Real cost of owning old bikes (some Guzzi content)

[Testarossa]

Years ago Peter Egan wrote a column in which he calculated the daily cost of his old-bike addiction -- he added up everything he'd spent on purchase, restoration, maintenance, insurance and registration, then subtracted the selling prices and market value of bikes still owned, and found that owning several dozen bikes over five decades or so had cost less than $1 a day -- not including fuel and oil.

I did the same math and came up with about 85 cents a day over 48 years. Never having purchased a new motorcycle of course, and valuing my own wrenching at one cent per hour. Nor does it account for opportunity cost: How much might I have earned if I'd put those rebuild hours into some productive activity?

At age 69, if I were to buy a new bike and ride until I'm 80 (let's say $15,000 all in, less $5000 resale value), with license and insurance I get about $4 per day without dealer maintenance costs.  That might be worth it if I hated skinned knuckles and greasy pants.

[Tusayan]

I have one bike that has risen in value by about $3 per day over the 25 year period I've owned it.   Maybe $2/day net increase after expenses

[Testarossa]

You have a Vincent? A Brough?

[Tusayan]

You have a Vincent? A Brough?

A Bevel SS Ducati is the one to which I was referring.

Peter Egan's had several of them but he doesn't seem to keep anything around very long.

[tetarabra]

Any picture of your SS available ?   

[not-fishing]

I'm Sceptical about those "ownership costs".

Heck my California insurance is more than $1 per day alone  I have uninsured motorist at the max and my ex-wife has collected on it once

I'm finding my ATGATT gear also costs a substantial amount. 

So the question is this COST been factored in?  (Aerostich suit that I don't have, Nolan modular that I also don't have, GPS nope again - I use paper , Fancy touring boots nope, Spare Helmet, Spare Spare Helmet..........

I do have Leather winter, mesh Summer jacket, Leather winter pants, multiple gloves, short and tall boots that double as work shoes, packs, glasses etc

Mark

[Rusnak_322]

Well, if like Peter Egan you also do a lot of work and don't pay yourself, than you get a lot of added money to offset your other expenses.

I can take a $2,000 worth of bike and parts and a lot of nights and weekends and turn it into something I can sell for $4k. That can pay for a lot of insurance and gear.

[John Croucher]

I met a man with a 1973 KZ900 Kawasaki with 4,500 miles.  He has paid over $20,000.00 to keep it fully insured.  The bike is worth around $6-$7,500.00.  Pride in ownership is expensive. 

[Tusayan]

I met a man with a 1973 KZ900 Kawasaki with 4,500 miles.  He has paid over $20,000.00 to keep it fully insured.  The bike is worth around $6-$7,500.00.  Pride in ownership is expensive.

I don't buy full insurance for anything, which is BTW one reason to not post photos etc in a public forum.  Liability for my nine bikes (all of them combined) is something like $300/year with National General.  The amount is so small as to be inconsequential.  I added a bike recently and it increased my premium by $40/year.

(I should also add that in 35 years or so of buying vehicle insurance, I have never had a claim on any policy I've bought)

[Dharma Bum]

Somebody referred to the lost opportunity cost of keeping the old iron on the road.  You might want to consider the "avoidance cost", i.e. the trouble and expenses you might have gotten into if you weren't spending your time in your shop!

[lucian]

If rebuilding those  bikes brings you joy I'd say that's  a mighty productive activity. There is no price you can put on happiness, life is too short. 

[not-fishing]

I don't buy full insurance for anything, which is BTW one reason to not post photos etc in a public forum.  Liability for my nine bikes (all of them combined) is something like $300/year with National General.  The amount is so small as to be inconsequential.  I added a bike recently and it increased my premium by $40/year.

(I should also add that in 35 years or so of buying vehicle insurance, I have never had a claim on any policy I've bought)

Uninsured Motorist is for you're Medical Expenses and other costs when you get hit.  Like I said my first wife collected $300,000 when she was hit by an uninsured motorist.

In California nearly 40% of the accidents are Hit-N-Runs.

My Uninsured Motorist is more than 1/2 of my insurance cost mostly because of "undocumented" motorists with Driver's Licences.

[Groover]

I keep detailed spreadsheets for all my bikes and anything that goes in them starting from the beginning. I don't recommend it, unless you like making yourself sick. Let's put it this way... buying a new bike is actually more frugal 

[Dave Swanson]

Groover,  I am with you, but I am just the opposite.  I don't keep track.  I just have a rough estimate what the cost of the restoration is in my head.    I do all my own restoration work other than paint and plating. 

