Motorcycles that sell for a surprisingly high amount used...watcha think?

[markw]

I look at prices of used Harleys (in general) and I just don't get it. Perhaps because the bikes themselves don't speak to me - but when you compare to equally (or more) capable Japanese cruisers, I just don't understand the premium for used Harleys.

PS - this is fun contrast to the "bang for buck" thread.  Good idea.

The upside is that the premium pays off when you come to sell..

[Clancy]

My old '78 CX500 cost me a few hundred bucks back in '91.
A couple of years later I picked up a second one for parts for under a hundred from a service centre .
Got to know that thing inside & out during those recession/poverty years.

Thought I might scrounge around and get one as a cheap project............ !
I KNOW there not worth the asking prices.

[Muzz]

I have always wanted a GB500 Honda thumper clubman replica. They did not sell very well when new (I should have bought a leftover model when dealers where giving them away! DOH!).
I see the are higher than a cats back now!

Pretty common to see them for over $5,000!
I used to know Harleys pretty well back in the day 1980's but really lost interest in them when every poser in the world has to have one but they seem to bring an awful lot used now ?!?!?!

Bought a GB400 brand new.  $2600 new from memory. Had to sell it with 28,000kms on the clock.  Seen them now wanting over 6 grand (NZ) now.  Loved the bike, and the 400 motor was less prone to top end failure than the 500.

[Triple Jim]

I look at prices of used Harleys (in general) and I just don't get it. Perhaps because the bikes themselves don't speak to me - but when you compare to equally (or more) capable Japanese cruisers, I just don't understand the premium for used Harleys.

I have to wonder  how much of it is because the name "Harley-Davidson" sounds cool.  Would they command a premium if the guys happened to have the names Snodgrass and Pinkney?  "I just bought a Snodgrass-Pinkney "Road King".

What do you think?

[oldbike54]

I have to wonder  how much of it is because the name "Harley-Davidson" sounds cool.  Would they command a premium if the guys happened to have the names Snodgrass and Pinkney?  "I just bought a Snodgrass-Pinkney "Road King".

What do you think?

 Or , as it really should have been , Davidson Harley . Of course , the first time seeing the name Kawasaki as a boy of about 10 , my adolescent brain read KawaLski , as in a Polish motorbike . Ahh , what could have been . Or , as my really cute GF in HS that had an ever so slight speech problem , KaMasaki  Good grief she was SO cute 

  Dusty

[Lannis]

I have to wonder  how much of it is because the name "Harley-Davidson" sounds cool.  Would they command a premium if the guys happened to have the names Snodgrass and Pinkney?  "I just bought a Snodgrass-Pinkney "Road King".

What do you think?

The local chain of nursing homes is called "Runk and Pratt" and they don't have a problem.

Neither does the local funeral home "Bruce and Stiff".

Or the local engineering firm "Hurt and Proffit".    I'm not making these up ....

"Harley Davidson" might have sounded stupid if they weren't a 112 year old American Icon.    And "Wanker and Grindeylow" might have sounded cool if they were the original company ....

Lannis

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The first 3 or 4 years of the gold wing (naked) has really gone up in the last 5 years. From what I have seen they have about tripled in value in that time. Probably will go way up from where we are too.

Really? A friend has a cosmetically excellent yellow '76 that needs a water pump and carbs cleaned. He can't get any interest, even at $1500.

[Triple Jim]

"Harley Davidson" might have sounded stupid if they weren't a 112 year old American Icon.    And "Wanker and Grindeylow" might have sounded cool if they were the original company ....

I understand your point, but I don't think it holds for tough-guy wannabees.  Indian, Henderson... maybe it could be argued that they sound cool enough.  Armstrong-Wolf probably.

[LowRyter]

so is the GB500 a better collectable than an SR500? 

I always thought that Yamaha nailed in so far as looking like a Manx. 

[oldbike54]

so is the GB500 a better collectable than an SR500? 

I always thought that Yamaha nailed in so far as looking like a Manx.

 The Honda was a bit more performance oriented .

  Dusty

[canuck750]

Really? A friend has a cosmetically excellent yellow '76 that needs a water pump and carbs cleaned. He can't get any interest, even at $1500.

Even 1st generation Goldwings in very nice shape don't attract big $$, They are great bikes, reliable, parts are readily available but the collector market has just passed them by. A good friend has his original 76, a 77m 78... and so on, nice bikes but highly collectable, not.

