Custom bikes are, for the most part, personalized to suit the owner.
I pay less for custom bikes, because they were "customized to my style, and 95% of the time were modified by supervised, self taught experimenter's who really have/had no idea what the final machine configuration was to be. If it was never raced, none of the mods were ever proven to add any sort of functionality to the bike. If it was raced, it is likely overly worn. Every single customized bike I have acquired was buggered in some way and required correction or replacement of the "custom" features for either safety or functionality. However, I am a sucker for a rescue project, and there seem to be no end of bikes screwed up by a PO. But, I won't let a machine abusive PO profit from their buggery.
That is not to say there aren't buyers, for the latest "shiny thing" that falls into their gaze. There are usually plenty of people that know less than the current owner, particularly about the machine being sold. But, those people may not be in your locale, or are distracted by other "shiny things".
The whole marketing of vehicles in general by nearly all media conveyance is based on human base feelings to create desire rather than objective, practical factors. Such is the superficial value of a vehicle's worth. Being blasted since birth with these sales techniques teaches buyers to value the superficial concepts being offered as opposed to the necessities or practical needs.
If a vehicle is presented along with a scantily clad and attractive female, the base male human reaction becomes associated with that vehicle and the desire subconsciously or directly transfers/ registers in the observer for the vehicle that was associated. How many times have you heard about a machine being "sexy". But, if you announce that you had intercourse with that machine, not many will actually wish to be you (or buy the machine).
This is only one such example of using human basic traits to create a desire for a product or idea. Pictures associated with the "ruggedly handsome" also foster desire. As in, "hey if I have the same bike as the guy pictured with the bike, I'll become desirable if I also own such a bike."
How many adds have you seen where the "feelings" about the sold item is touted, rather than the item features themselves. It's hard to ignore the constant bombardment of misdirection.
