Topic: Is there a Honda CB "bubble" or something?

[phil71]

I dunno, if a bike is 'done' as in: needs nothing but routine maintenance, who cares what people pay? You can walk into a dealer and buy a brand new bike for 10k and be just as f@#ked when it breaks as you would be with an old one.

[Hope]

Southside Honda estimated that my bike would go for $7-8K as it sits.  I would never get rid of it, so even those numbers don't tempt me to get rid of it.  The owner of the dealership said they just sold a 550 for that much.  Sheesh, don't let my sister catch wind of this madness (her & my mom signed the bike over to me years ago after my dad died - SHE'LL WANT HER SHARE.)

[robdrobd]

I threw it on craigslist for $2200 to test my theory. I bet the worst that happens is I get 3 offers for $500. 

[BobbyR]

I agree with Kit that these have been eyed for Cafe racers, the superbike guys at work are looking into building Cafes. The other reason probably is the gas prices. I am seeing Vespas crossing the George Washington bridge at rush hour. The bridge is nerve wracking in a car as people connect to other roads.

[robdrobd]

I will post all offers I get, if any, and we'll examine the results.

[Greggo]

Here's all the proof anyone should need on this subject.

http://trends.google.com/trends?q=cafe+racer&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0


Supply & Demand.

[Duke McDukiedook]

All we have to do now is take the old sohc engines with buggered trannys, yank the shifters off and call them fixed gear motos.

The hipster tards will go crazy for them!!!
 

[DJ_AX]

Yeah it's like a merging of bubbles. The "Nice Spring Weather Motorcycle Bubble", the "Gas Keeps Going Up Bubble", and of course the "Cafe Bikes Are Cool Bubble".
I also do think we'll see a lot more for sale soon too as most of those on these bubbles are not so mechanically inclined to keep 'em up and running.

Just last month someone a few doors down got a nice lookin' CB Cafe... rode it a few times, then it sat for a few weeks, and then it was gone.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm"

[Gordon]

I threw it on craigslist for $2200 to test my theory. I bet the worst that happens is I get 3 offers for $500. 

Are you actually considering selling it or are you just wasting people's time? 

I know I'd be pretty pissed if I took the time to go look at a bike only to find out the guy was just testing the market. 

[xsmooth69x]

im 23 y/o and a hipster....? i dont know wtf is a hipster and google images defiantly doesn't reflect what i look like......

their was 3 reasons that i was told that why these bikes are so expensive. i started thinking about doing this whole thing is because ive read all these cheap builds that where made in like 2003-2006 and it was cheap!! picking up bikes for free or like 300-500 range.

i was never able to have a bike because of my parents....... im completly dependent they pay for my college and still my cellphone and car insurance 

so now they finally caved in and let me get one without cutting me off but the build was all on me and the insurance and everything dealing with the bike. i couldnt afford a 3-5k rice rocket like a used cb600rr. thought about buying a wrecked one and turning it into a stunt bike to justify such a shiatty looking bike lol decided to look cool and get an old "cheap" (not anymore) vintage bike and rock that!

then when i tried to do it now in 2011 the bikes are in 4 digits or just beaters for 600-900 with titles.....

1) price of gas but i doubt this is why. there are plenty of other bikes to go for then just hiking up the price of SOHC hondas

2) the "hipsters".... i truely believe that 80% of the hipsters dont care if its a sohc or not. as long as its an "old" cafe looking bike. there are other platforms xs kz gs etc (xs bikes are expensive for the other chopper crowd). yes us hipsters do have $$$$ but nothing like the prices charged for mint sohc cb's

3) this is the reason i think the bikes are expensive. its for all those guys back in the day in college riding these things around that now have good careers, has a family, pushed there kids off to college, maybe mid life crisis? that has the money to blow for their nostalgic, back in the day bikes they rode. (great time to justify buying one too because of the high gas prices  ) i blame it on you old people jk jk

im mechanically inclined, i will keep my bike. i would have loved to keep my first car but its just to big. but this bike i made from the frame up. i could always keep a motorcycle even if i had to park it in a spare bedroom. could you imagine when im 43 and still have this super vintage bike!!! thats 20 years from now  i hope theirs still gas.....

