Ever falling new bike prices have filtered through to the low end; what used to cost 750 to 1000 notes a year ago can now be found for 500 quid, or less. This is bargain basement time but finding the good deals is just as hard as always - there's always some optimistic soul trying to flog an old dog for silly money and loads of time can be wasted tracking down the useful stuff.
First then, get used to the telephone interrogation routine. What you want to find is a bike that has been owned by someone sensible who's given it a bit of tender loving care. How long has their name been in the logbook? How often has the oil been changed? Any obvious sign of crash damage? The state of the consumables? Has the engine been stripped? Keep the questions rolling, look for hesitation and general ignorance. It's surprising how many people will admit, over the phone, to never doing an oil change. Eliminate the obvious defectives (bikes and owners both) and concentrate on the stuff that sounds good.
At this price actual age of the bike means little. A five year old Jap can look pretty awful if it's been abused and neglected; a fifteen year old one can look a bit faded but fine if given some TLC. Mileage is equally misleading, old hacks that have been clocked in a much worse state than bikes that have done a genuine 50,000 miles.
Most Japanese four strokes, given regular oil changes, will do an easy 50,000 miles; many will break through the 100,000 mile barrier. Chassis disintegration is a larger problem than engine implosion; and a well put together bike, lacking the usual rust, is a sure sign of a well loved machine. Consumable demise isn't a great problem; cheap replacements in breakers. The same could be said for chassis components but it's always a hassle mixing and matching forks and shocks. Chassis bearings are cheap enough but a nasty business to replace. Good bikes give off a patina of trust that is recognizable when you've done the rounds for a while - believe it or not!
Commuters
Think £500 commuters, then it's mostly four stroke Hondas - singles and twins. That kind of money buys a really nice CG125 on the private market - four or five years old and less than 15000 miles. CG's are tough old things up to at least twice that mileage, maybe three times that. Regular, as in 1000 mile, oil changes the key to longevity. In its mild way, the big tank CG looks quite classical and feels more together than rival stroker commuters. The pushrod thumper whirls away without any apparent nastiness, only turning a bit vile when held flat out for a couple of miles. 125mpg is its major claim to fame. Plenty around that have been owned by sensible chaps who have even found the time to regularly polish them.
The Benly's are Honda's alternative commuter, including the CD250, their most recent effort. For this kind of dosh, expect a ten year old with around 25000 miles on the clock - can include anything from looking merely a bit faded to something that's a real old slag. All down to the owner and regularity of oil changes (again!). Build quality isn't up to the old CD's so if it looks pretty decent chances are it's just that.
The older Benly's usually sport ruined chassis and still thrumming motors, the vertical twin mill having a long history of taking whatever the owner can throw at it. Five hundred quid should buy one of the few prime Benly's left on the market. Most likely the later 200, as both 185's and early 200's had some engine problems and could be rather shorter lived than expected.
Five hundred quid will also buy one of the prime older CD175's or CB200's, the odd one still grinding away against the odds. The best of the bunch is a sixties CD175, spine frame and all, as it has a surprising turn of speed despite its commuter looks. As with all these old Honda twins, a sure sign of a genuine low mileage engine is a slick(ish) gearchange. Also, a lack of clutch drag in town. There are a whole host of sixties Honda twins but the good ones are closer to a grand than 500 notes.
I wouldn't spend that kind of money on one of the old CB125 singles (S or J), although one of the last CB100N's might tempt me if it had a low mileage. Of the stroker commuters, only the Yamaha RXS100 really appeals and then I'd make sure that it was one that hadn't been thrashed by youthful learners. KH100's can also be good buys.
The other four stroke single of note's the GS125, an OHC number that can run for as much as 60,000 miles, though infrequency of oil changes can halve that! Neat looking, compact and economical, it handled okay, seemed a bit more powerful than the CG and didn't have any obvious faults. The DR125 tended to be much more abused, whilst the custom GN125 is too pricey being relatively new; a blessing in disguise unless you like be laughed at or kicked off the road by true custom dudes.
There are plenty of other commuters in this price range but they tend not to react well to either age or mileage, though there are always exceptions that prove the rule - the one owner, low mileage trip that turn up in the local press at bargain prices or through family or friends.
Serious 250's
500 quid buys all kinds of 250's, and even stretches to some interesting bikes of slightly larger capacity. Those 250's that are the most fun are also the most fragile - strokers like the RD250 and GT250 twins, or even the inflammatory KH250 triple These bikes go back two decades, or even more, but have usually gone through several incarnations, rebuilds and tuning efforts, emerging either totally shagged or better than new.
Anything that's survived this long will have a decent chassis upgrade - if it hasn't it's been down the road so many times that the crash damage will be evident - expect a decent pair of Brit shocks, newer front end and proper bearings in the head and swinging arm pivots.
