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Assume crash
positions!
Could
the prices of old Brit bikes be heading for a long
downhill slide?
November 2025 – Phillip White
Phillip White argues we’re about to see an avalanche of Brit classics come up for sale, impacting an already soft market
Thumbing through classified outlets such as Just
Bikes magazine, one would think that nothing has
changed with British classic bike prices. Well, one would
be wrong. Many of the sellers are out of touch.
A good few years ago I wrote a piece titled End Game
predicting, among other things, that the old bike market
is subject to the same iron economic rules as any other
market, and that old bike prices would eventually start a
steady decline. Of course, Covid arrived a year or two
after that article was published and classic bike prices
surged.
That was just a blip and now the party would appear to be
over. I have a membership in a British motorcycle club
and, in their magazine, I have seen the word “collapse“
associated with prices. It’s not all bikes, of course, but
there are forces at work that any classic enthusiast with
run-of-the-mill British models may wish to consider.
Demographics
Our hobby is essentially the preserve of the baby boomers,
that is those born between 1946 and 1964. As a 1950 model
myself, I have a further sixteen years-worth of boomers
coming behind, however fewer and fewer of these folk will
have any knowledge of, or interest in, older Brit bikes.
Having just achieved three quarters of a century on this
planet, one is forced to reckon with the passing of the
years. I hope to keep riding but what I ride and when and
where is subject to review. As a result I am getting rid
of about half of my bikes.
I am using the auction system because, with an ad the
phone simply does not ring. Buyers and sellers don't know
the prices. What little is selling is doing so for way
less than the asking price.
Here is a recent observation: in the UK one of the most
common models to be seen at old bike gatherings is not old
at all – it is the Royal Enfield 350 Meteor. This is now
so popular that Honda has launched an imitation. Imagine
that. A Japanese knock-off of an Indian knock-off of an
old Brit bike!
Costs
It has always been a mug’s game to restore old bikes
unless they happen to be astonishingly high-end vehicles.
Although it has been a fun pastime, no one in their right
mind would tackle a restoration of a common or garden Brit
bike now. Recently one of the major auction houses in the
UK sold a load of late sixties early seventies Brits, with
Commandos predominating. The average sale price was only
Au$6000 (US$4000, GB£3000, €3400).
I have come up with a formula for valuing a Joe Average
British motorcycle: pick a price from the height of the
boom, not the highest price, just one that you as the
vendor would have been sort of be happy with. Now, cut
that by 40 per cent. That, in my opinion, is approximately
representative of today’s values. As restoration activity
slows so demand for parts must follow suit. I am advised
by industry sources that some of the major classic bike
parts manufacturers have already factored this in, and are
diversifying into other areas.
Cultural Relevance
I remember decades ago when I rekindled a relationship
with the bikes of my youth. Wherever I parked a classic
someone would say “I had one of those” or, as the years
passed, “My dad had one of those” – that does not happen
now.
Japanese bike prices for some models are on the rise but
are hard to comprehend. At the extreme end Mecum Auctions
in the USA in August 2025
sold a mint 1974 Z1A Kawasaki for an eye watering
Au$128,000 (US$82,500, GB£63,000, €72,600). That’s nudging Vincent
Black Shadow territory, for a non-concours example.
Bargains
At the other end of the spectrum I spotted a Yamaha Royal Star
at a rally. This is a traditional cruiser of the late
nineties, featuring a sophisticated DOHC V-four engine and
shaft drive. This example was unblemished save for a small
amount of peeling chrome on the handlebar clamps. The
owner said he bought it for a trip to Perth. He stated
that if anything packed up he would simply abandon the
bike, which he could well afford to do as the purchase
price was only Au$1000 (US$650, GB£500, €560).
When it comes to high-end Brit classics, such as Vincents,
the data is inconsistent. It’s safe to say that prices are
depressed in the UK and have been for some time. There,
the normal would appear to be about 60 per cent of those
in Australia.
Wealth transfer
As the boomers pack it in, the greatest wealth transfer in
human history will begin. There will be lot of seriously
flush middle-aged people. Will they collect the bikes of
their youth? Perhaps, but these buyers have generally only
ever known a post-transistor world. Our beloved old-style
Brit bikes (say up to the demise of NVT in the mid-1970s)
represent engineering from a much earlier era and require
a lot of fettling.
For example the BSA Rocket 3
is a faster and better handling bike than a Honda CB750-Four,
but the Honda is a product of the modern world. It has the
absolutely essential electric foot and requires no special
mechanical skills to own and operate. It will will find a
buyer while the Rocket 3 is on a road to nowhere.
These future buyers will know little of the products of
England’s glorious industrial past. Indeed, will many of
these future people collect anything with wheels? Already
cars are being transformed into unrepairable disposable
items, much like mobile phones, and are less and less
regarded as status symbols. Note the huge and rapid uptake
of arguably anonymous vehicles from China – there are no
less than 66 major makers in that country.
Also, most governments are determined to electrify the
national fleet. They will probably succeed and faster than
we think possible, and therefore petrol stations and
muffler shops will eventually follow the village black
smith shop into oblivion.
Get ahead of the curve
So what is the point of this admittedly down-beat article?
Well, many of us have seen the proverbial shed full of
motorbikes on a club ride. Most of what's in the shed has
not run for years and, quite frankly, probably never will
again. As those owners age and move on, there will be a
huge influx of old bikes into the market in the coming
years.
If you have one of those sheds and are happy to have a
cup of tea sitting amongst a phalanx of old machines,
dreaming of bygone years, there is nowt wrong with that!
Otherwise get your skates on and try to get ahead of the
curve…
***
More from or about Phillip White...
Boom or Bust –
the value judgement
A quick ride on
his Ariel Square Four
And his
spectacular Royal Enfield KX
The great classic
Guzzi run in Spain
***
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