A New Era - Your GS as investment

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Chairman Meow

Race Dog
Joined
Jun 23, 2008
Messages
4,597
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Location
Western Cape
Bike
BMW R80GS
Hi Guys

Been a bit lazy as always posting on the net, but I do follow these pages daily. That said I have recently been inspired to raise a flag and need to point to the current Airhead prices and why these beauties should sit so snug in our garages.

Examples started to surface where 86 Pd model were sold for 85....our very unique & beloved 96 Kalahari model fetching locally 120k......

And then fairly recently resident Airhead, bike builder extraordinaire and good friend, Willie, as you all who followed his build thread would know,.... had restored a original 81 G/S to tear jerking perfection.
This bike with all planets aligned exchanged ownership for around the 85k mark to Donford CT.
After filling their showroom with the scent of yesteryear and standing as a proud addition & showpiece to the linage of the current LC models...it recently been scooped by its new overseas owner for eyeball popping price of 120k.

Whether these last events and the prices they fetched were once-offs, ..a fleeting moment of madness...or maybe just the catalyst to a sweet breeze of change and the market clearing its throat..it kinda sets a benchmark for what the market will pay for our beloved G/S & GS Airheads.

Now, whether this is right or not...who knows ...but it does shift the floor around the Airhead GS and its current position in the world of DS motorcycles.

When these bikes do surface these days and come up for sale  they are easily in the  mid 40's and upwards and not even rumours of sub 30k monolevers in any condition seem to exist anymore......
not even mentioning the even more scarcer later PD paralever models that are rarely found under the 60k -70k price range.

Although we've seen the roadies and how they have caught a wave in the revival of custom versions of bobbers , Cafe Racers and Tracker styles tweaks of the originals , they pose much more as eye candy with twindling long term re-sale value.

Maybe because their degree of customization does not really require the real world performance upgrades and suspension mods  undertaken by GS owners in their endless pursuit for perfecting their off road terrain capabilities and thus can get away with a more form over funtion approach. 

The G/S & GS's still gets used even today in all the current variations of dual sport riding and still easily holds its head up high among the 200k behemoths that evolved from these humble beginnings.

This new found respect for these original machines hopefully will also pave the way forward for the appreciation of the next best thing after a OEM 81-96 GS...  A properly & meticulously tricked out Airhead....the time, costs, research, group developments and ultimately the passion & commitment it takes to keep refining these already great bikes and shaping them to modern standards without losing its original simplistic appeal & renowned reliability.

Not many bikes out there that still gets used like these models and thats seen  such a spike growth in value.

So hang on to your sweethearts and pat yourself on the back for owning and caring for a bike that ages like fine wine, appreciates while being ridden and have managed to band together a great bunch of owners as individualistic as their bikes.  :ricky:

Not bad for 30 year old plus DS bikes if you ask me......... :biggrin:  

   

   
 
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