Can I Afford To Own A CBX?

[twinegar]

I am starting this string so hopefully others using my post as a guide will add their experiences and thoughts. Bend me over if you feel the need as my stated opinion has had me in that position in the past.

Anyone thinking about acquiring their first CBX should do some checking on what parts are available both at auction and from private parts dealers before laying the money down. Get as nice a bike as can be afforded and go beyond what you are comfortable spending so you have a better chance of winding up with one that has low miles and has been well maintained by previous owners. Oh yes................and don't forget to run the idea by your significant other so you don't wind up with a bike allowance to live on, eating soup and noodles so you can afford to buy needed parts. I am beginning this process again with my sights set on the Honda 84/85 VF1100S and what I have learned with my CBX's will play a big part with what I wind up with. One good thing is that the 1100 Sabre's haven't reached cult status yet and I will wind up with a very nice example without breaking the bank. The down side is that most Sabre's probably had the shit ran out of them and it will be harder to locate that dream machine like my 79 CBX.

Had I asked myself the question, (Can I Afford To Own A CBX?), in 2007 I might not have bought the first one. As time goes by I am realizing that my retirement funds don't really make owning these gems feasible and being out-bid on nearly every part at auction is a good indicator of what others are willing to pay. The price for new clone exhausts is about right but the price on the new cloned turn signals is prohibitive to say the least and my guess is that the people that are manufacturing and selling them are reaping 300 to 500% profits and I refuse to support that kind of gouging. I sound bitter but I'm not, just making observations from the collecting side and on the free market. What people are willing to pay is what drives the value of everything and more power to those that can afford it. I started out with two 79's picked up in one outing and then added the 80 a couple of years later. The second 79, referred to as #2 because it was the second one I picked up on my return trip, wound up being a money pit and I finally cut my losses on it and pushed it into the back bike room relegated to parts donor. #1 has turned out to be a dream machine costing very little and giving an amazing amount of fun. I cleaned the carburetors when I brought it home in '07 and just this summer they are dirty enough to effect the ride and will receive a cleaning during the down time this winter. I cleaned the carbs on the 80 a month after bringing it home in '09 during the frame up clean-up and while the engine is off this Fall for starter clutch replacement will receive another cleaning. If the starter clutch wasn't an issue I would probably get another summer of riding before the carbs would need a cleaning.

[ajs350]

twinegar,
I couldn't agree more. I bought my 80 last year and thought I had set aside a reasonable budget to get it running. It didn't take long to blow right through the allotted funds and this is a bike that was all orginal and required only 2 new parts; a pair of shocks and a rev counter. The rest was all in service items where all the little $20 purchases soon added up to a big number.

My 79 is in need of a new headlight shell but those who sell parted out bikes want between $220 for one that needs painting to $400 for one that looks like new. Your observation is right on in that while it might not look like it at the time spending more money for a correct well looked after machine will save you big dollars later on.
Ross

[SteveG]

Yes, it can be expensive. But you have to ask yourself the REAL question: Can I afford to NOT own a CBX?

This is my answer, and I will be keeping mine until .......... ?



Steve

[Don]

I agree with everything said so far . . . . but when it comes to something you really love, maybe you don't really want to know??

I was recently seriously contemplating the purchase of an airplane and I did lots of research, carefully adding up all the numbers. I was greatly assisted by a close friend who has owned 1/3rd of a plane for many years. Everytime I thought I just about had everything all added up, he would interrrupt me with 'Don't forget to figure in . . . . this or . . . . that' and I was back to the drawing board. Finally, I just out and out asked him what his 1/3rd share amounted to in dollars per hour of use. His reply? 'I have have absolutely no idea, and I don't really care to know - All of your questions have made me begin to think about what I'm probably spending and I don't even want to go there. I'm going to fly for as long as I can, whatever it costs. End of story'

As it turned out, the $50K purchase of the plane wasn't the deciding factor at all - With it sitting there in my rented hangar, all annual maintenance up to date, insured and ready to go, it was nearly $7K per year. Divide that by 100 hours of flying time per year and you have $70 per hour. Now all you need is gas and oil and that comes to about another $60 or $65 per hour (thank heavens it only has one engine!) $13,500 every year if I hoped to fly 100 hours or so, but even if I flew half that much, it would be even MORE expensive . . . . at least on a per hour basis

I'd love to be able to fly when and where I wanted, but is it worth it to me if it's $135 per hour, not even counting the $50K purchase price??? Answer . . . . for that kind of money, I can be really happy riding my CBX

Don

[twinegar]

Airplane huh, I don't have to worry about having that obsession being the land-lubber that I am. Have never been in a plane and have no desire to, getting on my two story cave is bad enough and I even installed a hatch in the roof to eliminate the risk associated with ladders.

Has anyone priced the new extruded aluminum seat kits that are available?......another ridiculously priced item that I will avoid. I caught one of mine on my pant leg and broke it in two so I will either scrounge one from my parts bike or make a matrix to slide into the old one to slide the broken piece onto.

