BUYER’S EYE
At the risk of irritating some readers (see Frank’s telling-off in this month’s letters pages), I’m going to say that right now really is a good time to buy that classic bike you’ve been hankering after. It’s the middle of winter when the market is always slow; bikes typically fetch 20% less in January than they do in June.
On top of that, the much-anticipated ‘price correction’ has finally arrived. For the past decade, people have been predicting that the trend of rising classic prices simply couldn’t continue. For a while back then it did look like the cost of classic motorcycling was somehow linked to the size of the universe and it would go on expanding indefinitely...
However, global events finally applied the brakes – and just in time, too, otherwise we’d be looking at the £10,000 Bantam. Whether this is a cup-half-full moment will definitely depend on your personal perspective. For some owners / sellers, their old bikes are worth less now than they were five years ago. So if you were hoping to take a round-the-world cruise based on the value of your Triumph Thunderbird then you may need to scale back your expectations somewhat.
For prospective purchasers, of course, this means that many more motorcycles can be counted
