Value of an 87 lemans se excellent condition?

[kah68]

Owner states he purchased at super low mileage and never rode it, only stored it. He is selling now, if it's complete and original in excellent condition what would the approximate value be today?

[TN Mark]

The ones with the 16” front wheel weren’t liked much by the Guzzi crowd. It’s a near 40 model old, not terribly collectible Moto Guzzi.
Post a picture or a link. But, around $3,500 to a very high of $4,500.
Or, I could be way off base. Old doesn’t mean sought after or valuable. Especially regarding Moto Guzzi motorcycles.

What’s the asking price?

[blu guzz]

One question is whether you would be buying it to ride or buying it as a piece of artwork.  If you want to ride it and it has sat for decades, you will have to replace every piece of rubber and plastic on it or it will leak like a sieve.  Lots of other reasons to go through it also.

[kah68]

One question is whether you would be buying it to ride or buying it as a piece of artwork.  If you want to ride it and it has sat for decades, you will have to replace every piece of rubber and plastic on it or it will leak like a sieve.  Lots of other reasons to go through it also.

The plan would be to keep it in climate controlled storage and ride it a handful of times a year, I would need to find a shop with the knowledge to bring it back to life.

[Dave Swanson]

The plan would be to keep it in climate controlled storage and ride it a handful of times a year, I would need to find a shop with the knowledge to bring it back to life.

There might be one or two shops in all of Canada I would trust to bring that bike back to life.  Where are you located?  Canada is a big place. 

[guzzisteve]

I would say $5K tops in non running condition. 87's were red & white and had 16" front tire. I set them up new & they ran like crap with stock jetting.

[guzziart]

The ones with the 16” front wheel weren’t liked much by the Guzzi crowd. It’s a near 40 model old, not terribly collectible Moto Guzzi.
Post a picture or a link. But, around $3,500 to a very high of $4,500.
Or, I could be way off base. Old doesn’t mean sought after or valuable. Especially regarding Moto Guzzi motorcycles.

I like my awesome running SE, 16" front wheel and all, for $4500 I'll instruct my wife let the thing rot in the garage after I'm gone.  The only problem is I'm aging out of it after 16 years of ownership.

I would say $5K tops in non running condition. 87's were red & white and had 16" front tire. I set them up new & they ran like crap with stock jetting.

I agree on the price for non-runner & the jetting.  When I got mine it was obvious someone had been in the carbs, it ran like crap but then too, it had been in storage for almost a decade.  Ed Milich (Guzzi Power) had raced these and developed a "recipe" for the jetting.  After some fiddling and not much success, I ran across his recipe and reached out to him to see if he thought his recipe was still solid.  So, I set up the carbs based on Ed's recipe, did some very slight tweaking until the plug chops and overall performance were to my satisfaction.  In retrospect, I'm glad i went through the effort, the bike is awesome, it put my v11 Lemans to shame.

Hey Kah68,
If you're looking for a runner, mine is for sale.
1987 Lemans IV SE, Red/White, 31K miles, 16’ front wheel, HB-Jr 30L bags with luggage rack, new tires, head guards, Spiegler stainless steel braided brake lines, new grips, fresh fluid change, head re-torque, valve clearance check/adjust, timing & point gap check/adjust, newer plug wires.  Headlight, ignition coils & starter circuits on relays. Delrin manifolds with K & N pod filters (original air box included).  Recent Odyssey battery. Recent Valeo starter (original included). Owner & shop manual.  Also included: new unused OE red saddle with white pin stripe, new white under engine spoiler, new left/right handle bar switches and misc. spare parts.  Nice condition, runs great, $7000. 

[TN Mark]

The plan would be to keep it in climate controlled storage and ride it a handful of times a year, I would need to find a shop with the knowledge to bring it back to life.

That ‘could’ cost as much as the purchase of the bike.

[kah68]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Located in Ontario, the owner thinks it is very valuable mid teens U.S.D. It's reasonably close to me so I might go up for a looksee but I'm not going anywhere near that price. Art I will consider your offer, where are you located?

