Prices of 500/4

[mickwinf]

Its a strange thing, on ebay last week a 500/4 sold as a non runner, no tax or test although looked pretty clean for a project, and it fetched £1522 which seemed high to me. Yet also on ebay is an original UK bike in good condition with original exhausts, being sold by Hondachrome for £2699 with no takers. Although many of us enjoy the rebuilding of an old wreck, it seems to be cheaper to buy a good one in the first place, my bike stands me at well over £3k, and only has a motad exhaust and is not mint. Compared to the early 750s the 500/550 range seems to be a bit of a bargain! I am looking for another project now, maybe another 500 or a 250k4 if anyone has a reasonably priced one?

[UK Pete]

Hey mick, your dead right about the price of good bikes compared to the cost of buying/ restoring a not so good one, it seems like you have to pay dearly for the privilege of restoring a bike these days, quite often loosing thousands when coming to sell,  you have to pick your bikes wisely if doing it to make money,   i paid lots for my 750 K0 it just because it had the really hard to find original parts on it, but even now i look at what i have spent so far, and think what the f--k have i just spent my kids inheritance on, and if i did ever sell would i realistically get anywhere near what i will have eventually spent, 
Good luck with finding your next project
Pete

[matthewmosse]

I happily paid £100 or so plus delivery for the last 2 500/4's and reaconed that I'd need to spend say £400 on each of them to get an mot, the prices to buy now would put me right off. I've always been at the cheap end of the scale and approached my bikes as transport rather than any form of financial thing - going on a running cost of £500 a year in parts and depreciation as being average. My Hondas have genrally done better, but my forray into bmw ownership was quite the opposite - they really cost to fix and seemed to just need a bit more care and couldn't be bodged.

[Yoshi823]

And they were not cheap to buy new

[s7paul]

It's an odd situation really, because if you look at the price of some of the bikes of that era (especially 2-stroke triples & Z1's) the prices are ridiculously high, yet the 500 Four seems to have been overlooked.  This is a great shame since (as we know) it was the first Japanese 4-cylinder middleweight bike, and therefore of greater historical significance than most. 

I suspect that most of the riders of today's 500-650cc in-line 4's have no idea that their bikes can trace their ancestry back either to the 500 Four (if they ride a Honda) or to one of the bikes that the other manufacturers were forced to build to compete with it (i.e. GS550, Z500 & XJ550).

I'd like to think that it's day may still come, but if not, I'm still happy that I've got one.  Mine's been valued at £4000 for insurance purposes.  I may not get that much for it if I sold it (academic, as it's a keeper), but it would undoubtedly cost close to that to build another one like mine.

I guess the only thing that does annoy me a little is when I see bikes that, even when they were new, were regarded as dreadful, yet now they are apparently "classics" and worthy of silly price tags.  In that respect there are definite parallels with the classic car world, where rubbish like Allegro's & Marina's are now regarded by some as classics.  More fool anyone that buys one! 

[mickwinf]

I suppose any vehicle that lasts longer than it usual life is interesting, but you have to really love the one you spend loads of money on ,usually its because you have some connection with that particular model, ie you owned or wanted to own one when you where younger ( that's the case with me and 500/4s). I have owned Allegro's and Marina's back in the day, but have no desire for one now, the Austin Allergic as they were nicknamed used to rust so badly they sometimes literally broke in half!! So, I have just bought another 500, just can't help myself!

[s7paul]

Similar story for me - I had one for 2 years (1979-81).  Bought it with 12000 on the clock & sold it with 46000.  The bikes that followed were faster, stopped quicker & handled better, but the 500 was the only bike that I really regretted selling.  They've just got so much character and seem to get under your skin. 

I took mine to a bike show today and, as usual, there were people gathering round it asking questions & taking photo's before I even switched the engine off!