COVID-19 has ruined many aspects of motorcycling, as well as life in general. Events and races that used to be mainstays of the community are canceling left and right, and people aren't getting out as much on long trips, with the safety of motels being questionable and campgrounds booked solid. The pandemic has had one unexpected positive effect, though. Interest in collecting modern classics from the 1980s and 1990s has skyrocketed.
"A lot of guys sitting at home, getting paid with nothing to spend their money on and an awful lot of time to look at a computer definitely fuels the buying," Ciarán Perrin of Extreme Trading told MCN. It's true. Quite a few middle-aged people, who grew up during this time, have been working from home, unable to spend their money on their usual activities. With money in the bank, some are taking the opportunity to buy their childhood heroes. With enthusiasm and prices starting to go up on these bikes, it could be a better investment opportunity than the interest in your savings account.
Classics For The Modern Age:
We frequently cover interesting bikes for sale here at RideApart, and I've been noticing this trend myself. There are some really good deals out there, even on , which is not known for its bargain-basement prices. Values are starting to go up in response to the increased interest in modern classic bikes. While it's normally a bad idea to buy a vehicle as a long-term value investment to make money on later, this era of motorcycles might just be an exception.
These Radwood-era bikes are to Generation X what 1950s and 1960s classics were to Baby Boomers. They're the bikes we grew up with, which is much of the appeal of the Radwood shows. As kids, we'd see our heroes on TV or in the movies, like the Kawasaki KZ1000C of CHiPs or the Ninja GPz900R of Top Gun. Once we were old enough to ride, these bikes were at the bottom of their depreciation curve, which is why I bought cheap Suzuki GSs for my first bikes. Those beaters are long gone, and only more expensive survivors remain. Now middle-aged, we're at a point where we can afford to buy a nice example of the bikes of our youth.
Source: MCN