2 RGS for sale

Silvaire said:
I bought my current crop of motorcycles over the past 39 years with the idea of selecting ones that will still be interesting to me 40 years after I started. I succeeded, including in buying my Laverda SFC 1000 just this year. I have about $15K USD in that bike now and won’t need to sell it to pay the bills at any time in the future. There was a time when I couldn’t be so frivolous with my bike purchases and sure enough the bikes bought years ago will someday prove to have been a reasonable investment. Life and fine motorcycles are good.

My only problem is resisting buying one of these RGSs, because an RGS was what I was actually looking for before I stumbled into an 1875 km SFC 1000!
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A bit of background on the Hamilton Laverda....... At some point that bike was imported into Canada and a gentleman with the initials ST owned it for what I believe is a fairly significant period of time. ST also owns another RGS as well as 3C's, Jota's, SF's and has a collection with close to 40 Italian bike in it (most all of them are fully insured and ridden frequently).

In or around 2018 ST sold the RGS to another gentleman with the initials RI. RI owned the bike until it was sold in or about July of 2022 for $13,850cdn.

I also have a good idea what ST sold the bike to RI for.

I have talked with RI about that RGS while he owned it and ST has stopped by my house to look at my RGS and also shared some info on that bike.

My opinion is that the Hamilton bike is likely in better shape and closer to original than the bike on Iconic..... it all depends on what is important to you.

I have exchanged email's with Abhi at Iconic and hold him in high regard. He is a true motorcycle enthusiast and offers some excellent content.
 
Ian Short said:
Any chance you'd be willing to post a pic of your RS Guzzi........ Just moved my buddy's 1100 sport last weekend....... There were two '97 1100 sports for sale, NH and CT, so the drive is perfect at 8hrs one way. Issue was I'd prefer a carby 2 valve. Still wondering if I should have treid for the one in CT.... sigh.
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I’ve posted a Daytona RS photo into the ‘Cars and bikes I’ve come across in my travels’ thread.

I understand the attraction of the carby 1100 Sport, but bear in mind that quite apart from the EFI versus carbs issue the ‘97 injected 1100 Sport was a better motorcycle, in particular the front fork and wheels were much improved. Also with the right EPROM (contact me for info if interested) the injected bikes run a lot better than the carb bikes regardless of jetting. I view the early injected bikes with the socketed chip computer as having many of the advantages of a carbed bike, without excessive complexity.

Thanks for the info on the RGSs for sale.
 
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Silvaire said:
I’ve posted a Daytona RS photo into the ‘Cars and bikes I’ve come across in my travels’ thread.

I understand the attraction of the carby 1100 Sport, but bear in mind that quite apart from the EFI versus carbs issue the ‘97 injected 1100 Sport was a better motorcycle, in particular the front fork and wheels were much improved. Also with the right EPROM (contact me for info if interested) the injected bikes bought then runs a lot better. I view the early injected bikes with the socketed chip computer as having many of the advantages of a carbed bikes, without too much complexity.

Thanks for the info on the RGSs for sale.
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Yup 17 inch wheels on the EFI...... I believe that the forks were WP units same as the ones used on the Buell S1 Lightning (they share the same tail light as well). And while I do agree with all of your points on the positives of the EFI at the end of the day it's 90's Italian electronics and eprom's, with all the potential issues of a fuel pump.

Delorto's and gravity are much easier sorted ;)

But I could be led astray :)
 
Not sure about the model later Guzzi, but there was a post on Adventure Rider from a bloke in the US who owned one of every colour made. All up apox 10 bikes, same model, different colours. Takes all kinds to make a world.
 
Vince said:
Not sure about the model later Guzzi, but there was a post on Adventure Rider from a bloke in the US who owned one of every colour made. All up apox 10 bikes, same model, different colours. Takes all kinds to make a world
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Yes, he’s a nurse who works long hours in the southeast and collects bikes as a hobby. He’s thinned down his herd a little bit now, but Guzzi 1100 Sports are his thing. I think the only variant he was lacking was a 1998 Sport Corsa, which had Carrillo con-rods etc and a unique paint scheme. They didn’t sell those in the US although I remember vividly a factory visit that year during which the Corsas were in production.

