Softly-spoken Allen Millyard has created an army of fans thanks to his genius motorcycle creations and no-frills but wholesome online content.
The 64-year-old has amassed more than 30 million views on his YouTube channel that has helped him become part of several TV programmes including ITV’s The Motorbike Show, Junk and Disorderly and Shed and Buried. But the cult hero has revealed a shock run in with the law that will stun those who declare he should be knighted for his services to engineering.
Long before he was breaking Guinness World Records with Henry Cole and filming his wife making cakes, Millyard’s love of building and riding wacky bikes was getting him into hot water – namely points on his licence before passing his test.
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“I never see my bikes as custom bikes or specials, I see them as recreated originals,” he told motorcycle podcast Full Chat.
“Right back to the very first bike I did when I was probably 10 or 11 years old, I had a Mobylette. It’s a 50cc French moped and the engine blew up. I took the engine off my lawnmower, a Suffolk Punch 175, hung it underneath the frame and put on a belt. It was the fastest out of all my friends’ bikes we used to go around the fields on.
“When I was 15, my dad was working on his Austin Mini. He took the engine out to change it and I said: ‘Can I have your old engine?’ And said ‘what are you going to do with that?’ I said: ‘I’ll put it in a motorbike’ and he just laughed and let me get on with it. I fitted it into a BSA Bantam by cutting the bike in half and welding one half to the front and one half to the back.
“I rode this thing around the local fields and got caught by the police. I had to go to court, got endorsements on my licence at 15 so when I got my licence at 16 I had two endorsements!”
One of the Berkshire creator’s most iconic works is the giant ‘Flying Millyard’, a motorcycle powered by a gigantic five-litre V-twin engine designed for an aeroplane. In 2023, Millyard’s self-built tandem motorcycle travelled at 183.5mph over a standing-start mile as him and TV’s Cole made history. The record has since been broken.
Platforms like Reddit and YouTube are awash with comments championing the man who works out of his own suburban garage. Almost 50,000 people are part of the Facebook group called the ‘Allen Millyard appreciation society’.
“I just see a three-dimensional image in my mind,” he added during the episode which covered a wide range of topics about his builds.
“I see all the problems. When I was making a Viper biker I could imagine myself riding down the road. I’m actually sat on the bike riding down the road thinking of all the problems I’ve got to resolve.
“I do very few drawings; no CAD (computer-aided design), no CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), no computers. I go out in the garage, take a piece of metal and start cutting. Nine times out of 10 I get it out right first time.”
- Full Chat is powered by Bikesure, the UK’s largest motorcycle insurance broker
What a legend! People love Allen Millyard bikes!
