Calling Collect: Vintage Motorcycle Collection

A lot of cool old stuff that was just an affordable old car a few years ago has turned into a collectible automobile with prices to match.  Blame Barrett-Jackson, the Fed, Brexit, QE and QE2, or whatever, but amassing a collection is going to take you a few bucks as well as space.  Motorcycles haven’t – for the most part followed cars – yet – and storing 16 bikes is a hell of a lot easier than 16 broken down old cars.  Find this Vintage Motorcycle Collection of 16 bikes including this 1973 Bultaco Alpina for sale in San Rafael, CA for $21,500 via craigslist.

The seller doesn’t include much in his (her) ad other than they are selling their eclectic collection of 16 bikes in various unmentioned conditions.   No word on the title status of any.  For a street bike, non-titled may be a pain in the neck that you may not want to deal with.  The Alpina above, looks like it might run and appears to still have its street equipment still intact, as does this 1970 Kawasaki 350 Avenger.  The Avenger looks like something you could clean up a bit and ride to your local C&C on any Saturday.

Not so much for this 1969 Kawasaki 120SS Roadrunner that is missing its street equipment and has some sort of home made spark arrestor.

This 1975 Yamaha RD250 looks to be in really nice condition.  I’d maybe lose the non-original exhaust, but other than that, I’d ride it and not hide it in a storage unit on the outskirts of town.

Here’s a 1971 Suzuki GT750 Water Buffalo.   Could be a runner.  The Water Buffalo was a water cooled two stroke, the first water cooled production bike from Japan.

If you are tired of all the Japanese stuff, here’s a 1977 BMW 75/7.

So far, the stuff in the collection has been different, but not really odd.  Until now.  Here is the oddball, a 1974 Rokon 340 Sport.  Rokon is better known for their 2WD bikes, but they also made a one wheel drive bike.  Of course, it wasn’t traditional, it had a true automatic transmission with no shifting required, unlike the Hondamatic and other so called automatics from the major manufacturers.

This 1971 Kawasaki 350 Big Horn has seen better days.  The buyer has another similar one as part of the collection.

Bets on whether this 1971 Bultaco El Montadero 360 still runs?

You might be able to take these three Yamaha TY80 trials bikes and piece a complete one together.

I would assume this is the crown jewel of the collection, a 1985 Yamaha RZ350 Kenny Roberts edition with the bumble bee paint scheme.  Unlike most of the other bikes in the collection,  you could have actually ridden it to the storage unit to take the pictures.

Don’t forget your kids with a Yamaha YZ60.

Some parts are also included.  Looks like mainly Kawasaki parts, specifically Big Horn parts.

See a better way to get your start as the crazy cat lady of motorcycles? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com

Gianni is Daily Turismo’s Pacific Northwest correspondent.  He only has two motorcycles and sometimes that is one too many.