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Bad Chad's collection

Mad Mike

Mad Mike

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I used to watch Bad Chad on Discovery Channel, he builds old school custom cars. Has a Youtube channel now.

He doesn't ride, has no licence, but collects motorcycles because he likes them. A lot of nothing in his garage... and a few gems.

 
AFJ said:
"He doesn't ride, has no license, but collects motorcycles because............... he likes them"?????????????

He is a guy that I feel very sorry for. Spent his money and time to get, move and store a bunch of motorcycles and then nothing. No riding, No wrenching, no experiences of riding on old bikes, on new roads to new places.......... and finding new friends.

Reminds me of being at an American Antique bike rally 40+ years ago. Traveled there with a friend. We each had old British bikes on display by our tent. Along comes a well-dressed middle-aged man who starts the conversation with "I too am a collector of old British motorcycles."
I replied,"What bikes do you have?"
He replies, "I have two Matchless Silver Hawks."
I think "early 1930's V-4 cylinder 600cc, 27 degree v- angle , rare as hen's teeth" and say "WOW, I never saw or heard a Silver Hawk run, What do they sound like with that unusual engine?"
He replies, "I don't know, never tried starting them. They're restored you know." He then inquires if our British bikes are for sale. They are not, so off he goes.
My friend was sitting close by and had heard the conversation. "Not starting a bike like a Matchless Silver Hawk would be like getting married to Raquel Welch and immediately going off to live in a monastery by yourself!"

AFJ
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You had me interested. They made 550 of them and he had two survivors in purgatory. The one in the linked video sold for 38k pounds at Bonhams in 2020. I can't find a video of someone giving it the beans.

 
I think this guy is a problem. He knows noting about bikes, but here he is on Youtube telling us about how to collect motorcycles. He is buying up bikes, that are in NO WAY "collector" bikes (well OK the Titan will sell and maybe the BSA), thinking he's going to make MONEY. He has no love for the bikes, but he's willing to speculate his line of credit on a bunch of bikes he knows nothing about. The bike he keeps calling a Jawa is a Zundapp. Either a Jawa or a Zundapp are both desirable bikes, but they sell for next to nothing(you can buy a container full of them in Cuba for $5000). The rest of the stuff is MEH. The AMF Sportie is cool, I'd ride that... but I'm not giving you more than $2000 for it... mold and all (and NO the mold won't wipe off. You have to replace the piece that got moldy. The mold gets into the leather and you can wipe it off, and it'll be back later this afternoon)

He has nothing to do with the biking community, other than he wants to speculate on the purchase price of OUR motorcycles. He is a leach on the biking community, and I wish he would go away.
AND: He's gonna find out soon enough:
He's Canadian and 90% of the bike buying public are afraid of buying Canadian. "Most" big buck bikes go south, to the sunshine states, and they'll buy a bike in up-state New York or northern Washington state; NO PROBLEM, but won't touch one north of the border, even though the shipping is probably less (a lot more Canadian trucks going south empty than American trucks).
The "collector" bike market has TANKED. Bikes today are selling for less than pre-covid. That $42,000 Z1 was at peak covid prices... AND at Meccum (Meccum is the biggest rip off since Barret-Jackson)
But I DO have a buyer for the BMW sidecar rig... if he doesn't want STUPID money for it... we could probably go DUMB money, but not STUPID money.
 
AFJ said:
And I've only seen one Matchless Silver Hawk since then. It was not a running bike but had been owned by J.B Nicholson of "Modern Motorcycle Mechanics" fame. I was in Edmonton in 2012 for the CVMG AGM at the Museum south of Edmonton and before the meeting we had a tour of the Museum's "storage buildings". I had a good look at the Silver Hawk and took a few pictures of it. (It was on an upper rack above a bunch of old cars.) And it looked pretty complete but was obviously in "unrestored project" condition.
As to "the beans" I have a couple of period (1930-31) road test articles and "The Motor Cycle" weekly (April 2/31) got it to 76 mph (possibly an 80 mph bike in better weather), got 56 mpg. "Motorcycling" weekly got 27,39,67 and 76 mph through the gears but would pull well from 11 mph to 76 mph in 4th gear. It's silence when running was remarked on and it was a very easy starting bike. brakes were interconnected but a front brake only lever was also standard.
Obviously at 75 pounds it was not attractive to very many motorcyclists in the depths of the depression. Apparently it was uncannily silent in operation, particularly at idle.
AFJ
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.
 
