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News Feb 2023
Waterbusa, Feb
28
Perhaps not the ideal weather to be
borrowing a new Gen 3 Hayabusa. More to come on this bike.
Meanwhile you can
see our Gen 1 profile here;
And our Gen 2
video review here;
Plus the Gen
3 factory development story here.
Norton Commando
MkIII - market watch, Feb 28
Good quality Norton Commandos seem to be firming up in
price in the USA at the moment. This MkIII with 5500 miles
(8900km) on the odo sold recently
through Bring a Trailer for Au$43,400 (US$29,250,
GB£24,250).
That's consistent with the trends we saw earlier in the
year at the Mecum Las Vegas auction. Good quality early
1960s BSA and Triumph twins were also tracking well at
that event. However the USA market for these machines
(including the Norton) seems more buoyant than the
Australian.
See the Classic
Two Wheels 1973 Commando 850 review;
Plus our Commando
series profile here;
Suzuki GS1000S -
today's auction tempter, Feb 27
Up for
auction with Shannons is this 1980 Suzuki GS1000S, which
gives the impression of being a very presentable runner
rather than a concours machine. It's carrying an estimate
of Au$8-12,000 (US$5-8000, GB£4-7000). If that's right,
it looks like it could be good value.
This (including the GS750S, GS1000E plus the GS-G shaft
series) was the generation that established Suzuki as a
credible maker of big performance motorcycles and in this
form made the connection with then USA AMA Superbike hero
Wes Cooley (above).
And the three-way period
comparo from Classic Two Wheels between this model,
a Kawasaki Z1000 MkII and Honda CB900FZ.
See the main
auction page here.
Flashback: Doing
the Time Warp, Feb 26
It all seemed perfectly
normal from where muggins was sitting. There we
were, listening to the burble of the v-eight in the
snout of the Kingswood as it happily worked away at
its task, while in the rear view mirror you could
see the gentle sway of a single headlight,
reassurance that the trailer hadn’t suddenly dropped
its bundle...see the
full story here.
Market watch:
Moto Guzzi V50 Monza, Feb 25
A V50 Monza is a rare sight on the
market in any shape, and particularly in this sort of
condition. Sold recently through Collecting Cars, the
1981 model is said to have undergone an extensive
resto.
It sold for Au$10,950 (US$7400,
GB£6200). See the
listing here.
Ian Falloon says of this model:
"Lino Tonti managed to
create a brilliantly compact motorcycle. Though the
90 degree V-twin closely followed the layout of the
larger bikes with its chain-driven central camshaft
and pushrod-operated valves, in many other respects
the design was highly innovative, incorporating
several technical advances over the larger twins." See the
full story here.
Highway
Heritage, Feb 25
We recently got to play
with a current Harley Heritage tourer/cruiser, which
turned out to be an easy thing to get along with. See the story here.
Big numbers for late Ducatis, Feb 21
Over
the years we’ve got used to the idea of classic Ducati
motorcycles fetching some pretty hefty prices. At the
top of the tree of course is the green frame 750 SS,
which these days is worth in the vicinity of Au$300-400k
(US$200-300k, GB£180-230k).
However
we’re now seeing late-model limited edition machinery
fetching big money. A few recent sales of post-2000
models have seen prices pass the Au$50k mark. For
example this 25th anniversary Panigale, dubbed a 916
though it’s an 1100 V4, recently fetched $66,000
(US$45,000, GB£38,000). It was sold
through Collecting Cars and is one of 500 made.
Meanwhile
a 2005 999R in superbike warpaint scored a similarly
impressive result. A low volume version (up to 327?)
with just 10km on the odo, it went for Au$64,000
(US$44,000, GB£37,000), again through
Collecting Cars.
Flashback:
Benelli Tornado Tre 900, Feb 18
Benelli’s bold re-entry into the motorcycle market was a stunner, but they’re hard to find locally...see the story.
Top Gun pairing,
Feb 15
Something for the avid fan of eighties
Kawasakis: Shannons has both a 1984 GPz900R
and GPz750R
coming up in its auction, which starts next week. The
900 has an estimate of Au$12-16,000 (US$8-11,000,
GB£7-9000), while the 750 is at Au$8-14,000
(US$6-10,000, GB£5-8000).
The 900 series, in red similar to the one shown here, was made famous by its appearance in the 1986 movie Top Gun, where it was the machine ridden by Tom Cruise.
More significantly, it was Kawasaki's first top-echelon liquid-cooled sports bike and led to a whole new lineage of sports and sports-touring machines that went through GPZ1000RX, ZX-10 and ZZ-R series.
Its 750 'little brother' is less well
known and would be an interesting one for the collector.
We bought a 900R out of the Northern
Territory some time ago as part of our ongoing fly-ride
program – see the story
here.
Flashback:
Kawasaki ZX-12R, Feb 5
Kawasaki’s ZX-12R was meant to be the top performance dog, but things didn’t quite work out that way. It deserved better and is under-rated...see the story here.
Auction
record-breakers & bargains, Feb 3
Mecum has released the top 10 results
from the giant annual Las Vegas sale, in which some
1000-plus machines crossed the block over several
days.
The results are strictly for
investment bikes and it's interesting to see pre-WWII
machines dominating.
Early four-cylinder machines are definitely on the march. Ace, Henderson and Indian fours from the early 1930s and before are now routinely fetching over Au$210,000 (US$150,000, GB£120,000).
BMWs from the 1920s are also very much
in favour, with a 1925 R32 and 1925 R37 fetching
Au$310,000 (US$220,000, GB£180,000).
Also of note was the sale of a
concours-standard 1938 Zundapp K800 with sidecar,
which fetched Au$264,000 (US$187,000, GB£152,000).
While the top-sellers got the
attention, the same auction was also a pretty good
place to pick up some sharp buys. For example a 2002
Suzuki TL1000R with 18,2000km (11,300 miles) on the
odo, Yoshimura slip-ons and stock mufflers, all in
great shape, went for Au$9300 (US$6600, GB£5400).
If that were a bit much for the
budget, you could have scored a 2003 Buell Firebolt
XB9R in what looked like excellent condition for just
Au$3100 (US$2200, GB£1800).
Buell XB9R
profile at Motorcycle Specs.
Ducati auctions,
Feb 1
Shannons has an auction
coming up on Feb 21-28, which includes 47
motorcycles among which is this 1983 Ducati
900 Mike Hailwood Replica.
Online descriptions have yet to be
completed, however we did briefly see this one in the
Brisbane showroom. It seems complete and in decent shape
with some paint repair (to the clear on top of the fuel
tank) required.
The estimate is broad: Au$28-34,000
(US$20-24,000, GB£16-19,500).
Meanwhile a 1974 Ducati
750 Sport we featured a few days ago ended up
selling with Collecting Cars for Au$65,500 (US$46,200,
GB£37,500).
See our 750
Sport backgrounder.
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