Racing Certainties...

How do you price up a classic race bike? And when do you know when to buy? We’re not sure anyone really knows…

- Paul Jayson

Excuse the mist in my eyes if you will, but I remember the 1980s when TZ750 Yamahas could be picked up at race circuits for £200, TZ350s for £100 and RG500s for about £500…

Also, in 1995 Jim Doyle, Randy Mamola’s manager sold me 12 sets of Randy’s leathers and two of Kenny Roberts’ for £400 including a letter of authenticity. At that time he offered me an immaculate limo from the 1970s once owned by Barry Sheene for £2000, but I didn’t have £2000 or a lock-up...

Old two-stroke race bikes were almost being given away because the four-stroke proddie bikes of the 1990s made them seem almost slow and ill-behaved. Back then even a machine with proven race history wouldn’t have increased the value of such machines. As recently as 2008 I sold former team-mate of Barry Sheene, Mike Baldwin’s fully restored RG500 for €17,000 along with enough spares for another bike. Such memorabilia was old clutter, got in the way and was not valued as the veil of nostalgia had not yet dropped on these bikes, which was a shame. Even in 2004 one of Sheene’s Yamaha TZ500s sold for just £20,000… How times have changed eh? There has been a massive shift in collectible racing motorcycles with history from the 1970s.