Just watched a Paul smart with <400mi sell on eBay for 16k, the recent economy I’m sure has something to do with it I’m sure but does it feel like motorcycle sales in general are at a low? I could have sworn a paul smart no more than a few years ago would fetch at least 18k definitely more with such low miles.
I've had my 06 Sport 1000 for sale here for a couple of months now. Dropped the price $2k. No interest.
Maybe I'll keep it and create a place for it in my home, so many great memories associated.
I had the same problem with mine I took off almost every upgrade put it back to
stock minus clip on's and tail tidy and it sold for $1500 more than I paid for it in
2 weeks.
Just watched a Paul smart with <400mi sell on eBay for 16k, the recent economy I’m sure has something to do with it I’m sure but does it feel like motorcycle sales in general are at a low? I could have sworn a paul smart no more than a few years ago would fetch at least 18k definitely more with such low miles.
I've had my 06 Sport 1000 for sale here for a couple of months now. Dropped the price $2k. No interest.
Maybe I'll keep it and create a place for it in my home, so many great memories associated.
We’ll have to speak via PM, I may be interested, I just haven’t looked at shipping costs for motorcycles so I haven’t given out of state bikes any consideration.
Annual MC sales in the US are a little more than 1/2 what they were prior to 2008. The sportbike market is even worse with virtually nothing moving new or used. Harley's top line continues to decline over 5% a quarter, the latest being over 13%. Very bad news for a high overhead business.
I almost feel like it’s also generational. I don’t know how old you guys are but, a few years shy of 40 and have been riding for almost 13 years or so, I’m at a point in my life I can’t ride as often as I used to. The friends I used to ride with don’t even ride sportbikes anymore and have moved onto cruisers or nothing at all. The guys older than me I would imagine are more likely to be in this same boat and the generation 10+ years younger than me don’t really seem as interested in riding as I was at that age.
I agree with a lot of the comments, but also remember these are high end, higher dollar, disposable income toys for the most part. I know some ride their Ducati as a daily, but probably not the majority. In the Japanese market I think used bike prices have gone up a lot over the past 5 years, especially the more exotic or rare bikes like the Kaw H1 or H2, Suzuki GT series, early Honda CB 750, and now people are importing all of the 90's era two stroke sport bikes into the US. I think if they qualify for a classic or historical bike they can by-pass emissions or somerthing like that to get them here. I have sold a few bikes this year in the $3000-$5000 range pretty quick this year.
I sorta agree there was a boom for 70’s era CB’s and prices skyrocketed, but now you see the same bikes listed for ridiculous amounts and not selling and there are even those that were bought with the markup, made into basket cases and now being listed for in my opinion (having 4 Honda CB’s) stupid amounts. I’m just gona vent here because all these people romanticized about bringing a bike back to life only to get overwhelmed by their boxes of parts and then trying to make their money back.
There is some truth to ducati’s being a high dollar item though and thus making sales low because if I’m not mistaken, the scrambler is ducati’s Best selling bike at the moment, which should give some explaination as to the current market and riding demographic
Man all of you kids are bumming me out! I will turn 70 on the 15th of next month and thanks to you working kids I'll be getting my first Social Security check! And I rode my S1K Mono about 160 miles through the wilds of Wisconsin on Sunday. I would have gone farther but it was hot in my leathers and I had things I needed to do around the house to maintain domestic tranquility...but it wasn't because I was old. Or tired. One of my favorite authors is Richard Bach and he said: "Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours." So quit acting like you are all a bunch of "old" dudes and go ride your sport bike like you're still a kid. If you start thinking and acting like you're old you're going to die.
... So quit acting like you are all a bunch of "old" dudes and go ride your sport bike like you're still a kid. If you start thinking and acting like you're old you're going to die.
That’s true, but now I have to consider that when in the market; It is probably going to be a bad investment. Bikes aren’t selling. Where I live I don’t see younger guys or kids riding them anymore. The only motorcycle events I go to that I see kids at are the ones that are in the middle of town. Young guys don’t have the disposable income they used to, not enough for a motorcycle , anyway . Not one of the younger people in my family show any interest at all in motorcycles. I’ve been riding about 57 years or so, but I just started riding sport bikes 10 years ago. My great grandson, 6, rides an electric dirt bike. He’s the only person I know under 40 riding a motorcycle.
I agree that it is a generational thing. Nowadays opinions and "whats cool" is dictated by the media. Look at sport classics, Ducati had trouble selling them and then they blew up in value partly because they had one in a movie and some cool dude was riding it. Oh and also people are more worried about riding just so they can post something on social media because if you didn't post it did you actually do it.
Maybe the market is just realizing they were over priced for a while and correcting.
I never really did understand why these were selling for more then MSRP so quick.
They sat on showrooms for YEARS unsold, and then all of a sudden they were collectible.
Two things that helped drive up the sport Classics prices years ago were the Cafe Racer craze and the
Tron Movie tie in both are now fading and the prices have been falling as well. If you go back 7 years
ago you couldn't find one for sale and if you listed one it sold in days.
A study was done very recently, it asked elementary schools kids what they wanted to be when they grew up ... both in China and in the U.S.