I recently bought one of the last KH250's for £450 - faded paint, a bit of alloy rot, 79000 miles on the clock and an engine that rattled, pinged and knocked like it was on its last legs (they all sound like that about five minutes after the rebuild). It smoked like a new MZ but still managed a surprising burst of speed, helped along by noisy spannies and degutted air-filter. Don't know how close to stock the engine internals were but it'd blast through the ton without any effort. I sold it after a week for 700 notes - two sets of spark plugs, 30mpg and a weird high speed shuffle threatened my peace of mind.
I've done serious miles on both the GT250 Suzuki and RD250 Yamaha, much preferred the latter because it didn't give off the impression of fragility that the Suzuki had in both its chassis and engine. A good RD should have fierce acceleration and a nice feeling of stability. 500 notes won't buy a prime example, but with a bit of engine or chassis work they can be compelling little devices.
By comparison, the fours strokes are more serious, less fun. The 250 Superdream immediately comes to mind as a perfectly plausible set of wheels (though the 400 was better, needing a lot less throttle work to get where it was going) until the 50,000 mile mark when all the engine internals are close to, or past, the point of return. Dead easy to buy something that's running, seems to be fine, only to find a few miles later it's dead meat. 500 notes should certainly buy one of the remaining decent examples, can even stretch to a tatty 400.
Later variants on the Superdream engine are a bit out of this price range, though the odd CB350S does turn up from time to time. Build quality's a mixed bag - some chassis go off rapidly, others survived better than the motor (which had the usual Superdream problems) - probably depends on whether the bike lived outdoors or indoors overnight. Look for just one or two owners, bikes that have gone through many hands usually too neglected to be worth taking a chance on.
Yamaha's offering, the XS250, is almost as uninspiring as the Superdream, though its simple engine (pistons rising and falling alternatively without any balancers) is easier to maintain except when minor but hard to trace electrical problems cause awkward starting and nasty running. It's often just worn switches intermittently shorting out, very cheaply fixed by taking them out of the circuit. The bike also doesn't like non-standard coils and often eats up spark plugs in a few thousand miles.
Having said all that, both the 250 and 400 are neat little motorcycles that will float along at 80mph for as long as you can hang on and not do too much damage to the consumables. A lot of them have rusted their chassis to death, those well cared for easily recognized by their slightly faded patina.
The Suzuki GSX250 was a similar near miss to the XS250, compounding its difficulties by having an eight valve cylinder head that needed both regular attention and frequent oil changes to avoid metallurgical transgression - that is, turning to cheese! Its motor smooth almost to the point of remoteness, any vibes that turn up on the test ride should be viewed with suspicion. Such is its reputation, that I managed to buy a one-owner, 27000 miler, for 400 notes.
It didn't shine with showroom vigour but neither was there an abundance of cosmetic decay - at least until it was left out overnight during a rainstorm and I didn't even recognize the resulting rusting relic! The corrosion cleaned up quickly, almost painlessly, but leave it for a few days and it becomes as resistant as barnacles on the bottom of a ship! I had a gay old time thrusting the thing through Central London, though I could have done with a little more power and bit less mass. Sold it a nice profit with 39000 miles on the clock when it was beginning to smoke on the overrun, so I won't hear a word said against them.
Most of the 250 thumpers are similarly uninspiring. The old CB250RS being the best of the bunch in this price range but wholly unlikely to turn up with an engine that will see out the month. Most ruined by DR's. The handy chassis has had any number of motors shoe-horned into it, including XL600's! The best that can be expected some radically altered bolide with a much rebuilt motor - such bikes almost impossible to suss for future longevity.
Both the GN250 Suzuki and SR250 Yamaha were blunted by mild custom styling and pathetic power outputs but can be useful town bikes and there are many that haven't been hard used. I prefer the SR, though I had a successful interval on the GN way back when. Again, poor build quality makes it pretty obvious which five year plus old bike has been looked after and which has been neglected. I wouldn't touch anything that shows signs of an engine strip (gasket goo, ruined engine bolts, etc) because neither motor responded well to amateur mechanics or outright bodging, though they will both keep going long enough to get out of the street. 500 notes should buy something with less than 20,000 miles and faded chassis with no immediate need for consumable replacement.
The other thumper of note's the Kawasaki Z200, perhaps the best of the bunch save that they are now so old that few good ones are available. Useful blend of speed, power and low running costs (80mph, 80mpg and more than 15000 miles from the consumables). The later Z250 was more of the same but was a bit ruined by pollution laws or just plain lazy engineering, didn't have the finesse of the smaller thumper.
