Vehicles: Why do motorcycles retain their resale value ?

[Z]

As we've all aged, so has the curve of what vintage stuff is in demand. The current 'thing' in vintage bikes is many of the Japanese (UJMs, or universal japanese motorcycles, as some would say they were all alike) bikes of the '70s. Some are very collectable, such as the H1/H2/H3 widomakers from Kawi, the '69 sandcast Honda CB750s, early Kawasaki Z-1s, and to a lesser extent many of the other Honda CBs, the Yamaha RD350s and RD400s, the CBX, the racing versions of various bikes. The 'cafe racer' boom of recent times has also helped drive up demand for cheap bikes to modify / chop.

Soon enough it'll be the early '80s bike, the original Ninjas, the early turbo-charged bikes (for quirkiness/rarity), the Eddie Lawson KZ1000Rs, GPZ1100s, early Honda Interceptors, etc.