Two out of three ain’t bad?

[willowstreetguzziguy]

Performance – Reliability - Cost/Expense

Watched a video the other week where the guy was talking about four-wheel vehicles and when you buy new or used, you can generally get one maybe two of these but never all three. The definition of each is probably up for debate, here are three examples…

2008 Audi V10 S6 147,000 miles $19,000  …..performance.  Not reliability and price (imagine the cost of repairs!)
2008 Honda Accord 200,000 miles $4,000  …price. Not performance. ~reliability, ~cost?
New Subaru Forester ~$38,000. …reliability, Not performance, or cost/price

Those three words can only be defined by the owner! What to one owner may be great performance is to another owner sub-par performance. Lack of reliability to one owner, may be something that you just put up with when you own that vehicle for another owner. A lot of dollars spent on a vehicle to one owner may be a drop in the bucket to someone who has a lot of money. As I thought more about it, it’s probably true in most cases with for wheel vehicles. There may be a few exceptions.

So how does this theory translate to motorcycles? Can you get all three?
Performance, reliability and for a good price?

[n3303j]

Lots of V11EVs around that are reliable, perform well and sell short. That's about it though.

[Oca Grassa]

I’m not understanding your posit.

Of course it’s possible in motorcycles. GSXR1000 anyone? ZX10? R1?

All of them have performance in spades. None are particularly expensive to buy or maintain. Reliability also well into the higher end of the spectrum. Style? That’s a matter of opinion. The rest of the equation as originally posited is backed up by the numbers.


If the question is limited to MotoGuzzi only….or Italian makes specifically….then the answer changes a bit.

 To equal the Japanese bike in pure HP numbers, you’d have to go to V4 Ducatis and Aprilias…and maybe inline 4 MVs. Reliable? Maybe not as reliable as the Japanese. Costs to buy and then maintain….more than the Japanese bikes. In some cases significantly so.

Style? Absolutely. And in spades.

[Perazzimx14]

Would you not have to define Performance, Reliability and cost/expense to be able to answer the question?

A 10,000HP top fuel car that its engine hold together for a total of 120 seconds of total run time including a 1000 foot at full power run is all three. A CT90 that hauls you around the campground also has all three depending on how you define them and what they are relative too.

[PeteS]

With bikes, price and reliability are pretty easy to find. Performance needs numbers like <10 second quarters and >160 mph top speed. Insert your criteria here.
Even bikes like that can be had for under $5K

Pete

[Stretch]

i think it's a great time to buy a used motorbike.

There are some incredible deals on decent bikes out on craigslist every week.

Even on BringATrailer. Ducati ST3S - https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-ducati-st3s-abs/
This will almost certainly go for under $4K. How much more performance is needed?

Or this one? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-ducati-st2-3/w (I should have aggressively
bid on this one - it had ALL the farkles! Oh, well.....)

This is just one make/model, but go look out for BMW R1150RT or similar on craigslist.
There are some seriously nice bikes out there for less than $5K these days. Sometimes
WAY less than $5K.

And if you want a big metric cruiser - C90T, Stratoliner, Yamaha V-4, GoldWing, etc., they're
almost giving some of them away. (GoldWings are a little pricier and tend to have more miles,
but there are still some great deals if you want a nice bike to go touring on.)

                                                                      -Stretch

[Moparnut72]

You are asking this on a Guzzi site so I would suggest a late model V7. Reasonable performance. Good reliability hardly ever hear of problems. Cost is very reasonable new, more so used. The cost to maintain is very low if you can turn a wrench. As a bonus it will never go out of style.
kk

[Motormike]

Interesting about the ST3 on Bring-a-trailer.  With 31+ thousand miles, it's a high milage Ducati.  Not surprised there is little interest in it.  I have a very similar ST4s I've listed on Facebook Marketplace.  The bike has 27 thousand miles on it and I've had ZERO interest even accepting offers.  Have sold bikes on Bring-a-trailer, I would not bother trying to list with them unless the motorcycle in question is unique or has some collectable value.  They are a PITA to deal with IMHO.  They want dozens and dozens of photos, service records (I do all my own mtc. so screw that) and pressure you to list without a reserve.  All the action on BaT occurs in the last 30 minutes of the auction, so it will be interesting to see what it finally goes for.
Many years ago, I had a Ducati collector tell me "a Ducati with over 10,000 miles on it is all but valueless, no one wants the risk of owning it."  An exaggeration perhaps, but his point is well made.  I watched a recent Youtube video that showed how older high-milage Japanese bikes command a much higher price in the used market than BMW's, Ducati, and (dare I say it) Moto Guzzi.  Same for high-milage cars.

[Stretch]

You help to make my point, MotorMike: Lotsa good stuff out there for relatively
short money these days! 

5 years ago or so it was more of a seller's market; today things seem to have cooled
off enough to be more of a buyer's market.

                                                          -Stretch

[Oca Grassa]

Too true. 5 years ago was - pricing. Lots of people with money to spend on the bikes that excited them in their youth.

Some bikes, those prices never returned to reality. Others have and still others have tanked completely.

Ducati STs….all over the map dependent on 2/3/4/4S. There’s an ST4S in the dark matte gray with red wheels that been on CL here off and on over the last 5 years. Price has never changed. ST2s I see regularly in the high $2Ks around here.

Air cooled Monsters all but disappeared on CL during - as did all the air cooled SuperSports. If you found one listed it was well into the $5K range regardless of mileage. Low mileage ones the ask was in the $7Ks. Now they’re more realistic and in the $3-4K range.

What I find odd is the Terblanche era designs didn’t return to their pre - levels. Used to be one could find a ‘99 or later 900SS listed for next to peanuts. Just before - hit, I’d seen a couple listed for below $2K. The ask for those now is in the $5K range.

Outside of Ducati specific stuff, it’s amazing what’s trading in the used market for $3K & under.

[Motormike]

I have an even better example.  Not so many years ago, an excellent condition Honda GB500 (retro Brit styled single way ahead of it's time) would sell for $9000 even $10,000 dollars! Now there are two on Facebook marketplace in the $5-6000 range with (apparently) no takers.

[PeteS]

Some twenty plus years ago the Japanese were buying up their bikes made in the 60s-70s and paying a premium. A local who had previously owned a dealership was buying them up and shipping containers full over to Japan for at least double what they were going for in the US. No idea if that market still exists today.

Pete

[LowRyter]

I won't comment on motorcycles, but the Accord punches above it's weight regarding performance. They handle nicely and have enough zip to be entraining.   

[Motormike]

That high-milage ST3 ABS went for $3000 on Bring-a-Trailer.  That's about right. 

[steven c]

 I had a Honda St1100 for a little while with 74K on it that I bought off a late friends estate, no issues, ran fine. I would have loved to have kept it but it was to big for me.