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AFJ said:
Mentioned earlier in this thread was the early 1930's Matchless Silver Hawk V-4 motorcycle in storage at the Wetaskiwan, Alberta museum.
I've found the photos I got of it up on the storage rack and it looks better and more complete than I recalled. Too bad if it is still hiding ther and not on display.

AFJ


View attachment 59355

View attachment 59356
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I want enough vehicles so I have to label the shelves in order to find them.
 
bitzz said:
<SNIP>
The "collector" bike market has TANKED. Bikes today are selling for less than pre-covid. That $42,000 Z1 was at peak covid prices... AND at Meccum (Meccum is the biggest rip off since Barret-Jackson)
But I DO have a buyer for the BMW sidecar rig... if he doesn't want STUPID money for it... we could probably go DUMB money, but not STUPID money.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what year the auction Brad showed in his video was but last week this Z1 hammered down in Las Vegas at $50,000 USD

www.mecum.com

1973 Kawasaki Z1 900 at Las Vegas Motorcycles 2023 as T217.1 - Mecum Auctions

1973 Kawasaki Z1 900 crossing the auction block at Las Vegas Motorcycles 2023 as T217.1.
www.mecum.com www.mecum.com

Prices on the other 5 1973-75 Z1's that sold ranged from $16000 to $35000. This would be the "cheap" one.

www.mecum.com

1975 Kawasaki Z-1 at Las Vegas Motorcycles 2023 as S139 - Mecum Auctions

1975 Kawasaki Z-1 crossing the auction block at Las Vegas Motorcycles 2023 as S139.
www.mecum.com www.mecum.com

I agree with your comments on Mecum, I still look forward to streaming the Vegas auction as it's lots of interesting bikes in January. On rare occasions you might see a bargain be had.
 
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bitzz said:
I think this guy is a problem. He knows noting about bikes, but here he is on Youtube telling us about how to collect motorcycles. He is buying up bikes, that are in NO WAY "collector" bikes (well OK the Titan will sell and maybe the BSA), thinking he's going to make MONEY. He has no love for the bikes, but he's willing to speculate his line of credit on a bunch of bikes he knows nothing about. The bike he keeps calling a Jawa is a Zundapp. Either a Jawa or a Zundapp are both desirable bikes, but they sell for next to nothing(you can buy a container full of them in Cuba for $5000). The rest of the stuff is MEH. The AMF Sportie is cool, I'd ride that... but I'm not giving you more than $2000 for it... mold and all (and NO the mold won't wipe off. You have to replace the piece that got moldy. The mold gets into the leather and you can wipe it off, and it'll be back later this afternoon)

He has nothing to do with the biking community, other than he wants to speculate on the purchase price of OUR motorcycles. He is a leach on the biking community, and I wish he would go away.
AND: He's gonna find out soon enough:
He's Canadian and 90% of the bike buying public are afraid of buying Canadian. "Most" big buck bikes go south, to the sunshine states, and they'll buy a bike in up-state New York or northern Washington state; NO PROBLEM, but won't touch one north of the border, even though the shipping is probably less (a lot more Canadian trucks going south empty than American trucks).
The "collector" bike market has TANKED. Bikes today are selling for less than pre-covid. That $42,000 Z1 was at peak covid prices... AND at Meccum (Meccum is the biggest rip off since Barret-Jackson)
But I DO have a buyer for the BMW sidecar rig... if he doesn't want STUPID money for it... we could probably go DUMB money, but not STUPID money.
Click to expand...
I think he has stupid money and just likes bikes!

His YouTube channel pulls 275,000+ views every day, I'd guess at least $1000USD/day in revenue. I'm guessing he can collect whatever he feels like.
 
