"Modern Classic" Overland bike prices are soaring.
 

And they don't seem to be be tailing off !!

It wasn't just the pandemic !!

Holiday season boredom has me scouring the usual places. And wow. Prices of our favourite classics are really going crazy.

One bike I've really noticed commanding high prices is the XT600E 4PT. You'll now pay £3000 for a twenty year old model. In good condition that is.

You can't seem to even find a decent 750 Africa Twin for under £5000.

DRZ400s have been expensive for a few years now.

It seems people are now understanding the real value and rarity in these simple, rugged 'do everything' bikes that are engineered to last and are easy to service. Especially as modern bikes are getting more complicated and expensive.

I wish I'd bought more of them when they were cheap.

I wonder what people are actually using them for or is it a nostalgia looking at it in the garage thing? There are some fairly good and reasonably priced new bikes for that much, I am thinking Royal Enfield and a few others that have guarantees, spares backup and no problems with emission zones. The latter is the main reason I sold my airhead GS and G/S last year, I know it is not a problem in the UK at the moment but it could come and is already here in some countries.

Twenty years on seems to be the peak of the rose tinted spectacles gap - that is, everything was better 20yrs ago (and always was). So maybe people are buying them because modern stuff is uninspiring, over regulated, too expensive etc and harking back to simpler times is a response. Plus, I suspect we all have our 'settle into a groove' period where we're on top of the bike market, know everything about what's available, what's best for travelling or whatever you want to do with it. Then things change and some years on you've no idea about who's producing what or if it's any good (unless you're in the industry). The bikes you knew are still perfectly functional - if you can find a good one - so why not.

The increase in emission zones is an interesting one and may well play a greater role in the future but for the moment there's a great deal of lip service being paid to them but (with the possible exception of London where there's so many cameras there's hardly any room for traffic) many of them are not that rigidly enforced (in my experience - ymmv). Even in London there's exemptions for vehicles registered as 'historic' which is why my old two strokes can 'healthily' blot out the centre of the city with smoke but my 20yr old Land Rover gets (got) me a £200 fine. The L.R. will be up for sale in the New Year but I don't suppose I'll be getting too many enquiries from the London area.

Lots of factors IMHO

The shortage of parts means you can't just buy a new one. There is trickle fown starting with the bloke who buys a 2021.

Inflation is well into double digits, so savings are leaking away while anything else is appreciating. A XT600 might not be gold coins are rare stamps, but it's more fun. We aren't at the point where you buy nails (Weimar Germany) or fridges (1970's Israel) before your weeks wage becomes worthless, but might be closer than you think.

There a level of stupidity around the St.Greta cultists. People keep telling me I won't be able to buy petrol after 0001 31/12/34. I hope their selling price reflects this, but the opposite applies, FOMO purchases.

You can't buy a new bike without CANBUS ashtray connectivity and other silliness, hence a 36 HP 650cc bike weighs half a ton. If you decide carbs and lightness is better the choices start in 1899. High demand, falling supply, rising prices.

I have a 1973 CL350 for sale in Leeds UK if anyone wants a project BTW.

Andy

There's always been a strong case for simple and rugged bikes for long distance travelling. But equally there's also a case for using more modern bikes that aren't (or shouldn't be!) prone to old age/wear-out failures on the road. If they made DR650s today I'd be there like a rat up a drainpipe, but they don't, and I don't want to start a 30,000 mile trip on a bike that's already got 30,000 on the clock, however reliable they're claimed to be.

So for most of us it's still going to come down to selecting the best from a large field of suitable new or recent offerings, with spares backup and a dealer network. The "modern classics" will be left to hardcore economy travellers who are happy changing gearbox bearings at the roadside, short distance gravel roaders and pre-installed street cred buyers.

Let's chuck in another factor/discussion point just because I like a fight :innocent:

You still meet riders who genuinely believe the "carbs are simple" and "Blacksmiths in Umbongoland stock KLR parts" that used to appear in how to books and articles. The fact my 2022 Guzzi has an OBD port my phone will read from while carrying a set of vacuum gauges is impractical still seems to cut no ice in some quarters.

I'm very much in the buy a Brazilian made 125 like the locals ride when you get there camp, and won't be dealing with 30 year old bodges on any terms except as a wet sunday afternoon puzzle while drinking tea and listening to the test match, but each to their own of course.

Andy

My rose tinted spectacles look back forty years and anything newer is regarded with a healthy suspicion.

