no more cheap runarounds?

what? · 23-03-2023 9:56am #1

hi

i'm near 10 years off bikes, my kid was too anxious, so I gave them up.

Shes cool with it now so looking to get back on 2 wheels.

Looking for a small bike for the first year just to keep the insurance down.

Is it me or have prices gone insane?

Looking at some bandits, had one yrs ago, loved it , one 06 for 2.7k and another 05 reg with a belly pan for 3.4 WTF?

Seeing some higher power ones and newer for aroung 6-7 k, they seem halfway reasonable.

Is there such a demand or shortage of s/h starter bikes?

ta

GBX · 23-03-2023 10:31am

Majority of bikes came through the UK, since Brexit the added cost has pushed people to going direct to Germany etc for specific models.

Definitely less available. Nobody bringing in van loads of low cost bikes anymore.

what? · 23-03-2023 11:48am

makes a lot of sense, unfortunatly

Cheers for the reply

Banzai600 · 23-03-2023 12:05pm

there are a significant amount of bikes that were imported from the UK and NI - but this isnt entirely the issue re gouging prices.

some dealers and private indivuduals have inflated the market. Dealers have to make money, yes, but selling bikes with miles on them a yr or two old , and still looking for new money on them - nuts. And the private seller market is so out of whack its laughable.

and like you say, bikes i myself also sold years ago, still selling for the same money now or more, and the bikes on DD etc , shocking poor condition etc, ppl selling as "mint", the chain is rotten or the bike looks like it was just taken out of a canal.

im usually selling a bike every yr or 1.5 yrs, and they always sell. Im realistic with my price, i'll take a bit of a hit - i understand residual value, and i never have an issue selling - and my bikes are literally mint, and ridden all year, be it scooter or bike. And asking ppl / delaer for service history on a bike can be like asking what was inside the briefcase from the pulp ficiton movie 🙄

the used bike market imo is eating itself inside out, ppl will soon run out of money or throw in the towel.

my advice, go up north, and do the vrt process, its handy , unless you have a specifc bike in mind thats down here.

mondeoman72 · 24-03-2023 1:46pm

I brought in multiple bikes from the uk, was a doddle, now its a pain in the ass. Price of NICE BMW k1200 LT is really cheap in Poland, but getting it here is the issue. No more buy on ebay and jump on Ryanair and Stena same day

There are cheap bikes here, but generally crappy.

what? · 24-03-2023 1:57pm

cheers folks

Market is significantly different form my last foray

As luck would have it , guy in work is selling his viffer, bigger than i had intended but, its a good price and I know how well he looked after it. I;ll go back and geet a fre refresher lessons before riding like an aul wan for a while