Motorcycles Aren’t Getting More Expensive. I’m Just Getting Old.

Is it just me or do motorcycles seem like they're getting more and more expensive?

When I rode the new Ducati Panigale V4 S earlier this year, I fell in love. At $28,000, ownership is out of the question, but that didn't stop me from thinking about what I could sell in order to get one.

Related Video: Uncrating A $40,000 Ducati Panigale V4 Superbike

There I was, riding around my favorite Upstate New York back roads trying to rationalize letting out a room in my house and selling the family heirlooms that my ancestors smuggled out of the old country, likely at great personal cost. Really good motorcycles make us do irrational things. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. After all, I've already got one squatter under my roof.

Shortly thereafter, my brother and I were strolling through a dealership when it dawned on us: There aren't tons of new motorcycles under $10,000 these days. When we were just beginning to ride (during a particularly exciting time for performance enthusiasts) the most advanced literbikes sold for around $10K. It was kind of the magic number for a while there. Now, a "new"—make that, ahem, "current"—Yamaha YZF-R6 costs around 12 grand. Okay, I know there are plenty of great bikes for under $10K (such as the Yamaha MT-07), but still. The latest and greatest seems to be getting more and more out of reach. I have a feeling we aren't the only people to feel this way.

In recent years, the industry has done a good job of building more affordable motorcycles to bring in new riders. With something like a Royal Enfield Himalayan ($4,499) at one end of the spectrum and the Ducati Panigale at the other, 10 grand is hardly a median. As cheaper bikes get more people into motorcycling (we hope), will OEMs justify pricing top-end machines at ever higher price points?

After passing rows of bikes priced well above $10K I had kind of a panicky moment. If the gulf between low end and high end continues to grow—with the high end representing an increasingly small tip of the pyramid—could the motorcycle world end up resembling the car world? I don’t know about you, but one of the reasons I’m so pro moto is that “the best” has traditionally been pretty accessible to the average Joe, whereas the Panigales of the car world are only affordable to millionaires.

Fortunately, I think my fears are pretty much unwarranted.

In 1999, a base-model Ducati 996 cost $16,459, or just under $25,000 in today’s money. In 2018, a base-model Panigale V4 is actually cheaper at $21,000-ish. Ducati’s doing something right then. In 2000, the new Honda CBR929RR cost $9,999 (there’s that magic number), or $14,500 in today’s dollars. The 2018 CBR1000RR has an MSRP of $16,500. Comparing two bikes isn’t a thorough economic analysis, but it’s enough to allay my fears a bit.

My worries are probably baseless and my doom and gloom predictions are dubious. I thought inflation was supposed to be insidious and barely perceptible over the years. Guess my high school econ teacher misled me there. Because a $12,000 supersport bike… That still feels crazy.

It means I should probably just blow my salary on a Panigale V4, a new BMW S1000RR, or an Aprilia V4 1100, right? Because in a few years they'll probably be $50,000. And by then, no doubt I'll be wandering around dealerships muttering to myself, "I remember when you could get a 150-hp superbike for $10,000." I must be getting old.

Like I said: It doesn’t take too much to rationalize buying an expensive new motorcycle. A little circular reasoning and some brief illogical panicking is all you really need.

Or is that just me?