Went to a live auction yesterday. Maybe around a 100 bidders. Not a lot of bike type. On the list of items was a lot of old Harley-Davidson parts. In box # 116 was a set of complete knuckleheads and gear covers for a 1936-1947. Thought I might get them for under 500. Blew me away. Sold for 3000.Just for the heads! Just one guy was bidding big money on all the knucklehead parts.

 

`Sounds like a knucklehead buying them at that price.......

 

Had to be at least 2 bidding to get the price that high.

 

Original knuck parts are going for big bucks. the last link is reproduction heads over 3k.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/41-46-Harley...ed827f&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-harley-...e78300&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flh-74-Harle...f6322c&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harley-David...US_motorcycles

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1936-47-Harl...2edb04&vxp=mtr

 

Now I know. Knuckleheads must be the most collectable, expensive, sought after old Harley's out there.

 

That's part of the reason right there. As the market got flooded with repop parts in recent years, price of the increasingly rare genuine originals skyrocketed. Anyone who knows their old bikes knows a repop at a glance, and knows that in most cases a well rebuilt original HD part is going to be better quality.

It's not just Knuckles. Old race bike prices have been nutso for some time now. Last pair of used WR Harley barrels I saw on Ebay sold for well over $3k.