Flipping classic motorcycles on BaT for extra petty cash? What are the hive's opinions?

Well, I like motorcycles, especially 70s-90s motorcycles. And I can't help but notice that there seems to be a fairly steady trickle of low-ish mileage bikes from that period on the local FB marketplace.

Which had me thinking - I like bikes, I'm a tad burnt out on the HPDE/Time Trials thing, and this might be a decent way to own a few cool bikes for a few months and then pass them on, hopefully making a little money in the process.

I'm guessing the advice would be to stick to bikes I know well (like BMW Airheads), but that might get a bit boring. I'll probably stick to bikes I know a bit about (European and some Japanese), though.

What does the hive think? Obviously there isn't as much upside as there might be with a car, especially as I can probably only pull that off once or twice a year between the searching, acquisition and sales process.

If BAT rejects them, do you have another way to offload them? That's the biggest risk. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

That's the one part I haven't figured out yet. Maybe eBay?

I haven't really figured out a good place to sell a motorcycle in the US yet. Back when it was flipping bikes in the UK, eBay was the place to sell most of the time, but I'm not sure that's still the case. I should probably check Hagerty's classifieds as well.

I agree with what Steve said.  I don't think it's a bad idea at all with the one big caveat of having a plan B if/when BaT rejects an offering.  Also, how much money are you talking about playing with?  It's always a risk, so you have determine what your appetite for it is.  

I don't flip cars intentionally for the profit, I just tend to have automotive ADD.  I hunt for those needle in a haystack bargains on CL.  You know...the cars that are actually owned by private owners that have taken care of them, and are being sold at a bargain.  I'll play with them for a while and then move them along when I'm done.  95% of the time I sell it for either the money I have invested, or a small profit.  The cars I buy are low budget, so it's low risk.  

Unless they're a particularly desirable model, used Japanese bikes are nearly worthless or the cost to put them right will put you underwater.

Example: CX650ED Cool little Honda sport tourer, I loved mine. Problem is, it used CBX switchgear and other parts. You're paying CBX parts prices for a bridesmaid model.

Stick with European stuff and you'll be ok.

Perhaps seek out the elusive and very rare, completely stock Harley Davidsons. Clean them up a bit and sell to someone wanting an unmolested model that isn't covered in skulls and SOA crap.

I have a line on two low mile CB 500/550s and have been considering the same thing. It seems that they have been going for crazy money on Bring a Trailer. Good point about another place to sell them if BAT doesn't work out. 

Depending on what sort of makes/models you are looking at, Iconic Motorbike Auctions might be a backup plan. You can ship the bike to them and have them handle it, or keep the bike and just run it through their site. If you select the latter they put you in touch with the winning bidder to complete the deal.

https://iconicmotorbikeauctions.com/

I'm planning to sell my Aprilia SXV550 through them this summer since it is a rare bike with a narrow market, and going to my local Craigslist or Facebook doesn't present me with an adequate pool to have many potential buyers...I'll try to report back with my impressions once things are in motion.

Re the price range - I was thinking to at least start out in the $4-$6k range, targetting stuff that should sell for about $7k-ish on BaT or on a different auction site. One of the issues is that if I concentrate on an area I know pretty well (oddball Italian bikes), pretty much everybody else in that realm also knows what these things are worth, so getting something at a good price is pretty had. Heck, the last bargain I saw on a Bimota was on BaT, of all places.

What I would be going for are bikes that are completely original but might need sprucing up cosmetically and maybe haven't seen a lot of use, so a good clean, some fresh tires and a good service (all documented on the Tubes of U) plus putting a few hundred miles on them before chucking them on BaT. Or if they turn out to be not that great, break them for parts. I would however try to avoid the latter, both due to space requirements and the time required.

