No-one's interested anymore.

[Joolstacho]

Are we looking at a 'dying art' re: classic motorbikes? Yes I think so.
I'm advertising various parts, BSA, Norton, Suzuki, at very reasonable (some giveaway) prices.
And I'm getting no response. Seems to me the next generation are not interested... Too hard. 'Boomer gen' here, and I reckon our kids generation is the last that will be at all interested. There's going to be a heap of previously desirable metal going to the recyclers. Tragic? Or is that overstating it?

[Black Sheep]

Nope. We are the last generation to have a love of these machines. In time a whole load of them will be going in skips. So ride the hell out of them while you can.
My sons, who were brought up on old British iron, will keep a couple of my bikes. My grandkids are just not remotely interested in any so they are all ultimately doomed.

[mikeb]

i don't think it is tragic Jools. more inevitable. maybe a bit sad for us, but all things pass. in 25 years almost all of us wil be dead, most of our bikes will be scrap, petrol probably rare to find. its the nature of things and why today there aren't many sailing ships, horse carriges, windmills, manual gearboxes. the current boomers pushing up the price of exotic cars are going to leave behind some despairing kids who view their inheritance as old piles of rusting junk.
too bleak? i say the opposite. its the motivation to fully enjoy this moment of motoring madness before it passes, and your moral obligation to thrash the snot out of your BSA as often as possible.

[CheeserBeezer]

Are we looking at a 'dying art' re: classic motorbikes? Yes I think so.
I'm advertising various parts, BSA, Norton, Suzuki, at very reasonable (some giveaway) prices.
And I'm getting no response. Seems to me the next generation are not interested... Too hard. 'Boomer gen' here, and I reckon our kids generation is the last that will be at all interested. There's going to be a heap of previously desirable metal going to the recyclers. Tragic? Or is that overstating it?

Sadly, I think you might be right. As well as the younger generation not being interested there are other reasons. We are in a transition period between riding nostalgia and museum exhibits. Motorcycles entered their era in the 1920's and have developed into very sophisticated machines. Older bikes like ours are still being ridden but the very old stuff is rarely seen other than on very specific runs like 'The Banbury Run'. There are many museums dedicated to the Victorian era with loads of stuff on display which we wouldn't dream of using today because it's no longer fit for purpose or just too labour intensive. Whilst we enjoy taking our bikes out and playing with the manual advance/retard, manual choke, dreadful brakes and driving around to find decent fuel, to most people this is just too difficult! When I first got involved with motorbikes, it was the adrenaline rush that got me hooked (like many addictions!). To get that same adrenaline rush today, you can go down to your local dealer and buy almost anything which will have at least twice the performance of our BSA's. So, for our younger generation I cannot see what the incentive is to get involved. My son and his mates are interested in my bikes but they're not relevant any more. Like most stuff which transcends more than two or three generations, the bikes will end up as museum pieces or even lounge ornaments!

[limeyrob]

I follow prices on e-bay for bikes and cars.  The market for most 50's 60's British stuff has really fallen.  An original early Rocket 3 in good condition sold for £5500 last week and RGS Reps are going for £4000.  Curiously standard Golden Flashes are holding up quite well.  Its not just BSA, i looked a Nortons and Triumphs and its the same story.  Commandos seem to be cheaper then they were 20 years ago.
Its the same with cars, there are decent drivable TR6 for around £8000 and XK Jaguars that used to be £90,000 are now around £40,000, still a lot of money but there's no market for them.  When you look at the bikes and cars for sale so many are "estate sales" and I think this will accelerate bringing more onto the market in quite a short period.
My own situation mirrors what's going on; I've always hankered after a Rocket 3 but now I can get a good one for less that an A10 did I bid?  No because the reality is they are big, fast and I'm old.  The British bikes that are doing OK seem to be the ones that are easy to live with and nice to ride, Gold Flashes, B31's even Bantams which could be seen as "entry level" classics that are usable on runs and meet ups.
My son is 14 and we go to lots of events, we'll be at a hill climb this weekend.  He really enjoys these events but as a spectator, he has no interest in owning any of the vehicles. We'll spend all day there and have a great time but when we get home I'll ask him what he really liked and he'll say " the live band were great, or they were great burgers.."