The Chinese kids' #1 response (by far) is to be an astronaut.
The U.S. kids' #1 response by a very long shot was to be a You Tube vlogger.
The western world is truly doomed. Our kids are idiots. Our college kids are brainwashed Marxist morons. Yes ... indeed, truly doomed.
Regarding bike sales, yea ... Harley is struggling to find themselves. Most manufacturers are going with more and more computer junk on their bikes. I think the visceral raw excitement and "social rebel" appeal of bikes is all but dead due to bikes becoming too homogenized and over-controlled. Not only that, but the overall "risk avert" attitude of younger folks drives them to vehicles with fourteen airbags, self-parking, self-braking, self-lane-holding features with what is essentially their social media tablets mounted in the dash.
One other thing; any number of medical studies show that testosterone levels in modern adult males has dropped by over 60% when compared to most middle aged and senior aged men when they were the same age.
These issues may be contributing to the weak bike sales.
Isn't that the friggin truth. I was a in a BMW dealer a few mos ago and the sales guy - an experienced BMW guy - noted that the new bike sales are predicated on the increasing amount of new, whiz bang computer crap hung on the bikes. The bikes have to have it to sell. The things, like the cars today, are little more than rolling laptops. I design and build scale flying models and feel like a dinosaur these days. Nobody wants to get their hands dirty or has a sense of wonder as to how to make something or how things go together or work. The "thinking" part of leisure activities has been removed from society.
It's my humble opinion, and a lot of you guys aren't going to like this, and violently disagree just because you don't like it... But the Triumph modern classics have put a serious dent in the value of the Sport Classic.
As a person who at one point considered a Sport Classic, I quickly squashed that idea because Sport Classic owners think their bikes are made of gold. They are not. Meanwhile a used 2016 Triumph Thruxton R is is going for $10K, and it's just as much bike with just as much style and more performance.
Here's where everyone declares the Sport Classic a special bike, the Thruxton R garbage, and guys like me don't understand. I understand alright... that some people don't have a grasp how the market works, what their bikes are worth, and judgement is seriously clouded by misty water colored memories.
It's just an opinion. I'm sure some of the other points you guy are making factor in. But for the Sport Classic in particular, it is definitely in competition with the Thruxton R.
I think some might want to set away from a few YouTube channels and take off the tin foil hats......
There is not so much an issue with people not wanting to ride motorcycles as much as the issue is the manufactures are not making a lot of appealing products.
Sure the latest and greatest 200+hp monster is appealing, but is it really that much more appealing then a 200+hp monster bike that is years old? Or the even cheaper 180+hp versions of the same bike 10 years ago?
There really has not been much "improvement" in long time. Sure electronics make the bikes more usable and safer, but that feeling in your gut when you twist the throttle is not that much different. So why bother buying new?
The manufactures have also shot themselves in the foot by failing to market their more interesting options in better ways.
Look at the Vitpilien (spelling?) husky 701. EPIC specs and a really good/fun street bike. They packaged it in a really appealing shape.....but want $2000 more then the same spec bike from KTM....WHY?!?!?!?
It really turns people off.
Then there is the hipster bait marketing of the Ducati Scrambler.....did Ducati not know that the Hipster movement is over?
FAIL.
Dont even get me started on the new supersports....
I guess my point is that the move for most is to just buy used. No real point in spending the money on new.
People are spending money in the ADV sector for sure.
But back to the sport classic.
It really did not have very appealing specs, the bike is basically an old monster with nicer to look at body work.
Makes sense that as tastes change, so does the value.
Bike was not made to be limited production, they just didnt sell well
I had discussion with someone on another forum, about rare vs just not popular. He was stating that a particular bike that was only made for a few years was considered rare. I told him not really, it just didn't sell well when produced so that is why they stopped making them. In his mind that made it rare and worth more than any reasonable person would pay. I just told him it is still the same unpopular bike and not worth double because it was only made for a couple years. People like to throw that word rare around......
I have found that a lot of people dont even know what a sport classic or GT is, so feel its only the people that know about them want one, a few bikes advertised but not sold, i have been watching severel GT's, including mine, so apart from cheap ones i dont think they are moving
That makes total sense right now.
As pointed out there are MANY options for bikes that give the same riding experience and aesthetic for the same (if not much less) money.
These other options generally come on a newer and more modern bike.
I think many see the sport classic as more of a style exercise on a Monster at this point, not a really unique bike.
*I tried to buy a left over 2006 in 2009.
Dealer messed me around and it actually kept me away from Ducatis for almost 10 years when I moved away from that dealer.
Great comparo - I have often wondered how Ducati could have screwed up the styling of the new bike so badly. As these pics show, the engine is essentially the same as is the frame. Would it have really taken that much more effort to do it right?
I don't know why you guys bashing on the GT, its a great looking bike and I would choose it over the old school one any day. Yes, in its stock form it looks kinda cheapo and not as slick, same could be said with a lot of bone stock bikes straight from the factory. But with a few tasteful mods I think it has a lot of potential.
After I finished my mods, I like it even more. Doesn't matter to me what it's worth on the open market or even if anyone else likes it, it's mine and that's what counts.
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