Marcelo.mg.photos/Shutterstock
Paparazzi often go crazy about celebrities and their love for cars and watches. They’re not as loud about motorcycles, despite two-wheelers being arguably more ubiquitous in the hands of collectors. And yet, movie stars like Steve McQueen, Keanu Reeves, and Tom Cruise have helped shape the way pop culture views motorcycles through Hollywood. In their hands and on the big screen, you can see iconic vintage Harley-Davidsons, ultra-cool Ducatis, BMWs, and much more. Across them all, one common theme remains: passion.
Cars are great, but motorcycles offer a more intimate connection. For celebrities constantly under scrutiny, that matters. It’s easier to disappear on a Triumph Tiger 800 than in a loud, attention-grabbing Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. And for many stars, that freedom isn’t just a hobby. It’s an escape, and in some cases, a way of life. We’re not here to say who has the largest or priciest two-wheeled fleet, but to talk about celebrities with an itch only a motorcycle can scratch. Here are eight celebrities who love motorcycles with a passion.
Jay Leno
Getty Images/Getty Images
It should come as no surprise that the man with one of the most enviable garages in the world loves motorcycles. That man is Jay Leno, a TV host-turned-collector with an exquisite 180-plus car collection featuring some of the most expensive cars in the world, complemented by a fleet of over 160 motorbikes. Leno finds, buys, and keeps these bikes — not because he wants them as mere collectibles, but because he actually loves riding. As he once wrote with Hagerty Magazine, “Riding keeps you sharp, that’s for sure. But best of all, it makes me feel young.”
Starting with his very first bike — a modest 350 cubic-centimeter Honda — his collection has grown into a rolling archive of motorcycling history. His garage now houses samples such as a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, and a 1955 Egil-Vincent Black Shadow. There’s also a 1922 Megola and a helicopter-engine-powered MTT Manufacturing Y2K bike. However, the crown jewels of his fleet are undoubtedly the several Brough Superiors – bikes that have been favorably compared to Rolls-Royce.
Keanu Reeves
Jun Sato/Getty Images
“When I don’t ride a motorcycle, I go through withdrawal. It’s not good for my health.” These words from Keanu Reeves to GQ Magazine sum up the actor’s obsession with bikes. So it’s odd to hear that some of Reeves’ early film contracts banned him from riding, but it’s not too shocking given the risks of a motorcycle crash to such a valuable star. But much like his character in “John Wick,” Reeves didn’t let some clause stop him from following a passion he’s had since motorcycle gangs massed in the Yorkville section of Toronto, where he was living when he was 10 years old.
He learned to ride in while filming in Munich, starting on an Enduro. By 2011, that passion had evolved into brand ownership, with Reeves co-founding Arch Motorcycle. At the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California sits his second-ever motorcycle, a 1973 Norton Commando 850 MK2A, notable for its rubber-mounted engine. Nearby is a 2004 998 Ducati, famously featured in the 2003 action film “The Matrix Reloaded.”
Of course, there’s the Arch line itself. The 124 cubic-inch V-Twin KRGT-1 wears a rigid, billet-aluminum chassis with a single-tube frame and a lightweight swingarm. The sportier Arch 1s Motorcycle features a mainshaft engineered for high-torque performance. A closing note on Reeves: he also highlighted motorcycles in his now-concluded 2025 limited TV series, “Visionaries,” which covered multiple subjects focused on how far human innovation has come.
Ewan McGregor
Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Perhaps best known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in three “Star Wars” films and a six-episode TV spinoff, Ewan McGregor is as passionate about motorcycles as he is about acting. In fact, he once told Esquire that riding is “the best feeling in the world.” It’s a passion rooted so deeply that it drove the Scottish actor — and his friend, Charley Boorman — to ride from London to New York in April 2004 for the TV series “Long Way Round.” The duo did so astride a 1,130cc flat-twin BMW R1150GS, covering 22,345 miles across Europe, Asia, and North America.
15 years later, they were back at it, this time from the southern end of South America to Los Angeles. And they rode atop prototype electric-powered Harley-Davidson Livewires. Considering their electric nature, that trip could have led to many things going wrong, but both McGregor and Boorman managed to make the trip successfully.
McGregor’s personal collection reflects both taste and history. Highlights include a 1972 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, a 1974 Eldorado Police Bike (Moto Guzzi’s most popular model), an Indian Larry-style Chopper (courtesy of the famous late New York Mechanic, Indian Larry), and a 1952 BSA Bantam D1. As a side note, classic motorcycle enthusiast and author Gordon May rode a vintage Bantam D1 of his own from the U.K. to Egypt and back in 2009. It makes for an interesting coincidence, even if McGregor didn’t use the Bantam for his own cross-country trip.
Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond of “Top Gear” is a familiar name to car enthusiasts. What might not be quite as familiar is his love for bikes. In October 2025, he did something uncharacteristically revealing: He assembled his collection all in one place for a DriveTribe videoshoot. The lineup featured a who’s who of the bike world, with a mid-’70s BMW R90S sitting just a concrete slab away from a Kawasaki ZXR 750 while a Brough Superior SS80 tries to humbly blend in with the crowd. His interest goes past just collecting. In an interview with Motorcycle News, Hammond says, “I just love riding motorcycles; not on track but just to ride. I love it.”
