1 May 2025

The thing about the April 2025 Staffordshire International Classic Motorcycle Show was that you likely left with one of three things: either something you didn't really need, a regret that you didn't buy something you really wanted, or confusion over classic bike values in 2025. Iain Macauley, automotive journalist explores the topic further. 

As motorcyclists, we can't resist buying something. And let loose in a bike store or show, we usually buy it, often in this order: clothing, boots, helmet, gadgets - and bikes. Or maybe a different order. Or all of them. 

Many of us who took the catalogue purchase pluge and made it into the Bonhams Cars Motorcycles Spring Stafford Sale auction with perhaps something in mind we'd buy, or fantasise about buying. 

There was some very specific interest in some particular bikes, but the number of chats that went along the lines of "I came to look at (such-and-such a bike), but, actually there's at least half-a-dozen I'd like" was extensive to say the least. 

That's the mantra of auction visitors regardless of budget. 

Personally, my fantasy interest was initially on a 1976 Honda Cub, with an estimate of £800-£1,200 but which went for £2,185. I love the idea of its simplicity. But then once I'd done a couple of laps of the halls and outdoor stalls it was '70s Kawasaki triples and '70s and '80s Laverdas that were talking to me... 

... I remember two-stroke Kawasaki 500s and 750s and unexpected wheelies, and Laverda Jotas' ability to make you look like a film star while passing lines of parked cars and setting off their alarms with its rumble.  

But there were some perhaps unexpected "bargains" for those of us of a certain pre-internet age. 

A 1961 BSA DBD34 500 Gold Star was estimated at £10,000-£15,000. It went for £8,050. I winced. It was a similar story for a 1957 Norton 30 International: estimate £10,000-£14,000, sold for £5,175. Ouch. 

But '70s, '80s and '90s bikes were either holding their own against estimates or edging above: from The Andy Chapman Collection a 1974 Kawasaki 750 H2 estimate £10,000-£12,000. It went for £12,650. 

What does all this number watching tell us? The market is all over the place. There's clearly less interest in pre-WW2 bikes, with exceptions, but some '50s and ''60s bikes are sliding towards the slope too. 

For some of us, that means buyers' market. 

And on the subject of buyers, there were certainly some iconic bikes the target of collectors, some online, some on the phone, some discreetly catching the eye of auctioneer and spotters. 

Three competition bikes with massively different histories turned out to be the highlights. 

The ex-Carl Fogarty, 1988 and 1989 TT Formula 1 World Championship-winning 1988 Honda VFR750R RC30 from the The Dale Winfield Motorcycle Collection was estimated at £30,000-£40,000, but went for £59,800. 

Then the ex-Jim Kentish; Brooklands Gold Star-winning 1937 Vincent-HRD 998cc Rapide Series-A just squeaked past the lower estimate of £180,000. 

Finally, the big one: centrally-placed immediately behind the audience-bidders seating area, one of 12 known survivors, a 1925 Brough Superior 981cc SS100, which took second place in the 1927 Ulster Grand Prix; single family ownership since 1972. 

Estimate was £300,000-£350,000. 

It made £276,000.    

Given the state of the economy and consumer confidence, and notwithstanding bikers' habit of rarely selling or purchasing bikes for listed price, acquisition or disposal of a bike is a very personal decision. 

I recently swapped out one of my modern-ish classics, which had fallen out of the desirability window, and which I'd rarely ridden, for something worth £500 less. 

But the value lay elsewhere: I've done more miles on the arriving bike - not quite old enough to be a classic, yet, but soon, and certainly rare - in a week than in a year on the one that has departed. 

Personally, I concur with the auctioneers' and experts' mantra: why have a bike just to look at? You should ride it.