Bikes that will gain value
Discussion
We all kick ourselves for not keeping of even buying a bargain end of line 2 stroke in the 90s.
I remember BAT motorcycles advertising import rg400's endlessly for 2k or less and everyone ignoring them as fzr600s and cbr600s were the object of desire.
Really motorcycle value is a bit like predicting the stock market in 20 years time.
I remember BAT motorcycles advertising import rg400's endlessly for 2k or less and everyone ignoring them as fzr600s and cbr600s were the object of desire.
Really motorcycle value is a bit like predicting the stock market in 20 years time.
I bought a RGV250 in 2007 for £860. It was average condition and average price. I could of bought a very nice one at the time for £1200, but that's what I could afford at the time.
6 months later I blew it up. When I striped it down, it turned out the power valves where on their last legs. A specialist told me the cost of new power valves was what wrote off most RGV at the time. Anyway new valves, piston's, a cylinder reline, gaskets, etc, doubled the cost of the bike and that's with me doing labor.
Last year I decided to give the bike a refresh. It's not like new as I wanted to make it usable not a ornament. Still, a rebuilt crank, nitron shock, total strip down and rebuild, new paint job.
I reckon it owes me about what it's worth. All this talk of investment is rubbish. Yes, you might get lucky and I have with a couple of bikes I own, but it's hardly life changing amounts.
The best you can hope for is you get to own and use a bike that you can get your money back on.
Speculation hasn't really done anyone any favours.
Anyway here's it is. It's great and I'm not interested in selling, so who cares what it's worth.
6 months later I blew it up. When I striped it down, it turned out the power valves where on their last legs. A specialist told me the cost of new power valves was what wrote off most RGV at the time. Anyway new valves, piston's, a cylinder reline, gaskets, etc, doubled the cost of the bike and that's with me doing labor.
Last year I decided to give the bike a refresh. It's not like new as I wanted to make it usable not a ornament. Still, a rebuilt crank, nitron shock, total strip down and rebuild, new paint job.
I reckon it owes me about what it's worth. All this talk of investment is rubbish. Yes, you might get lucky and I have with a couple of bikes I own, but it's hardly life changing amounts.
The best you can hope for is you get to own and use a bike that you can get your money back on.
Speculation hasn't really done anyone any favours.
Anyway here's it is. It's great and I'm not interested in selling, so who cares what it's worth.
bimsb6 said:
Wacky Racer said:
Any mint Triumph Bonnevilles pre 1970.
Prices are between £8-£15,000 now.
I wouldn’t call that modern Prices are between £8-£15,000 now.
Prices of classic British stuff are going through the roof atm.
Wacky Racer said:
bimsb6 said:
Wacky Racer said:
Any mint Triumph Bonnevilles pre 1970.
Prices are between £8-£15,000 now.
I wouldn’t call that modern Prices are between £8-£15,000 now.
Prices of classic British stuff are going through the roof atm.
[quote=xstian
6 months later I blew it up.
I reckon it owes me about what it's worth.
The best you can hope for is you get to own and use a bike that you can get your money back on.
Anyway here's it is. It's great and I'm not interested in selling, so who cares what it's worth.
[/quote]
Thats a lovely thing....agree with what you say there, IF you actually want to use the bike , have it ready to use for the road and presentable, especially a stroker, it will cost.
My LC is maybe worth 6-7K now, I bought it in 2012 for 2k, have spent around 6K on , 2 x engine rebuilds, engineering work, paint, pipes, modern / uprated ignition and loads of other stuff I forget!
My RD500 cost me £9750 in 2016, its worth 13-15k maybe now ...but ive spent 3k on it easy.
My KR1 has gained some value but ive done around 450 miles on it in 5 years so it hasnt had opportunity to cost me!
What has really shot up is parts, loads of readily available items even 2 - 3 years back are now worth hundreds , an LC speedo went for over £500 a couple of weeks back...
As you say, there not for sale so its largely irrelevant but its not a been a lottery win since 2010 thats for sure....in some ways I wish id bought a few on the 1990s when they really where cheap but I never had the interest or room back then.
6 months later I blew it up.
I reckon it owes me about what it's worth.
The best you can hope for is you get to own and use a bike that you can get your money back on.
Anyway here's it is. It's great and I'm not interested in selling, so who cares what it's worth.
[/quote]
Thats a lovely thing....agree with what you say there, IF you actually want to use the bike , have it ready to use for the road and presentable, especially a stroker, it will cost.
My LC is maybe worth 6-7K now, I bought it in 2012 for 2k, have spent around 6K on , 2 x engine rebuilds, engineering work, paint, pipes, modern / uprated ignition and loads of other stuff I forget!
My RD500 cost me £9750 in 2016, its worth 13-15k maybe now ...but ive spent 3k on it easy.