I should mention the attention my "X's" get when I am out riding but I am sure you get the same thing where you are.

[CopperCollar]

I bought a 79 with 2900 miles on the clock. She looked very clean, all original from the original owner who was a Honda dealer in Billings. She was kept in a climate controlled building and was gorgeous to look at.

Got her home to ABQ, she wasn't running, usual old fuel.

By the time I got her running and ready to ride I had over a $1000.00 dollars in her. This for a bike with 2900 miles, original tires, original everything!

Now the Travesty, she was destined for the junk yard or Ebay as parts.....and not many worth a shite.

Not going to add up the reciepts, nope ! Not going there...you think the stock market was bad....the Travesty makes that look profitable!

Anyway.....I do it , I do it for my sanity ( my job really blows), I do because I can't see this bike being parted out knowing I have the ability to repair it.

And Yes! Ebay is outta control, where the hell is this money coming from?

Mike

[twinegar]

Back in the day it was people with means that were dropping their hard-earned cash for a CBX and I think the ones driving the high prices are probably those same people reliving their childhood so to speak and people that couldn't afford one then but can now. I have watched some parts go at the last second at auction for incredible amounts of cash and those last few seconds of those auctions make good reality viewing, vs. reality TV, if you know what I mean. It appears that there are a lot of retirement age folks that were savvy enough to build a nest egg so they could have nice toys like the CBX that are also driving the prices and they are the reason that there are companies producing new aftermarket exhausts, turn signals and other parts so kudos to them. As for me, I am a 59 year old retired auto worker living alone, and one of those guys that made a lot of bad decisions getting here but clever enough and obsessed enough to relive my childhood filling my ugly house with various toys and hobbies. I live in one room on the second floor with the rest of the house housing motorcycle parts and motorcycles, snake collecting gear, N-Scale Steam era model railroad engines, 1950's Sci-Fi & Horror collections and just to crow a bit, the best collection of 1950's Sci-Fi & Horror movies around. One thing is for sure, after I die my four kids will inherit some nice stuff and that is a nice by-product of my obsessive / compulsive endeavors. By the way, my 14 grand kids see me as a kid that never grew up and love hanging with their weird grandpa.

[Don]

As people near retirement age, nostalgia for things they either had in their youth or wanted to have but couldn't afford really seems to take over. Many are in the best financial shape of their lives, they have the time and they sure have the interest for things from 30, 40 or 50 years ago and that raises the prices for those items

We have a HUGE classic car get together down here every year the first week of October. There are always about 5,000 registed classic cars and probably a couple thousand more who come but don't register. For a week to ten days they drive them all over the Mississippi Coast, just 'cruising' like we used to do from one drive in to another in the '60's. Most of these people are in their late 50's to early '80's in age and the fill up every available motel/hotel for miles around. They bring their restored cars and they spend big money here - Estimated to be a $15 million boost to our October economy

Have you checked out the current auction prices for '50's and '60's cars lately?? These sorts of folks are why a '55 Chevy convertible that sold new for less than $2,000 now can bring upwards of $50K if it's in good shape. Will the market dry up in another 15 or 20 years?? Probably, to a large degree. When there is nobody left who ever rode in that '55 Chevy as a kid, the demand for then will be cut in half or more and the prices will really drop I'm sure

There is much the same going on in the antique motorcycle market right now. Who in their right mind would even *think* of paying $10K to $15K for a Kawa H1?? Only someone who either had one in his youth . . . . or really wanted one but couldn't have one for some reason. Now many of those guys are in their late '50's/early '60's and $15K is no longer a big sum of money to many of them. As the market for such machinery grows, every 'barn find' gets drug out, dusted off, restored and sold for a fortune. I wouldn't want to be caught holding a garage full of them when the bottom falls out of the market though, but in all likelyhood, that will only happen when our kids go to sell them after we're gone

Don

[twinegar]

I don't see nostalgic collecting going on with a lot of guys and their lives seem sort of dull to me. I worked at a big place and don't remember ever meeting anyone that had much interest in the past or toys for that matter. I never lost the ability to have fun collecting stuff and after retirement it pretty much took over my life, I can think of worse things to be involved with. Of course the down side is staying a step ahead of the scumbag thieves and a bike collection is pretty hard to keep private. If I ever get my nose pointed in the right direction I plan to sell my house and put up a pole barn on a rural piece of property to spend my remaining years on and I figure my collections would be a little safer also. The beauty of having a purpose built structure is being able to incorporate security and an overhead sprinkler system to keep me and my goodies safe.

I grew up with a perfectionist father and learned a lot from him about almost everything. He always thought my hobbies were a waste of money but never interfered with them and sort of let me go my way unless I wandered a little too far where-upon I would receive a terse reminder by him. Oddly, when a started collecting old Honda's in 2006 he didn't say much and a few months before his death in 2007 he asked me if I was doing it as an investment. Now anyone that knows me would laugh at the suggestion that I would do something so forward thinking so without missing a beat I responded positively to his question and proceeded to explain the value of each bike and at what rate the market was pushing the prices. We had a great discussion and I can tell you that it felt good to be on the same page with my dad for once. I suggested we take a ride the next time he came up but sadly, at 93, he was gone before it could take place. My dad, my hero!

