1990 to now future classics

[steve 10562cc]

SO what's the best bets for your top 5 future classics from 1990 till now.
Suzuki TL1000S (nick name the widow maker)
Yam TRX 850 because it dared to be different.
Suzuki Bandit 1200 mk1
Yam XJR1300SP 
Yam R1, the early ones, best looking sports bike ever ( just my opinion)

[darrsi]

Always wanted a TL1000S, but the more i read about them the more horror stories would appear.
They sound awesome with the right exhausts on, as did the Firestorm.

[steve 10562cc]

I had a early Tl1000S one of the first 1000 imported into this country. (The bike and I had an agreement I wouldn't wrap it round a tree if it didn't try to kill me) not sure if it was the agreement or they were much better than it was ever given credit for by those who couldn't handle it. I had 3 years of great fun on mine but also a few trouser staining moments but usually my fault. Biggest problem with them was rear suspension used to lock up if you pushed hard round the twisties, and made life interesting steering damper calmed the tank slappers down a bit but treated with a bit of respect it was one hell of a bike 

[VNA - BMW Wank]

Will be many years before an XJR1300 is seen as a classic (in my opinion).  I like them, but they are retro bikes, ie a copy of a classic, and strangely not really a copy of a Yamaha classic.  They have only just stopped making them, so basically they are everywhere.

An original naked Bandit, well I guess so - eventually.  Will take a long long time though.  Long production run and a great many sold, plus there's much more exciting stuff out there.  Or perhaps the real future classic Bandit is the most tasteless bling minging street fighter you can make/find rather than original - it's what seemd to happen to most of em.

R1 - agree.

My five;

Ducati 916
1992/3 Honda CBR900 Fireblade
1998-2001 Yamaha YZF1000 R1
1999 Suzuki Hayabusa
1990's RGV250 (some of em could also win awards for worst 90's graphics)

VNA predicts clean uns of the above will eventually fetch silly money.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Dunno, I haven't ridden any of the bikes suggested so far. But I will say Street Triple, and here's why:


In a world without good, fun 2T road bikes, I was looking for something that would be a proper hoot. The Striple fitted that bill. Put a decent can on it, and the sound track is great too. More than this, it would make a decent all-rounder (although I wouldn't personally want to tour on one), and many do use it that way. Tweak the stock suspension a little (even on the R models), and it's a giant killer.

[YamFazFan]

1990's RGV250 (some of em could also win awards for worst 90's graphics)

That was that early 90's period where everything looked like an explosion in a paint factory

The RGV's are rare now.

On the subject of 2-strokes I'd add the KR1-S (super rare) and the RD350 YPVS (not so rare, but nearly all tatty now).

[YamFazFan]

Yamaha TZR250 & TDR250 (think they just scrape into 1990? )
Kawasaki KLX650.
Honda RC30.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

Honda RC30 - future classic?

You'll be hard pushed to find one for under 20K, and some folks are asking over 30K for minters.
It's clearly already got full classic status.  (plus it's really an 80's bike)

Klx650?  I had to google that.

[YamFazFan]

Klx650?  I had to google that.

Cracking looking bike isn't it. It's the more full-on enduro version of the KLR.

They only made them between '93 and '94. Never seen one on the road.

[steve 10562cc]

Lets broaden this out a bit how about ones that nobody wanted/dogs when they came out but now achieved classic status/stupid money
Honda CX500 couldn't give them away except to couriers 10/15years ago, but ran for ever.

[pilninggas]

Lets broaden this out a bit how about ones that nobody wanted/dogs when they came out but now achieved classic status/stupid money
Honda CX500 couldn't give them away except to couriers 10/15years ago, but ran for ever.

More like 30 years ago!

[VNA - BMW Wank]

CX500?  Well the Turbo is fetching money. 

How about Suzuki GT750

From the Used Motorcycle Guide May 1995

Watercooled triple with occasional cooling faults and quick seize motors.  Little going for it, save misplaced nostalgia.  Alright as a hack but forget classic status.

Prices rather too silly to quote.

[noggythenog]

I'm in my mid 30's now...im on the housing ladder and stuff...I have a pension but it wont be an amazing golden plated non contributory bad boy....I earn decent money & it'd be nice to move up the housing ladder and get a house with a garage...........at a push I might find myself at 55 years old being able to afford a 2nd bike....maybe a classic....so i'll be looking from 90's onwards, from when I was a kid and started drooling over bikes.....

