Classic bikes - a worthwhile investment?

[waddycall]

Thinking about splashing a bit of cash on a classic two wheeler. Not sure what yet but would be interested in others thoughts and experiences with owning and riding classic bikes. E.g. What do you have? Are spares and reliability ok? Are you seeing a rise in value? Etc etc.
Cheers

 

[James1979]

If it’s an investment and a long term plan, you’d get more for your money investing in a modern classic and wait for it to mature?

Only thing is, it’s a bit of a gamble and I’ve no idea how to predict it. 80s/90s jap stuff is getting silly prices but maybe that’s a bubble waiting to burst?

 

[waddycall]

Funnily enough those are my thoughts exactly!

 

[tom2207]

If its strictly an investment , dont even plan on riding it ... if its something interesting you can ride for a while and still get your money back as long as you dont bin it ,,, lots of options , but simple advise is buy what you want to ride and the rest is a bonus.

 

[roofman]

Thinking about splashing a bit of cash on a classic two wheeler. Not sure what yet but would be interested in others thoughts and experiences with owning and riding classic bikes. E.g. What do you have? Are spares and reliability ok? Are you seeing a rise in value? Etc etc.
Cheers

70,s and 80,s 2 strokes...early big bore 2 stroke motorX such as CR500 etc making silly money..Japanese classics like the 1100 Katana still strong but try avoid USA imported bikes as they are not as strong as a UK registered machine since birth.

 

[brightspark]

70,s and 80,s 2 strokes...early big bore 2 stroke motorX such as CR500 etc making silly money..Japanese classics like the 1100 Katana still strong but try avoid USA imported bikes as they are not as strong as a UK registered machine since birth.

and there it lies you will have to pay top dollar to purchase them unless you do them up yourself and can find them cheap enough so it dont leave anything for making a profit

 

[Eric the chicken]

I have a 1989 BMW R80 GS Paralever is this an appreciating classic, or just something else cluttering up the garage?

 

[James1979]

Funnily enough those are my thoughts exactly!

It’s the prediction that’s the hard bit. God only knows how you would do that. There must be some info somewhere on why classics are classics.

When I think of all the old minis we wrecked, old fords I’ve helped round a banger track and vws and reliants I’ve been party to cutting up it’s cringeworthy. Probably hundreds of thousands of pounds of car at todays prices but at the time they were worth nowt.

Mrs79 suggests that looking at what people wanted when they were kids but couldn’t afford. Like VFRs or Africa Twins. Everyone had posters of them on the wall but couldn’t afford them. Fast forward 50 years and they’ll be retirees with good lump sums and hankering after the bikes they dreamed of as teenagers.

 

[Rannsachair]

I mainly have old English bikes because I like them, not bought as investments. I suspect the best investments will be Jap bikes as they will appeal to more folk in the future: early firebaldes, GSXR1100, FZR1000 Exups etc, even the likes of GZPZ900R's.

I aslo have a 72 BMW R75/5 they are still quite affordable and probably a good investment, same with R90/6's.

If you use them and look after them, certainly should not depreciate.

 

[winchboy]

Classics don’t seem to be dying off at all but Japanese seems to be doing better than the British stuff. Are you buying a concourse to leave in the garage and never ride? A project to restore yourself? If you have to outsource a lot of work it will never be economically viable in terms of investment. Greeves will be along shortly I’m sure he’ll be full of knowledge. From my own research, the price of Vincent Rapides has fell at auction over the last few years, but the price of anything Honda seems to have gone sky high eg Z50 ST70, twin shocks holding there money better than monoshock. Usually an investment should be something produced in low volume but look at Honda bog seats!

 

[tom2207]

cbx 1000 springs to mind , just about worth the money at the moment , but buy two , one to ride and one to polish.

 

[roofman]

The thing with Jap classics is the money is in un-restored but showroom fresh bikes..if you restore one yourself then the money you lay out and the time can rarely be recouped unless your in for the long haul..If i had money to invest i would be leaving the bikes alone and looking around the world for all the spares still on shelves (old OEM new) like tinware,seats exhausts etc as that is where the money will be in another 10 years

 

[tom2207]

The thing with Jap classics is the money is in un-restored but showroom fresh bikes..if you restore one yourself then the money you lay out and the time can rarely be recouped unless your in for the long haul..If i had money to invest i would be leaving the bikes alone and looking around the world for all the spares still on shelves (old OEM new) like tinware,seats exhausts etc as that is where the money will be in another 10 years

theres wisdom in that ,,, RC30 plastic is worth more than its weight in gold these days ,

 

[winchman]

20 years ago I bought a Honda Chaly CF70 for the going rate on Ebay for £156
Parked it rode it once or twice, now its worth £2000!
I also have one I have partly restored not spent much as just waited until I came across the bits I needed so that will be worth more than I have spent.
As winchboy mentioned Honda C50's, 70's and 90's have gone through the roof but I did manage to buy one with the engine in a shopping basket and missing its exhaust front mudguard and speedo for £250, Plastics new £22, Exhaust some one gave me a broken one I shall repair free, Front Mudguard £22 new, speedo bought a box of bits for £10 with a speedo in it, so my point is cheap bikes are available. It wont be restored just put together and ridden
Personally if its an investment just buy it and park it.
Have you seen the price of MZ's!
But if you would have told me Honda 90's would fetch over £1000 I would have laughed.
The problem is no one has a Crystal ball.
I have a DI Blasi folding scooter, its great fun around the garden, I have had several stupid offers for it, god knows why, its hardly comfortable or fast, dont really know why I like it

 

[roofman]

Honda ST70 (monkey bike) and i don't mean the wanna be Dax i mean a genuine clean UK registered ST70..small enough to put 10 of them in 1 bedroom and better than scrap gold

 

[Parm]

My neighbor has three sheds with at least 50 bikes

If only I knew what they are worth, I don’t do Bikes

 

[roofman]

My neighbor has three sheds with at least 50 bikes

If only I knew what they are worth, I don’t do Bikes

let me know when he dies Parm...good earner init for you

 

[Parm]

let me know when he dies Parm...good earner init for you

He has the big sheds behind my garden.

 

[tigdlo]

He has the big sheds behind my garden.

Have you started tunelling?

 

[Parm]

Have you started tunelling?

Don’t need to, plaint old manual screwdriver will take care of all security