K

[Turin]

There was a 350 mile convert that sold recently for big $$$ ( for a vert) Mark Etheridge at MG Classics has had to do a lot of work chasing leaks. I'd rather have a bike with miles that's been ridden and serviced, than one that's just sat and been neglected.

[faffi]

Anything made to move that is kept stationary will decay, be that vehicles or living bodies. Both may look good on the outside, but the inside will take a toll from inactivity.

[Dave Swanson]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Located in Ontario, the owner thinks it is very valuable mid teens U.S.D. It's reasonably close to me so I might go up for a looksee but I'm not going anywhere near that price. Art I will consider your offer, where are you located?

K

Mid teens is a fever dream for that bike.  He must be thinking he has a V7 Sport, Lemans I or a 1000S on his hands.

[Dave Swanson]

There is a nice 84 Lemans just listed on Marketplace in the Cincinnati area.  Ask is 8K which is I think is optimistic.  But it appears to be a well sorted bike ready to ride.  i believe his ad at that price will be met with the sound crickets.  In a few weeks I would bet the price will come down.

GuzziArts is a well sorted bike also.   Both are nice ones. 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/845314101960945/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

[wirespokes]

When I got my 87 about 9 years ago it had 24K on the clock. It had something like five or six owners. Each kept it for a few years, put very few miles on it and spent a bunch on 'upgrades' and shop work. The last owner lived in the bay area and one of the reasons he gave for selling was poor service. After seeing things like the timing, valves, carbs and synch being off I'd have to agree. A lot of the add ons hadn't been installed correctly, and it still had the overly-stiff throttle springs. I could certainly understand why none of the owners had ridden it very much. And yes, the factory jetting was pure crap! Once I got everything sorted out with the bike running well and getting high 40mpg, there was still something else. It just didn't handle right, and it wasn't the 16" wheel - it had already been converted to 18. It was the 80 series tires. With the 120x90 and 100x90 it finally handled well. The LM1000 is an amazing bike, but you'd better know how to work on it and be able to sort it out or you'll never be happy with it.

[Turin]

$8K right now is a little high, but then again, you need to start high on Facebook marketplace. 8K was possible couple of years ago on BAT. That III looks really clean. The III's seem to get more money than the Lemans 1000.
I have both a III and a 1000. If I had to pick between the two, the 1000 would be winner hands down. (the III is prettier).

[Turin]

Here's a nice Lemans on FB marketplace. https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/2109741539598504?media_id=1&ref=share_attachment

[Chuck in Indiana]

The plan would be to keep it in climate controlled storage and ride it a handful of times a year, I would need to find a shop with the knowledge to bring it back to life.

If you have to pay a shop to "bring it back to life" you can't afford it.  That sort of work is a labor of love and will take hours and hours.
You are *much* better off buying a sorted bike from an enthusiast. Trust me on this..

[MikeP996]

Sounds like the owner of the bike in the original post has a serious case of "I own it so it's therefore worth a lot!"

FWIW, being new to MG I get the impression that they tend to lose value more quickly than most motorcycles and also change hands more frequently.  I bought my '21 V7 Special in '25 and am the fourth owner.  Four owners in four years makes me think that the previous owners may have wanted to "try out" a MG V7 and quickly decided it wasn't for them.  This despite one of the owners installing Mistral muffs, the "velocity stack" with KN filter, and fully adjustable front fork cartridges/rear shocks.  TBF, I bought it for exactly the reason I suggested - to "try out" a Moto Guzzi, never having owned, ridden or even sat on one in my rather lengthy motorcycle "career."  AND the price was a "can't pass up" deal.

So far I think it's a great bike...and now that I own it it's worth mid teens USD, I'm sure!!!   

[Tom]

Took me a while to figure out the problem with my '87 LeMans SE.  It still has the 16" front wheel.  Went through the carbs twice.  Rebuild kits.  Rt side was running way too rich.  Lft side okay.  Checked the points etc.  Chasing gremlins.  Each time pausing a couple of months in between because everything checked out.  The third time, almost a year later.  I was sitting on a work stool staring at the bike with the problem carb in my hand...thinking WTF.

