Buy the vintage motorcycle that makes profit not losses. Obvious advice, but so many investors ignore it in favour of speculation. These unusually testing times are clearly demonstrating which vintage motorcycles will deliver profits under any circumstances, not just in the good times. They also 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 are offering 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 and we also monitored the prices of vintage cars at that time too. We noticed that investment grade rare cars and motorcycles aged twenty five years plus held their values admirably, if they were available in very limited numbers. We also noticed that very late machinery, bought for speculative reasons to jump waiting lists, and others that were sold by sharp talking salesman as a great investment were the scenes of blood baths. All of the people who were ordering limited edition Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Aston Martins to sell on their place on the waiting list lost a fortune. At that time Ducati launched its first ever limited edition V4 motorcycle, called the Desmosedici, in a limited run of 1,500 units. Demand was enormous and people had been selling their machines at well over list price and were making £10,000 in a couple of months after riding the wheels off it. Yet after the banking crisis they were losing £15,000 on band new machines.
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. It also demonstrated that modern motorcycles traded speculatively to grab a quick profit do not deliver in difficult times. One of the late so called “good investment” speculative motorcycles is Ducati’s Panigale Superleggera, has never delivered profits since the day it was introduced and punted as such. The first 1199 was priced at £54,000 when new and are now selling for about £38,000. That is not and has never been a profit in my book. The 1299 series 2 was priced at an eye watering £72,000 and these are struggling to make £45,000, which in my book again does not a profit deliver. 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 a green frame in 2014, when the first Supeleggera was introduced, you would have paid around £55,000, the same price as a Superlegera Series 1 at that time, 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. Buying a vintage motorcycle investment because it comes from one brand and looking for it having an R in the title is not a way to invest and expect profits. Vintage motorcycles deliver profits because they have a great story, not because they have an R in their name. There is no story to a motorcycle that sold at a high price when new and has nothing else to say for itself. Everyone loves a great story and owners of vintage motorcycle are no exception, they are guardians of history and great stories.
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, there are exceptions to this, but they are very rare exceptions. What is sure, is that Ducati’s Supeleggera is not a good investment. They have never got near their original price point when new and they may never deliver a profit. Put your money into an investment grade vintage motorcycle that has a history of increasing in value. 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. Your source of motorcycle must not be motivated by selling you something on their showroom floor, that source needs to be motivated by protecting your investment and delivering you profits. Buy the vintage motorcycle that makes profit not losses.
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. For a free consultation call The Motorcycle Broker on 01803 865166.
- 1974 Ducati 750SS green frame genuine factory paint - March 21, 2024
- Unicorn rare 1972 Kawasaki Z900 coming to auction - March 21, 2024
- Ducati green frame is not green it’s blue - March 20, 2024
Leave a Reply