I always spend more than the bike is worth post restoration, but I could care less.  I love bring old machines back to their former glory, or close to it.

[Testarossa]

Back in 1974 I got to ride a Ducati 750 SS for an afternoon. What a cool machine! I can well imagine its value. NADA says a good one can be worth more than $100,000.

Right now I pay about $350/year for full insurance on my three running bikes; adding a fourth would probably add $50. I've paid as little as $85 for liability only on a single bike. Average it out over the years and it's not very significant.  Of course all my bikes have had low replacement value, and premiums dropped sharply when I left New York, and again when I left California.

ATGATT: Over 48 years I've bought maybe 10 new helmets for an average of about $150 (obviously more money in recent years). That works out to less than 9 cents a day. Three pairs of boots at an average $85, or 1.5 cents per day. Bates leathers $300 in 1975, plus three or four armored jackets at $100 each (Guzzi content!) and some gloves -- let's say $1000 all in over 48 years is another 6 cents a day. So being ATGATT has cost less than 17 cents a day.

Pretty cheap thrills.

[Tusayan]

Back in 1974 I got to ride a Ducati 750 SS for an afternoon. What a cool machine! I can well imagine its value. NADA says a good one can be worth more than $100,000.

My SS is worth maybe a third of that amount, but I didn't pay anywhere near that for it.

Bates leathers $300 in 1975

That made me smile.  I bought my first set in 1987 for $600 and my current set in 1998 for $1100.  Maybe one more set in this riding lifetime 

[Scud]

I've had several vehicles that went up in value... after I sold them. But I enjoyed them while I had them anyway.

Interesting topic and I think my overall cost of ownership has been quite low as well. I don't finance, I carry minimal insurance, but I do proper maintenance.  With some bikes I have gained "sweat-equity" and sold for a small "profit" ...if I don't put value on my labor, which was actually play-time while I enjoyed fixing them up.

Cheaper than therapy too, so there's a cost-savings to throw in the mix.

[Testarossa]

I bought my first set in 1987 for $600 and my current set in 1998 for $1100.  Maybe one more set in this riding lifetime

The leathers are still good but I now own an extra 15 lb that won't squeeze in.

[not-fishing]

  ATGATT:  Three pairs of boots at an average $85, or 1.5 cents per day. Bates leathers $300 in 1975, plus three or four armored jackets at $100 each (Guzzi content!) and some gloves -- let's say $1000 all in over 48 years is another 6 cents a day. So being ATGATT has cost less than 17 cents a day.

Wow I average a pair of boots a year (commuting) have bought two Dianese leather jackets in the last 4 years one was stolen while I was 40 feet away

And I'm not sure I believe that you actually fit your Bates.  Mine I bought back in '77 and there's no way in hell I can zip up the jacket.  I presently have a problem with Dun-Lops

[Testarossa]

You misread what I wrote. I have 15 lb more than I can fit.

[Guzzistajohn]

I keep detailed spreadsheets for all my bikes and anything that goes in them starting from the beginning. I don't recommend it, unless you like making yourself sick. Let's put it this way... buying a new bike is actually more frugal 

Amazing to me that people actually have the time and desire to do things like this.

[Groover]

Amazing to me that people actually have the time and desire to do things like this.

I have 3 houses, 5 motorcycles, 2 cars, 1 job. If I didn't keep track, I'd be belly up and wouldn't even know what or where or why it even happened.

[Sheepdog]

My motorcycle experience is exempt from close cost accounting. I keep all the receipts and I try to be intelligent about purchases, but my bikes are not an investment with which I hope to earn profit. Instead, they are the diversion that brings me more joy than any other diversion. When I was young and couldn’t afford car insurance or lots of gasoline, bikes were a practical option. Now however, they have become a part of my identity: what makes me...me.

[Rough Edge racing]

My motorcycle experience is exempt from close cost accounting. I keep all the receipts and I try to be intelligent about purchases, but my bikes are not an investment with which I hope to earn profit. Instead, they are the diversion that brings me more joy than any other diversion. When I was young and couldn�t afford car insurance or lots of gasoline, bikes were a practical option. Now however, they have become a part of my identity: what makes me...me.

  Exactly...It's like playing golf only more thrilling ..

[Guzzistajohn]

I have 3 houses, 5 motorcycles, 2 cars, 1 job. If I didn't keep track, I'd be belly up and wouldn't even know what or where or why it even happened.

Not saying that’s a bad thing.

[Groover]

Not saying that’s a bad thing.

Gotcha, all good 

[Guzzistajohn]

  Exactly...It's like playing golf only more thrilling ..

Keeping on track of everything would make taking care of my old machines more like ........work