[Toxic]

Wait ya mean I can't be a hipster cuz I'm 55.  WTF

It's demographics as well, guys like me, older, remembers when they first came out.  While I have had countless bikes since I was 16, I still remember the CB's from back in the day.  Now that I have a little more disposable income the project CB's are an attraction. But it will never be my main ride.

There are no doubt allot of guys buying the bikes as cheap transport as well.

You can't keep pulling $200 bike out of a barn forever.

[madmtnmotors]

im mechanically inclined, i will keep my bike. i would have loved to keep my first car but its just to big. but this bike i made from the frame up. i could always keep a motorcycle even if i had to park it in a spare bedroom. could you imagine when im 43 and still have this super vintage bike!!! thats 20 years from now  i hope theirs still gas.....

You just described me. I bought my CB750K8 back in 1986 (I was 22, almost 23 years old at the time) with my tax return ($850.00 with 23,000 miles). Didn't have a lot of street riding experience, figured if I tore it up then at least I wasn't going to lose a big investment. Well, 40,000 miles and 25 years later I have yet to tear it up despite the years of neglect and abuse. I now know this bike so well that I have acquired a couple of project bikes only because I easily understand what it will take to get them on the road again.

    One was actually headed for the scrapyard. I recieved a call indicating that if I didn't want it then it would be sold for scrap. Now I may not have gotten the better part of the deal since the engine is locked up, most of the wiring harness connectors are crumbling from exposure to the sun, no exhaust, much rust (seat pan rotted away completely), etc. Worst case I'll use it for parts.

   There's still lots of these bikes out there, you just need a little more patience now to find a good deal. Good luck.

[robdrobd]

I threw it on craigslist for $2200 to test my theory. I bet the worst that happens is I get 3 offers for $500. 

Are you actually considering selling it or are you just wasting people's time? 

I know I'd be pretty pissed if I took the time to go look at a bike only to find out the guy was just testing the market.

I am definitely going to consider selling/trading it if the price or trade is right. I think I missed the time window though. If someone offered a decent price or a decent bike I would definitely sleep on it.  Of course, I haven't had any time to ride it yet. Once I start taking it to and from work I could pull the ad pretty quick!

[robdrobd]

Not a bad forecast fro Syracuse NY in early June. Record heat today. Also, to follow up on the Canada buying up bikes comment. I sold my last build on eBay for $2300. No questions asked. The guy bid and then brought the cash the next week. It was a 1975 cb550f that I paid $300 in the fall, fixed it all winter, rode it all summer, and then sold it in September. Maybe those of us selling should be looking up north instead. Seattle seems to be a hotspot as well.

[c(b)hris]

Here's all the proof anyone should need on this subject.

http://trends.google.com/trends?q=cafe+racer&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

they're just awesome, so everybody wants one.  why wouldn't you want one?
here's what some are going for in Pittsburgh

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2423611993.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2402967300.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2422871448.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2376089520.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2414564976.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2416240705.html

[Frankenkit]

Wow, I guess Portland's doing okay.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcd/2421888365.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2417727734.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2423210002.html
Predictably higher price in nopo...
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2422737620.html
oh! Someone rescue this one!
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/2421903538.html

[robdrobd]

Wow, I guess Portland's doing okay.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcd/2421888365.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2417727734.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2423210002.html
Predictably higher price in nopo...
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2422737620.html
oh! Someone rescue this one!
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/2421903538.html

Ha, my favorite was the all too typical last one. Have most parts, does not run, no title - $500....

[weekend_junkie]

There's always a spring/summer fever, but I agree that vintage bikes near NYC and other cities come at a premium because of the vintage bike fad.  People get all hot and bothered by my CB350F for almost no reason.

It's time to "Sell, Mortimer, Sell!"

[betterthanurs916]

Motorcycles aren't the only thing that this is happening with from that era...have you checked out the prices on 60's-70's Japanese audio equipment lately?
 
About 5 years ago you could pick up a working, midrange receiver in the thrift store for $20 on any given day.  Those don't exist anymore.  I have seen some of the top of the line models go for up to $3000+ on ebay now...yeah, you read that right.

For someone with a bit of an odd obsession with 1970's era Japanese gear...this puts a bit of a strain on my hobbies.  I paid $600 for a Pioneer SX-1250 receiver and thought I was getting a good deal based on current prices...

