Why would you pay £2000+ for a rusty frame?

[Rob Farmer]

probably because it's got a log book and you want to legalise that stolen bike.

I hate this kind of shit. I dare say somebodies stolen cycle parts will have a new home.

ebay link

 

[twizzle]

As I understand it frames and V5s for Harley's fetch good money for custom projects...V5 registration means easier insurance and I guess no SVA/type approval...

Could be talking shite though....

 

[sloukes]

You see loads of frames with no V5 for sale because the seller says they've used the id on a custom
There was a 'Harley' listed recently that was actually registered as a Francis Barnett

 

[patzx12]

and then there is a piece of tubing for €2390

http://www.ebay.de/itm/BMW-R-1200-g...teile&hash=item51a1e290f5&_uhb=1#ht_633wt_954

 

[Steptoe]

Back in the eighties the aermacchi 250cc bikes badged as a harley davidson suddenly jumped up more than a 1000% in value.

Because in the log book it had "model" = Harley davidson. Also no model reference just "two wheeled motorcycle".

At the time harleys were getting lifted on an industrial scale, the numbers used and the engines suddenly grow from 250cc to 1340cc.

I notice one of the questions asked in the advert almost fits the description above

But as twizzle says, it also makes your custom bike far far easier to insure and saves all the testing bollox, which costs a few bob, and means your custom bike has to be sensible to pass, and once registered you then have to make the custom you wanted to build in the first place, so having the numbers means a lot less wasted effort.

 

[Rob Farmer]

The big thing in the late eighties round this neck of the woods was to buy a new harley, have it stolen in the first few days and then appear a few weeks later with a Q plated bike with the original frame number ground off and a new one stamped up from the local custom frame maker and a set of delkron crankcases. The insurance company paid out for the full value of the bike because it was effectively brand new. The frame maker got a few hundred quid for "making the frame" and the crank cases cost £300 or so. So you got a Harley for £500-£600 and then you took out a 50cc rider policy that let you ride any other bike.

Hopefully that's all been clamped down on now.

 

[Mutley]

Older frames with V5 are increasing in value as they avoid emission regulations for gases and noise ans also don't need indicators. It would seem to me less likely that this would be fitted with cycle parts stolen from somewhere else, than that it would be the basis for a custom project as Steptoe suggests.

Stolen bikes just get exported these days to markets that are far less rigorous in their administration

 

[David Nimrod]

Stolen bikes just get exported these days to markets that are far less rigorous in their administration

Exactly

It's a big world out there...

 

[Rob Farmer]

Older frames with V5 are increasing in value as they avoid emission regulations for gases and noise ans also don't need indicators.

Since when have Harley riders worried about emissions even new bikes are quickly fitted with ridiculously loud pipes. And weren't indicators compulsory on all Road bikes after 1986? So this frame still needs indicators.

 

[Mutley]

Since when have Harley riders worried about emissions even new bikes are quickly fitted with ridiculously loud pipes.

That doesn't make it legal though, and the first MOT on a custom bike will almost certainly be quite strict as nobody wants their name against a deathtrap. You also attract a lot of attention on a chop, so it is as well to be as legal as you can be if you are out on the road (clearly most bikes you see in shows aren't on the road).

And weren't indicators compulsory on all Road bikes after 1986? So this frame still needs indicators.

That one is post '86. I was explaining why 'older' bikes were attractive.