On the other hand from the same vintage a 76 Yamaha XT500 (one year with the unique exhaust), a RD350, a RD350LC, and even the YR5 are getting silly money. But the real big bucks seem to be in the Kawasaki camp with the early triples and the original Z1 models at the summit.

One would think the Honda CBX would be worth more than the Kawasaki but the 6 cylinder technical marvel from Honda is on where close to the value of a nice Z1.

[jumpmaster]

Really? A friend has a cosmetically excellent yellow '76 that needs a water pump and carbs cleaned. He can't get any interest, even at $1500.

Charlie - I'd be interested if it was a little cosmetically challenged & the carbs & water pump were "excellent."  Seems to me that one of the few criticisms of the early Goldwings was that the carbs were a bear to access & work on.  I know nothing about how hard the water pump is to get at.  I do know that parts availability for Goldwings in 1984 was horrendous, even for a new bike!  I can't imagine that it would be better 31 years later.  I could get parts for my 9 y.o. (at that time) Norton (company had been out of business for essentially 9 years at that time) more easily & quickly than I could get them for my 6 mo. old Golddwing.

[wymple]

I have a 77 Wing that was GIVEN to me a few weeks ago. While it was a rat bike, it's taking shape pretty well for no real money yet. Rear brake pads are the only item I've spent gold on, and vinegar to clean out the tank. Everything else has come out of the garage so far. It runs great. I'll get a picture up. I think it would have to be clean and fairly original to carry any value. If the 1st 3-4 years are climbing in value, it's because guys like me can actually work on them and not break the bank doing it. It didn't take Honda but a few years to make them complicated and very expensive to repair. Price an electric fuel pump sometime.

[Lannis]

I understand your point, but I don't think it holds for tough-guy wannabees.  Indian, Henderson... maybe it could be argued that they sound cool enough.  Armstrong-Wolf probably.

But it's not the combination of letters that makes something sound "cool" or "silly", it's the associations to which those words apply.

Look at what's happened to the words over the years that we've used to refer to those with mental or developmental disabilities.

People have always tried to come up with, and use, objective, non-perjorative words to use in that context.

We started with "Idiot" and "Cretin" for certain levels of disability.   But then people started using them as insults and ...

... we went with "Feeble-Minded".   That was supposed to be gentle and descriptive, until stupid people started using THAT as an insult and a perjorative.   (What is today Central Virginia Training School used to be "Colony for the Feeble-Minded").

... so we went with "Retarded".   Again, started as an objective, caring, descriptive term until people started calling other people "Tards" and "REE-tards" and that made it ugly.

... and now we're into "Special", and you watch, that one's going to go the same way.

So it's the use that makes the word "good" or "bad", not the other way around.   I'm telling you that if the two fellows who developed the American motorcycle had been named "Pugsley" and "Hufflewump", people would proudly be wearing the "Pugsley and Hufflewump" logo today, and nobody would think it was the least bit silly; quite the opposite, in fact ......

Lannis

[Lannis]

Charlie - I'd be interested if it was a little cosmetically challenged & the carbs & water pump were "excellent."  Seems to me that one of the few criticisms of the early Goldwings was that the carbs were a bear to access & work on.  I know nothing about how hard the water pump is to get at.  I do know that parts availability for Goldwings in 1984 was horrendous, even for a new bike!  I can't imagine that it would be better 31 years later.  I could get parts for my 9 y.o. (at that time) Norton (company had been out of business for essentially 9 years at that time) more easily & quickly than I could get them for my 6 mo. old Golddwing.

Friend of mine who's not into motorcycles but wants to be, called me the other night and said he had a line on a '76 GL1000 that looked to be in good condition, everything there and stock, with Windjammer and Bates gear, but "needs the carbs cleaned" to run, for $400.

He doesn't know anything about bikes and doesn't work on them himself, so I warned him off of it, but I'm sure there are deals like that everywhere these days .... Although depending on what's wrong, "Free" might be too expensive ....

Lannis

[Triple Jim]

I'm telling you that if the two fellows who developed the American motorcycle had been named "Pugsley" and "Hufflewump", people would proudly be wearing the "Pugsley and Hufflewump" logo today, and nobody would think it was the least bit silly; quite the opposite, in fact ......

I'll go as far as Pugsley-Wolf.     

[oldbike54]

I'll go as far as Pugsley-Wolf.     

 Allis-Chalmers ? Or what if Louis Chevrolet had not been a famous race car driver , would we have bought the Durant ?


