Putting new bikes away

[otherwise]

What do you think about people purchasing new bikes and then storing them with no intention to ever start or ride?
We see these things coming to auction from time to time and usually getting big money but as a $ investment I'm sure that most would have done better by putting the original purchase cost into a sound term deposit. Yesterday at a mates place we were talking about one of his bikes that's set up in his dining room, 0 miles on the clock, and his housekeeper just dusts it once a week. Sure it's an Anniversary Edition 650 produced, each with certificates etc but $15,000 in 2009 @ 8% is $1,200 per year and compounds.



Even worse than him I have another mate who has in his loungeroom just jammed in behind a seat two 0 mile Triumphs. The first that he got was the Centennial and then added the Anniversary. He doesn't even have them on desplay just pushed out of the way and throw an old bedsheet over them.



Don't get me wrong these blokes are both longstanding friends of mine and they enjoy other toys but to my mind these bikes are wasted sitting out of sight and I don't think they will make money when sold.

 

[The Seeker]

Just think if they'd have invested those same amounts in gold at the time!

Personally, I don't have the fortitude to look at a bike and not ride it........... ever!!

 

[devo]

Hmmmmm

I dunno
Its his money, but I agree with AJ
be very hard to not go ride it.(I have enuff trouble with the one parked up in my garage for 3 months )

 

[otherwise]

I just did a "bikepoint" search and found a dealer in Sydney with a 0 mile Anniversary, asking $21,490. Had both of my mates put the $15,000 in a term deposit @ 8% they'd each have about $19,000, that's better than trying to get $21,490 and paying the shop overheads.
I found a good used Centennial in Sydney, private seller asking $10,500, that aint gunna happen.
Bottom line, if you don't have a museum, don't collect them.

 

[Gromit]

I had the opportunity to buy a Triumph sports car many years ago at a really good price. My brother-in-law told me to buy it and put it on bricks - I didn't but I wish like crazy now that I had.

FS's always said that if I buy him an Augusta Brutale, he'd park it in the lounge so he could ogle it every day! But I think he'd ride it

 

[keystiger]

Just to play Devils advocate, or food for thought...not sure which.....my father bought a 64 corvette for 4300.00 in 64. I just saw one (in pristine condition) go for right at 300,000.00 on auction. Based on the 8% theory over the past 48 years comes out to a little aver 220,000.......so the car came out ahead in this case. BUt the 8% is a way better investment as the key to any vehicle is FINDING somebody to actually buy it.

 

[otherwise]

Investments!
Wow, back in 1974 I purchased a new Ducati 750SS (Green Frame) I payed $2,575 for it. I raced it for about 3 years, threw it down the track a few times and then rode it on the street till 84 when I sold it back to the dealer for twice the original purchase cost. Today if you can find one for sale start at $100,000 and then go up.
That sale looks bad for me but ... I used that $5,000 as a deposit on my first investment house and the rest is history. I'd sell it again in a flash, realestate always works, with bikes you can get lucky.

 

[DaveM]

I think it comes down more to a possession thing then actually expecting to make a killing in the long term

 

[otherwise]

I think it comes down more to a possession thing then actually expecting to make a killing in the long term

You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly the attitude of both of my mates. They're happy to own the bikes and secondary is the possibly of getting money back (or making some) if or when they sell.

 

[Gromit]

What I enjoy the most is 'garage finds' when the owner is a bit down and out with no idea of the fortune sitting in his shed somewhere. I know this is a bit off-topic but hey ho, I'm a girl and we like to multi-task or is that multi-talk??

 

[Rocky]

Well, to each his own I guess.
If you have the money and storage space, why not.
Many people just like to "have stuff" to look at and enjoy the pride of ownership.
I don't think I could resist the temptation to ride them though.

 

[Doug]

There is another way of looking at this.
Many years ago a friend of mine bought a Nissan 280 GTX coupe and liked it so much that he went back and bought another which he mothballed.I've lost touch with him so I don't know if it was ever recommissioned,sold or whatever happened to it.Maybe there's a brand new preserved 280GTX still sitting in a shed?
This brings us to the other aspect,if people didn't do this sort of thing then we wouldn't have these still in the crate bikes popping up.
Personally I think it's a great idea if you can afford it.

 

[DaveM]

Well I would also just have to ride it as well

 

[Rbeans]

I don't have nearly enough willpower to have a bike and not ride it

 

[CarlS]

I would have to ride it, also.

 

[DaveM]

I am one that dreams about coming across one of these bikes stashed away some place just so I can ride it

 

[otherwise]

In 1969 when I started riding bigger bikes and ventured up to Sydney I went to a shop that had (I saw them) WLA Harleys still in boxes left over from WW2. That same dealer about 5 years ago moved his buisness to my area and services the world via the net. He only opens on Saturdays or by appoitment. I'm not a Harley fan but I did have and would love another WLA.

 

[DaveM]

I watch this show on TV American Pickers you should see the barn finds these guys make. The one guy is into bike they they show the bike finds they make.

 

[CarlS]

I watch it, too.

 

[hemibee]

I too watch it.

A co-worker used to be a mechanic at a local dealer. The owner had a BSA in a Rickman frame which the co-worker talked him out of. The bike still has the original tire with the mold tits still on it. The bike sits in his den and has never seen the light of day for the past 35+ years.


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