My KR1 has gained some value but ive done around 450 miles on it in 5 years so it hasnt had opportunity to cost me!
What has really shot up is parts, loads of readily available items even 2 - 3 years back are now worth hundreds , an LC speedo went for over £500 a couple of weeks back...
As you say, there not for sale so its largely irrelevant but its not a been a lottery win since 2010 thats for sure....in some ways I wish id bought a few on the 1990s when they really where cheap but I never had the interest or room back then.
Legacywr said:
Series 2? Without checking, 12k for a good car, 20k plus a bit, should buy you the best.
Yes it would be a Series 2, I know someone whos had one sitting in a garage for well over a decade, no idea if its been kept in decent condition but wonder if he know what they're worth now!.zzrman said:
tedblog said:
Low mileage prices on these have stayed the same for the last 3 to 4 years , if you start putting miles on them then expect them to drop. Alot end up at BMW dealers and they have the resources to just let them sit in the showroom for a year or 2
It has about 4,500 miles on it so I expect it to hold its value. 
The_Burg said:
greggy50 said:
srob said:
greggy50 said:
No joke Clean Gilera Runner 125 2 Stroke Scooters are going for big money looking at 1k for a decent one and was 6/700 a couple of years ago. I used to own a absolute mint aprila sr125 and had several offers for people to buy it I think most things that are 2 stroke are going to go up in value really if they have been looked after as a lot are abused and get wrecked meaning the clean bikes that are left are becoming quite desirable.
No chance mate, not for a long long while. Scooters have limited value due to limited desirability. The ones you mentioned and the money you said about will be because they were renowned as good bikes so people are now looking to get decent ones to use. They won't go up significantly in the future until they possibly get old enough so that people buy them for nostalgia reasons as has been seen with Fizzies/SS50's etc.I thought was an idea so got a mint gillera runner with low miles (last of the 2 strokes) couple of years ago for £750 solid it a few months ago for near enough 2k
About 4k miles if i remember rightly.
Fundoreen said:
We all kick ourselves for not keeping of even buying a bargain end of line 2 stroke in the 90s.
I remember BAT motorcycles advertising import rg400's endlessly for 2k or less and everyone ignoring them as fzr600s and cbr600s were the object of desire.
Really motorcycle value is a bit like predicting the stock market in 20 years time.
Ah, good old BAT, my first bike there from the Penge shop, NC30, came from them, ended up mates with Martin but since lost touch, when they moved to Biggin Hill I popped in most weeks as lived half hour away just for a coffee and chat .... great guys in there .....I remember BAT motorcycles advertising import rg400's endlessly for 2k or less and everyone ignoring them as fzr600s and cbr600s were the object of desire.
Really motorcycle value is a bit like predicting the stock market in 20 years time.
I went down the route of buying bikes as an investment a few years ago. It was kind of fun, but also stressful and in the end i gave up and sold all but my favourite two, which i really don't care about the value of.
- I bought a MINT ZX9-R C2 from a friend that also had a bike collection. 20k ish miles and utterly utterly spotless. Needed nothing doing, but i paid about £2200 for it.
- By accident i found a 2000 R1 (red/black) that was in a local dealer for some bits as it had been in storage for a few years. Again, very, very clean and only 9k miles. The owner and me did a deal at £4k through the dealer.
- I bought a 929 blade unseen from a dealer in Wales. The pics were very good quality so i felt confident. 12k miles and 1 owner. Think i paid £3.5k for that.
- Then picked up a TT600 locally because it was silly cheap at £1600 and about 8k miles.
- Found a nice blackbird with sensible miles and good condition - blue with FI and digi dash (my fav spec) for £2k
- A little NTV650 came up locally for a grand. Clean and tidy thing with low miles but covered in awful stickers.
That was on top of my K1300S daily bike, and my VFR800Fi (with mega miles) that i used as a winter/rain bike.
Then the reality hit. Suddenly i had all of these bikes to insure (not too bad through Footman James), tax (which i ended up doing monthly on the bikes i intended to use), service, clean and MOT. Not to mention buying numerous locks, and optimisers to keep the batteries topped up.
I ended up with a spreadsheet of when each thing was due - next service, MOT due, if taxed/SORN'd, etc.
The ZX9 simply didn't get used, partly because it was utterly spotless, and i think looking back i just wasn't that keen on it. After 18 months i took it for an MOT and it blew its fork seals out on the brake rollers, so had to get that done. In the end i sold it late last year for £1800.
The R1 i used a bit (and it was bonkers!). I really had a soft spot for that. But after giving it a thorough clean one day i found overspray in a few places. Made me wonder about its actual history. At that point wanted rid of it. It took forever to sell. I think a lot of people are asking silly money for these and they're simply not selling. I lost a few hundred quid on it, plus had to MOT it.