I had not drained the carb just by chance, I moved the accelerator pump arm and it shot a gas stream.  To confirm what I saw I aimed away from the garage.  I had a stream of gas shooting about 6 - 10 ft.  Pulling the left side carb and doing a comparison.  Way less.  Both crabs had the yellow paint on the adjustment screws from the factory.  Probably the reason the bike had low mileage on it and was traded in to the Suzuki dealer in Honolulu.  Adjusting the accelerator pump on the right side to match the left has the performance of the bike where it should be.   

[wirespokes]

Took me a while to figure out the problem with my '87 LeMans SE.  Adjusting the accelerator pump on the right side to match the left has the performance of the bike where it should be.   

Those unexpected and weird problems can sure be frustrating. But boy is it satisfying once they're all sorted.

[Tom]

Yeah, the cure was by accident.  Seems that maybe too much grappa on their siesta break at Cafe Hardy before returning to the assembly line.
 

[Turin]

Nothing wrong with that 16" rim. You coming out to AZ anytime soon? Tracy still talks about that side car ride 

[faffi]

Speaking of carb issues. My Daybird developed an issue with the carb body itself, likely a crack, but never found anything. But the cylinder connected to it ran rich, and got worse. Replaced every single part in it, no change. Fitted another body, using the internals from the bad carb,cand all was good.

[Tusayan]

I may be in the minority but I think right now there are wonderful bikes, Guzzis very much included, that once seemed expensive to me but now in comparison with new bikes seem dirt cheap.  $4K or $6K in 2026, whether we like it or not, does not go very far in daily life.  Meanwhile any Le Mans from 1976 through 1991 is a wonderful motorcycle that can be fixed forever and will always be a pleasure to own and ride.  I’d agree that if you have to pay somebody else to resurrect a bike that’s been sitting it doesn’t make sense financially, but otherwise I’ve found that here are bikes out there that I like a lot, at prices that seem to me low.  With a couple of months of spare time effort and circa $2K of parts (that’s what it seems to take) you can have a very nice bike that’s more maintainable that’s anything you could buy new today.

Have you looked for example at how much new BMWs cost in 2026?  Go to the dealer and you’ll likely see a row of them with OTD price tags starting with a ‘3’, meaning circa $32K for a GS. That makes zero sense to me.

In 2018 I bought an ST4 Ducati with 7K miles in mint cosmetic condition for $4K.  The original owner paid more than $15K in 1999, when considering Staintune pipes and other upgrades.  In the end I was into it $6K (cylinders had be resealed) but it still looks wonderful and I have no plans to sell it after 8 years.  My current projects are a 1200 miles since new ‘86 Laverda SFC 1000 that I bought about a month ago ($12K, I wanted it, there are only about 10 in the US and I may have paid too much), and a 10K miles ‘01 BMW K1200RS ($5K, in almost perfect shape, just a weekend project).  Meanwhile I’m selling my immaculate V85TT and anybody could buy it from me for $6K with bags.  These values do make sense to me.

From my point of view a nice LM IV at current market prices is very attractive because it looks better than anything new, rides nicely, and is simple to own and fix forever.

(Typos fixed)

[Chuck in Indiana]

I may be in the minority but I think right now there are wonderful bikes, Guzzis very much included, that once seemed expensive to me but now in comparison with new bikes seem dirt cheap.  $4K or $6K in 2026, whether we like it or not, does not go very far in daily life.  Meanwhile any Le Mans from 1976 through 1991 is a wonderful motorcycle that can be fixed forever and will always be a pleasure to own and ride.  I’d agree that if you have to pay somebody else to resurrect a bike that’s been sitting it doesn’t make sense financially, but otherwise I’ve found that here are bikes out there that I like a lot, at prices that seem to me low.  With a couple of months of spare time effort and circa $2K of parts (that’s what it seems to take) you can have a very nice bike that’s more maintainable that’s anything you could buy new today.

