Bike prices.

[micko]

Just my 2 bobs worth as I am reasonably new to the vmx scene.
I decided I would look for a bike to restore as my first vmx bike, $800 Gumtree Suzuki RM370 turned into $6000 and it wasn't a 100% restore . That was 2yrs ago when the dollar was good ! When you discover the frame was bent, forks needed chrome, new spokes ( I used the original rims) paint the tank, powder coating, new nuts and bolts, replating, good shocks, decent ignition, new plastics, new carb, new pipe and muffler, complete engine rebuild etc.  It adds up on a restore and I did 90% myself.

On the other hand I paid $3000 for my 76 RM250 with Fox shocks and a brand new spare exhaust, had been sitting in someone's shed for 20+yrs. Didn't touch the engine, set of shocks, fork seals and raced it for a season and a half with no problems at all.

Then there is the 74 YZ250A i just bought, I paid more for it than the RM370 cost me to restore.
It is reasonably original, there getting rare, has history and i WANTED it so I could race pre75. So I paid good money for it, I'm not banking on them going up in price to fund my retirement I just want to have some fun riding them and there getting harder to get these days.
 
As I tell my friends that ask me, if you really want one of these old klunkers pay a price YOU are happy with and go have some fun  !

Cheers

[Ted]

I generally regard all bikes to be worth $500, including ground up restos.

    Hey Ted ,  I'll give you $600 for Your KX500    ,  if  you decide to sell  . 

   Regards ,
                   Steve

You don't have the room to put it in your lounge room EQ junior

[Ted]

Hey Ted

I will give you $500 for IT 200 , my 6.0 year old great nephew would love it

Unlike yourself your nephew has class.

A couple of years ago i sold a pearler of a bike to a mate who took out the following years Pre  85 125 on it. He onsold it at the end of the season and the new owner contacts me the next year ( 2 years after i sold it ) asking why you have to rev it to get it to go. Never again will i sell a vintage bike. My grandson gets the lot.

[Mike52]

. My grandson gets the lot.

Yep same here.

[Nathan S]

Old bikes with Fiberglass or metal tanks are relative stable in pricing now, with the exception of Puch , Ossa , Monark etc , the will claim even further from now on as the currencies will crumble  . It might be a good idea and a good time, to invest into a old Husky ,CZ or Maico if you get a good one for under 4K, thats if need to park some funds . Bikes with plastic , discs  and water cooling on it however , will only get cheaper from now on in .Much cheaper in fact , unless it had a remarkable first owner and is still mint or original condition.  I really believe the market  for plastic bikes has peaked already . Because there is so much after market and reproduction stuff out there for them , you can build on from scratch.....But then for the same money you can buy a 2016 and it will not look much different from 10 meters away ....

Rofl.

Your comments on newer bikes are blinded by your own personal interests.
You can literally buy a new 2016 built 1981 Maico or 1965 CZ - but don't let that get in the way of a good story.

[monte34]

Over the past 10 years or so I've restored some oddball bikes like a couple of Coopers, Carabelas, a CZ and a few Montesas just for fun. I've never done any of them to sell and they're not really investments unless there is someone else out there that likes unusual bikes. Recently I acquired a 99 MC250 Gasgas, which will owe me about 5k when finished but it's worth it to me because there isn't another one that I know of in the country (happy to be proved wrong)
As far as I can see, road bikes from the 60s and 70s seem to be holding their value better than dirt bikes. Last week a Metralla project sold for 4.5k and was only about 60% complete.
Btw Nathan, what is rofl, I can't work that one out entirely.

[skypig]

People are asking $6500 for YZ465s.
Shop around enough, you can buy a brand new MX bike, maybe freshly superseded, for about that.
Just saying.
I know we would all rather the 465......

[FourstrokeForever]

If you are building/collecting/restoring bikes to make money, then you're a more optimistic man than me.
I have a few totally restored bikes and some projects in progress, but I don't expect I will even break even on a couple of them. Luckily I'm not in it to make a fortune, I like bringing old bikes back from the dead. It keeps me away from the pub and spending money on other "collectibles".
 
Ten years ago, I would of got more for a "project bike" than what I can realise now for a totally restored bike. So 10 years ago, I thought my money and time were safe bets. Then along came the GFC which somehow devalued everything we have in Australia. Even though the working class man was barely affected, the market for our old bikes hasn't bounced back since.

