 to $50,000, this example of the Ronin 47 is up for auction on eBay.

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