  Dusty

[wymple]

Here is my free Wing, a 77. It doesn't look like much but it's straight and mechanically sorted pretty well. Sounds very good, no carb work, no leaks anywhere. That's a Guzzi rear fender & headlight, a Virago tail light, aftermarket mufflers stuck on there from a Guzzi project we didn't use. If it hadn't been a good runner with only cosmetic issues, I would not have bothered. It will be decent for the spring, and my son has already laid claim to it. He thinks they're cool.





Here's a shot stripped down straight from the car wash



And it wasn't worth anything to the PO, who was afraid of a money pit. I don't think much collectible.

[Triple Jim]

Allis-Chalmers ?

That's a cool sounding name for sure.  Cool like Massey-Ferguson and Bucyrus-Erie.  Not Cockshutt.

[oldbike54]

That's a cool sounding name for sure.  Cool like Massey-Ferguson and Bucyrus-Erie.  Not Cockshutt.

 Could be why Cockshutt tractors were marketed in the states as CO-OP 

 See the USA in your .... Durant  If I was going to start a MC company it would be called ...


                                                                        The Acme Peerless

  Dusty

[Lannis]

Allis-Chalmers ? Or what if Louis Chevrolet had not been a famous race car driver , would we have bought the Durant ?


  Dusty

We sure bought a lot of "Buicks", which sounds like someone vomiting.   And "Locomobiles" back in the day.   

And the Subaru Justy.   What was up with that?   Or the Honda "Benly"?   Do the Japanese not know that these names mean nothing in English?

[Lannis]

If I was going to start a MC company it would be called ...


                                                                        The Acme Peerless

  Dusty

Too late!  Since about 1955, the only thing that people would associate that with would be Wile E. Coyote waving goodbye to the camera as he went over the cliff ....

Lannis

[oldbike54]

Too late!  Since about 1955, the only thing that people would associate that with would be Wile E. Coyote waving goodbye to the camera as he went over the cliff ....

Lannis

 Yeah , but think of the name recognition  Seriously , doubt if anyone much under 45 would associate Acme with
Wile E .

                                                                       
  Dusty

[Rox]

There are a ton of bikes out there that go for way too much money for what they are .
One that was mentioned was the Ducati Sport Classics .. I remember when dealers couldn't sell them for cost .. Now they want as much for one as a new Duc.
CB750s are another . Great bikes . There were plenty of them at one time but then they got popular with the hipsters . I used to own a caffed one and sold it for chump change . Lester mags , Full system, race carbs , etc. If I held onto it I probably could of gotten 6-7k for it .
   I'll get flogged for saying this but a first generation 850 Lemans. It's my dream bike too. But are they really worth 15-20k$? 
   Triumph T120 and T140s were fetching big money for a while but have stabilized . Lots of the European stuff fetches too much money but people pay it .
    New Bonnevilles go for too much too. I remember when I wrecked my 2006 with 30k on the clock.. I got what I paid for it . I thought that was absurd but I certainly didn't complain when  I got the check...

[Lannis]

Yeah , but think of the name recognition  Seriously , doubt if anyone much under 45 would associate Acme with
Wile E .

                                                                       
  Dusty

Under 45?   Just young punks, they don't count ..... 

[wymple]

"  I'll get flogged for saying this but a first generation 850 Lemans. It's my dream bike too. But are they really worth 15-20k$? "

You won't get flogged by me, but I've never seen one personally sell anywhere near that. Are people really asking that?

[oldbike54]

 I don't think anyone has mentioned Cushman , or the 1969 sandcast CB750 Honda . The Honda will bring stupid money , and who in their right mind would want a Cushman  Several years ago we witnessed a supposedly factory built Whizzer sell for something like $6K at a Mid America auctionin Dallas .

  Dusty

[wymple]

Those old Cushmans show up at antique steam engine shows and such, but I never see one getting ridden. Parts are stupidly high. My nephew has one.

[Rox]

"  I'll get flogged for saying this but a first generation 850 Lemans. It's my dream bike too. But are they really worth 15-20k$? "

You won't get flogged by me, but I've never seen one personally sell anywhere near that. Are people really asking that?

Yes . Are they getting that? I don't know.  I just saw a 850T dressed like a LeMans going to 10k. MarkIV LeMans' in good shape will get more . Maybe it's just my area. I'm in SoCal.... 

[Triple Jim]

Do the Japanese not know that these names mean nothing in English?

I'm sure they do.  They often name things based on how pleasant the name sounds to them, rather then what meaning it has.  When I was in Japan, I saw a sports drink called "Pocari Sweat", a disco called "Finger Pop 101", and three cigarette brands called Caster, Cabin, and Mild Seven.