The NTV650 was the only one i made anything on. I got the naff stickers off it and it was pretty mint underneath. Sold it for £1200 but had to put a new back tyre on it first, so in the end made about £50
The TT600 turned out the friendly local seller had actually bodged the repair of the right fairing with aluminium plates and rivets on the inside. Colour match wasn't quite right in some lights. I ended up buying a new panel from america at huge cost (£500?) and fitting that. Then it needed tyres because the ones on it were like plastic they were so old. I sold it for about £1800, losing a packet.
The K1300S went and so did the VFR because i decided to use the blackbird for the commuting.
So i'm left with the blackbird and the 929, both of which i love.
The experiment with buying bikes in the hope that they were "investments" had failed, partly because i paid too much for the damned things in the first place!
Learnt my lesson though. Only buying bikes now if i actually WANT them, not because i think someone else might later.
- I bought a MINT ZX9-R C2 from a friend that also had a bike collection. 20k ish miles and utterly utterly spotless. Needed nothing doing, but i paid about £2200 for it.
- By accident i found a 2000 R1 (red/black) that was in a local dealer for some bits as it had been in storage for a few years. Again, very, very clean and only 9k miles. The owner and me did a deal at £4k through the dealer.
- I bought a 929 blade unseen from a dealer in Wales. The pics were very good quality so i felt confident. 12k miles and 1 owner. Think i paid £3.5k for that.
- Then picked up a TT600 locally because it was silly cheap at £1600 and about 8k miles.
- Found a nice blackbird with sensible miles and good condition - blue with FI and digi dash (my fav spec) for £2k
- A little NTV650 came up locally for a grand. Clean and tidy thing with low miles but covered in awful stickers.
That was on top of my K1300S daily bike, and my VFR800Fi (with mega miles) that i used as a winter/rain bike.
Then the reality hit. Suddenly i had all of these bikes to insure (not too bad through Footman James), tax (which i ended up doing monthly on the bikes i intended to use), service, clean and MOT. Not to mention buying numerous locks, and optimisers to keep the batteries topped up.
I ended up with a spreadsheet of when each thing was due - next service, MOT due, if taxed/SORN'd, etc.
The ZX9 simply didn't get used, partly because it was utterly spotless, and i think looking back i just wasn't that keen on it. After 18 months i took it for an MOT and it blew its fork seals out on the brake rollers, so had to get that done. In the end i sold it late last year for £1800.
The R1 i used a bit (and it was bonkers!). I really had a soft spot for that. But after giving it a thorough clean one day i found overspray in a few places. Made me wonder about its actual history. At that point wanted rid of it. It took forever to sell. I think a lot of people are asking silly money for these and they're simply not selling. I lost a few hundred quid on it, plus had to MOT it.
The NTV650 was the only one i made anything on. I got the naff stickers off it and it was pretty mint underneath. Sold it for £1200 but had to put a new back tyre on it first, so in the end made about £50
The TT600 turned out the friendly local seller had actually bodged the repair of the right fairing with aluminium plates and rivets on the inside. Colour match wasn't quite right in some lights. I ended up buying a new panel from america at huge cost (£500?) and fitting that. Then it needed tyres because the ones on it were like plastic they were so old. I sold it for about £1800, losing a packet.
The K1300S went and so did the VFR because i decided to use the blackbird for the commuting.
So i'm left with the blackbird and the 929, both of which i love.
The experiment with buying bikes in the hope that they were "investments" had failed, partly because i paid too much for the damned things in the first place!
Learnt my lesson though. Only buying bikes now if i actually WANT them, not because i think someone else might later.
Edited by PTF on Wednesday 29th April 15:14
Edited by PTF on Wednesday 29th April 15:15
Interesting thread and I agree with a lot of what PTF says above.
I still have five bikes - 2 of which are SORNed atm - for different reasons. The current situation has certainly made me question why and tot up costs etc.
The bike that stands me in at the most is a 1983 CB1100RD which I bought in at top dollar just over 18months ago but which I had had my eye on for a couple of years before persuading the previous owner to sell.
It had <6300 miles on it then and now is just over 7600 so has not been a garage queen in my ownership. Cost wise, just usual stuff - a full service, new tyres (the old ones were dated 2004 and scary bad), fork seals, brake master cylinder refurb, including seals and fluids and a new petrol tap.
They don't come up for sale very often but I'm confident the old girl has covered these costs in today's market, or at least the market pre-Covid.
I realised some of my pension to pay for it and do not regret it one bit. Makes me smile every time I look in the garage and for a 37 year old bike, now that the consumables have been sorted, can still perform in the way Mr Honda intended when asked.
