Buy the vintage motorcycle that makes profit not losses is an obvious piece of advice, but many investors are speculating, not investing. These testing times are clearly demonstrating which vintage motorcycles will deliver profits under any circumstances, not just in the good times. They demonstrate which ones are poor investments that will not deliver profits but get speculators excited. Investors are making great profits over speculators in this specialised market, as the speculators make losses. There are dealers who make claims that any Ducati with an R in the title will make profits. Absolute rubbish! If that was the case we would all be very wealthy indeed, but life is much more complex than that.
Like this Covid crisis, previous trying times offer a good indicator of what is a solid investment and what is a speculative punt that will leave speculators fuming. At The Motorcycle Broker we were trading vintage motorcycles during the 2007/8 crash when we monitored prices very carefully. Late machinery, even Ducatis, bought for speculative reasons were the scenes of blood baths.
During that crisis Ducati green fames, MV Agusta 750S and Americas, Brough Superiors all held their values and increased in value admirably. Even the upcoming Japanese motorcycles held up beautifully and delivered profits. The clear and stand out message at that time is that investment grade, desirable, rare vintage motorcycles still increase in value during difficult times. One of the late, touted as a “good investment”, speculative motorcycles is Ducati’s Panigale Superleggera. It has never delivered profits since the day it was introduced and punted as such. I don’t believe that these machines will ever deliver a profit, or if they do, it’ll take another quarter of a century to do so.
Meanwhile, had you bought an investment grade green frame in 2014, when the first Supeleggera was introduced, you would have paid around £55,000 and today you would be selling for up to £250,000 (depending on what you had the good fortune to buy). I know which I would rather have owned and the green frame is still going up in value during this Covid crisis. Any Japanese vintage motorcycle would have delivered profits, provided it was investment grade. These speculative modern motorcycles will lose money and have a consistent history of doing so. Vintage motorcycles deliver profits because they have a great story, not because they have an R in their name.
To ensure profits from vintage motorcycle investment you need to know what you’re buying and take sensible advice from someone with no ulterior motives. Find a source for your vintage motorcycle with a history of making profits for their investors; not a source that has a motive of selling you anything they have on their showroom floor to keep moving as much metal as possible. Vintage motorcycles usually start to deliver profits after they are twenty five years old. Take advice from a source that has spent years collecting sales data and who understands the market. Vintage motorcycle investment is not a game and requires the knowledge of people who have devoted their working lives to understanding the market.
At The Motorcycle Broker we do not hold stock at all, as we want to keep our focus on protecting your investment. Our business model is to find the motorcycles that our investors want, not what we want to sell you from our showroom floor. We work hard with all our clients to understand what they like. This is a five to ten year investment and you need to like looking at what you’ve invested in. There are very few art investors who buy art that they hate. The same is true with vintage motorcycles. Invest in what you like because your investment can, and should, bring you pleasure as well as profits. The best advice I can give is Buy the vintage motorcycle that makes profit not losses.
If you are serious about vintage motorcycle investment, you may want to read the longer version of this article with much more pricing, market knowledge and data in it. You can do this by joining our vintage motorcycle investment club, The Inside Line here. It’s free, we don’t bombard you with spam and you will get a deeper understanding with clear examples. The Motorcycle Broker, finder of rare vintage motorcycles for investment. Helping others to invest safely in vintage motorcycles. For a free consultation and to understand the vintage motorcycle investment market Call The Motorcycle Broker on 01803 865166.
To understand the vintage motorcycle investment market, join The Inside Line free and download the 10 best performing vintage motorcycles over the past 10 years at https://themotorcyclebroker.co.uk/top-10-investment-vintage-motorcycles-2020/
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