Is cheap cheerful?
Money has much been on my mind this month… Our popular ‘Marketplace’ section always looks at both ends of the spectrum when it comes to makes and models: this month Paul Jayson looks at pricey Beemers (such as the legendary R90 S) while Scott Redmond looks at cheaper ones. Then – looking through the free reader ads – I spot a BMW R1150 RT for just £1500… albeit with 139,000 miles on the clocks. I have history with the 1150; I had one 15 years back and loved it and this seemed to be as cheap as chips. But then there’s Suzuki’s RF900R. £1500+ could actually get a very nice RF with just a fraction of the miles on it. Hmmm, decisions, decisions… Then Kar Lee sent us his Retro Rebooted Honda CBR-XX Super Blackbird and – as both recipient of one of the first ones in the UK back in 1997 and former owner, I had (yet another) twinge of nostalgia and started looking at prices. In our reader ads (again) I spotted a lovely example for just £2600 with only 21k on the clocks! So much for so little! Perhaps our favourite pastime is split? Some bikes seem destined to climb up in value, while others do not. Meanwhile, while researching for the ‘Coming Classic’ on the 5PW Yamaha R1, you see these going for up to £4000-£5000… Are they really that much better than the capable quality of the Honda Blackbird? Here’s to diversity!
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