SCOOPERMAN!

The sunny side of the classic world, with the VJMC’S Steve Cooper

I’ve sold out, walked away and betrayed my roots, according to one of this column’s acquaintances. What had caused this outburst and tirade? I happened to mention that I was considering buying a ‘new’ modern bike. The very fact that my next acquisition wasn’t going to be another older machine in need of tender loving care was bad enough but the fact that I was prepared to throw my hard earned at a new machine meant I was obviously minted. Quite what actual heresy I stood guilty of was never really clarified but sadly he hasn’t spoken much to me since. My countering to his outburst didn’t exactly fall on deaf ears and I believe he’s not so much upset with me; he’s more miffed that for once this old duffer has a logical and cogent argument. The last bike I purchased new was in May 1975 when I was 19 and paid for weekly on hire purchase; on that basis alone I reckon I deserve at least one more brand-spanking-new before I fall off the peg. The monetary cost of the new bike in real terms is pretty much the same as the 1975 machine, but here’s the rub. The bike I have my eye on now is twice the engine capacity of the bike I bought then. So in crude terms either bikes were hideously more expensive back then or they are substantially cheaper now. Whichever way the maths goes I’m still having my new bike, sorry! And before readers of this column worry about the vast sums being paid into the bank accounts of part-time, freelance, journos know this… the cost of this supposedly heretical machine is just over a quarter of the price being paid for high-end Kawasaki Z1s. A show-winning H2 triple is more than double, I couldn’t buy a high-end Suzuki T500 for the same money and I’ve seen restored Yamaha TX 500s in dealers’ shops for more! As a lad my dream bike was a Yamaha XS2 in orange and black but the few good ones still out there remain beyond my wallet’s capability. And here’s the thing about folk who deride the very idea of someone buying a new bike: if people didn’t buy them you wouldn’t be able to buy old ones! Today’s plastic fantastic is tomorrow’s emerging classic. Sceptical? Try buying a first model Yamaha R6 for pocket money. The flash git who bought a new Suzuki Rebel in 1972 did you a favour back then by providing you with your classic. Ditto the person who bought the 900R Ninja you now cherish or even that R1 you have your eye on. Progress, supply and demand, call it what you will but old bikes were new bikes once!