INVESTMENTS OR OTHERWISE?

I read with interest the Members’ Enclosure, RC176. In March 2019 I will have been riding for 50 years, every year. For 44 of those years I rode a Norton Commando Fastback, covering 80,000 miles. I sold the Commando in 2015 for £6500. Now it’s probably worth £9000, so my buyer has done well. The DVLA site shows that it’s SORNed and its last MoT was mine in 2015. Investment? You can guess how much dismantling and fettling (also cursing) I did in those years with the Norton. Very happy memories, mostly.

I rode to work in my early years on the Norton as you did in the 1970s – there were no such things as classic bikes then. This brings me onto another bike, my 1965 Royal Enfield 250cc Continental, bought in 2005, which I still have and which will be passed along to my son. He plans to do his bike test in 2019 so we can ride out together. The Enfield will remain in the family and has given many hours of happy riding. it’s covered 13,000 miles, all trouble-free (never been in the breakdown van: touch wood) due to good servicing and fettling.

My modern bike is a 2016 Royal Enfield EFI Classic 500. It’s a great bike which I look after but do not service, as it goes to my local dealer to keep up its service history. This bike is just for the pleasure of riding, great for long journeys but it is depreciating, which is not a problem as I intend to keep it. I also have a 1961 Royal Enfield Constellation bought in 2017 from a local classic bike dealer. I have done 350 miles on it but it was bought as an investment so I keep it running and the mileage down, aiming to sell in a couple of years’ time to (hopefully) make a profit.

I have always been a Brit biker, but I have gone over to the other side by buying a 1976 Honda 400 four in June this year. It is a fantastic bike: low mileage, light weight and good performance. It will see me into my 80s, as I still want to enjoy my biking. I have joined the VJMC and my Northants section are great. Chatting with another member, he asked ‘what took you so long?’

How right he is. Nowadays it’s all about the riding and biking friends, and motorcycling has become my life-saving hobby: I don’t know where I would be without it. James French, member 3068

I think the reader’s comment of £5000 for a nice bike is a bit on the high side. There are some perfectly good bikes advertised in RC176 for around £3500. Also, we need to bear in mind some monetary variations. When I was a nipper, bikes in average useable condition would change hands for about £100. A modest house could be purchased for £2000, twenty times the cost of a bike. Classic cars and motorcycles have increased in price significantly, as has fuel over the years. I agree this is because there is a finite number available from old English makers.

Twenty times your £5000 Velocette purchase would only get you a house worth around £100,000 which, by today’s standards, is not a lot to pay for a house.

Whatever the item, supply and demand always rules. Pete Trow, member

I have renovated (I don’t do concours restorations) about 40 bikes. The early ones were for essential transport to work. Being broke, they cost between zero (a BSA M21 recovered from a hedge in a neighbour’s garden) to £45 for the 1945 Enfield WD350 did the job for 10 years. Prices are now silly for two reasons: nostalgia, plus the stupid cost of spares. Folks who do (chequebook) concours restorations, pretty though the results are, merely stoke that fire and thus ‘projects’ seem less affordable than they were.

A prudent (mean) streak in me still applies financial restraint in my renovations. I fix my budget well below the current value of a bike; my wife complains that I too rarely sell a bike anyway. My priorities are the carb, sparks, tank, brakes, wheels and tyres – and I get my kicks from hearing an engine fire for the first time in many years. My current fixations are a Dragonfly, a rigid T100 and a 1938 New Imperial. And yes the resulting bike has to be fun to ride.

Back to Members’ Enclosure: blow £5K for a new Honda CB500F! I bought a very clean, low miles 2006 CBF500 last summer for £1500 and it runs like a watch, although I’d swap it for my old B33 given the chance.

I feel better now I’ve got all that off my chest! In short, I prefer Henry Body bikes to Sammy Miller ones. Pete Robbo, member 8874

Thought-provoking views from all angles: thanks for contributing to the discussion, folks. As this demonstrates, there’s no single reason for the current situation, nor is it entirely obvious what will happen to the classic motorcycle market in the next couple of ecades. But from the comments this subject generated, it’s also apparent that plenty of RC readers enjoy themselves with old bikes without spending a fortune. Check out this month’s Shed for photographic proof!