‘Sell now or lose a lot of money’

At the time of writing there are just over four months to go before London’s Ultra Low emission Zone (ULEZ) comes into force. If you weren’t aware (and many aren’t) this will subject all motorcycles that enter the ULEZ to a daily £12.50 charge unless they are Euro 4 compliant or 40-years-old and registered as Historic.

I was banging the drum about this a year ago. It seems that residual values of bikes most affected are indeed weakening. If you have, say, an early 2000s bike (never mind something built in the 1990s) and you ride in London, it’s going to hit you. Take Honda’s evergreen CBR600F; you can get a late ’90s example in excellent condition for well under a grand now. But if you live pretty much anywhere in Greater London, as the ULEZ is being expanded in 2021 to include pretty much everything inside the North and South Circular, it’ll effectively be useless after a couple of years.

I have one bike that’s registered as Historic, another that’s eligible from 2019 and a further one from 2021. I’m stashing the last two away until they’re eligible. My other bikes are ULEZ compliant, but only two (a Suzuki 125 scooter and a 660 Ténéré) are practical commuters. A KTM Duke 390, bought with ULEZ in mind, was stolen in September.

Other cities will follow London’s lead. My advice? If there’s any likelihood you may be affected, ditch the bike now and buy something compliant; or lose a lot of money.