Billy Joel is putting more than 70 motorcycles from his personal collection up for auction on Nov. 20-21, a sale that turns decades of riding into a public event at the Javits Center. Gooding Christie’s will offer the bikes without reserve at its Rétromobile New York auction.
The move fits a moment when Joel says he can’t drive right now and has been told by his doctors to stay offstage for now, even though he wants to perform again. He underwent surgery in early 2025 and canceled his remaining tour dates that May after his diagnosis, which he said is hydrocephalus and has affected his balance. His own words make the reason plain: “I was not a collector. I was actually a rider.”
That distinction matters because the sale is not a purge of a hobby built around display pieces. Joel said he has accumulated over a hundred motorcycles over decades of riding and realized he cannot ride as much as he used to. The auction also includes 77 lots, a count that shows how much of that history is being opened up to bidders at once. Proceeds will support the Joel Foundation.
Among the motorcycles is a custom 1978 Triumph Bonneville T140 given to Joel by Madison Square Garden to mark his 150th sold-out show there, a bike that ties the collection to a milestone in his career as tightly as any stage memory. He has also said of his condition, “What the neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion,” a line that explains why the stage, not just the garage, is part of this story.
The sale leaves one question that matters most to the foundation tied to it: how much money will the collection actually raise? Gooding Christie’s is taking the bikes to market without reserve, which means the final number will be set by demand, not by an opening floor. For Joel, the auction is a practical answer to a physical limit, and for bidders it is a rare chance to buy pieces of a life built on the road.