[CheeserBeezer]

Having read this thread with interest, it seems as though most of us are coming to terms with reality. We could/should maybe did predict this a few years ago when it was apparent that there was no 'young blood' in the clubs and hangouts we use. Anybody who thought their bikes were an investment or alternative pension should be running a cold sweat now! The outcome of this conversation should be 'What are we going to do about it?". For me, I 've never treated my bikes as an investment. I've collected them because I like them and they give me pleasure, to ride, restore and to look at. They also boost my ego when I take them out and people admire them. Being interviewed at the local Classic Show makes me feel like a celebrity and I get a massive boost from the feedback I get from fixing magnetos, dynamos and selling A10 spares (I've still got a shed full if anybody wants anything!) None of these things are translatable into cash but make a more important contribution to my quality of life and give my life a purpose. So, if the values fall it doesn't really matter to me. One day, I'll die and somebody else can clear them out in the knowledge that I dredged every last drop of pleasure out of them and their value isn't important. A couple of years ago a new guy came to our club, youngish (less than 60) and showed interest as he is a neighbour of a friend of mine who also has an A10. He came along on his Honda. After a while I offered to lend him an A10 which he gladly took up. He found that our style of motorcycling is different to the image he had always carried around in his head. We ride slowly, we take in the scenery, we stop for a pie and a natter, we help each other and we do it all at a leisurely pace. We aren't outdoing each other to be the fastest, have the the most expensive bike etc. He found that he loved this lifestyle and persuaded me to sell him my trusty old A10 and he still loves it and it has given him access to a way of life he wasn't aware existed. Maybe we should be promoting our way of life, telling people what a great time we have and having an old bike is a gateway to something and some people who make life wonderful. It's about the people, not the bikes...though they are the key to the door, behind which is a fulfilling and enriching world.

[Joolstacho]

Yes, I'm getting the vibe here (haha you can tell my age by my verbiage!)
I've never done my 'bikes for any sort of investment value at all. But we've got so used to the inflation in values haven't we, it becomes a bit of a shock when you realise that the curve has turned downwards bigtime. The Velo KSS/KTT that I built, agonised, and slaved over for many years is now but an ornament. It's 99.99 finished and has never had oil in it, and I guess I'll never start it because as it is, it's best kept as an ornament, (without oil it won't drop oil all over the carpet will it)!
I have to remind myself that I only ever did this stuff for the love and satisfaction of actually doing it. Money wasn't even considered (apart from agonising about what I needed to spend on them)

Bit like my house too. On 30 acres of beautiful hilly forest, easy commuting distance from Melbourne, Hand-built by me and mates in the eighties, full of character, solid as a rock, split level Adobe.
But what!!! It doesn't have 3 bathrooms? Oh no! - no white laminate! Only 4 bedrooms? ...Bluddy'ell! (plenty of redgum, ash, Jarrah etc but what's the point of that).

But we never built it for profit. We've had near 50 years of enjoying it's beauty and no neighbours (Turn it up to eleven). As we get to the age where we're considering having to move on, (because it's all work up here). Replacing it with some suburban brick-veneer at a similar value seems like a cheat - until we think of the 50 years in paradise!!

[Worty]

You've got it Jools, spot on.  Look at what you've had rather than what's coming.  I haven't had the wilderness home, or lots of space which I'd have loved, but I do have a decent, paid for home that's comfortable and dry.  I get to ride out all over on bikes, and my family are sound people.

As for the bikes, I went to a new (to me) bike place near me for a Kwaka MoT.  Traditional blokes with sensible views.  The guy there said that a customer was trying to sell a really nice Triumph for £5.5k, he was offered that by a potential buyer only to have his offer refused.  He then readvertised for £6k, saying the previous price wasn't enough - what a tool!

It's true to say that any hobby, passion, interest is going to cost you money that will probably never be recouped - what you 'lose' is what you gain from the pleasure of doing it!  My kids have no interest in old bikes but, I reckon, there will always be a small group of crazies that will be drawn to them so long as there's oil in the ground.  I'm comparitively young, and I can't see many people younger than me on our bikes, but I do think there may be a renaissance sometime in the future.

