CMM MARKETPLACE
Paul Jayson on race bikes.
Excuse the mist in my eyes if you will, but I remember the 1980s when TZ750 Yamahas could be picked up at race circuits for £200, TZ350S for £100 and RG500S for about £500… Also, in 1995 Jim Doyle, Randy Mamola’s manager sold me 12 sets of Randy’s leathers and two of Kenny Roberts’ for £400 including a letter of authenticity. At that time he offered me an immaculate limo from the 1970s once owned by Barry Sheene for £2000, but I didn’t have £2000 or a lock-up... Old two-stroke race bikes were almost being given away because the four-stroke proddie bikes of the 1990s made them seem almost slow and ill-behaved. Back then even a machine with proven race history wouldn’t have increased the value of such machines. As recently as 2008 I sold former team-mate of Barry Sheene, Mike Baldwin’s fully restored RG500 for €17,000 along with enough spares for another bike. Such memorabilia was old clutter, got in the way and was not valued as the veil of nostalgia had not yet dropped on these bikes, which was a shame. Even in 2004 one of Sheene’s Yamaha TZ500S sold for just £20,000… How times have changed eh? There has been a massive shift in collectible racing motorcycles with history from the 1970s. Big money has moved into this area and Sheene’s old Suzukis are now priceless and proper TZ750 and other TZ Yamahas are seriously sought after. But the prices for these TZS are nothing compared to where they are heading. I will make a prediction that – once one of the King Kenny championship winning motorcycles comes on the market – and I bet one will in the next decade, prices will be unrecognisable. Even older TZ350S are commanding high prices now. And it’s not just Grand Prix two-strokes any more: in 2014 one of Carl Fogarty’s title-winning 916s was sold for well into six figures… And then go back further… Moto Guzzi allowed several replica V8s to be built from the original blueprints and one failed to reach £300,000 in 2016-ish. There are only a couple of the original machines left now. It was only after Mike Hailwood’s 300cc Honda six-cylinder racer
was pulled out of a barn at Brooklands, by Anthony Godin would Honda finally release the blueprints to George Beale to build a crank which then allowed George to build a handful of replicas from factory drawings. Those replicas sold at, I believe, £500,000. That Hailwood bike (the only one outside of Honda’s museum) is now firmly in private ownership, no-one knows what was paid for it and anyone can only guess at its value. What is certain is that rare classic racers with history have taken off value-wise and the only way is up… Everyone who grew up in the 1970s wants to know what the powerband is like on a TZ750 or a factory Suzuki RG500. And people with large amounts of money are prepared to pay a lot to find out. I suspect they are somewhat underwhelming and disappointing by today’s standards, but it gets their money out of vulnerable banks. The stories behind these bikes are legendary and everyone loves a good story and the wealthy will pay to be part of that story, believe me… There are also some great bargains to be had out there, as Japan made some incredible little racers up to 400cc in the late 1970s and through to the mid-1980s which are weird, wonderful and insane and they can still be picked up for very little. If you have a big pension pot that you want to shift into something profitable, then Yamaha TZ 500s, 700s and 750s are still a little undervalued as are Ducati 926 Corsas and Isle of Man TT race machines, along with Laverda SFCS. China has now entered the classic motorcycle market properly and you will see great change. Prices will become unrecognisable due to such a massive demand evolving in the coming years. Also many classic car owners are starting to buy bikes as they have woken up to this market and this means there will be a lot of money chasing very few motorcycles. They are not daft and they will only want machines that are absolutely spot on. If you are thinking of investing in such machinery then know what you are buying, or employ someone who does. Also beware as many of these motorcycles have magnesium parts and they degrade disgracefully if they are kept in a damp environment. Know your stuff and get it properly authenticated. It’s no good saying, 10 years down the line, that the bloke you bought it from swore it was one of Barry’s or Kenny’s but he lost the paperwork… Values are very hard to say on these machines as originality, the specification and history affect prices enormously and there is no green book for race bikes. Just be very, very cautious and know what you are doing and believe no seller until authenticated otherwise. The trick is to be dispassionate about what you’re passionate about and to either prove or disprove the story associated with the bike. That’s some trick...