For those who like their bikes classic....................

problem is there are pratts out there that will and that pushes the price up,then the bikes will never see tarmac again and that is the real shame

 

£1800!!!!! Really? Couple of hundred worth parts, maybe.

 

Correctimundo.

 

When I took early retirement I had planned to restore a classic British bike, a Bonneville was top of the list. I spent over two years looking for a suitable project bike.

I can not tell you how many boxes of rusted shite I looked at that might or might not have contained a bike. And to stand there listening to some cock womble telling you that he wanted £5k for it all. "That'll be good bike that will when it's done. Worth at least £15k".

Showing these idiots pictures of fully restored bikes for sale for between £7k & £9k didn't help. You can lead an idiot to knowledge but you can't make them think.

By the time you've refurbished what you can you will still need to buy new or good condition old parts and they don't come cheap.

It makes my blood boil that these people think it's ok to take what they see as the 'profit' from a fully restored bike without doing any of the work. They know damned well that to restore something these days isn't cheap and often costs more than you can get back if you sell it.

And yet sadly there will always be someone who is willing to pay over the odds. No problem if you have money to throw away but I wonder just how many people buy these things then, when they start work on it, realise just how much more they need to spend to get it done, money they are unlikely to get back.

 

As long as people pay......supply and demand! The other thing is do you buy as an investment or for love? What price love??

 

Wow, and it's now SOLD! Wonder what for...

Similar story with the Honda Cub bandwagon.. A few years back you'd be lucky to give one away unless someone wanted to throw it in a dyke for fun or set fire to it..
Now they're a £1000 bike. Maybe it's thanks to the ones that got abused and scrapped!?

Plus, don't even think they were £1000 even in year 2000.

 

Unfortunately the demand also encourages thieving bastards and liars.
A lot of dealers are now importing British bikes back into the UK from Europe and America, which is no bad thing in helping to keep prices down a bit, simple rule is don't let your heart rule your head!
My original idea when returning to biking after 30 years absence was to buy an old Bonneville or similar,
I decided on a 2012 Bonnie EFI and have no regrets, reliable, great to look at and ride, and ..... one day it will be a classic

 

You only need to look at the price some of the traders at the Kempton Park Bike jumble ask for a rusted through frame or a bucket of rusty crap to know that some people are taking the p*ss

 

Too right.. Southern money is ridiculous anyway, never been and never will!
Especially anything run by 'Carole Nash' charging ridiculous prices just for entry.. But advertising 'free parking'
WOW! Get me some of that FREE parking

 

On my last count there were three times as many barn finds available as there are barns in the country, I cant imagine that every farmer in the land used to own three motor cycles that were purposely left to turn to rust
Matching engine and frame numbers is another beauty.
Beware and keep your wits about you, if it is too good to be true then it generally is!

 

I watched an auction programme recently where a genuine barn find of 8 Brought Superiors were found in Dorset.
A 1932 model with twin rear wheels one of only 9 ever made fetched £295,000 totally unrestored.
The box of rusty Brough parts fetched £150,000

 

More salt in that advert than the Dead Sea

Curly