Another factor is the guys who import container loads of supposedly good bikes and on sell them for a few hundred more than they paid in the states, flooding our market with bikes that were once hard to come by in Australia. Honda CR250's and 500's spring to mind. Then there's the European bikes like huskies and maicos that were even thinner on the ground here in Oz.

The people who buy these supposedly good, ready to race imports soon realise that they need another couple of grand thrown at them to make them the bike they once were. That $3500 "bargain" isn't so cheap after all.

[pokey]

I figure its a combination of lack of knowledge and greed. Sure you may have never seen one but others have and they know the real value.

As bikes get older they become rarer. What we were kicking out of the way in plagues 40 years ago are now  thin on the ground. This equates to supply and demand theory coming in to play and for most of us its a pain in the arse. My heap of shite collection of TS185s are now rare. who would have thought that? try finding one of these garden variety dirt bikes now? That doesnt mean they should be worth more.

Locating parts is an adventure in itself. i recently acquired a mid 70s 500 Moto Guzzi and Oz didnt get a lot of them when they were new so its off to the and of dykes for parts most of the time and as you can guess the prices befit the rarity. thankfully she is now finished and a dream to ride. Hopefully she will be worth a few dollars  more than what I paid.

 as for the garden variety  i just scratch my head, they wernt special and still arnt, just thinner on the ground. why should the price vary so much? This is the confusion sellers have as rare doesnt mean valuable.  Im not going to pay a mint for a victa engined deltek or an AG175.  Can you imagine in 40 years paying 5G for a chinese pit bike? the would is all arse up.

[Nathan S]

If the economy crashes - and I'm not saying it won't - then there's no way that esoteric things like old dirt bikes are going to come through unscathed...

If there's an economic collapse, then the bikes to have will be DRZ400s and TTR250s - bikes that can be used on the road happily, and are cheap to run. If you've got a 35 year old MX bike that's worth $5k in today's money, is it going to be worth more or less when half the population is unemployed?

Assuming the economy keeps tracking roughly as it has over the last 80-odd years, then it will be a matter of supply and demand. I wonder where the demand for 1970s bikes will come from when all their current owners - those with the nostalgic link - have shuffled off this mortal coil. Sure, there will be offspring who hold on to dad/grandad's old bike for their own nostalgic reasons, and they will stop the market being flooded - but they won't fuel the demand that is needed to push prices up.

Further, the assumption that everything becomes valuable with age and/or rarity, doesn't always hold true. The glorious ( ) Hillman Hunter is a great example of this... They come up for sale rarely, but when someone actually wants to buy one, they pretty much get to name their price. There probably will be a time when they're worth decent money, but how long do you have to wait before realising that your "investment" is money poorly spent?

------

I have a 1994 KX125 that needs about 15 minutes work done on it, so I can get it out of my garage (and out of my way) - but it's sitting, inconveniently in pride of place in the centre of the garage because it makes me smile every time I walk around it...

[Tony Two Times]

Had the same discussion with a mate recently. Will the bikes each of us like be of any interest to the next generation? Reckon they'll be chasing 90's and later bikes for VMXing in 20 years casue all the new fangled electric ones are quiet and don't smell.

[Rossvickicampbell]

but Walter - that is the beauty of living VMX - Nathan likes a 94 KX (amongst many others I am sure) whereas you like the exotic Honda and I like RC 450/500 works Hondas - simply each to their own and great to share because I have seen many bikes I was unaware of because of others likes 

[Nathan S]

Exactly /\.

Right at this point in time, people around Walter's age are probably paying more for their dream old bikes than people of my age.

Will the same be true in another ten years? Twenty?

Someone might love the 1927 Zundapp 3-stroke, and that's great. But an individual's passion does not automatically translate to market value/desirability (says the man who owned fifteen 240 Volvos at once, and somehow isn't now a millionaire).

[allan hughes]

hey roost ill take 10 of those common cr 500 s
should have seen glen bell ride geoff holmes common bike at harrisville last year
ftw al (cr500 owner)

[PaulM1976]

It's an interesting concept: a bloke getting upset or concerned at the price another bloke gets for his bike... The old adage "it's only worth what someone is willing to pay" comes to mind.

The OP's  predetermined price range in mind for each set/group/class of bikes is pretty spot on but I ask: what's the big deal if someone asks way above that range for their bike? Good luck to them I say, if they're a motivated seller they'll eventually meet the market - buyers determine what something is worth, not sellers.

What's more frustrating to me is the "what's this worth?" posts - fishing for bites instead of researching the market....
And the most weird: when some guy posts a pic of a handful of cash with the words "I've got $2500 what's out there?" Does that actually work?