I think the important part here is to get bikes that are 100% original - for example, a lot of the SOHC CB500/CB550s haven't got their OEM exhausts anymore, and those are a PITA to find and expensive. You can get the bikes fairly cheap all day long but if you're not looking for a scrambler or cafe racer bike base, it's going to be a moneypit to get them into a BaT state.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

Depending on what sort of makes/models you are looking at, Iconic Motorbike Auctions might be a backup plan. You can ship the bike to them and have them handle it, or keep the bike and just run it through their site. If you select the latter they put you in touch with the winning bidder to complete the deal.

https://iconicmotorbikeauctions.com/

I'm planning to sell my Aprilia SXV550 through them this summer since it is a rare bike with a narrow market, and going to my local Craigslist or Facebook doesn't present me with an adequate pool to have many potential buyers...I'll try to report back with my impressions once things are in motion.

Interesting site - haven't heard of it, but a quick look suggests that the classified side of things almost looks like my shopping list .

If you do sell your Aprilia through them, I'd really appreciate if you could share your experience with us.

One good thing about the Italian bikes. They're all parts bin models and you don't have to be crazy about numbers matching.

My Guzzi and my Ducati both use Aprilia turn signals.

The Duc uses Smiths gauges.

The nice thing is, you don't have to be super accurate spec'ing parts for Italian bikes. The companies were so fiscally irresponsible that they used parts from one supplier until the ran out of credit and goodwill, then switched to another supplier.

The Ducati 860 uses Smiths OR Veglia gauges and nobody really knows when the change happened because there would be occasional boxes of parts show up from either supplier. The passenger peg threads are SAE while the rest of the bike is metric because they got a good deal on some Brit bike footpegs.

Moto Guzzi serial numbers never match between engine and frame because the bikes are still hand built and the engines on the floor are hardest to pick up so they get installed last after all the easy to get engines have been put in. Tino and Nino sometimes have a little too much grappa at lunch.

Japanese bikes suffer from crazy anoraks. One guy in our club was calling out another guy's speedometer on his KZ1000 because the "7" was the wrong shape. Apparently it changed somewhere in production and these crazies can tell you what serial number the change happened on.

Japanese bike guys are weirdos. "Oh, Honda made 2000 of that bike in 1986, it's rare".

Italian companies are lucky if they can spit out 2000 over a whole production run. 500 in a year is a lot.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

Depending on what sort of makes/models you are looking at, Iconic Motorbike Auctions might be a backup plan. You can ship the bike to them and have them handle it, or keep the bike and just run it through their site. If you select the latter they put you in touch with the winning bidder to complete the deal.

https://iconicmotorbikeauctions.com/drift hunters

I'm planning to sell my Aprilia SXV550 through them this summer since it is a rare bike with a narrow market, and going to my local Craigslist or Facebook doesn't present me with an adequate pool to have many potential buyers...I'll try to report back with my impressions once things are in motion.

If you do decide to sell your Aprilia via them, I would be quite grateful if you could tell us about your experience doing so.

In reply to ShawnG :

In my experience, 98% of Japanese bike guys are just normal dudes on a budget who like motorcycles and want something to ride...but that 2% of the zealots? Yikes! 

That said, on the Italian bike side, excluding the modern Ducati owners who are basically Harley guys, but Italian, i.e. have the matching jacket, shop apron, coffee mug, wall clock, mouse pad, race-team banner in the garage, tool set, and whatever other paraphernalia to ensure that you know what bike they ride a few weekends a year...well, most of them are "special."  No...I mean, they are committed enthusiasts, willing to put up with intermittent mechanical failure and remain smiling. 

In reply to BoxheadTim :

In reply to howardcarver :

I'll be happy to update as things progress!

In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :

Hey!

1 of my 3 Italian bikes is running and rideable right now!

Just realize that your results selling on any auction site will be extremely variable.  If your perceived profit margin is low, you might actually end up losing money....

docwyte said:

Just realize that your results selling on any auction site will be extremely variable.  If your perceived profit margin is low, you might actually end up losing money....

It's one of my concerns that this could turn into your typical web 2.0 startup - "I lose 500 bucks on every bike, but I'm making up for it in volume". Hence part of the plan being to start in the reasonably priced range and test the waters with one or two bikes I wouldn't mind owning for a little while anyway if they get rejected by BaT and other auction sites, and not expensive enough to make it a big problem if I end up losing money one or two.