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$50,000 for a 1993 Honda CBR900RR? Twice?!

Dec 21, 2021

Yes, the prices of used motorcycles are high, but $50,000 or more for a 1993 Honda CBR900RR? Twice?

Expensive, yes, but at least for those of us who aren't buying, the entertainment is free.

I'm talking about a couple of bidding wars — with attached color commentary — on the auction site Bring a Trailer.

It started when a 1993 Honda CBR900RR with just 3,500 miles on the odometer and wearing the popular red, white and blue paint came up for sale on the BaT site. When first introduced in 1992, the 900 was Honda's 750 killer, a stroked 750 back when 750 cc inline fours were the formula for Superbike racing. Producing around 112 horsepower but weighing only slightly more than Honda's 600 of the day, it gained a fanatical following, but also had its quirks, such as skittish handling that was usually blamed on its 16-inch front wheel, where others had already moved on to 17s.

Once the bidding on the CBR900RR topped $15,000, it came down to users Awilly and themotorcoachstore. In the last hour and a half of bidding on Dec. 13, the bids started popping in minutes apart. In the end, just before the auction ended, Awilly got in the last bid and won the Honda for $52,000.

An eye-catching price, to be sure. But it didn't end there.

Another 1993 CBR900RR quickly popped up on the auction site. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, because if I had one and saw it was suddenly considered worth that kind of money by more than one bidder, I'd have been polishing and photographing mine for an auction post, too.

Bidding began on the second CBR900RR, this one with 5,000 miles on it. themotorcoachstore bid $30,000, and Awilly raised that the next morning to $35,000, declaring, "I'm back! one to ride, one to preserve." Seven minutes later, themotorcoachstore raised the bid to $50,000.

For everyone else, it became entertainment, with words like "ridiculously overinflated" and "insane" tossed about. Some noted that rare Hondas like an NR750 or an RC30 fetch high prices, but a CBR?

"I adore them and am a huge supporter of the love they are getting but $50k is Silly," posted motoman99. "I just sold a beautiful one for about 12k. Heck, we sold a 0 mile one for $24k and it was picked up in two magazines as a record sale."

"I actually passed on one of these this past summer," said poster XR750. "It was sitting at the end of a driveway in Lakeville MN for $4500. I told the owner his price was crazy. Whadda I know?"

ProfOak posted that Bitcoin mania has nothing on "auctions that are turned into a cucumber measuring contest by 2 dudes with F-U money! MASSIVE CONGRATS to this seller and the one before. I guess we're going to be seeing weekly low mileage Fireblades for a while on BaT now."

For all those asking, themotorcoachstore explained why he was prepared to bid whatever necessary to get the second CBR. "This is a pretty simple scenario all that have asked. Someone stated in the last auction that this was like an old girlfriend that became available again. Awilly and I were once in love with these bikes. 30 years later they became available and we have enough money to bid what we've bid. We are two guys that don't want to be denied. It's fun and a game at the same time. This time, she is mine. This is a nicer bike than the last one. I was a gentleman at the last auction, not this one. Game on."

The $50,000 bid by themotorcoachstore was enough this time. Maybe now that both themotorcoachstore and Awilly each have their $50,000 CBR900RRs, prices will slide back to something closer to the historical trend. Then again, people are paying millions of dollars for pixellated images called Cryptopunks. So who knows? Strange times, indeed.