Japs might be sucking up all the vintage bikes soon :O)

[Freakshow]

im not really sure what this is but it says endless summer and its this year, im guessing the Japs are having a VMX explosion so thats where all the bikes will be going soon, upside is they might start doing cheap repro parts etc again so thats a good upside for the market.   

Your guess is as good as mine what it says, but the sign does list class practice times so they are obviously getting serious 

http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/rooster0109/08JUNE1ENDLESSSUMMER2008#

His container of all VMX ride days  --- >  http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/rooster0109

looks like a bunch of cool blokes out having a fun ride days in some kind of quarry they have made into traks ?  anyhow nice assortment of pics and bikes here

[firko]

This isn't a new thing. A well known Melbourne enthusiast has been sending restored Elsinores and Hodakas to Japan for years. I also know of a couple of B50 Beezas, a Triumph Metisse and a '76 CCM being shipped off to Japan in recent years. In 2001 I got an email from a friend in the USA telling me that he had a Japanese client looking for a good square barrel Maico and asking if I'd be prepared to part with mine for (at the time) serious money. I ummed and aahd for a week or so but decided I like the bike more than the money offered. I have a couple of Japanese motorcycle magazines and they're going troppo over street trackers, cafe racers and pre '75 motocross bikes, especially non Japanese models.

[VMX247]

Better they collect VMX bikes than a few nuke bombs 

[YSS]

Do they buy sidecars ? I still got a few to move .

[VMX247]

Do they buy sidecars ? I still got a few to move .

careful YSS.Hope ya really do want to move them, on cause the track looks pretty sidecar friendly 

[VMX77]

Do they buy sidecars ? I still got a few to move .

How about trying to sell those sidecars in Australia first . I have reason to believe the fields are occasionally struggling here in Austalia and am sure that they could do with a few more outfits. I would hate to think that our chances of larger fields in Australia are being diminished because current owners are going to sell them off to Japan, or anywhere else for that matter.

[maicoman18]

Could see a $120,000.00 Maico yet!!

[YSS]

Its a free market , so they go where the money and a good home is . I hate to see that history run in to the ground

[Doc]

when I worked in the wrecking business in the early 80's the Japanese were already buying container loads of bikes and shipping them back home to display in glass showcases in public building foyers, boardrooms and houses. At the time they were mainy after the ol' KH500 and H1 H2 KH750 triple stuff, early aircooled RD250/350 and T305 and T350 Suzuki's. We literally sent tons of it back and they paid top $. Better than going to the metal recyclers which is where most of the early stuff ended up. If only they'd hung onto it for another 20 years it would have been a gold mine oh well least the bikes are preserved and not parted out all over the world

By the way VMX247, I would worry about the Japanese having nuclear capabilities. That was a different generation and they wearn't the ones that dropped it remember I don't know a lot about Nipponland but it sure is a place I'd like to go for a holiday

[holeshot buddy]

i remember a mate found a rh250 in a garden shed up here for $400 (like i have said you never know whats around)
 
he sold it for i think $3000 then the guy sold it to a yank for $7000

then he sold it to japan for $10000 us 

maico 31 knows about this story i think

[Doc]

sounds more like a fairytale Russ! but then, I do believe in Santa and everything IS possible

[dkupf]

August 2007 there was 6 Japanese riders from the A.C.T.S (air cooled twin shocks) club came over and raced at Proserpine. Talking to them vmx is going forward over there in leaps and bounds. From the dvd they gave me the only differance from us I can see is very tight tracks and the club has a big B.B.Q when the racing is over. Darcy 

[Lozza]

Having the benefit of visiting Japan, they have a view to the future not the past.Really doesn't matter is it's 1 or 20 yrs old it's just old. The thriving reimport business has been going on for ages, started with road bikes over 400cc which Japanese riders were restricted to for years. Prices for certain models of bikes  is  unbelievable, we haven't noticed it much because of the weak Yen now the Yen is strong compared to other currencies we will see more going to Japan for top $.Just as this time last year bikes came here because of our strong $

[Maico31]

Yes i know the bike rusty. Everyone made money on it and it was even in the Primm collection a while back. I have a mate who sold his 74 elsinores to Japan years ago and got really good dollars for them and people have been selling 750/4 Hondas ans Z900 Kwakas to Japan for a long time.

[Phil]

In 1994 I advertised my fully restored matching pair 125 and 250 1974 Elsinores in the trading post and got a call from a bloke who told me was representing a client in Japan who was looking for a perfect 250. I was a little dubious of the bloke and told him I wouldn't split them and wanted 8k cash, no cheque for both. It was way above top dollar for the day and as I thought he was either a scammer or a tyre kicker I also told him there was another potential buyer coming later that day. Next thing I know the bloke turns up, checks the bikes over without bothering to start them and offers me 8.5k in cash. Naturally I took the money, he loaded the bikes into his van and I never saw him or the bikes ever again. I later found out that he'd bought an 1100 Bol'dor from  bloke I knew and that the buyer was the real deal. Apparently he acted as an agent for a Tokyo based wholesaler and had been buying up all sorts of big bore road bikes and collector bikes for years. I also heard that he'd bought an SS 750 Ducati that had been advertised in the same Trading Post for the same Tokyo wholesaler.