The great motorcycle rip off.

[Mondeo Man]

I'd be interested to know whether it's always been this way and whether a similar situation pertains outside of UK.

But from my experience motorcycles are a complete rip off:

- A decent used scooter seems to command £700+. For that amount of money, I'd expect something more than, well... a scooter. You could get a perfectly good car for that and any car offers so much more than a glorified pushbike does.

- Unless they are true rarities, cars from the 70's and 80's (even 90's), are seen - rightly so - as old bangers. Barely sell for more than give-it-away prices. But it seems, as long as a bike runs, it can be sold for premium prices (£900+) - it is hard to find a decent bike, 30 years old, selling for less than you would need for a half decent 5-10 year old car.

-Old bikes have two ace cards: it's a "classic". Why? Becase it's old. It was shit in its day, and it's shit now. It's not actually worth more than £250 but it's going for £1250 and people are willing to pay...

- The ultimate ace in the sleeve. It's a "project". You mean, it's scrap metal? If I had an old Volvo 340 with no wheels, a broken engine, and rust holding it together. I'd sell it for what it is: a heap of shit. And I'd be happy to get beer money for it. If it's a bike, I can sell it as a "project" - ("the engine has blown up, other than that: it's a great runner!!) probably asking only a token amount less than I would if it actually worked and had wheels, etc!

Is there a reason for it? Could it be argued that motorcycles would be far more popular if they weren't - at every stage of the market - dispropotionately expensive?

Tthoughts?

[pits]

Supply and demand.
Simple really, people just profiteering from new people looking to get on a bike, and as we know things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, then you have to assume that they are worth the money as people are prepared to pay for them.

It doesn't help that a new bike is fairly expensive, so people would want to lose little money on their investment, so buy it use it, sell it for a few hundred quid less, because that is what everyone else does, and you had to pay X for it so why would you let it go so cheap, when someone is prepared to pay more than its worth?
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[Rogerborg]

Random banter?

By and large: every year new cars get safer and more frugal. Bikes don't. They get more power and more weight (except at the top of the range where they shed a token 100g or so).

So what's the incentive to drop serious money on a new bike when you can get a used one that does the same job under 90% of circumstances for a fraction of the cost?

Every year we have more licensed riders chasing fewer roadworthy bikes. The theoretical parc number goes up, but how many of them are SORNed or abandoned in barns and sheds? (Answer: The DfT have no fvcking idea).

Add to that that car thieves are switching to blagging bikes, plus Nardo shipping them over to Albania in his lorry, and it's just supply vs demand.
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[Alpha-9]

Supply and demand indeed

It's a funny one really, people get bikes because they know the insurance will be fairly cheap but the bike itself fairly expensive (around 1k for a decent 125)

Whereas a car you know you could pick up some lolmobile for £200 then pay £1500+ in the insurance alone (for a young guy just starting getting into vehicles)

Yet a car is so many more parts and more weight and more expensive to initially build (im assuming, though I know so many are churned out by machines)

I think people are happier to spend more on a bike for themselves for a few reasons:
They feel safer. If you buy a motorbike for £300, would you really trust it?
It's theirs. Cars are often taxis for people, ferrying family and friends, using it for shopping, not really caring about it much, gets full of litter and dirt in the footwells, oh well, just a crappy car right, whereas a bike is far more personal, someones first bike they'll get giddy about it and treat it like it's their precious baby. You'll rarely get that with a cheap banger car.
Demand. A lot of people are after good reliable bikes! Plus they can afford to store them, you could get 6 bikes where normally you couldnt get a car, plus you can keep them off the road

Bikes are prettier!
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Fzr-600 1999

[Im-a-Ridah]

I've got a 125cc that I doubt is even worth £250 haha!

[Skudd]

Velcro, What a rip off.
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[carlosthejack...]

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[groovylee]

if you think this enough to start two seperate threads about it on the same day, why not just go drive the mondeo and be happy that your life is so much more fulfilling sitting in that boring repmobile?



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Past - 1988 honda revere 600, 1996 kawasaki gpz500s, 1999 Yamaha R6

Current - 2002 Aprilia RSV1000R & 1999 Kawasaki ZX6R