AFJ said:
As to "the beans" I have a couple of period (1930-31) road test articles and "The Motor Cycle" weekly (April 2/31) got it to 76 mph (possibly an 80 mph bike in better weather), got 56 mpg. "Motorcycling" weekly got 27,39,67 and 76 mph through the gears but would pull well from 11 mph to 76 mph in 4th gear. It's silence when running was remarked on and it was a very easy starting bike. brakes were interconnected but a front brake only lever was also standard.
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My favorite bikes during VRRA at Mosport were the fleet of Rudge's. Riders were working hard to be the slowest and coolest bikes on the track. No rear suspension will do that to you. Clip below is obviously not CTMP and doesn't sound as good as a bunch of them being flogged at once but it's still cool.

 
He did build an interesting art deco Honda cruiser on his TV show.

 
DaveTheSave said:
I agree with your comments on Mecum, I still look forward to streaming the Vegas auction as it's lots of interesting bikes in January. On rare occasions you might see a bargain be had.
Click to expand...

I'm not convinced Mecum is a ripoff in any sense, I've attended the live auction twice, and Bonhams vegas once. They pull in the largest audience in the world, there are some real deals go across the stage. Ther publish what you will pay in sales commission so there is no surprise. Freight fowarders are on location that can help you get your acquisition shipped anywhere. It's 3 days and thousands of bikes , I dont think anyone is being duped here .
And they funnel a bunch of cash into local sport. They hire a high school football club to roll motorcycles around the building.
 
crankcall said:
I'm not convinced Mecum is a ripoff in any sense, I've attended the live auction twice, and Bonhams vegas once. They pull in the largest audience in the world, there are some real deals go across the stage. Ther publish what you will pay in sales commission so there is no surprise. Freight fowarders are on location that can help you get your acquisition shipped anywhere. It's 3 days and thousands of bikes , I dont think anyone is being duped here .
And they funnel a bunch of cash into local sport. They hire a high school football club to roll motorcycles around the building.
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As the auctioneer said to the disgruntled bidder, "It's worth what I get for it." True, it could also reflect the intelligence of the bidders but what it's worth to the bidder is subject to factors such as personal memories and mindsets.

I was coming back from a rally in Arkansas and stopped at a McD's for a bite. I noticed a contractors van in the lot with Oshawa labels. Coming out with burger in hand, I was approached by the van owner who had noticed my Ontario plate.

He asked if I wanted to see a motorcycle and proceeded to open the side door so I could see his fully restored BMW R75/5. We chatted a bit and he was returning from a rally down south. He said he owned 70 or so BMWs. Not bad for a plumber.

How to make money off of old motorcycles:

Charge the owners to fix them

Buy a bunch and open a museum, charging admission.

Scavenge the world for old stuff offering people a free pickup service to get rid of their old junk. Maybe offer your friends a finders fee of a few bucks. (If you go legal, check out the restrictions on opening a vehicle salvage yard.)

Only go auctions to find out the maximum you should expect for a project you are considering piling money into. Double your estimated restoration cost and halve the expected sales price.
 
crankcall said:
I'm not convinced Mecum is a ripoff in any sense, I've attended the live auction twice, and Bonhams vegas once. They pull in the largest audience in the world, there are some real deals go across the stage. Ther publish what you will pay in sales commission so there is no surprise. Freight fowarders are on location that can help you get your acquisition shipped anywhere. It's 3 days and thousands of bikes , I dont think anyone is being duped here .
And they funnel a bunch of cash into local sport. They hire a high school football club to roll motorcycles around the building.
Click to expand...
.
 
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Thats a quite fair assesment and when they are selling anything 'unusual' the guy sending it to auction has often done the homework to establish provenance. Pictures of guys like Steve McQueen sitting on that bike , or a varified letter from the museum that held the product, archival photos of the bike participating in historic races. Its good to have places like Bonhams and Mecum help with this when there is enough money involved, commissions go up.

Like anything there are probably fakes ( see the watcvh thread) , and I have heard of bikes being pulled from an auction catalog when serious controversy comes up, like the Captain America bike from easy rider. Personally I think there are more BSA gold start race spec bikes around now than BSA ever produced, but thats me thinking outloud.
 
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