The Buyer: Some bikes never go out of fashion

Depreciation. Your bike is almost certainly worth less, a lot less, than it was when you bought it.

There are exceptions, of course: (some) classics are appreciating very nicely, but if you’re buying modern stuff, or even stuff up to a decade old, it can be tricky if you want to be sure you have some residual value left.

First, buy a popular model. A really popular model. You may not want to look like everyone else on the street, but hundreds of thousands of people didn’t buy Suzuki GSX-Rs because they were crap. A bike that sold like hot cakes when it was current will almost certainly be in strong demand later. Dealers like popular models because they’re dead easy to sell on and will always give a good trade-in price.

Right now, there are a few contenders among bikes produced in the last half-dozen years.

Top of the list, and I’m not saying this just because I’ve got one, is the Triumph Street Triple, Mark One version with the round headlights.

OK, the new model may be better on paper, but Triumph has smoothed out the naughty rough edge that delighted everyone. It may be more capable, but it’s just a little less fun.

Secondly, we have the Suzuki SV650. Now this is getting a bit long in the tooth, agreed, but it has always been a cracking budget buy, and was always a better bike than the 600 Bandit. It’s also proved mechanically tough, and cheap to service.

And in third place, another Suzuki: the GSX-R750. Visually hard to tell from the 600 (and the 1000), and the perfect balance between them. The original GSX-R was a 750, too, and this is one bike that will never go out of style.