By the way, I saw a complete primary shaft including starter clutch go for over $100 at auction today. I turned off my bid sniper three minutes before the end because I wanted to use the $40 I had placed on something for my little CB350F. Boy, was I way off. I sorta miss the days when I had a small business going and was able to bid stupid amounts of money to insure success and I suspect the last second sniper probably did just that taking the auction from $29 to over $102 in the blink of an eye. When people ask me why I don't hot-dog my CBX's I start rattling off the prices on CBX parts just to see their jaws drop. When I brought home both CBX's and after making them road worthy I ran them on a quiet highway to 100 mph just to experience it and then started babying them as the prize possessions they are to me. Too bad the third CBX wound up being a money pit but then a parts donor isn't a bad idea either. I got it in rough condition from a hillbilly deep in the Missouri Ozarks for $4800 and after pouring another $3k into it I had to step away and that wasn't easy, usually failure for me isn't acceptable.

I am enjoying this string a lot and can't help but notice what a well behaved bunch of guys reside here. I can't say the same for the other groups to which I am a member.

[ajs350]

I am enjoying this string a lot and can't help but notice what a well behaved bunch of guys reside here. I can't say the same for the other groups to which I am a member.

Try reading a thread on DOT 5.

[EMS]

The title of this thread really strikes a chord for another reason:
This is a question many people should ask themselves BEFORE they babble out: I want one of those.
So many times, I ride one of my CBXes to an event or a motorcycle meeting and inevitably, there is that guy who involves you into a serious conversation about aquiring one. Not only does he ask you if your's is for sale, but he also emphasizes that he wants one and if you know one for sale, you should let him know.
This year alone, I had five (5!) of these encounters. Mind you, I make it known right away that I am a member of the ICOA and I know people who have bikes for sale and always run into some and I tell the interested party that they are not cheap and for a bike that doesn't need anything or much, he will have to pay at least $6,500.-
However, when I refer them to a bike for sale, there is no reaction.
I feel stupid, because I talk to the seller, tell them I know a guy who wants to buy and nothing happens. Not even a contact between them to ask details about the bike.
Several of you guys on this forum can confirm my story.
I have decided to stop doing people that "favor". There are too many wannabee CBX owners out there, who really aren't in the market once it get's serious. Same as these e-bay bidders who stick a bid in, knowing it is well below the reserve and they have no intention whatsoever of buying the item.

[twinegar]

The same thing happens to me nearly every time I stop at a mini-mart. Most of the time the discussion starts with.........."I didn't know Honda made a six" or "How many CC's?".............and then another guy will walk up and weigh in and then other people wander by to see what's up. Funny thing is that I only have about 40 or 50% of my hearing left and wind up just using my head to respond like one of those ceramic bobble-head toys. I had a guy in a dually pick-up chase me down and force me to the curb and while I was deciding the best way to dodge bullets his passenger window came down and he asked me if I wanted to sell my CBX. Shit.............I was too sceered to be pissed so I said no and pointed him to Ebay and Craigslist. Now that was a guy with an obsession and I bet he has one by now. I paid $6800 for my 79 off Ebay in '07 which was a little above average and $4k for my 80 off Craigslist in '09 which was way below so guess where I will go next time I need to add another one?

Lets have some more mini-mart stories.

[twinegar]

This place is better behaved than some other groups. I left one before I got the boot for defending myself against their favorite son.

[daves79x]

As has been said, many guys in their 50s and/or nearing retirement and making the most money they've ever made, house paid off, kids on their own (HA HA), do have some disposable income. In the big scheme of things, even $10,000 for a really nice CBX isn't that much of a stretch for those kind of guys. Compare that to, as Don said, classic car collecting. It's almost nothing. Personally, I love to see the nicest CBXs selling for 10K or even much more in some cases. Makes those of us that have decent ones think we actually have something. In the big picture of the collectible vehicle world, the CBX is surely still on the lower end, cost and price-wise. Ask the Europeans - they would love to have the amoount of bikes and parts we have over here to pick from.

Dave

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

In my neck of the woods we have June and October vintage bike swap meets through the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group. Miniscule compared to Mid-Ohio but the big events for us.
On Sunday i sold a '79 project that i finally admitted i was not going to get to. Even at a cheap price all i had was a ton of tire kickers until it just about time to go home. The buyer knows very little about the CBX other than he has always wanted one. Just saying it is not only the cost that governs ownership or non-ownership but the mystique/complexity has a huge say in it as well.
The best line i heard all day was..."it is the fastest i have ever gone on a motorcycle, i took one of those for a test ride, got it up to 135mph and still had two gears to go".
When i told him that was kilometers an hour he was not amused.