The other bikes - K1300s, doesn't really fall within the subject matter, CBR954 bought for £2100 three years ago so that washes its face, 2005 Tuono Racing with boxed and unused ancillaries £5250 a couple of years ago and my manky old RSVR Mille which is very battle scarred and testament to my lack of trackday ability but which I have owned for 17 years and, although it has been a keeper, is definitely not going to rise in value
I still have five bikes - 2 of which are SORNed atm - for different reasons. The current situation has certainly made me question why and tot up costs etc.
The bike that stands me in at the most is a 1983 CB1100RD which I bought in at top dollar just over 18months ago but which I had had my eye on for a couple of years before persuading the previous owner to sell.
It had <6300 miles on it then and now is just over 7600 so has not been a garage queen in my ownership. Cost wise, just usual stuff - a full service, new tyres (the old ones were dated 2004 and scary bad), fork seals, brake master cylinder refurb, including seals and fluids and a new petrol tap.
They don't come up for sale very often but I'm confident the old girl has covered these costs in today's market, or at least the market pre-Covid.
I realised some of my pension to pay for it and do not regret it one bit. Makes me smile every time I look in the garage and for a 37 year old bike, now that the consumables have been sorted, can still perform in the way Mr Honda intended when asked.
The other bikes - K1300s, doesn't really fall within the subject matter, CBR954 bought for £2100 three years ago so that washes its face, 2005 Tuono Racing with boxed and unused ancillaries £5250 a couple of years ago and my manky old RSVR Mille which is very battle scarred and testament to my lack of trackday ability but which I have owned for 17 years and, although it has been a keeper, is definitely not going to rise in value
2xtwins said:
Interesting thread and I agree with a lot of what PTF says above.
I still have five bikes - 2 of which are SORNed atm - for different reasons. The current situation has certainly made me question why and tot up costs etc.
The bike that stands me in at the most is a 1983 CB1100RD which I bought in at top dollar just over 18months ago but which I had had my eye on for a couple of years before persuading the previous owner to sell.
It had <6300 miles on it then and now is just over 7600 so has not been a garage queen in my ownership. Cost wise, just usual stuff - a full service, new tyres (the old ones were dated 2004 and scary bad), fork seals, brake master cylinder refurb, including seals and fluids and a new petrol tap.
They don't come up for sale very often but I'm confident the old girl has covered these costs in today's market, or at least the market pre-Covid.
I realised some of my pension to pay for it and do not regret it one bit. Makes me smile every time I look in the garage and for a 37 year old bike, now that the consumables have been sorted, can still perform in the way Mr Honda intended when asked.
The other bikes - K1300s, doesn't really fall within the subject matter, CBR954 bought for £2100 three years ago so that washes its face, 2005 Tuono Racing with boxed and unused ancillaries £5250 a couple of years ago and my manky old RSVR Mille which is very battle scarred and testament to my lack of trackday ability but which I have owned for 17 years and, although it has been a keeper, is definitely not going to rise in value
Well well well. Have you been in prison for the last 8 years?I still have five bikes - 2 of which are SORNed atm - for different reasons. The current situation has certainly made me question why and tot up costs etc.
The bike that stands me in at the most is a 1983 CB1100RD which I bought in at top dollar just over 18months ago but which I had had my eye on for a couple of years before persuading the previous owner to sell.
It had <6300 miles on it then and now is just over 7600 so has not been a garage queen in my ownership. Cost wise, just usual stuff - a full service, new tyres (the old ones were dated 2004 and scary bad), fork seals, brake master cylinder refurb, including seals and fluids and a new petrol tap.
They don't come up for sale very often but I'm confident the old girl has covered these costs in today's market, or at least the market pre-Covid.
I realised some of my pension to pay for it and do not regret it one bit. Makes me smile every time I look in the garage and for a 37 year old bike, now that the consumables have been sorted, can still perform in the way Mr Honda intended when asked.
The other bikes - K1300s, doesn't really fall within the subject matter, CBR954 bought for £2100 three years ago so that washes its face, 2005 Tuono Racing with boxed and unused ancillaries £5250 a couple of years ago and my manky old RSVR Mille which is very battle scarred and testament to my lack of trackday ability but which I have owned for 17 years and, although it has been a keeper, is definitely not going to rise in value
Good morning, John....no, not in prison - just a man of few words me, albeit a serial lurker on these pages.
Still do the odd trackday and all the bikes have been ridden over the past 12 months, three of them regularly. Recently, not as regularly as I'd like - same for all of us, though.
Must make more effort to contribute to BB, eh?
Kev
- just a man of few words me, albeit a serial lurker on these pages.Still do the odd trackday and all the bikes have been ridden over the past 12 months, three of them regularly. Recently, not as regularly as I'd like - same for all of us, though.
Must make more effort to contribute to BB, eh?
Kev
Edited by 2xtwins on Thursday 30th April 06:53
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