BEEN THERE, DONE THAT...

So, there you have it… you’ve got our take on the bikes to buy, the bikes to salivate over, and the bikes to take a punt on. But before we sign off and leave you to a weekend of scrolling online ads for overlooked bargains, we thought we’d give you a bit of insight from a bloke who’s built up an impressive collection of bikes on the back of buying them at the right time and for the right price.

Gareth Gent (not his real name; he’s justifiably paranoid about bike theft after a near-miss a few years back) lives in the north of England, handy for some amazing roads, and he’s lucky enough to have the space, the finances, and the understanding partner essential for a properly expansive used bike collection. His full collection runs to a page or two, but the highlights include not one but FOUR Foggy-Petronas FP-1 WSBK homologation machines, a Honda NSR250RR SP MC28, a 1994 Ducati 916, a 1993 UK Honda NC30 and a 1994 RVF400, 2002 GSX-R1000, a Ducati 749, a Honda RC30 and one of the Russel Savory Evoblades from 1999.

The most modern bike he has is a 2020 Aprilia RS660. As you can see, he’s an eclectic collector with wide interests, but almost all of his bikes are classic preelectronics sportsbikes.

We asked him what he thought might make the grade in terms of current future classic buys. Not all of his bikes have made him cash over the years, but he’s always thinking of the next move when he does buy – and he has more wins than losses.

He kicked off with some of his basic rules: “With so many bikes to choose from out there, I always choose mint original bikes where I can. Now, assuming I wanted to put a 10-bike collection together from scratch, then I guess I would be considering the best (not the cheapest) examples of these sort of things.”

Small bikes