Chatting with my dad at the weekend as he’s retiring and want’s a new bike. And from 2000-2010 he had a whole string of interesting/unusual secondhand bikes, the motorized equivalent of n+1, everything from New-ish Royal Enfields (in several different styles), Bonevilles, big BMW tourers, Urals, Harley Davidsons, an F650GS dakar, another Ural with sidecar, Motto Guzzis, an XT500, an MT500, velocette and bantam trials bikes, and some others I’ve forgotten. Nothing particularly exotic or collectible (at the time anyway), the sort of stuff that you could pick up for £500-£1500 in the friday-adds.

But all that sort of thing has either disappeared, or is now “classic”.

And there’s a derth of even 80/90’s, or even 2000’s bikes. In fact there seems hardly anything older than 5 years.

Where’s it all gone, was it just a golden age for 2nd hand bikes as motorcycling declined in popularity and over supplied with 2nd hand bikes from a bygone era? Or do they all go elsewhere as grey imports (like Japanese bikes in the 90’s) as the £ has dropped. I know at the time probably half his bikes ended up abroad when he sold them, was that normal?

We were wandering around dealers and the only stuff on offer was new, nearly new, or nearly new prices (yes sir a 2004 V-Storm with ‘only’ 25k on the clock is an appreciating classic now, GTFO) and even that was in short supply. And ebay/autotrader has less private adds than even the local paper used to have.

Blame Practical Sportsbikes magazine, everybody thinks every rusting shitter is an ‘appreciating classic just waiting to go up in value’ now. Forget about buying a 2T to actually use, loads of people who were cash rich just before the crash bought up all the nice 2Ts as ‘investments’ but now they can’t liquidate them because nobody’s got any money 🤣 There have been £5000 TZR 250 3XVs on ebay for years (they used to be sub-£1000 BITD).

FB or bumtree for bargains 👍🏻

If I was putting my bike up for sale, I wouldn’t be doing it at the beginning of January!

wait til March? That’s when I’ll be selling mine. Does your Dad want a CBR1000F? Bomber Honda. 1997, just swam through its MOT.

I know where there’s a lovely original GS DAkar for sale.

wait til March? That’s when I’ll be selling mine

+1 wrong time of year

Most are probably buried under crap in a garage, come spring some will get chopped,

I’ve got an early SV650 with 11k on to sell, i’m considering putting it into a classic auction as they seem to fetch good money.

I actually don’t think its a bad time to sell. There’s not a lot else on the market and if people aren’t out riding they’re inside bike shopping or planning for summer trips. There’s some logic in buying a bike now so you have time to get it ready for spring.

wait til March? That’s when I’ll be selling mine. Does your Dad want a CBR1000F? Bomber Honda. 1997, just swam through its MOT.

Haha, no, I think he’s settled on a Royal Enfield Himalaya! Which, putting looks aside, seems like a well sorted bike.

His last Honda was a Transalp which was sold (to a guy in Morocco) because it was too boring, I think he not-so-secretly likes cleaning up oil spills from under old bikes.

It was the lack of stuff like early SV650’s that surprised me more. When I did my CBT ~2002 you were tripping over CB500’s for £500 which is what made me wonder if they’ve all ended up in containers to somewhere else.

It was the lack of stuff like early SV650’s that surprised me more. 

There’s 50 pre 2007 SV650’s on ebay at the moment. That’s not reall a “lack”

PCP killed the market.

All the CB500s have ended up in the Thundersport race series so prices of them (and all the good spares) have shot up and SVs are still popular as track and proddy racers as well.

Where have all the old motorbikes gone?

Being restored as we type…

I guess a lot have become cafe projects etc, but there are still some out there.

It’s difficult for me as I can’t really think of any modern bikes that I like. They all seem to look like transformer wasps these days.

I picked up a 1982 Gsx400 a few years back but sold it a year and a half back for a ‘modern’ Gsx750 Inazuma year 2000, so still twenty years old. I wouldn’t call it a classic, it’s just old, but it’s a great bike.

