Suzuki GSX-R750J Slingshot
When I bought this bike in 2011 it cost me £800. The seller was a stranger to me and our paths crossed on ebay. The bike had remained unsold for a few weeks until I threw my hat in the ring and purchased it. I did nothing to the bike, it sat in my workshop for a few weeks, and other than a professional journo borrowing it for a magazine article (well, Bertie when he was freelance) it gathered dust. The days of the £800 GSX-R are gone, not just a 750 Slingshot but any cubic capacity or year. A quick squint on ebay shows me two things, the first is there aren’t too many Slingshots up for grabs and the second, the ones that are available aren’t £800. Basement prices for an honest Slingshot are hovering between £1500 and two grand today, five years on. The Slingshot still doesn’t really shine: its prices are still low when compared to Slabby models. Slabside folk are often not lovers of the Slingshot and vice-versa, a bit like how LC boys poke fun at YPVS lovers. The GSX-R750J is the most common Slingshot to appear on the market. The later M model rarely shows up these days. Maybe they’ve all been broken for parts? At £2000 the Slingshot will only continue to creep up in value. With original-looking bikes like this one I bagged getting harder to find it keeps their worth on the up. This bike was sold on to a breaker who at the time was buying up as many as he could to break. Here’s the twist: parts prices haven’t really mirrored the worth of a whole bike. Certain parts command a premium, like decent tanks. £200 isn’t unheard of for a tidy tank wearing its original coat of paint. With lots of parts being reproduced, or sold via Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme, things like brake discs and even calipers can be purchased new. Fork stanchions and oil coolers also can be purchased new. Engines still command a few hundred quid, but carbs have really increased in value. When I had this one, £75 for a bank of the Slingshot Mikunis was the norm, you can easily double that these days if you can find a good set.