I walked the entire auction floor at least twice. Some sections got strolled three or more times. I drove 250 miles just to look at bikes and be around like-minded people for the day. Some random thoughts:
There were roughly a thousand motorcycles there. Everything got bid on. Some owners had reserves but, if I'm being honest, the lowest prices were probably not far off of what the bikes were actually worth on any other venue (Craigslist, Bookface Marketplace, etc.). What I'm saying is there were no screaming bargains and everything had a chance to sell. That was the minimum baseline. It was Craigslist pricing or much higher. Some bikes fetched stupid money.
The age of the crowd was a little concerning. Lots of limping old guys. Very few seemed to be under 50. The post boomer generations have not yet embraced motorcycles the way so many did in the 1960s through the '90s. Beautiful 1960s and 1970s Triumphs and BSAs could be bought in the mid to high four-figure range. Honestly, that's what they seem to ask on the open market. How long will the supply of loaded old guys last? I don't know. As a first year Gen Xer, I'll probably sell everything too late and lose my butt. Such is life. At least I have them now.
This all gets to the point I wanted to make: an awful lot of the variance in pricing seemed to reflect how well the motorcycles presented. There were soooo many bikes that needed a good bath and a few hours of metal polish and wax. They looked like they were rolled out of an estate sale garage, loaded on a truck and taken straight to the auction. If a buyer sees that, they're likely to also assume the bike is going to need work to get it running. No guarantees, no test rides, as-is, where-is, etc. Plenty of poor restorations. Lots of stuff you can't see in the pictures. You get it.
I think it's probably the right venue to sell a Super X but, to get top dollar, the bike needs to be freshly detailed and look like it. If I'm being honest, the condition of the crate bike was a little disappointing. If you consider what a bike would look like parked on static display, collecting dust and dirt, unwashed for 23 years, that's what it was. Everyone knows it's new but, it didn't
look new. The pop of a brand new toy was missing. Would detailing it inside the box have been appropriate? I think so.
And someone still reached into their checkbook for $9,900 and now owns a giant wooden crate to move around, store and display.
As I walked the floor and pondered all the pain it takes to sell oddball motorcycles of any type, it became obvious that for the 10% seller premium, an auction like that is probably the best option for selling motorcycles like mine. For many owners, the next problem becomes getting the motorcycles
to Las Vegas. Looking at the other Mecum auctions, I guess this is the big one. Arizona and Florida only list 100 motorcycles so far.
