Bikes that will gain value
Discussion
JacquesMesrine said:
This thread is over five years old. How many of the bikes suggested in 2010 have gained in value in the intervening years?
This comment was made a couple of pages back when the thread was 6 years old, now its ten.Winner winner chicken dinner has to be the RS250. It was in the opening post, a poster talks of selling one for 1k, they say prices are going silly at £2-3k in 2010.
Well forward 10 years and asking prices are largely 7.5k-12k for something decent. That's an affordable entry level price 10 years ago and a good chunk of appreciation, at face value.
Of course any engine rebuilds and any appreciation made is lost! At least however, the higher values are keeping these on the road and people lavishing money on them!
Four strokes are a lot less riskier a prospect of course.I reckon the 90's Jap fours are going to come in for some more love still, the fondly remembered 750's, yes the RC30 has been a big winner for sure, but there are still affordable GSXR 750's, ZXR's, YZF's and then old school Fireblades etc. The Italian stuff has mostly already rocketed itself into collectors only status and priced most out of the market with the exception of the Aprilia's where I suspect nice RSV/Tuono's will be good bets for some appreciation.
As said before though, all factored in, bikes aren't an investment, but it's a fun and mostly satisfying wealth store that keeps apace with inflation when money would otherwise be losing value in the bank. If you keep to the more modest/affordable but interesting stuff, there should still be buyers even in a depression to be able to release the funds.
Whereas, all the high value collector status bikes will not be so easy to shift and release equity when you most need it (in a financial crisis!). I've been chasing an F4 for two years, the buyer didn't accept my offer, we weren't far apart, I'm now kind of glad he didn't because in today's market I value it at even less on the basis that I know if I needed to get shot of it anytime, I would take a hiding on depreciation.
I've a handful of 5k ish region bikes which would all fetch there or there abouts what I paid for them as a very minimum and hopefully a little more. Of course they've had money spent on maintenance etc so I've not made anything in reality but they've given me a lot of pleasure for not a lot of total cost were I to oust them. Most of the expense is on parts and insurance as working on them is a past time anyway! The beauty of multiple bikes is that mileage is spread over them so none gets a caning in devaluation from having miles piled on them either and all get used regularly in the better weather current situation excepting.
FBF said:
Interesting to re surface this thread almost 10 years later, someone mentioned the 2 strokes as a fair bet, that was a great tip, rgv250’s have done very well and are hard to find. Enduros have done well in the last 3 years, with 80’s models doing well, honda xl and xt, and the klrs and klx, yam tt’s are also popular.
Fireblades have done ok, but not as well as i was expecting, urban tiger being the model to buy
90’s jap stuff is starting to go well now and could be a hot tip..
Old brit stuff is a strong market
My money is still on the 2 stroke market though.
Rs250, rgv, tzr.. 125’s also being desirable and seemingly rare.
Wildcard, anyone seen the price of italjets dragster lately? They always seem to sell.
All that said, if you are buying for investment, bikes aint that good, you should have been buying fords mk3 xr3’s 3 years ago for 2500, because today they are making 5-10k and look set to continue rising like escorts do.
In 2010:Fireblades have done ok, but not as well as i was expecting, urban tiger being the model to buy
90’s jap stuff is starting to go well now and could be a hot tip..
Old brit stuff is a strong market
My money is still on the 2 stroke market though.
Rs250, rgv, tzr.. 125’s also being desirable and seemingly rare.
Wildcard, anyone seen the price of italjets dragster lately? They always seem to sell.
All that said, if you are buying for investment, bikes aint that good, you should have been buying fords mk3 xr3’s 3 years ago for 2500, because today they are making 5-10k and look set to continue rising like escorts do.
srob said:
I can't really see that any of the current mass-produced bikes are going to go up massively for a very, very long time unless they're still crated with zero miles. There's too many around and people are switched on and will have kept some things (original Fireblade's etc) in good but used condition with making money in mind. There'll be too many about.
Some of the limited run, homologation specials may do (R7's, ZX-7RR etc) but again only if they're good and original.
Bikes take a long, long while to really go up in value unless they're incredibly rare. RC30's and 45's are only really worth anything in very original condition, and even then the really big money is in the ones with no miles.
Old Brit bikes are going absolutely nuts at the moment, mainly due to the Euro/Sterling exchange rate. Bikes that would have made 6-7k three or four years ago are clearing 20k now. I remember seeing Brough Superior SS100's for sale at around 35-40k. You won't get one for much less than 160k now (and I'm not old so i wasn't that long ago!).
People that were investing in property are now taking out full page ad's in old bike magazines as there's more investment potential. Makes me a bit sad as they're not being used to be honest.
So in summary, I don't think any modern mass-produced bikes will go up in value for 30+ years unless they're really, good really special and unique in the market
In 2011 an example of a Brough SS100 sold at Bonhams for £150k:Some of the limited run, homologation specials may do (R7's, ZX-7RR etc) but again only if they're good and original.
Bikes take a long, long while to really go up in value unless they're incredibly rare. RC30's and 45's are only really worth anything in very original condition, and even then the really big money is in the ones with no miles.
Old Brit bikes are going absolutely nuts at the moment, mainly due to the Euro/Sterling exchange rate. Bikes that would have made 6-7k three or four years ago are clearing 20k now. I remember seeing Brough Superior SS100's for sale at around 35-40k. You won't get one for much less than 160k now (and I'm not old so i wasn't that long ago!).
People that were investing in property are now taking out full page ad's in old bike magazines as there's more investment potential. Makes me a bit sad as they're not being used to be honest.
So in summary, I don't think any modern mass-produced bikes will go up in value for 30+ years unless they're really, good really special and unique in the market
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19163/lot/339/
Pretty much the same bike in a 2019 Bonhams sale for £250k:
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25221/lot/114
Would’ve been a fun 10 years too!
podman said:
Has anyone had any success using the V888 form from DVLA in tracking stuff down?If you are a previous owner it’s a free service where (as I understand) the DVLA write to the current keeper and ask them whether they fancy being nagged by a previous owner and whether they want to sell / take photos / whatever. I think the ball is then in their court whether they ignore it or strike up a conversation.
A previous owner is likely to be up for paying top dollar so they may write back and suggest that those 16 plastic boxes of parts that once represented a bike might be up for sale.
NS400R said:
I get why the Turbo has increased in value. The std bike increasing bemuses me. It was a workhorse commuter bike, nothing to get excited about.
Agreed, it doesnt excite me but I think that's an easy one to answer.Everything has been dragged up by the price of the more expensive and for many, out of reach desirable models , like the GPz, X7.LC, GT750s etc etc
So interest has gone down to the slightly less glamorous but more affordable models, check out the pricing of humdrum commuters like Honda Benlys, Kawasaki GTs ...RD200s/ Suzuki X5s / GT185s/250s , this last year or so, these smaller bikes have seemingly doubled to me.
rodericb said:
Yeah, the 500's weren't the best bikes around at the time. They were referred to as plastic maggots. The look of the engine is quite unique though and can look quite retrofuturistic in a cafe'd out custom.
Isn’t everything cafe’d out now? Even those Benly 50 and 125s. Complete with bearded hipster. Yuk. I saw an Indian made GT250 two stroke the other day. Restored. Sounded ace. £600.
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