Have you looked for example at how much new BMWs cost in 2026?  Go to the dealer and you’ll likely see a row of them with OTD price tags starting with a ‘3’, meaning circa $32K for a GS. That makes zero sense to me.

In 2018 I bought an ST4 Ducati with 7K miles in mint cosmetic condition for $4K.  The original owner paid more than $15K in 1999, when considering Staintune pipes and other upgrades.  In the end I was into it $6K (cylinders had be resealed) but it still looks wonderful and I have no plans to sell it after 8 years.  My current projects are a 1200 miles since new ‘86 Laverda SFC 1000 that I bought about a month ago ($12K, I wanted it, there are only about 10 in the US and I may have paid too much), and a 10K miles ‘01 BMW K1200RS ($5K, in almost perfect shape, just a weekend project).  Meanwhile I’m selling my immaculate V85TT and anybody could buy it from me for $6K with bags.  These values do make sense to me.

From my point of view a nice LM IV at current market prices is very attractive because it looks better than anything new, rides nicely, and is simple to own and fix forever.

(Typos fixed)

I agree with this. I was only trying to get the OP to realize what he was getting into if he had to *pay* to get in in good shape. I have seen people pass on a sorted bike for 5K and then buy a project for 3.5. 

[Groover]

Non-runner, crated sold for this in 2020 for 22k. I wonder where this one is now (they called it a 3)

[kidsmoke]

I loved the 16" wheel on my LM1000. And remember the last international race won on a Guzzi was won on a LM1000 with a 16" front wheel.

If you have to pay a shop to "bring it back to life" you can't afford it.  That sort of work is a labor of love and will take hours and hours.
You are *much* better off buying a sorted bike from an enthusiast. Trust me on this..

The most important variable in buying a used Guzzi is, aside from being honest about your OWN mechanical willingness/aptitude, is the the mechanical aptitude of the seller.

Here to tell you the the most reliable Guzzi I've ever owned was 42 years old at the time of purchase, had 103K miles on the odo (had gone a good many additional miles with no speedo cable a time or two) and to this day runs solid and doesn't leak...simply because it never stopped to collect dust and had been owned by 'enthusiasts'. One of 'em a pilot named Chuck, come to think of it. 

Faffi's comment about 'anything made for motion that sits stationary will decay' couldn't be truer.

I currently own 4 Guzzi's. 3 purchased from professional mechanics. 1 purchased from a collector and so pretty to look at. Guess which gives me grief.

[SIR REAL ED]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Located in Ontario, the owner thinks it is very valuable mid teens U.S.D. It's reasonably close to me so I might go up for a looksee but I'm not going anywhere near that price. Art I will consider your offer, where are you located?

K

A buddy of mine in Ontario and I recently had a discussion about him buying a bike from the US.  He was interested in the GB500 discussed in another thread. 

If i understood him correctly, an older bike must be stone stock and the condition verified by a motorcycle dealer who is familiar with that specific model.  He also talked about a 6.5% tax imposed on imported vehicles.  After he did the research, he was glad he did not buy anything at his last trip to Mid-Ohio for the Vintage Motorcycle Days.

[SIR REAL ED]

Hey Kah68,
If you're looking for a runner, mine is for sale.
1987 Lemans IV SE, Red/White, 31K miles, 16’ front wheel, HB-Jr 30L bags with luggage rack, new tires, head guards, Spiegler stainless steel braided brake lines, new grips, fresh fluid change, head re-torque, valve clearance check/adjust, timing & point gap check/adjust, newer plug wires.  Headlight, ignition coils & starter circuits on relays. Delrin manifolds with K & N pod filters (original air box included).  Recent Odyssey battery. Recent Valeo starter (original included). Owner & shop manual.  Also included: new unused OE red saddle with white pin stripe, new white under engine spoiler, new left/right handle bar switches and misc. spare parts.  Nice condition, runs great, $7000. 

I think I saw this bike recently on FaceBook.  Beautiful bike!!