Percentages

Joined
Apr 12, 2012
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So, here is a thought for discussion. Of all of the 'classic' motorcycles out there, I wonder which one has the largest percentage of the total production run still in running order....

I'll throw it out there that the Commando must be near the top of the list. Out of a total production run of approximately 60,000 units over the ten years or so of manufacture how many do we still see? In my (limited) experience it seems like there are good running examples everywhere, especially in North America. At the INOA Lumby Rally in 2010 the Commando was by far the most common bike.

Perhaps Vincents too...??

Nick
 
Personally I can account for having Two Whole living bikes and have touched the frames of another 4 dead ones in the last 15 years.
 
I'll bet that Guzzis are up there too. Nigh on impossible to kill one.

2000 Guzzi Quota
1998 Ducati Monster 750
1996 MuZ Mastiff
1980 Guzzi Lemans II
1960 Norton Dominator 99
1943 BSA WM20
 
Joke template: Did you know that 90% of all INSERT BIKE BRAND/MODEL HERE are still on the road? It's true, the other 10% actually made it home. :lol:

Kevin
 
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Harley Davidson eat youre heart out . . .

http://www.broughsuperiorclub.com/

Then theres that other mysterious make that they only made one off , and its still going . . . :shock: :lol: 8)
 
swooshdave said:
Honda...Not classic.

That's ridiculous.

Honda may not be British, but they've produced more than thier fair share of classics over the decades.

MOST classic Hondas have a reputation for being bulletproof and needing little more than the occasional oil change and spark plug to remain so. They also have more than thier fair share of racing victories.
 
I agree. most Honda's thru the late 70"s would qualify in my book. They might have been the end all of the british bike industry, but that does not take away from their cool factor. How cool would a Cafe CBX be?
 
Honda started making bikes not too long after WWII I think. Some of the bikes from the 50s are super-rare. The bikes of the 60's are all Classics and probably the best four-stroke motorcycles ever built up to that time, and their bikes in the 70's onwards may have no equals either.
 
Back to original question: Nick wondered what percentage of the total production of a model (or make?) is still in running order. I understand Honda made roughly one million of the four-pipe sohc CB750s. You see the odd one at classic meets and shows but they do not seem THAT common. By contrast, look at Ducati and Laverda; tiny production runs of their models from the 70s (much smaller than Commando production) but you see a fair few of them running and they are snapped up very quickly when they're for sale.

The sohc Honda 4s are definitely classics and they were beautifully made and reliable but I have ridden lots of them back in the day and they were not that much fun to ride and not at all engaging. I'd climb over a shed full of them just to get to a British or Italian classic.
 
The percentage of classic Hondas built, that are still on the road, is healthy. The fact that they made so darn many of them means the relative percentage is probably lower than our beloved Commandos, still nothing to detract from.

The relativity is similar to Boyer ignitions. They made so darn many of them, that thier failures are represented in much greater quantities when you start comparing raw numbers; dig deeper and the percentages are possibly lower.
 
A lot of it has to do with resale value. Vincents have a pretty high resale, so any little bit of remaining Vincent DNA gets turned into a functioning machine. This is relatively easy(but expensive) to do since the Vincent spares company can sell you every part needed to make a complete bike. No doubt there have been multiple bikes built from the remains of a single bike in some cases.
I dont know the exact percentage of postwar bikes that still exist, but it is extremely high. When it comes to the really rare models, there has been some skulduggery. It has been said of the famous Black Lightning model that 38 of the original 30 built are still in existence!

Hondas would generally be at the other end of the spectrum in terms of survivng percentages. For many years they were of little or no value once worn out and needing a rebuild, so off to the dump they went.

Im familiar with the Hondas from the sixties, the little guys. The biggest machine made by them in those days was the 450. Most of the bikes I repaired or rebuilt were the 50cc thru to 350 cc size. They were reliable little sloggers, as noted above, not overly inspiring in the performance department, and actually quite short lived. The metal was so soft that motors seldom got more than 10 k before needing a ring job, then a light hone and another 5k to throw away time. I understand that all of that changed in the 70s

In the looks department, I have a hard time coming up with any Japanese or American built bike from the fifties or sixties that comes close to the Brits. Put the poor old Honda 305 or 250 Dream alongside a BSA Goldstar and Im afraid the Goldie would get the lions share of attention. Tho the Brits had some ugly bikes too, it seems they had a lot that were very desirable then and now.
In addition to the Goldstar dbd34, which I think is simply the most beautiful bike ever built, close behind there is the Norton Dominator, the Commando, the Triumph 650 and 500 models, the Royal Enfield Interceptor, any preunit BSA twin, the Velos and a few others im not thinking of right now. The Brits all seem to have the right look along with performance to match.

I guess Im not alone in that thinking, judging by the price escalation that has gone on with many of the sportier British Bikes.



Glen
 
worntorn said:
A lot of it has to do with resale value. Vincents have a pretty high resale, so any little bit of remaining Vincent DNA gets turned into a functioning machine.

Good point, Glen. I suspect that a British/Italian/German barn find is more likely to be resurrected than a Japanese one, which will increase the % factor.
 
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