Gotta say, the desmo leaves me cold too. I'm not sure they are bottomed out yet, I think they are going to sink a lot lower yet, perhaps down to £20k in 12 months time.. There is not much of a market for a bike like that, and supply seems solid at the moment. A rotary Norton f1 is a smarter investment at the moment.
being put up for sale and being sold is 2 deiiferent things... i guess the owner sold 'at market' with no ask price... he took a 50% cut on a 5 year old bike... if you see it like that, it is nothing but nomal.. there has been a steady streem of Desmos but hardly any sells... so if you want to sell and not bother about going abroad to sell it, this is what he got someone to pay for it.. i would have bought it but got in second in line... now i wouldn't buy one at 30K...
the MV Agusta F4 Claudio Castiglioni model was daft money (c£100k) too with hefty depreciation..one was on sale in the states for 50% of that...ouch..very pretty though.
I've considered one on a few occasions and at 18k that's a bargain. I could sell my bikes and be left with change for fuel. But surely the service costs are still sky high ? And I bet insurance would be a joy to obtain.
You are a mug if you buy one as an investment. Buy one to ride - there is nothing else like it nor will there ever be again. A MotoGP replica from the era just before electronics took over - no power modes, no traction control, no anti-wheelie - just your right wrist and far too much power. Its BONKERS :biggrin:
I saw this bike when I was looking for a replacement Bayliss after I wrote mine off......the guy lives on a farm.......he took me to the "barn" to look at the bike.....couldn't believe my eyes......2 totally un-marked mint bikes........he knows what he's got.....but strangely doesn't know anything about them!! He couldn't remember how many miles the Bayliss had on it....."thought" it was about 600.....turned out to be 320!! Then he listed another 10 bikes he'd got "knocking" around.......very odd!! The bike was totally mint.....will be a bargain for somebody!!
Give it a year or two you won't see Desmo's like you do now, they're already starting to disappear into private collections and getting mothballed... I can't recall the last time I saw an RC45 or 30 for example
I think that affording the servicing will be the big problem on the desmo16 The parts are all pretty unique, so it is all to be ordered from Ducati and one has to ask for how long they will maintain producing those. It does not look like a service (especially a 15,000m) is a small job either. All goes appart and if you look at the pictures a French guy took of his Desmo16 in service, good job it does too. Valves were half eaten, etc. Much needed changing and I think he had to wait for almost a year to get some cases. I would love to have a bike like this but the reality is that they are pretty much destined to end up unridden in collections. The smart guys are the ones that got one early put some miles on them and sold them before depreciation started hitting.