As with life in general, there are the ebbs and flows.  What's new today will be old tomorrow and vice versa.  Don't give up hope just yet and get those bikes on the road.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
I've said it before, people who want our 50's-60's bikes remember them in their youth. So now are 60-80 years old and dropping off the perch! Now people in their 50's are thinking of bikes of the 70's-80's so their prices are steady. So it will go no, in another 10 years those will start to drop in price.
Then there's the cooking models V specials. The specials (SS100, Vincent, Goldies etc) will still command premium prices for a few more years yet.
Enjoy what you've got while you can, when you're gone your gone.
Cheers

[berger]

i stand in the garage looking at the berger build waiting for the petrol tank that a mate is painting, i think to myself WELL i lost count at 6 grand and how much enjoyment am i going to get out of it. at 65 and after the heart attack urma the yonda will be sold now it is getting too heavy for me, i will lose money on urma because of all the replaced parts but i have enjoyed working on her and riding her. i will never sell betsy beezer she has been with me for decades of love and hate. maybe one day in the future i might swap the tuned berger build engine and rrt2 for betsy's engine and box and sell the featherbed and other bits, who knows, that is a thought for the future. as for the berger build it has been built in memory of 3 deceased mates and it will bring back good memory's of knowing three great mates while i'm riding it. 

[Topdad]

Very nice thought Berger ,I suppose that our age its inevitable that mates will die,we were a gang of 5 and I'm down to 1 old mate left , one  Spanner ,  died young at 53 ,the 2 others were both  very bad health wise and chose to disappear  despite efforts to stay in touch and so may well have curled there toes up . Bruce now as health issues and so do I so who knows , but they can't take our memories away from us and by  god we enjoyed our bikes the girls we met (some of us married ) and of course the sense of friendship that only bikes bring out in people .We took the *** unmercifully out of each other but come a problem we were all there to help ! RIP Spanner most generous ,hard working and funny mate any one could meet !!

[limeyrob]

It is a really big generational turnover.  I've just come back from our local auctions, I have furniture to get rid off and wanted to put it in the next auction. The body language told me all I needed to know, everyone is clearing out the same stuff so there's a huge oversupply.  Next stop is charity furniture place but I now know I need to rush before everyone else has the same idea and I get turned away!
Like the bikes, the pleasure is in the owning and using.

[Rex]

All true, although I rather doubt that "it's the bikes we wanted when we were kids" that's keeping values high.
For example, a 20 year old apprentice in 1960 lusting after that Goldie, he's now 84 and almost certainly not buying any bikes at all.
Fast forward to 1970 and he's lusting after a Rocket Three, but now he's 74 and also unlikely to be contemplating heaving a big old triple around.

It does bring a wry smile when some like to post about "future classics" though. What a load of nonsense...no-one under about 50 seems to get any pleasure getting their hands dirty on old machinery of any sort let alone some japanese plastic machine (good bikes though they are) where spares are unaffordable/unobtainable.
Clearly "we" Boomers are the last who had to do it and so developed some skills and pleasure from it, and younger ones (like my sons) view them as worthless codger bikes to be sold or scrapped as appropriate.

[limeyrob]

Yes, and I think there's also a degree of rose tint about some of the "classics". Some of the cars were pretty awful to drive and while those of us who grew up driving bangers and were happy with brakes that pulled either way randomly (when they worked) very suspect steering and a lot of noise, the younger generation are horrified.
I used to ride a Goldie on the 70's when they were quite cheap. It was not a fun bike and while I'm glad to have had it I don't miss it at all.  Same goes for my XK140 (also when these could be had cheap), horrendous to drive, basically a 120 mph tractor.  I drive my 1970 Series Landy with manual steering, no syncho on half the gears and drum brakes but when someone younger get in they can't drive it.*  For some reason Series Land Rovers seem to have broken the generation barrier and young people buy them, them post on our forum "how hard is it to fit power steering, disc brakes, sound proofing..." We are polite because we want to encourage them, but the answer is always the same, "did you try one before you bought?"
I do think that one of the reasons there are so many A7s and A10s around is that they are actually very good bikes that are easy to live with.  BSA tried hard with the design and its really proven itself over 60 years.
*When i got tyres fitted the young lad said he would drive it on to the lift.  I watched as he went backwards and forwards in and arc. After 3 goes I said would you like me to do it? Yes.  I explained it didn't have power steering. His reply "How long has it been broken?" 

[Sakura]

Nothing to add, I agree with it all. Liked all of the above. I've got £10ks of tools and machine tools but my boys have no interest 😞. They'll have to pay for several skips!