‘It’s about what you couldn’t afford when you were young’

January’s Las Vegas sale is always the biggest motorcycle sale on our calendar – but this year,

I left Las Vegas shaking my head in disbelief at the very obvious strength of this hobby of ours.

The sale set new world records and the pool of buyers was strong. The lead-off collection for this year, the Jim’s Forever Collection, was well received and achieved excellent results. The centrepieces were the Milwaukee-built lightweights from Harley-davidson, some 30 in all, which sold for healthy hammer prices.

The BMW Centennial Collection was of an extremely high quality, and the winning bid prices absolutely confirmed that. Off-road motorcycles – in all conditions – also continued their upward trajectory.

A new world record was set for any motorcycle sold at auction anywhere, with the fabulous 1908 Harley-davidson Model 4 ‘Strap Tank’ that sold for $935,000 (£755,807). Bidder registrations were up 24% over 2022, with ticket sales exceeding the 2022 mark by a wide margin as well. And there were plenty of bargains for buyers too, of course. The question now is – how do we top this sale? Stay tuned, and talk to us about consignments for 2024.

Our Glendale and Monterey sales also attract a lot of interest. We’ve posted a 100 motorcycle presence for every auction we’ve held in Glendale since its inception; it does an excellent job for sellers and buyers in the south-west post-las Vegas. The Monterey auction is a different animal, taking place during the Pebble Beach Concours week. We tend to see a more exclusive range of motorcycles, reflecting what is consigned on the automobile side.

Japanese classics are definitely in the ascendancy, but there continues to be a healthy following for American bikes. Post-war Indians are enjoying a well deserved surge, while Harley-davidson XLCH Sportsters from 1958-69 (the magneto Sportsters) are due for the limelight , with values already rising.

There is a staggering amount of public land available to ride off-road in the US, particularly west of the Mississippi river. Generations have now enjoyed this privilege and those riders represent a wide demographic seeking the motorcycles of their youth. This business is still all about what you had when you were young – or perhaps just as importantly, what you couldn’t afford when you were young. And all of us at Mecum get that. website address