 In fact there seems hardly anything older than 5 years.

Not my experience. I don’t think I could afford anything under 5 years old 😂

Mostly though there seems to be an abundance of beige fairing-clad bikes. Never trust a bike you can’t look through…

Just flogged a part restored project BSA A65 Thunderbolt for nearly 3 times what I paid for it 7 or 8 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised by what I got for it. However I know that if I was in the market for a classic bike to replace it, I’d get spanked, swings and roundabouts. I will use the money towards a new bike to replace a 15 year old Triumph Sprint 1050 which I am also about to flog. Sadly, I don’t think that has achieved classic status yet.

Haha, no, I think he’s settled on a Royal Enfield Himalaya! Which, putting looks aside, seems like a well sorted bike.

I’d do a bit of research here. Not great bike quality iirc. I don’t have any experience all the same just stuff picked up from YouTube. The new 650’s on the other hand are allegedly a big step up in quality. Not daft power either.

Meh, go all balls & get a Triumph Rocket 👍😎

I’d do a bit of research here. Not great bike quality iirc. I don’t have any experience all the same just stuff picked up from YouTube. The new 650’s on the other hand are allegedly a big step up in quality. Not daft power either.

There’s probably some licence reason for a 400 model, but I did wonder why they’d not just built a ‘scrambler’ 650. Especially as the 650 was apparently developed on a shoestring, yet the “hit with an ugly stick” Himalaya is all new.

He did demo a CRF250L Rally which has the same power, but double the revs. But he’s oldskool and thinks that’s likely to lead to more issues on a long tour. I did point out the Honda badge but he was having none of it.

I have a ’99 SV650 I picked up a couple of years ago. Sure, it could probably do with more modern suspension, but it’s a cheap, fun bike. Over on the SV650 Facebook page it seems most folk are finding the riding position on the S version a bit to much and there’s lots of conversion chat. I just assume that’s because the owners are getting older 😊

@bikebouy.

Nice Bultaco..

I’m nearing the end of a complete rebuild of a 1981 Montesa 248.

Just about to agree a deal on a 1921 Sparkbrook….in pieces, lots of boxes of bits…..probably a 4 or 5 year project awaits!

coppice

Member

I’ve got an early SV650 with 11k on to sell, i’m considering putting it into a classic auction as they seem to fetch good money.

Wait, really? Has my embarassingly abandoned old heap become an investment? I’ll keep it in its hermetically sealed storage coccoon:

My old 80’s Yamaha’s are both off the road at the moment,you don’t see many of either model for sale on Ebay.
1986 FZ750 I’ve had the frame,wheels & a lot of other parts powder coated I might take it to the Classic TT in August

My 1986 XT600 It stopped sparking over at the Classic TT The electrics were alright but it appears to have snapped it’s crank…
.
I bought a 2014 Street Triple a few years back,that’s my modern bike.I like the retro looks of the Street Twin & the Street Cup.I can see me buying one sooner or later.
One of my mate’s chopped in his 750 Suzuki for a 650 Enfield,he reckoned the Suzuki was to fast,he loves his Enfield.

Just go outside on a Sunday morning around 8am and you’ll hear all the local knob heads warming them up for five minutes before they set off for a razz. They’re easy to hear/smell/see.

^ then once the MTB crowd has moved off, the motorcyclists come by ….

Facebook Marketplace for low end cheap bikes.
SV650 from 2004 for £650 just before xmas,I nearly bought that as it looked so good, but. I’d hardly ever use it. Currently available: 1997 YZF-R 1000 for £1100, A 1991 TDM at £800, 1999 ZX9r at £750, 2003 Multistrada £1395. Those are asking prices, all will probably sell at at least £100 less.

My mates restomod Commando turned up at the pub for the first time yesterday.
Only significant change was going to a double disc to get round fork twist.
Looks great.

