At Home with the Genius Engineer Allen Millyard

We delve behind the scenes of the engineer who created some of the most magnificent motorcycles ever and explore his story through the lens of three of his most iconic bikes.

If you haven’t heard of Allen Millyard by now then you’re missing out. For the last 25 years, Millyard has been engineering some of the wackiest bike creations, all from his modest suburban garage in Berkshire. 

Over his lifetime he has built more than 30 multi-cylinder machines ranging from four- and five-pot, two-stroke Kawasaki machines, to a V12 based on a Z1300. 

The Flying Millyard

One of Millyard’s most iconic creations is undoubtedly his ‘Flying Millyard’, which is powered by a gigantic, 5-litre V-twin engine designed for an aeroplane. It’s a colossal machine and resembles a two-wheeled Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

The idea behind the bike emerged when Millyard was presented with an award at the Salon Privé from Steve Parrish. 

Parrish said: “This is brilliant Mr Millyard, will we see you next year with a new bike?” to which Millyard unexpectedly replied, “I’ll make the biggest V-twin and come back next year.”

Viper V10

The Viper V10 is a bike that looks like a scaled up Hot Wheels toy. It’s a gigantic beast of a machine that features 10mm aircraft quality aluminium, carbon fibre heat shields and massive 75mm diameter front forks. 

It’s incredibly fast too. Whilst Millyard has ridden it at 200mph, it’s actually clocked up a speed of 207mph.

Velocette V-Twin

Perhaps one of Millyard’s most sentimental projects has been his Velocette Twin. He originally bought this Velocette in 1979 before swapping it with his father for an AJS350. For his father’s 60th birthday he even faithfully restored the bike for him as a gift.

Millyard inherited the bike after his father’s passing and after a stroke of inspiration at the Stafford Classic Bike Show, decided to turn the bike into a V-Twin. 

He immediately went to a stall that sold Velocette parts, bought a piston and crankshaft, and by the time he had driven home he had worked out how to achieve the conversion. Eight weeks later he’d rebuilt the bike from scratch has since covered over 1100 miles on it.

At Home with Allen Millyard – Documentary

Find out more about Allen Millyard’s story, these three spectacular bikes and the workshop they came from in our 50-minute documentary, ‘At Home with Allen Millyard’. Available now on the MoreBikes YouTube channel.