However I honestly don't believe that guys 10 years younger than me will be as fortunate...house prices, less inheritance, shit pay and conditions.

Then those that are only 15 years old now.....well they are proper focked.......they'll be lucky to afford a classic copy of Razzle

there are less and less young bikers....so less of them looking for the bikes in future, supply and demand

so my opinion is that the classic bubble will burst.....maybe classics will still be declared....but they wont be going for the same silly money as they do now....

[Hedgetrimmer]

CX500?  Well the Turbo is fetching money. 

Try telling that to the Honda Owners Club (might have been some kind of Honda Classics offshoot). I got chatting to a chap who had one of these a year or two ago. This club didn't recognise his bike, had never even heard of it, let alone willing to admit it was a classic!


The Kawasaki Turbo is the one that will deserve classics status out of the four that all hit the streets at about the same time (Honda CX650 Turbo, Suzuki XN85, Yam XJ650 Turbo, Kawasaki GPz750 Turbo) in my mind, and not just because I owned one! It delivered on the turbo promise, at least, as much as you'd expect a mass produced bike to.

[vinnyb]

I think as we head into the next generation of 'classic' bikes with fuel injection, ABS, traction control, riding modes and the like, they'll be less home maintenance friendly so less likely to be restored. Up until 2000ish most bikes were relatively straightforward to maintain but they have become increasingly complex and compact since then. I daresay a lot of us on here have stripped bikes down to component parts and restored/rebuilt them, I know I have, more than once but I'm not sure I would try it with a modern one. Having said all that I guess 25 years ago, 50 year old bikers were saying that the new bikes of the time would never be classics.
 

[YamFazFan]

Lets broaden this out a bit how about ones that nobody wanted/dogs when they came out but now achieved classic status/stupid money

Kawasaki H1/H2.

Low sales figures, poor handling, but the prices now, especially for original UK imported bikes are bonkers!

[celticdog]

Speaking of dogs I've a soft spot for the KAWA GT550/750, could be a classic one day I suppose.
Unfortunately the café racer boys are after them for 'converting'. Just makes it harder to find an original one in decent nick.

[Dave48]

While there are still people with a pot of cash who cant earn more than a pittance in interest from the banks/etc they may as well "invest" in things that are actually increasing in value in the short term at least. It cant last indefinitely of course and while some bikes are & always have been classic or very special (Broughs, Vincents, BSA Rocket Gold Stars, 60s T120 Bonnevilles etc) to regard some of the bikes mentioned in the same category is a bit of a joke. Yes the nostalgia factor plays a part in this hyperinflation of "values"( eg Yamaha Fizzies a few years back). I owned a Honda CX500 and the best that could be said about it was the engine would go on for ever & always return 50 mpg however ridden.
Have any of you guys actually tried to hustle a Suzuki Kettle through a series of bends? [size=78%] Handling wasnt a major consideration of the Japs til the late 80s/early 90s.[/size]
Now I have a little unmolested Honda C90 Cub which is approaching 25 years old and the more punters buy & chop/convert these into streetfighters/whatever the fewer good original ones remain & the value will only increase for a while at least.
I think 2003 would be the last year of user friendly bikes(maintenance wise) with carburettors rather than fuel injection & before all the electrickery of modern machines
It would be interesting to be able to jump forward 20 years to see what bike forums (if still existing) are discussing.

[Hedgetrimmer]

I think we've been here before.


It is not enough to say a bike is classic because it is of a certain vintage, or you had one when you were younger imo. To me, a classic is a bike that was considered outstanding in its day, an epitome of what a bike should have been, standing above its peers. The fact that if you ride it now, it seems to handle like a camel on acid compared with modern fare, is moot. If it handles better than the competition that was also available at the time, it's in with a chance of meriting the classic label, although aspects other than handling come into the equation as well of course.


But people have cleverly got around this by using the term "barn find". And many would have been better left in the barn 

[steve 10562cc]

Dave 48 yes I had a GT750 kettle for a couple of years mine would handle pretty good for bikes of it's age but only after I sorted the suspension out different shocks, swinging arm, and fork spings. Had some porting work done,  allspeed chambers and set up by a local 2stroke tuner.  Biggest problems I had was stopping the b****d when it was wet, and keeping up with the fuel and 2stroke oil it used to drink used to average about 18 to the gallon. Your right about the motor it went bang big style at about 35000 miles and off to that big breakers in the sky.