For nearly a decade, racing motorcycles have been delivering incredible profits for investors. Although I wrote about the massive value in racing motorcycles in this article less than a year ago, there’s still more to say. Many riders of such machines are staggered at the values of these motorcycles today that were discarded at race tracks just twenty or thirty years ago for a couple of hundred pounds. In the early nineteen nineties Yamaha TZ750s and 700s could be picked up for under five hundred pounds and some were even given away. Today these machines can sell for in excess of fifty thousand pounds. Once the Japanese two strokes had consigned Manx Nortons to the dustbin of history, these British motorcycles could be picked up for less than one hundred pounds. No one wanted these motorcycles and they just took up space. Although the Manx Nortons have started to drop a little in value, due to demographics, they are still over twenty thousand pounds and they did make quite a lot of them over the years.
There have been some below the radar sales of racing motorcycles and they have demonstrated that some very wealthy people are now investing in classic racing motorcycles and view them as a very serious tangible asset. Motorcycles are now being taken as seriously as art, classic cars, fine wine and wrist watches. With very wealthy individuals having indulged in racing motorcycles over the last five years, this is a heads up to where values are going to head for all classic motorcycles. With the exception of Broughs and Vincents, the days of collectible British motorcycles rising in value are over. I will be writing a piece about this shortly, it’s about demographics and we have already seen this trend in classic cars. I did predict this trend in 2013 in this article (towards the end of the article is where you will read about this) and people thought I was crazy, but the writing has been on the wall for some time now. These machines are still incredibly undervalued when you consider how rare they are.
Over the last five years, some wealthy individuals have taken a punt on some very expensive racing motorcycles and have seen returns of well over one hundred percent in that short time. They are now looking at even rarer machines with serious history and there will be record breaking prices paid for the right machines with the right history. When compared to classic racing cars the motorcycles still offer incredible value with plenty of headroom for future profits. Certain racing motorcycles with history which were completely unobtainable are now very discretely coming into the off market shop window. These machines are being sold to invest in other racing machines and the investment roundabout continues to revolve at an even greater velocity.
Recently there was a program on More Four television, called The Unrideables (this is the trailer, but try to watch the entire two episodes on More 4). It’s about the two stroke 500cc Grand Prix machines after Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts retired, although it heavily featured Kenny Roberts’ racing team. With names such as Wayne Rainey, Randy Mamola, Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, and many more. It featured these unrideable two strokes prior to them being banned at the end of the 1998 season. Such machines are what legends are made of and they are seriously undervalued. The same is true of the Carl Fogarty era World Superbike machines. These motorcycles from this era are severely undervalued and will move well into seven figures in the coming years. The television program has just raised awareness further and is bringing this fantastic era of racing to the sharp eyes of serious investors.
Last year a hawk eyed investor snapped up, through our own service, Ron Haslam’s championship winning Honda CB1100R and his full racing leathers, helmet, gloves and boots. Ron’s riding gear came from several different sources, this was not a complete package, so we’re very proud of delivering this through our incredible racing contacts. Most of the investment grade racing motorcycles, from the time the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers entered the fray, are destined to make fantastic profits. The stories behind these motorcycles are absolutely incredible and investors love a great story. Since the discovery of fire, mankind has always loved a great story and these motorcycles more than deliver.
The famous racing motorcycles will pull the prices up of the ones which are just original and great examples of those pioneered by the greats. The Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts motorcycles will increase the values of factory RG500 Suzukis and the Yamaha TZ range. Honda NSR500s and Yamaha YZ500s will vastly increase in value. If you are lucky enough to own one of the twenty, or so, Kawasaki KR750s, then you will feel like you’ve won the lottery.
What is clear is that these machines have been seriously increasing in value over the last five years and they are going to fiercely increase in value over the coming decade. Motorcycles with racing history, such as Honda’s 300cc six cylinder racer raced by Mike Hailwood, will make some very rich people (as you need to be exceptionally rich to buy it) much, much richer over the coming decade. The same is true of the Foggy bikes and all of the GP bikes too. If you are extremely wealthy and want to buy something no one else has, then these motorcycles are for you.
Racing memorabilia is another area that is developing quite a following and is delivering great value at the moment. Watch this area of the market over the coming decade as people do not understand how rare all of the motorcycles and memorabilia is. Once it’s gone, it’s gone, there aren’t other championship winning motorcycles available to buy. The type of people who invest in this part of the market are incredibly discrete, for good reason, and they know to hold onto these machines for the coming decade to really make crazy profits. I wrote about the value these machines are delivering last year and since then, prices have increased more fiercely than ever.
If you would like to know more about investing safely in classic racing motorcycles, then call The Motorcycle Broker on 01803 865166.
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