WTF?! Hilarious!

[JonW]

[BRG1200]

Hee hee hee
Optimism is a wonderful thing.
If it was in one piece it might look a little bit more attractive!
Two grand will still get you a decent one from what I've seen just recently

[DuncanB]

It's a mad bloody world... well.. it will be if he gets 2 grand for the bugger! lol

[pkay]

Someone got at least $1500 for an LC in similar condition so maybe not.....

[pkay]

And I reckon I've spent that much pulling the bits together for my RZ project over recent weeks too.........

[BRG1200]

People are either following the herd or desperate with steep prices on the more scrappy LCs though, not so desperate with RZs but getting less easy to find a good one. They are still out there though.
Trouble is its always the same things that are worn out or rusted through on most of them. Tanks are the prime example.
I'd counsel against the panic buying and consider what it will cost to put the bike right in total - as we'd do with any other bike.

I reckon we'll be banging on JonW's door to restart the new tanks idea sooner than we think ;-)

[JonW]

there is a 5k 83 RZ on ebay at the mo, nice enough bike too, but imho not 5k, but hey if the market is going up im not complaining since I own a couple.

LOL, the tank this is dead... up to someone else now...

[BRG1200]

Speaking in the larger overall perspective, not just Yam two strokes.
Trouble is, although we're happy to think our bikes are a good investment we lose sight that they're not an investment in a crucial sense, they're a passion and a hobby. "We" are pricing ourselves out of the market in a very important way by thinking of the bikes as some kind of capital investment so often.
When was the last time you walked into your garage, breathed in the aroma of WD40, oil and petrol, then ran a clean cloth over your share certificates before taking them for a blast through the hills?
Various magazines have a fair bit to answer for, but we're all guilty of it to an extent. Ebay has tapped into the worst instincts of the unwashed hordes, willing to bid mad money on sight unseen bikes hundreds of miles away.
Just my tuppence worth, and it isn't going to change the market.

[JonW]

LOL I dont see my bikes as an investment at all, as frankly, they are just 'not'. But if the market wants to price them closer to what I have in them then Im not complaining. If people could get their money back on restoring them, we would probably see more of them restored etc. just my 2c.

[BRG1200]

Sorry, I'm still a Pom at heart, thinking in pounds and pence rather than cents!

[Stankflapper]

I can honestly say that the only time I have ever lost money on a bike is when I sold it

[BRG1200]

I shall re-iterate... no I won't.
I'll shut up and go collect the kids.

[JonW]

stanky, too funny... me too

[BRG1200]

Sorry guys, my rant was misplaced in this company, I'm not referring to the bikes that have been restored or upgraded at great expense in parts, work and hours in the shed, but all the really rough stuff that gets put up for quite big money (probably as above) when it's either just been dragged out of a rusty shed or cobbled together for a cash in on the latest 'craze'.

That $5k RZ 350 looks like it's had some love, but it isn't quite right if you looks closely, and for $5k it probably should be a few steps up from where it is.

[pkay]

I agree with the sentiment that magazines and part time journalists in the specialist press are the main problem. There is an Australian magazine out at the moment with a review of the 350LC batting on about how much they are worth. I lost interest in old cars when all people could talk about was how much they are worth and I pray that the bike world doesn't go the same way. The only people who care how much ther are worth are either wankers with too much money or people you don't want to talk to anyway. We know what our bikes are worth and what it's worth to us privately is all that is important.
This is almost as boring as people who talk about real estate values all the time. Sorry for the rant.........