This is all to say, I think the baby-boomer nostalgia thing is a much bigger influence than a lot of people realize.  My logic with this is based on parallel trends with other "cool" stuff from the era (like audio stuff).  I am probably one of a handful of people under the age of 45 on the vintage Pioneer audio forums...and if they are noticing the same trend without the other market influences that old Hondas are subject to, then the prices sort of make sense. (Hipster kids all seem to be buying those AWFUL, overpriced Crosley turntable all-in-one things to get their trendy audio fix...)

I have inspired many hipsteresque friends of mine to want a vintage bike simply by showing mine off around them...so they go out and look for them which drives up perceived demand.  Some of them with some money go out and buy them without knowing anything about what they're getting into despite my fair warnings.  As soon as they start having minor problems (AKA they don't know that you even have to do nor do they know how to do simple things like: adjust points, adjust valve clearances, replace plugs, tune carbs, CHANGE OIL...) they get fed up with the bikes and let them sit.  Chances are in a couple months or years they will realize that they never really wanted to to deal with them in the first place and will unload them when they realize they need the money to start a real life.

[Operator]

Here's all the proof anyone should need on this subject.

http://trends.google.com/trends?q=cafe+racer&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

they're just awesome, so everybody wants one.  why wouldn't you want one?
here's what some are going for in Pittsburgh

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2423611993.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2402967300.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2422871448.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2376089520.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2414564976.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/2416240705.html

Those are pretty close to the prices you would pay up in my area of the world.

[xsmooth69x]

im mechanically inclined, i will keep my bike. i would have loved to keep my first car but its just to big. but this bike i made from the frame up. i could always keep a motorcycle even if i had to park it in a spare bedroom. could you imagine when im 43 and still have this super vintage bike!!! thats 20 years from now  i hope theirs still gas.....

You just described me. I bought my CB750K8 back in 1986 (I was 22, almost 23 years old at the time) with my tax return ($850.00 with 23,000 miles). Didn't have a lot of street riding experience, figured if I tore it up then at least I wasn't going to lose a big investment. Well, 40,000 miles and 25 years later I have yet to tear it up despite the years of neglect and abuse. I now know this bike so well that I have acquired a couple of project bikes only because I easily understand what it will take to get them on the road again.

    One was actually headed for the scrapyard. I recieved a call indicating that if I didn't want it then it would be sold for scrap. Now I may not have gotten the better part of the deal since the engine is locked up, most of the wiring harness connectors are crumbling from exposure to the sun, no exhaust, much rust (seat pan rotted away completely), etc. Worst case I'll use it for parts.

   There's still lots of these bikes out there, you just need a little more patience now to find a good deal. Good luck.

hahahahahaha thats funny i was able to do my build because obama gave back and i got $2500 tax return !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have 2x technic 1200m3d are those vintage? still have the original boxes too!

[betterthanurs916]

i have 2x technic 1200m3d are those vintage? still have the original boxes too!

Check out the "Determining the age of an SL-1200"  for that one here. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_SL-1200#Determining_the_age_of_an_SL-1200

Good units, but due to the high volume and current production, not quite considered "vintage" yet I wouldn't say.

[Gordon]

Wow, I guess Portland's doing okay.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcd/2421888365.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2417727734.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2423210002.html
Predictably higher price in nopo...
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/2422737620.html
oh! Someone rescue this one!
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/2421903538.html

Ha, my favorite was the all too typical last one. Have most parts, does not run, no title - $500....

That's a fair price because the bike comes with the "original windshield".

[robdrobd]

Yeah, those original cb350 windshields are REALLY rare.

[splitt]

The buy it, half-build it and lose interest mentality isn't just the younger generation's fault. I've run across a number of 60 to 70 year old's who bought older bikes\cars\tractors etc., with full intent of someday fixing them up. Well someday never comes. Hopefully, they were smart enough to store them inside of a climate controlled building. If they did start to tear them apart, you hope that they kept all of the parts together. The worst thing that usually happens is the owner dies and the spouse or kids just call the salvage yard to haul off the "junk" for scrap. If the family does sell them, do they know where all of the parts are?

Those good buys are still out there, you just have to look a little harder.