These thumpers had trail versions, but they tended to be much more abused, but occasionally something reasonable turns up.
Middleweights
There are loads of bikes from the seventies that fit into this category - everything from sensible twins to ridiculous triples. Anything with classic status won't make it into this price range - that includes stuff like H1's, CB400/500 fours and GS550's but still leaves plenty of interesting tackle.
Where to start? At the bottom... Honda CX500's are still rolling around the despatch circuit and still a cheap way into sensible motorcycling. It doesn't look so awful as when it was new and has a blend of low running costs, reasonable performance and half decent handling (assuming the suspension's been sorted). The downside's that there's no telling when the motor's going to explode or just plain wear out.
At the other end of the game, high mileage GS450E's give every indication of illness by knocking their main bearings. This can happen as low as 50,000 miles or more than twice that. Good GS450E's have motors that are bland to the point of near nonexistence, so easy enough to suss - if you suspect something's wrong it very probably is! Chassis degeneration is quite interesting under London's regime of acid rain!
Go back even further in history, buy a GS400 or GS425 - as long as you find a mature owner you could snag yourself a bargain, though the earlier twins usually did in their valves or cams rather than main bearings (the eight valve GSX400 being one to avoid). Other Suzukis worth avoiding are their stroker triples, the paucity of power not warranting taking a chance on a design that liked to overheat, consume masses of fuel and handle like an angry mammoth.
Venturing into four cylinder territory, few if any Kawasaki or Suzuki fours will be available for this kind of money. The Yamaha XJ550 the best you can expect - not an intrinsically bad bike just one that didn't inspire much love or respect in its owners. Electrical hassles and chassis consumption (as in a rust eating disease) as likely to be a hassle as minor things like breaking camchains, ruined valves or a shot gearbox. Nevertheless there are some good buys out there.
Honda's CB550 is another possibility, lacking the XJ's edge (which in turn lacked the GPz550's edge) but a pleasant enough old bus to roar along upon, especially with a suspension upgrade to tighten up the handling. The engine's the weakest of the 550's (ignoring the CBX550 in this price category) but one of the simpler to work on - look for camchain rattles, knocking big-ends and/or thrashed camshaft lobes or rockers. Gentle use equals longevity.
One of Honda's tougher designs, the VT500, is going to be well thrashed and abused at this price point, but that won't necessarily stop it going around the clock a second time. You need to know what you're doing, basically. The same goes for the more mediocre Kawasaki fours - Z400 and Z500, maybe even ancient GT550's - with the exception of the 500's camchain problems, they can be tough and long-lived, the chassis as likely to shed its bearings, rust back to nature, as the motor is to blow up. A huge range of conditions and mileage available.
Perhaps more sensible to hit on one of the Kawasaki twins - Z400, 440 and 750 - which were so mild to begin with that they often led a gentle life until falling into the hands of the usual madmen. I had 20,000 miles out of one Z440, didn't even change the oil or clean it. With 73000 miles on the clock, it was jet-washed, polished and traded in for a VT500 without incurring a loss. Mind, I almost fell off a couple of times when the performance sent me to sleep on the motorway!
650/750's
The bigger the bike, the less five hundred notes buys. Well, there are plenty of rat fours barely able to turn a wheel but who wants to handle a complete chassis and engine rebuild - the only surprise is that people actually expect money for these heaps.
The pick of the bunch is Honda's CB650. Yes, sounds like I've gone senile but I've come across a few, even bought one, that have been owned by mature types who take a delight in telling me the correct valve clearances and how changing the oil makes such a difference to the gearchange (which if it still works probably means the words are genuine, so nasty can worn ones turn). Not in abundant supply but hunt around the motorcycle classifieds for the good deals.
Another motorcycle mired in mediocrity, but still able to turn a reasonable speed, Suzuki's GS650GT is also available for this kind of dosh. A smooth shaft drive the sign of a well looked after example, myriad engine problems can intrude at high mileages - all down to the saneness of the past owners; usually pretty good as it's a bit of a pig of a handler, discouraged wild riding.
Yamaha's XJ650 was a similar machine but tougher on the engine front but not without its whims and tended to wear out the whole motor eventually.
About the only 750 you're going to buy for 500 quid, an old and rotting CB750F1. Not exactly inspiring but it can be turned into a fast(ish) brute with a bit of effort; most of the ancient stuff cuts out in the wet, causing the rider to ride off the road or be back-ended by following cagers.
Other Stuff
There's loads of Iron Curtain stuff available, the best of a rotten bunch, of course, the MZ 250, though some UMG addicts reckon that the Jawa 350 is miles better. I'll leave you to find out the truth of that for yourselves; enough's enough - you have to draw the line somewhere!
Dick Lewis