We recently saw it again at an auction: classic motorcycles have become expensive. Or maybe better: They cost quite a lot of money nowadays. We AutoMotorKlassiek readers are usually older than 25-30 years. We have memories and history. Our childhood memories are often older than our children. That distorts the image.
Everything used to cost nothing
Quite a lot of us have - or had - fathers who had a Norton, Matchless or Harley Davidson somewhere in the sixties. In that time you bought a good running Harley-Davidson WL between the 150-250 guilder. But with that somewhat somber reflection we forget that a gross average year income in that time was thick 2000 euros. And that puts the case in a slightly different perspective.
When classics were new
At the time, the motorcycles that we - fifty to seventies - started with were not showroom new either. It wasn't until the 1970s that there was more money among people and motorcycling was no longer the transport for people without money for a car, but a lifestyle-like thing. New motorcycles were purchased. And in the late 1970s, no one wanted to have such an old job as a Honda CB450 Black Bomber. And I bought a Kawasaki Mach III with a Robinsom front brake with eight (!) Ascending shoes for 800 guilders ...
In the meantime, a neat Harley WL costs from 14.000 euros. And we have seen a restored Honda CB450 for which 12500 euros was requested. 2000 euro is ticked for such a Robinson brake. So if you wait long enough, everything will be worth money.
Cheap 'classic' driving is possible
Funny is that there are still motorcyclists without generous pension provisions. Young people who want to ride a motorcycle but who have a limited budget. And funnily enough, that group finds a nice choice in the range of motorcycles that our fathers or we started with: old motorcycles. If an old motorcycle is offered as a 'young timer' then that is a cry to increase the price.
But partly thanks to the various sales booms from the 1970s, there is a very wide range of motorcycles that are in any case a kind of classic (and / or that will certainly be). Think between 1985 and 1995. Think of the age in years of the motorcycles that our fathers - and we - used to buy as younger motorcyclists. When a nice Yamaha XS1 changed ownership for 1250 guilder. Then a good running, but repainted, Suzuki T500 600 cost guilders.
For the electronic age
That low price segment is between the Real Classics and the time that the technical progress on motorcycle became so great that more electronics than mechanical components came on board.
The availability of that kind of nice motorcycles is large. And the parts supply is - thanks in part to the Internet - surprisingly good. Many used and new items are offered. In terms of maintenance and keys, these everyday engines can still be handled by a normal person.
In short, that kind of motorbikes are just nice gadgets and it never hurts to alert our children to their existence. Because the same problem applies to 'our own student' that students already had in the past: There is a need to have transportation. But the resources are limited. Our son bought an old Honda CB125 a while ago. That thing runs a bit from 1 to 40. When he graduates later, he buys a heavier engine. But again an older one. A classic from his own 'year of construction' would suit him.
And then he is not bothered by the kind of problems that lovers of real collector's items have. We know someone with an almost perfect Yamaha TX750. It has an exhaust silencer in which neatly 10 mm holes are drilled in the end plate. That used to be done a lot. The other outlet is 100% original. The painful question is now: Do holes have to be made in the undamaged muffler or must something be done to make the perforated muffler original again? "
Perfect right mufflers for TX750s are hard to find. In Switzerland, perfect stainless steel. made replicas. And you don't want to know how many gross monthly salaries from 1960 that cost.
Costs almost nothing ...
