I was looking through some classified ads for older motorcycles the other evening. We all know certain bikes command higher retail values than others for various reasons, but putting aside mileage and servicing for a moment, there are bikes which buck the trend as it were. I'm thinking of '70's stuff like sports mopeds, FS1E, AP50, SS50 etc. RD400 two stroke twins and of course early CB750 Hondas and the ubiquitous Kawasaki Z! and its variants. Its clear that people of a certain age who perhaps had one of these bikes or aspired to owning one who can now afford one are responsible for pushing up the prices of good examples that remain. But my post isn't about these machines, so sorry for the long preamble. The bikes I am going to talk about are currently well under the radar and (I think) provide great value for money. So what are they? Well as its a Triumph forum, I'll start with the Sprint ST1050. These can be bought for less than £2k now, with extras like panniers and a top case I think they offer a fantastic machine for very little money. Another bike I think is in the same ball park are the VFR800 Hondas. I've owned a couple of these in the past and they just do exactly what it says on the tin. There's a Youtube video of John McGuinness blasting one around a race circuit, I think he was quite impressed. You can pick one up and just go straight out and tour on it if you wish. You could get 2 or even 3 of them for the prices being asked for a tidy FS1E. I'll probably get a load of flack from anyone here who owns a 70's sport moped, but what older bikes do you think offer great value for money just now?
For me I'm proper struggling as putting desirable and vfm in the same sentence doesn't quite work. I like two strokes but probably following the norm here so anything " nice" is now silly priced and likely to be far in excess of what the new price was. I had a picture somewhere of a 1980's price list, it made an interesting read when comparing to current prices. For me a real unsung hero was the Yamaha Thundercat yzf 600. As a previous owner, a restoration project of one of those I'd certainly consider. Also howabout an early zzr1100? You certainly get a lot of engine and performance with one of those.
Here you go, I've found the 1983 price list in amongst my picture gallery that I mentioned above. It makes very interesting reading, don't you think, when viewed against current asking prices?
I have a 1980 Motorcycle Show magazine and a strange attraction to owning a Lambretta (old mod that I am!) - comparing prices for a Lambretta SX/GP200.... Lambretta GP200 - £488 in the 1980 show guide Taiwan built new model Lambretta 200 Special today - £3599 Chinese built Royal Alloy "replica" of original '60's Lambretta SX/GP - £5,500 About the same for a decent, running, original Italian Lambretta and around £7,000 or more for a fully restored one! I saw one in a recent magazine with matching numbers at £12,000, and Paul Weller's SX went for £32,200 at auction a couple of years ago! Not that I was looking, or thinking of buying, but nostalgia is a powerful thing.
For a proper bike, I met a guy recently on a nice 80's Yamaha SR500 single, lots of traditional charm and he mentioned reasonable costs to buy and run. That could be a nice old(ish) classic.
Just looking at the price of a FS1E on that list of £439. I paid less than that for a brand new RD200 in 1975, so everything is relative. I was earning about £20 a week back then as an apprentice. The first house my girlfriend and I bought in 1980 cost less than £10k.
I was just looking at those earlier after reading @johne original post. I had one back in the day. Brilliant fun, embarrassed a few people around the TT circuit as I didn't have to shut off! It ended up in a skip unfortunately
Totally agree. That's why I won't sell my 2005 ST1050. It works very well, don't cost me a lot in insurance, so despite I just bought a new bike that one stay in the garage so far. If I had to absolutely sell it will go for little money (1500-1700 Eur) I guess.
