It’s Australia Day on Tuesday so let’s talk about bikes.
While the market, the dollar, commodity prices, the yuan, your superannuation and the value of your house have been going down, motorbike prices have been going up faster than the petrol pirates’ bank accounts.
It all started in September (my birthday, thanks for forgetting) when Shannons sold a Harley-Davidson 1927 FHA 8-Valve V-Twin racer with its scramble-type side car for $600,000. This would have been cold comfort for the good ol’ boys at Hog Headquarters in Milwaukee, where sales are down and the share price is off 40 per cent.
As The Wall Street Journal said: “While many [Harley-Davidson dealers] are trying to attract younger buyers and women, much of their marketing still caters to grizzled men reliving their youth. At periodic ‘bikini bike washes’, Harley dealers hire women in skimpy swimwear to sponge down motorcycles.” And you don’t really think I’m going to make some smart comment about that, do you?
Anyway, last month it was over to the South Point Casino and Exhibit Hall, Las Vegas, where Mecums sold 516 twin wheelers for $13 million. No wonder there was excitement in the room.
If you haven’t been to the South Point and to the Mecum’s $65 dinner buffet and auction, you haven’t lived. Plan a holiday in March when Herman’s Hermits are in residence, the 64-lane bowling centre is pumping and the bingo will be going off.
Mecums didn’t sell anything for $600,000 but they did hammer down one of the rarest bikes in the world, a 1912 Henderson Four for around $200,000. That’s not the best part. In 1913 Carl Stearns Clancy rode a Henderson around the world for the first time. It took him less than a year to cover the 29,000km. An extraordinary feat given there were no Aman hotels, iPhones or ATMs.
Naturally I was there for the 2004 MTT Y2K Turbine from Aussie Allen Smith’s collection. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Model 250 Turboshaft, more often found in helicopters, the small rocket ship is good for 360kph and best of all runs on kerosene, diesel or Jet A fuel so it’s enviro-friendly. Al’s two-speed auto went for $167,000 against a new price of $255,000.
Still, none of these sales were near the highest prices paid for two-wheelers. No prizes for guessing that just like their four-wheeled friends, any bike that had Steve McQueen’s bottom on it sells for supercharged dollars. Mecum saw Steve’s 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer cost its new owner $1.25m. But a keen hog paid just over $1m for a 1907 Harley “Strap Tank” that was not owned by Steve or his friends.