The Suzuki Katana is also a proud member of Hammond’s garage — one he rightly describes as “bedroom-wall poster territory” — as are two red Ducati 916s, one of them a 114-of-202 Carl Fogarty SPS limited edition sample. For reference, Fogarty is an English superbike legend who holds four world titles astride Ducatis. British bikes are also represented, with units such as an early 1930s OK-Supreme race bike and a Royal Enfield INT 650 (now owned by Eicher Motors of India). Elsewhere in the collection are standout pieces like a 1946 Indian Chief, a Yamaha FZR750, an Indian FTR R Carbon, a Suzuki GSX-R1100, and a BMW R 1200 RT.
Brad Pitt
Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has “always loved the bike,” noting that he’d take them “over a car any day” when speaking with Shortlist. Pitt proudly counts himself among the devoted owners of iconic Harley-Davidson machines like the Harley-Davidson Panhead, but it’s not this brand that can be best described as his fleet’s pièce de résistance. That distinction belongs instead to the Custom 1974 Ducati Shinya Kimura and the Ecosse Titanium Series XX that grace his garage.
As with any creation by legendary Japanese motorcycle customizer Shinya Kimura, the bespoke Ducati carries a soul of its own: raw, minimalist, and unmistakably handcrafted down to its 3mm-thick aluminum tank. The ultra-exclusive Ecosse is an even better representative of the pinnacle of luxury motorcycling, pairing titanium bodywork with a monstrous 225 horsepower supercharged intercooled engine. Also tucked within Pitt’s garage is a BMW R1150GS — the same model made famous by Ewan McGregor on his cross-continental tour — as well as a custom Roughchild Moto-built BMW R80, a Zero Engineering Type 9, a 989cc Ducati Desmodedici RR, and a Husqvarna Nuda 900R.
Ryan Reynolds
Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds once recalled in a short YouTube film that bikes saved him from the madness of Hollywood as a young actor. “I know it sounds, like, hyperbolic to say it, but bikes kind of saved my life. That was my outlet, that was my kind of place I would go.” (Of course, that was before his time on “Deadpool” gave him even more widespread popularity.) Hyperbole or not, the truth is, the Canadian actor clearly finds solace on two wheels. His journey started humbly, with a “pile of crap” (in his own words) Honda CB750, bought when he was 15. Years later, deep into stardom, he stepped things up with a custom build of another CB750 from Raccia Motorcycles.
His collection isn’t as glamorous as Jay Leno’s or as storied as Richard Hammond’s (even though he could certainly afford it with his multi-million-dollar net worth), but it’s certainly not ordinary. One standout is a heavily customized Triumph Thruxton by Dustin Kott. Stripped down and rebuilt for performance and style, it features a redesigned rear, a new frame and seat, improved engine breathing via upgraded intake and exhaust, and — of course — bespoke paintwork. Reynolds also owns a Ducati Paul Smart 1000LE and an Arc motorcycle Vector model that’s worth somewhere between $135,000 and $203,000.
Norman Reedus
Nothing says “I love bikes” quite like hosting your own motorcycle travel series. We’ve seen it with Keanu Reeves and Ewan McGregor. Norman Reedus completes the trio with his “Ride with Norman Reedus” docuseries. But what of his actual rides? Let’s start with the most unique one: an Indian Sport Chief Chopper specially built for him. It’s redesigned from tank to tail for both striking style and rider comfort, with an upgraded 116ci V-Twin engine and refined components. Interestingly, before this build, Reedus had never rode on a motorcycle from the brand. He also owns a custom Hammerhead Jack Pine Triumph Scrambler and a replica of the custom Classified Moto-built 1992 Honda CB750 used in “The Walking Dead.” Speaking of Hondas, the actor’s first bike was a Honda Rebel.
Reedus also had a BMX Mongoose when he was little which he used as an escape mechanism: “It was an escape thing for me,” he says in an interview with Mr. FeelGood, “and to feel like I was in control of something. So that turned into motorcycles … you’re by yourself, nobody can bother you, you can’t answer the phone, it’s just this sense of freedom.”
Harley-Davidson’s presence might be shutting down across America, but no collection is complete without it. Reedus checks that box with a 2008 Sportster alongside a vintage 1946 Knucklehead and a custom 1987 FXR. Reedus’ taste, however, resides not in the Harleys — or even the Buell S1 Lightning from his earlier riding days — but the Triumph Tiger 800. “The Triumph Tiger is like a personal favorite of mine,” he says in an interview with CNET.
David Beckham
For English soccer legend and the co-owner of Inter Miami team, David Beckham, motorcycles offer a special form of invisibility. As per The Daily Mail, David made an Instagram post that says “Clear your head, [freedom]’s all you have to think about.” This mindset is reflected in the icon’s collectibles, featuring a lineup of heritage and design. Think a custom “Super Vintage” 93-inch Knucklehead, a Confederate F131 Hellcat Combat, a British Customs DBSC, and two Triumphs: a Bonneville, and a custom 850 Street Scrambler.
The Triumph Bonneville T100 deserves spotlighting since it was his first major custom motorcycle. It was also used in his 2014 BBC documentary, “David Beckham Into the Unknown,” which saw him and a trio of friends riding into the Amazon region of Brazil. The custom T100 has wheels laced with Sun Aluminum racing rims for easier flicking into corners and a Beringer four-piston racing brake for massive stopping power with minimal effort.
As impressive as the Bonneville is, it arguably won’t turn more necks than Beckham’s Super Vintage 93 Knucklehead. Powered by an S&S KN93 engine, this custom bike comes courtesy of the Garage Company and sports a deliberately rugged and worn-out finish. Plus, it carries the soul of a 1940s-style Knucklehead and blends it with modern engineering via the five-speed transmission and electric start.