Analysis of the used motorcycle and scooter markets by a selection of industry experts in convenient, easy-to-read tables and charts to help dealers keep up-to-date with the latest market trends.
Glass’s used market overview
Sales and demand for used motorcycles has been more variable recently, with some dealers doing better with new machinery while other dealers are having more success with used as consumers look to a more affordable alternative.
Some dealers have reported consumers recently looking to downsize from larger machines to those in the 125-650cc category. Stock availability continues to be more plentiful, and with an increase in low mileage machines in the market; this possibly suggests that new riders who passed their test post-Covid and purchased new machines have since decided to sell as they’re not riding as much as they had anticipated. Â
Demand continues to be strong across the board, although the 125cc market has recently slowed for some dealers.
Outlook
July was a disappointingly wet month with generally poor riding conditions, and August has started on a similar note. Taking into account the time of year and stock being plentiful, Glass’s expects residuals to soften further across all segments in the following weeks.
Paul McDonald
Leisure Vehicles Editor
CFMoto moves up the charts
It hasn’t been the warmest weather recently, but we’re not letting that curtail our biking fun. And it doesn’t appear to have dampened our audience’s spirits either, as the MCN website continues to be the place to be for reviews and news.
The biggest story in the past month has been the rise in popularity of CFMoto reviews. The Chinese firm has the second most popular naked bike on the whole site with its 800NK, and the third most popular sports bike with the 450SR. Triumph’s Trident 660 and the Suzuki Bandit 1200 are the other popular naked bike reviews, while the top two sports bikes are the BMW S1000RR and Aprilia’s RS660 middleweight.
In adventure bikes, Honda has the two most popular reviews with the new Transalp and the NC750X, while Triumph’s Tiger Sport 660 rounds off the top three.
Over in our Bikes for Sale section it’s a Honda lock-out, with the Gold Wing, NC750X and MSX125 Grom the most popular trio on the site.
Gareth Evans
Online editor, MCN
Bikes for Sale
Most viewed models
- Honda GL1800 Gold Wing
- Honda NC750X
- Honda MSX125 Grom
- Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
- Yamaha R1
- Harley-Davidson Sportster 883
- Kawasaki Z900RS
- Yamaha R6
- Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa
- BMW S1000 RR
MCN Reviews
Most viewed brands
- Honda 20.3%
- Yamaha 12.4%
- Suzuki 9.9%
- Kawasaki 9.5%
- BMW 8.7%
- Triumph 8.5%
- Ducati 6.5%
- Harley-Davidson 3.9%
- KTM 3.3%
- Aprilia 2.6%
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Naked
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| Â | Adventure Sport
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NEW SALES SLOWING AS USED MARKET ACCELERATES
NEW SALES SLOWING AS USED MARKET ACCELERATESVisits to Auto Trader Bikes remained flat year-on-year, however this comparison may be impacted by the hot weather seen last July, which attracted droves of riders to explore their potential future bike. Whilst audience levels remained constant, the current audience is more engaged, with 39% looking to purchase their next bike within the next two weeks.
In contrast to the new motorcycle market, used sales (based on stock removed from Auto Trader) increased 14% year-on-year , and were 85% ahead of 2019 levels. Used sales were boosted by the appeal of adventure and naked models, as well as one- to three-year-old bikes. This recent trend suggests riders are moving into the newer section of the used market (up to three years old), possibly driven by the desire for more value and variety.
Lewis Norton
Insight manager, Auto Trader Bikes
Used Bikes Sold
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Median days to sell
In July, the average time to secure a bike sale was three days longer than it was for the same period last year. Amidst this subtle deceleration, used bikes sold notably faster than pre-pandemic levels (three days faster). The fastest-selling bike in July 2023 was Aprilia’s powerhouse naked Tuono 1100 V4, which took an average of just nine days to sell. The quickest selling brands were Triumph, Yamaha and Honda, each of which had four entries in the Top 20.
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Market Health Year-on-year
Consumer demand for used bikes in July was slightly behind the previous year and significantly out-paced by the growth in supply, resulting in a negative market health of -15% on a year-on-year basis. Despite demand being slightly lower, sales remain robust, although this has been offset by plentiful supply.
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Auction Overview
Auction OverviewAs would be expected as we go into autumn, our research shows that the auction houses have experienced a reduction in trade buying and an overall reduction of around 3% in achieved prices.
As always at the tail end of the year, the lower sales conversion of entries is not necessarily proportional to demand, particularly from dealer entries, as they tend to be taken in part exchanges or purchased earlier in the year at a time when values are higher. This tends to result in the vendor’s expectations of slightly higher values than is achievable in the pre-winter slowdown.
The manifestation of all this, together with general market conditions, is that fewer than 50% of machines auctioned were sold.
Used Market
Retailing motorcycles has been a different game over the last research period in the used market. What started as a steady summer season, with dealers reporting plenty of feet through the doors, was hit by the rainy season – what you would normally call July – when interest virtually evaporated for some retailers. This was an unwelcome setback, and appeared to be widespread, as conversations we had with dealers were certainly more negative than positive.
Even though the majority of smaller independent dealers experienced a slower month in July, higher levels of activity were reported by the larger multi-franchise dealerships on the back of various new bike offers, which attracted good numbers of clean part-exchanges priced more for the current market rather than the higher prices demanded earlier in the season when stock was harder to source. Consequently, given current market conditions, there has been a small downward movement in used bike prices applied across a wide range of models.