Quick Look: 60491 Motorcycle Transporter
Posted by benbacardi,
Amongst the new year's smallest City releases, aside from the new Rides subtheme, is 60491 Motorcycle Transporter, 2026's 4+ set designed for little fingers first making the move from Duplo to system. There are seven sets released with this branding so far, but just the one in the City theme.
With its large "starter brick" base, only 88 pieces, and very simple one-piece-at-a-time instructions, it was a breeze to put together for my own children.
Summary
60491 Motorcycle Transporter, 88 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 20.4p / 22.7c / 22.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A very playable introduction to LEGO for younger builders, but a little on the expensive side.
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Ten of those 88 pieces make up the set's two minifigures, each of which come with both hair and helmet options. One male and one female, both are wearing the same protective motorcycle jackets, with detailed printing depicting a zip, coloured panels, and a shark's head emblem on the left breast. It's a new print for the year, and looks great.
The print continues onto the rear of the jackets. Aside from the torso, the rest of the minifigures are very common, all parts having appeared multiple times before. The heads only have face prints on one side, both showing simple open-mouthed smiles. It would have been nice had they included either dual-printed heads, or two different jacket prints.
A motorcycle transporter would be rather pointless without at least one motorcycle to transport, and the set includes two! They're both identical—a large orange fairing made of a single piece atop a central frame to which the wheels and handlebars are clipped. The fairings are printed with a shark and wave design that ties in with the riders' jackets, and is the same piece as has appeared in previous sets, albeit not in this colour or print.
The transport truck itself is based around what LEGO refer to as a Start Brick element, the large grey chassis with integrated axles used in many sets of this ilk. On top of that, a flat orange bed is constructed, with low dark blue sides and a dark blue cab at the front. A printed tile depicts a basic radiator grille, and orange lights are represented by a trans-orange tile on the cab's canopy, which can easily be removed for access to the single seat inside.
The flat bed of the truck has a couple of white details, including four exposed and elevated studs for securing the two motorcycles side by side.
The ladder clipped to the rear of the truck can be removed and reattached as a ramp to wheel the bikes up onto the truck's bed. I'm not sure a ladder would be the best choice in reality!
The minifigures come with a couple of accessories such as a wrench, a mug, and a mobile phone—the latter of which is particularly difficult for a young child to clip correctly into a minifigure's hand.
The truck is aimed pretty well at its target age group, with simple instructions and basic steps using large pieces that beginners to LEGO will be able to grasp easily. There also a lot of playability in such a small set, including not one, not two, but three independent vehicles, and I can see young children getting a lot of enjoyment out of building and playing creatively with it.
The price, however, feels quite steep for what it is, coming in more than 20p per piece. It would perhaps fit in better around the £12.99 mark instead.
60491 Motorcycle Transporter is available at LEGO.com for £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99.
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12 comments on this article
Thanks for the review. Looking forward to getting these RIDES for my grand-daughter now that she's moving on from Duplo. She loves LEGO vehicles (and trains!)
The truck isn't much to look at, but I imagine this would rock my world when I was at that age. And I do like that colour-scheme.
As a 4+ set, it’s not very detailed. But I don’t think it needs to be regardless of the intended age demographic. Some AFOLs equate complexity with quality or value for money. That’s sometimes true but not always. LEGO is often at its best when it keeps things simple.
Have to admit, the colour mix is perfect!
No opening doors. I mean NO doors. And a ugly ladder.
Color match is fine, it's the same as the small truck Technic Set.
@benbacardi said:
"The price, however, feels quite steep for what it is, coming in more than 20p per piece. It would perhaps fit in better around the £12.99 mark instead."
The sets that include that beefy Start Brick, like 60463 and 42644, usually have a high cost per part, like the Start Brick is counting as 20+ parts.
This set is arguably a better deal than usual for sets with that huge chassis brick, due to the motorcycles. As a playset, the fact you get a truck, two minifigs, and two motorcycles for $20 is quite good. Those motorcycles also tend to be priced similarly to minifigs when Lego calculates prices (two large and complex moulds, one printed), so $20 for four minifig-equivalent units and a bunch of other parts also isn't too far out of line. It's about what you'd expect to pay for a 4-fig battle pack without a license these days.
It would be better that bikes have numbers on them, like 1 and 2 or similar
Shark cycles. That’s all that matters.
Orange color scheme is pretty cool, also works for some sort of beach-patrol/lifeguard since those jackets also sort of look like front-zip wetsuits (with how LEGO has done them)
60453 Lifeguard Truck was even more suited but has retired, but still could compliment this set for a kid.
Minor nitpick would be to replace those 1x3 bricks with 1x3 doors but this is s a 4+ set still, and not €30 like some of those 4+ sets of the past.
While 2026 has coast guard (with a new color scheme using the darker orange) a small set is kind of missing.
@benbacardi said:
"The price, however, feels quite steep for what it is, coming in more than 20p per piece."
It's the same price as last year's 60463 which has fewer pieces. It has large, heavy, elements like the chassis, the roof and two motorbikes and two minifigures. That enormous base alone weighs as much as 15 2x4 bricks. So maybe price per weight is a better measure.
Personally feel price per piece is only a useful shorthand for 4+ sets if you’re comparing to other 4+ sets.
@PurpleDave said:
"Shark cycles. That’s all that matters."
Wheelie shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo...
@Hiratha said:"Personally feel price per piece is only a useful shorthand for 4+ sets if you’re comparing to other 4+ sets. "
Yeah, 4+ sets have considerations that go into the price that don't apply to other sets. 5+ sets also use printing for every decorated element, but those don't have the large SPUDs (Single-Purpose Useless Design, for those unfamiliar) that 4+ sets have, many of which, like the Start Brick (not to be confused with the SMART Brick) are assembled at the factory, adding another layer of complexity to the set's manufacture.