Crazy prices, THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!!!!

[Lozza]

Quoting Chopper Reid "Whinge Whinge Whinge f*^#ng Whinge".

Doesn't matter if you think quality is shite but nothing should be expensive these days.Just pull it apart measure it,take or send the dimensions to China and then you will have 1000's of them.

[eno]

Spare a thought for guitar players, I wondered when this little hobby of mine would strangely reactivate - just like vintage mx did!. I was having a look at vintage guitar prices, Yep, same thing as the bikes. I once had a '74 Stratocaster & paid about $700 for it in the mid '80's, well I saw just the neck off one at ebay with starting bid $700.
As for my old SG Yamaha - Vintage guitar magazine quote "the days of picking these up for several hundred bucks are long gone."
Now there are countless cheap guitars thanks to our Chinese friends, good build quality but the vital "vintage" ingredient is missing. Lets face it they aint got SOUL.

[TM BILL]

Still cant understand why people get their Tits in a tangle about prices  You want it you pay it  ;)quite simple really. It isn't always stinking rich foreigners who will pay what ever for somthing , its a matter of priorities .

To me i love my Girlfriend & my kids X 4 but i have a philosophy that LIFE AINT A PRACTICE you dont get a second go So if you want it now and somones got it then go and get it 

Last time i checked they were still printing money and the bank still wants to lend it
Sure the bank owns more of the house than i do but i cant take that bastard or the bikes with me when i go so i might as well enjoy it while im here.
GO ON spoil yourselves spend your kids inheritence get yourself that Maico 

[bigk]

It's only the bikes with some signifigance, history, rarity or legend status which command the high prices, not your garden variety vmx'er. No point bleeding about the prices, it's the way it is. I would suggest anyone who is getting frustrated with pricing, take the bikes off their watch list and reduce their amount of stress. I have sold bikes for lot's of money and bought bikes for lots of money, not that I have plenty, just wanted them bad enough to pay the price. I have a nice collection of "garage queens" which cost me a lot of both time & money, and then the not so pretty race bikes which are relatively cheap to buy and run. Just have a look at the prices of art, sometimes millions of dollars, usually for something that looks like my 4 year old daughter painted! I bet no one is getting uptight about that kind of thing. The prices will only get higher in my opinion. Lets face it if you want a modern motocross bike you have literally thousands to choose from, but if you want a 1974 Ossa Phantom, well that's another story altogether. It is most certainly a crazy world. That' s my 5 minutes on the soap box.
Cheers,
K

[husky61]

The 490 maico recently on Ebay is worth 13K + any day of the week.

[paul]

i just spoke to him on the phone  to see how much  15k , no ifs no but, looks like im still a bit short for money  the hunt goes on  ive got 10  wont be long now

[maicopunk]

You could get out of it much cheaper that that if your not too worried about having correct matching numbers. One option would be to buy a 250 and convert it to a 490.

For example, a tidy 1981 Maico 250 in Brisvegas sold the other day for $3550. And the only difference between a 490 and a 250 is the top end of the motor (ok pipe, carby, crank too).  All the bits to convert it to a 490 appear fairly regularly on evilbay and occasionally a complete 490 motor comes up.

It will still cost a few grand on top of the price of the 250 but it will be a whole lot less than $10K.

[paul]

 = a clutch and primary gear 21 /39 , ignition  = i think some off the gear may be different

[Maico31]

And the cases are different also, the studs are about 8mm further apart. The best you could do would be to make a 250 into a 440...

[maicopunk]

Doh, I knew there would have to be more...

Anyway, you could certainly accumulate the bits to build one.

[oldmotoxer]

I will go along with ya about the $11,300 Maico, thats a bit over the top. As for the other prices you quoted, $4,000 to $6,000 for a "good" VMX bike either pre85 or what ever, I don't see that as being to over the top. I've not long completed a resto on my 79 RM400N, full ground up resto which didn't leave me any change out of $5,000 not to mention the bloody sweat tears and hours that I put in. Maybe you would be best restoring a basket case your self, you may have some ideas on how to restore a VMX bike to race ready condition that will better suit your budget. I recently seen some where that a Phase3 XY GT Falcon went up for sale with a price tag of......wait for it....the cool million bucks!!! When these things hit the show room floor at your local Ford dealer back in 70/71 you could buy one for around $5,000. I'm sure there were more Phase 3 Falcons out there than Maico 490 Mega2's were brought into the country.

[pokey]

Maico roller on ozzy evilbay now at a decent price guys,, get it before its gone   

[maicomc490t]

As a Maico nut I want to weigh in on this one.

That 490 was shit hot but I must say as per Michael Katon in THE CASTLE - tell him he's dreaming !!! Just a few TOO many $$$'s

If anyone paid $15K in OZ i'd be very surprised but if he gets it good luck to him. As other posters have pointed out the cost to resto any old MX can be (but doesn't have to be) quite staggering. If you are happy to have an old dunger then good luck to you - it probably won't cost much at all and will often, but not necessarily have looks comensurate with what you spend on it.

That 490 on the other hand was a ground up show queen resto. Go and get a quote to have a wheel professionally rebuilt including the new rim, spokes, blasting and powder coating of the hub, new tyre tube bearings etc PLUS add the labour and then shit yourself - that wheel will cost $600 to $700 easily. Like another poster said too - what is that guys labour worth. I know only too well how long it takes to rebuild top shelf bikes and the guy deserves to get that back don't you think?

As far as comparing it with the 250 that sold for $3550 it's like comparing strawberries and dog turds. The 250 was plainly based on the enduro (GS) model by the engine and frame numbers alone. It was plainly a well used old bike whereas the other was virtually new, but............... and hear is the good bit..............

Before we get all snooty the enduro bike (GS) is a great way for most of us to get a really good Maico for a fraction of the price and there are heaps of GS's in OZ. Contrary to what one guy said the 490 barrel will bolt straight onto the 250 cases and vice versa. The main differences are internal gearing (both primary drive and gearbox and these vary between 250's and 490's too), GS's ran the Bosch ignition (external flywheel) which are good gear, crank, pipe and carby assemblies are different of course between 250 and 490 but the same between MC and GS for the given capacity. Enduro frames have predominately the preferably 'roundback' top tubes  as opposed to the MC's which had the strange "Megaform" type although later MXers had the 'roundback' frames. Additionally, and very easily corrected if you want to have the appearance of a genuine MC, is the enduro ranges additional bracketry and tube work - all of which can be easily and quickly removed with final work being done with a file and emery cloth to produce an almost exact copy of the big buck frame.

I am more than happy to build a bitsa 490 based on a GS250 frame for my son to race, if his busted/plated, rebusted/replated collarbone ever heals that is !!!

By early new year I will have cranked out at least three very genuine andtotally restored MC490T's if anyone is interested so stay tuned and in the meantime just enjoy what you can afford and have FUN.

See at the back of the pack !!!

[paul]

so early next year more torture (CRANCKED OUT MEANS FOR SALE OR SHOW)

[Rossvickicampbell]

and as some of the guys said if you were to do one of these restos and check out what it cost some of the prices are good value for money.  I have my 78CR currently at $5750 - nearly a garage queen, new wheels, spokes etc (as above) blah blah blah and because it was my first resto I didn't know where I could save and the bike actually cost me around $1K more than that to do.  Because it was so "pretty" I went and got another to make a rider and the resto was entirely different?  Should I be selling the 78 for less - will I sell the 78 for less - I dont think so.  It can sit and wait until the prices go up further and I can get what I want as I thought it was a good deal - just need somebody else to think the same!!!

cheers

Rossco