And mine 50, which is why I took a 52 yr old bike to Morocco last summer more in hope than expectation, but I think we're somewhat anomalous with that span. In the media the golden age is always 20yrs before the present. It's just long enough ago that people forget the poverty, ricketts and unwanted pregnancies but still remember the 'wonderful' music ('much better than this modern rubbish'), eternally sunny summers and how cheap everything was. Today's 'never had it so bad' old days will be fondly remembered in the 2040's. No doubt someone will convince us that the Covid years were the best ones of our lives (either that or they 'didn't happen').

I took a dial gauge and multimeter with me back in the summer so I could check/ reset the ignition timing on my old 2T Yamaha at the side of the road. And I used them - several times. :rofl: Oddly I had no problems with carbs :rolleyes2:

https://i.postimg.cc/44mLLHrc/Rebuild2.jpg

Oh yes they do... e.g. 7000 US Green backs at https://suzukicycles.com/dualsport/2023/dr650s and other North American establishments of repute :mchappy:

An aside: I own 5 motorcycles, from 1988, 1993, 1995, 2004 (all carbed Hondas: 2 (proper 750) Af Twins, a Transalp and a XR650L) and a 2006 (Suzuki DRZ400s).

Nothing to do with rose tinted-ness. I just like what I have and often snigger in a inverted snobbery sort of way at the modern "travel bikes" (often overly high tech Eurobombers and Enfield Himalayans :D that never make it out of Europe) that roll into my local bike travellers' haunt in Bulgaria.

Having said that, many eastern Europeans and Germans who arrive at Motocamp Bulgaria, or I meet on the road, know the worth of the good old Japanese technology, so I'm not always sniggering :nono: And those that ride the old iron are often a great deal more interesting to talk to than the nouveaux riche whale f0reskin tw@tsuit wearers :helpsmilie: (off topic, my bad :blushing: )

I just won a bet with myself ;) bier

Earth not connected :Beach:

Presume the bet with yourself was that I'd surf in to correct something you wrote and then spout some random bollox, probably dissing old born again bikers wearing shiny, squeaky new stuff :rofl::D

If so, take it as a compliment. At least I bother to read what you write :thumbup1: Quite a bit on here remains unread or unanswered :clap:

Soooooo...Chris...
does that mean you're old and no longer shiny?
Shheesh:rofl:

All the gear and no idea :rofl:

I think a lot of being bought up by nostalgists. Or those who want a bike a reliable bike for under £3000 which by design, shouldn't let them down for a long time. If bought well.

You're right. You can buy modern cheap bikes. But they all seem to be very cheaply made (Enfields). Disposable (chinese) Or seriously lacking power (crf300 etc)

There is a lot of wisdom in your words.

There is definately a lot of lip service with the "Carbs can be fixed by a laymen using old rope and a camping spoon"

And of course, you'd be very unlucky for your new £10,000 Jap bike to seriously let you down away from home. Even a technical annoyance can usually be worked around or ignored.

However, bikes from the 90's, 00's WERE simpler. And simple is better when things don't work as they should.

So I think it's got little to do with the age. But simplicity.

No one is going to fix a canbus control unit without a modern workshop. Modern bikes are complicated. And daunting. Where do you even start on a modern bike when it doesn't work. I do this for a living and it doesn't really get any easier.

However, you can bodge up a traditional wiring loom fairly easily. A carb is easy to clean once you've done it once.. And they really are reliable if you don't feed them with shitty fuel.

I know id rather clean out a carb jet than have to deal with a faulty fuel pump or a servo valve controlled secondary throttle butterfly if I'm away from home.

A CDI ignition system is collection of simple easily replaced parts. Even a complete novice can keep swapping relatively inexpensive parts until it works again.

If you have a "No-spark" on a modern GS, you're pretty much f**ked. Although that is rare.

And then there is the romantisism with older bikes. No cruise control, no ABS, no power modes, no Hi-def 24" 4K monitor as a dashboard telling you your lean angle and average fart temperature.

Just plodding along down the road without feeling like you're riding an Iphone with wheels..

There is a lot of value in that alone.

The modern bikes are mostly quite reliable, but to service them is a real pita :eek3:doh
Four years ago I sold my trusty R80GS with 200 k kms on the clock and still good for many more kms. For that I bought a „modern“ F650GS twin. Naturally, in comparison the little twin was much easier to ride, weighing less, having a proper suspension, more power and is much more economic on fuel. But to check the valves the old GS took less than 20 minutes, but the new twin takes hours. You have to strip the fairings, remove battery, airbox and spark plugs. And then there is hardly enough space to remove the valve cover.
IMO the bigger problem is to find an old bike that is still in a good condition and with low mileage for long distance travel. That is what makes them more expensive....

It's not the bikes getting more expensive, it's the money are getting cheaper since they printed it so much.

Also it is a known fact that during recession prices on used vehicles go up.