Dead Dog Racing - quite amazing!

[Maicojames]

Some of them are within reason-yet if you look closley, you won't see a lot of $ put into them. Damn, my  77 AW got $5100 US, I think eventually to a US bidder due to members here who bid( thank you again)-and yet I had about 9 K US into that bike.

The 79 Maico Magnum 440 at $8500 really pisses me off-it is certainly rebuidlable-but the damn thing has set out-and it shows. Looks like he is saying that these bikes are worth more becauce they are fron the US-and that in my hillbilly parlance, is Bullshit. In the US the 79 Magnum would run with up to 81 bikes, and frankly, I could build a damn good one for $4000 US, and from what I've seen the shipping is not yet $4500. Ya gotta consider bearings. seals seat cover( btw that stock foam isl now shit, and the original seat bases crack at will after 30 years)-
I am wya more impresssed with say, DJ's 76 YZ125 "Noguchi".
Sorry, but I still think it would be cheaper often to import the "parts"( broken down bike).

Hell, you OZ racers are the least sniveling bunch I have known of, and here's this "speculator" trying to cash out bigtime. He needs to sell them for the same prices here in the US, at least there's a better chance that some deserving peckerhead will get ripped off. BTW, that 79 440 should go for 2-3K as is.

James

[firko]

You've gotta love the old used car yard trick of hosing them down and photographing them wet to make them look shiny.

[Maicojames]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTe2QLDgqeM&feature=related

I re-posted this link, more appropriate to this topic anyway. Maybe, Maybe the Husky viking is worth $9900, but not to me.

Maybe we should send each other plastic fenders etc-I can say it costs more since it's from Oz, and you can say you have to take it up the arse since it's from the US.

I do want to say that I now feel better about likely having to build another AW ground up-due to my budget only beign able to do a bit at a time and all-but STILL will not have 10k in it.

Un fuc.ingbeleivable!!! 
James

[firko]

That used car ad is a ripper. When I was living in California there used to be a guy called Cal Worthington whose ads were almost exactly the same as this one (except for the bad words). In every ad Cal would appear whith his dog Spot which was always every kind of animal except a dog. He got mauled by a tiger pretending to be his dog Spot live on TV. Funniest thing I'd seen in years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYCsvPJzw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCNphyw2OE&feature=related

[crash n bern]

Because I don't do real estate and have no idea about stocks. I do a lot of speculating on bike prices. I wonder about the generational phase. In ten to fifteen years most of us may be getting to old to ride. Is the next generation willing to pay big dollars for dirt bikes that weren't part of their youth. Even in VMX it has shifted away from pre 74 to late 70's and early 80's as the age group changes. The older guy's now spend more time collecting and restoring rather than riding.
It's starting to happen to Harley. Their share prices are dropping, they tried to buy out Ducati because they see the need to diversify. All the mid life crisis baby boomers who bought them in the '80's and 90's are now getting too old. Plus that bad boy image is getting corny. All the guy's I know in their 40's now are buying big adventure tourers and hitting the outback. 

It might pay to buy up all the cheap 90's motocrossers and store them.
I saw a guy the other day pay $2,200 for a 70'sHonda minitrail. You can get the 80/90's models in good original condition for $600.  I thought another ten years and those kids will be in their 30's and want to relive their childhood and pay good money for them.

There is the the exception to the rule. There is always the guy who is in love with stuff that was made before their time. But they would be in the minority and it's usually only if they where exposed to them in their youth.

[mx250]

Good summary Crash n Burn. Pretty much my point of view.

As for specualting the future trends you can use the past as a guide, you only have to allow for global warming, international recession and world war  and a few other variables  .

I think I like real estate as an investment and VMX as a hobby ; land, they're are not making it any more. And, people always have to live somewhere  . They might just be paying me for the pleasure .

[Wombat]

'You can get the 80/90's models in good original condition for $600'; good call crash n bern.
As the saying goes, "These are the good old days".
If you have the money and the space you could buy all manner of things to hang on to 'til later.
Why did I throw out the Phantom mags, the metal scale model Batmobile and the bad '70s fashion?
It's all worth big bucks now.

Picking a bike or car or whatever to become a classic collectors piece is a bit of a gamble.
Those of you into VMX from the beginning can testify to the massive leap in bike prices over the past few years.
What's common place now (the '90s bikes) will indeed be worth bigger bucks in ten years time.

[YSS]

Thats very true , I hade this immaculate CR 500 85  for years and no dog would piddle on it for $2500. Then we just filled the space with an ad in justbikes , put $5000 on it and the phone would not stop ringing . It went to Sydney . There you go .

[vandy010]

just thought i'd throw in a bit of an update here folks,
went out to DDR to see what all the fuss was about and found some very friendly helpfull service the way it should be. each bike had a price tag swinging off the handlebars and i do like that, cause i havn't seen that for years! anyway, as maicojames said in an earlier post, "they don't look like they've had too much dollars thrown at them", the bikes that is. they did have quite a few nice old bikes there and the drool was starting to flow but my personal take is that the prices are high for the condition of the bikes with the exception of a couple. the two TM400s looked about right for the money but have apparently already been sold.
as i said, the bloke i spoke with was more than helpfull and clearly stated there's more stuff "on the way" so they're probably worth keeping an eye on as you just never know what'll turn up.
each to thier own i guess...

[mx250]

Vandy, did they appear to be interested in talking dollars? Was the swing tag the starting point or pretty much fixed?

[vandy010]

i didn't really enter into any bargaining as such but just more to have a look and check it out. most of the bikes had a sticker on it, depending what state in the US it came from, something to do with thier rec/rego? so as it was explained to me, the cost of getting these bikes through customs to here, dictates thier prices, how much they have to play with? or will be flexible? i can't say. i did see though, a rather complete yz400f engine out the back if anyones looking for one.

[Maicojames]

The price of customs? Well, it is a business I understand. I am pleased to hear they were friendly and helpful( service costs $). Still, given the condition of the bikes,that is most of them "barn fresh" or at least unrestored-the prices are out of line. Do you really think he paid any more than say $1000 US for the 79 440 Maico? No chance. Again, I understand it is a business, and when I was a slightly "cashed up forker" myself, it made sense at times to pay more for a part to get it correct and quick.
I suppose being a fatass spoiled American redneck and all it just seems like they are sticking to my OZ VMX brothers. I mean, a Mag 440 restored often goes for like 4K-5K here, I guess around 2k to import-and you have a restored bike.
Shit, you might have 15k or more in that one.
BTW many here are unable to race this year due to fuel costs-and converting it shows that gas here is about 1.15 a liter( assuming fairly flat currency conversion).
You guys are really dedicated.

[Maico31]

Vandy when i was at DDr a couple of weeks ago he said he pretty much wanted the asking price for the bikes i was looking at but may drop a little. In my opinion their bikes are very highly priced and most of them need work. He was, like you said, a very friendly guy. He even told me what it costs to bring a 40ft container of bikes in, and i reckon they are making a shitload of $$$

[paul]

what does the container cost

[firko]

I've just got off the phone with my shipping guy and he reckons that the number of "old dirt bikes" (his term) he's bringing in is growing at a huge rate. The poor American dollar and the ease of shopping via eBay have contributed to a boom like nothing we've ever seen. He reckons that after the Harley and muscle car import boom, the vintage motocrosser market is the new money maker. We have four bikes in this shipment and a mate has five with another shipper and if you add up the number of bikes coming in via other shippers, the numbers are about explode. Another good thing about this is that we are seeing an influx of bikes never seen here in great numbers like KTM 495s, CCMs, Cheneys and such, making the sport just that little bit more interesting.