You've got 15k ...

[KungFooBob]

They've been over priced since well before COVID.

I don't think they 'own' all the bikes, I suspect a lot of the stock belongs to collectors who find it convenient that the bikes are stored safely and looked after and the shop just earns a commission if a bike sells. They started off selling high end cars and one of the floors when I went was full of fast Audi's and BMW's.

[Mr. Dazzle]

That'd certainly fit with the overpriced aspect. Collectors hoping to flip a bike at a profit.

If it doesn't sell, wait for someone else to come along. No harm done. Not like you need the money to finance your next bike. Etc.

[ChrisW]

They're the place that's hooked up with Bike World on Youtube for some (fairly uninteresting in all honesty) 'dream bike rides'.

I was told the bike business is an off-shoot for the main business owner's son?

[Supermofo]

St Neots Suzuki have some really nice racing 2 strokes in their showroom. I did take some pics but can't find them so a few google photos.











My favourite is possibly this RS250, apparently owned by a bloke that uses St Neots to store/look after it and they take it to track for him. I was told the bloke paid to have the bike shipped to Italy (I'm sure they said he was Italian) for a private track tuition session with Rossi, which must have been cheap!


https://www.stneotsmotorcycles.com/race-bikes

[Whysub]

I've seen bikes with names attached to them going for really strong money.

There is an ex-Carl Fogarty RS250 going for £40k here - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204201958899 ... R4SJ0oihYw

It's probably a decent bike, but I personally wouldn't pay a premium for a bike just because someone famous had ridden it.
I'd pay good money if it was something special, e.g. factory tuned or something, but all other things being equal then I wouldn't pay extra money just for the name association. I get why some people do, but it's not for me.

Our sponsor bought Marra Brown's championship winning TZ250F for us, at the circuit directly after his last race on it. I'll try and find the paper photo I have of it.

It needed a new rear tyre, so we took the details from the sidewall, and rang Dunlop to order one.

"Sorry, that's not a reference number we know"
"Well, that is what is on the tyre sodewall on the bike we have just purchased"
"Who's bike was it?"
"Marra Brown's"
Click....brrrrr

[Yorick]

I've seen bikes with names attached to them going for really strong money.

There is an ex-Carl Fogarty RS250 going for £40k here - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204201958899 ... R4SJ0oihYw

It's probably a decent bike, but I personally wouldn't pay a premium for a bike just because someone famous had ridden it.
I'd pay good money if it was something special, e.g. factory tuned or something, but all other things being equal then I wouldn't pay extra money just for the name association. I get why some people do, but it's not for me.

Our sponsor bought Marra Brown's championship winning TZ250F for us, at the circuit directly after his last race on it. I'll try and find the paper photo I have of it.

It needed a new rear tyre, so we took the details from the sidewall, and rang Dunlop to order one.

"Sorry, that's not a reference number we know"
"Well, that is what is on the tyre sodewall on the bike we have just purchased"
"Who's bike was it?"
"Marra Brown's"
Click....brrrrr

All tyres are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Just remembered back in the good old days when Michelin/Dunlop would make a special tyre Saturday night and fly it to the race on the Sunday

[Mr. Dazzle]

Any international level racing hardware is a very long way from what you can buy as a regular punter. It just is, totally different world.

We'd get bobble hatter enquiries all the time about buying stuff like we made for F1/MotoGP/Le Mans, whatever. They often don't even know enough to know what to ask for, let alone being able to buy it. Mostly you just politely send em on their way.

As Iccy says, unless you're really really good you'll not benefit anyway, quite conceivably you'd do very much worse.

[Whysub]

Could tyres be the difference between winning a championship, or not?

I'm sure the tyre manafacturers would say yes.

[Yorick]

Could tyres be the difference between winning a championship, or not?

I'm sure the tyre manafacturers would say yes.

I think control tyres are the way to go (still).
All the manufacturers build their bikes around the available tyre, and its derivatives.

[Yorick]

This will come in under budget and it's very exclusive and I think quite nice.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-detai ... n=at_bikes

250 kilos.
85 BHP.

And 4 years old.

Having a laugh.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

This will come in under budget and it's very exclusive and I think quite nice.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-detai ... n=at_bikes

Why is it £14K, the normal ones are about £6K (they're also rather dull to ride)

[Skub]

Analysing it on paper probably won't get you to move your position, you either like it or you don't.
I think it looks nice and I reckon I'd feel good riding it, I don't think I want much more from a bike, the weight isn't a good thing but then all these big four strokes are fat lardy things anyway, if it's balanced well then I don't think 250kg is going to be different than 200kg.

I dunno about that man. The ZH2 is 240kgs and I have my Zed down to 200 ish. There's a very noticable difference,especially when manoeuvring the static bikes. Not so much on the move,but 40 - 50 kilos is considerable. It was enough to stay my hand.

[mangocrazy]

if it's balanced well then I don't think 250kg is going to be different than 200kg.

It would be 50kg or 20% of the vehicle weight difference.

With all that entails.

[Count Steer]

if it's balanced well then I don't think 250kg is going to be different than 200kg.

It would be 50kg or 20% of the vehicle weight difference.

With all that entails.

But being 'exclusive' magically removes those 50kg.

[KungFooBob]

If I wanted a bike like that, I think I might buy a 2nd hand good condition council spec model, then throw a few grand at Down And Out to breath on it a bit and make it a bit more special.

Because they're local to me I tend to see a lot of their bikes (mainly Triumph) at all the local bike nights.

[mangocrazy]

I really fail to see what's 'exclusive' about it (other than the price). There's any amount of air-cooled IL4s with twin shocks still about. At non-exclusive prices.

[KungFooBob]

https://www.honda.co.uk/engineroom/bikes/5four/

[mangocrazy]

https://www.honda.co.uk/engineroom/bikes/5four/

Yes, I get all the hand stitched seat bollocks, but it's still a cooking Honda that's had a parts catalogue thrown at it with a few bespoke items chucked in. And a period paint job. I'm afraid the words 'Honda' and 'exclusive' don't really sit well together unless it's race exotica.

[KungFooBob]

IMHO, the best 'official' Special Editions Hondas were the RS Performance built Evo Fireblades.

[Yorick]

IMHO, the best 'official' Special Editions Hondas were the RS Performance built Evo Fireblades.

Pics?