@bikebouy that is lush

When I emigrated I sold my bikes on the bay. RF900, 500 Gamma (yeah I regret that), VOR503 and a Vespa.
Bloke who bought the RF was Polish and said he just bought up anything like that, once there was a lorry full he sold them in Poland. Did a few lorries full a year.
Apparently there is/was a gap in the market, 80s/90s jap bikes were never imported, so fast forward to the late 2000s and you could either get a brand new bike or an old Zundapp or something – nothing in between.

Suzuki RG500

Sorry Bob!

Where are all the old motorbikes?

I just got rid of my R100GS because it was too tall for my ageing body. Just about got trampled in the rush.

Then I regretted it, so I’ve just bought an R100RT with its big ugly fairing which will keep me nice and dry. Got it at a decent price too – they don’t seem too popular.

There’s probably some licence reason for a 400 model, but I did wonder why they’d not just built a ‘scrambler’ 650. Especially as the 650 was apparently developed on a shoestring, yet the “hit with an ugly stick” Himalaya is all new.

New 650’s are all new and will be the backbone for the company going forward I believe. Rumours of a bobber and a scrambler using the 650. Frame was also developed by Harris.

It may mention the Himalayan in here

@zippykona knock a zero off and that’s probably about what it went for!

My brother has still got his first big bike, an 80’s Honda CB750KZ, dark metallic red with bright red pinstripes. Originally had a 4-into-4 pipe system which he ditched for a 4-into-1, and updated the rear shocks; he went to the Bike Show at the NEC, bought a fancy new set, then swapped them over in the car park, with me giving him a hand.
Could always hear him coming and going on it, the exhaust had ‘For race use only’ stamped on it…
Still does, actually. 😎

My Dad’s got a 1979 400/4 in his garage, original pipes in decent nick too.

Hasn’t been ridden in 10yrs since he restored it, he’ll never ride it again and the prick won’t sell it to me either.

By the time he pegs it it will be a pile of rusty rubbish again.

I gave up trying to get him to part with it and bought a guzzi instead.

80’s 2t just popped up local to me on fb http://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=175674360501228&id=107489000653098&scmts=scwspsdd&extid=Ckq3J3iQQVEOf4rp

It saddens me that two strokes are now investments, and standing them kills them dead.

But FB is the place for cheap bikes these days, in amongst all the crap is some decent stuff.

Nice ‘taco up there ^
I had an RD400E back in the day, regret selling it for £200 nigh on 30 years ago but had to.
Mate at work showed me in the bike mags couple of years ago that nice ones were around £5k..
I used to have a race catch up with a 400/4 most mornings on way to work. Traffic lights and roundabouts. My bike was quicker, he was a better rider !! 🙂

My father in law has a couple of old bikes and is just having a Kawasaki 750 triple rebuilt at the moment (I know nothing about motorbikes but he assured me it was a serious piece of kit)..

Question for the hive mind.. hed like to be able to take some of his bikes on holidays, but doesn’t feel they/he are up for the journey there, hed prefer to trailer them. He told me that trailers are difficult/impossible to load up solo (hes in his 60s and the bikes are heavy). Are there any systems to help with this? I figure something to winch the bike on/lower the trailer to the deck/some other magic might be available, that hes unaware of?

If the trailer’s got enough floor/stuff that you can put your feet down, and a good wheel grab at the front, then solo loading’s not really any harder than say getting through a door- it’s only if they lack that (as some do) that it’s iffy. Unloading feels sketchier tbh!

I have a highly modified ’98 TL1000-R buried in my garage!
Due to the introduction of ethanol into fuel which caused the carbon tank to start leaking, it has needed that repairing for more years than I can remember now! Hopefully get it sorted this year and then decide what to do with it.

Depends where he’s going on holliday, hw many times, budget and other practicalities.

But shipping often isn’t as expensive as you’d fear. Especially if it can go in the back of a van and be flexible on dates, try Shipley etc for quotes. I’m paying <£1/mile to get a car moved halfway down the country next week and that was on specific day/time! usually you can get someone doing deliveries in the opposite direction even less.

Either that or just buy a flatbed or box trailer and a ramp and ride it in.