I noticed a comment this morning on the Bring a Trailer RGS by a dealer in Oklahoma who has been trying to sell one for literally years at an inflated price. I tried to buy it but he was completely unrealistic. He now claims collectors in Europe will pay big money for an RGS… which makes me wonder why a brand new example has been for sale on Mobile.de for a very long time at a price not unlike he’s asking for his well ridden bike. For reference his RGS reached $11K USD in bidding at the 2026 Mecum auction, but his reserve was higher so it went home.
 
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Silvaire said:
Yes, he’s a nurse who works long hours in the southeast and collects bikes as a hobby. He’s thinned down his herd a little bit now, but Guzzi 1100 Sports are his thing. I think the only variant he was lacking was a 1998 Sport Corsa, which had Carrillo con-rods etc and a unique paint scheme. They didn’t sell those in the US although I remember vividly a factory visit that year during which the Corsas were in production.

I noticed a comment this morning on the Bring a Trailer RGS by a dealer in Oklahoma who has been trying to sell one for literally years at an inflated price. I tried to buy it but he was completely unrealistic. He now claims collectors in Europe will pay big money for an RGS… which makes me wonder why a brand new example has been for sale on Mobile.de for a very long time at a price not unlike he’s asking for his well ridden bike. For reference his RGS reached $11K USD in bidding at the 2026 Mecum auction, but his reserve was higher so it went home.
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I think his moniker is "Andy the Medic" in the Guzzi world.
 
Silvaire said:
Yes, he’s a nurse who works long hours in the southeast and collects bikes as a hobby. He’s thinned down his herd a little bit now, but Guzzi 1100 Sports are his thing. I think the only variant he was lacking was a 1998 Sport Corsa, which had Carrillo con-rods etc and a unique paint scheme. They didn’t sell those in the US although I remember vividly a factory visit that year during which the Corsas were in production.

I noticed a comment this morning on the Bring a Trailer RGS by a dealer in Oklahoma who has been trying to sell one for literally years at an inflated price. I tried to buy it but he was completely unrealistic. He now claims collectors in Europe will pay big money for an RGS… which makes me wonder why a brand new example has been for sale on Mobile.de for a very long time at a price not unlike he’s asking for his well ridden bike. For reference his RGS reached $11K USD in bidding at the 2026 Mecum auction, but his reserve was higher so it went home.
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Another example of that is the Ducati S2 Mille. Only 170 something produced, last and best of the bevels but not really worth a lot unless you find the right guy who just has to have it in the collection.
 
Silvaire said:
I bought my current crop of motorcycles over the past 39 years with the idea of selecting ones that will still be interesting to me 40 years after I started. I succeeded, including in buying my Laverda SFC 1000 just this year. I have about $15K USD in that bike now and won’t need to sell it to pay the bills at any time in the future. There was a time when I couldn’t be so frivolous with my bike purchases and sure enough the bikes bought years ago will someday prove to have been a reasonable investment. Life and fine motorcycles are good.

My only problem is resisting buying one of these RGSs, because an RGS was what I was actually looking for before I stumbled into an 1875 km SFC 1000!
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I have a line on an RGS that has been in my garage some ten years. Belongs to longtime friend and forum member. He was talking about letting it go a few years back.
 
The Canadian one reached $3500 USD, didn't meet reserve, and despite looking fairly clean needs it's pilot jets cleaned. The dealer in Oklahoma posted again that RGSs "bring a premium" in Europe 🤣 so in his opinion the seller was smart to set his reserve accordingly :giggle:

The one on Iconic has a day to go and I'd guess will also fail to meet reserve. Who knows. Despite being a non-running project it may have more potential because it has California registration and is an Executive. I think the RGS with Executive bags is really cool, I'm not far from the bike and I'd honestly buy the thing if I didn't already have the SFC 1000 and a big, non-motorcycle project that has to be completed in the next 6 months. I need 48 hour days.
 
Silvaire said:
The Canadian one reached $3500 USD, didn't meet reserve, and despite looking fairly clean needs it's pilot jets cleaned. The dealer in Oklahoma posted again that RGSs "bring a premium" in Europe 🤣 so in his opinion the seller was smart to set his reserve accordingly :giggle:

The one on Iconic has a day to go and I'd guess will also fail to meet reserve. Who knows. Despite being a non-running project it may have more potential because it has California registration and is an Executive. I think the RGS with Executive bags is really cool, I'm not far from the bike and I'd honestly buy the thing if I didn't already have the SFC 1000 and a big, non-motorcycle project that has to be completed in the next 6 months. I need 48 hour days.
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I just got in from a long day of travelling to take my son back to university and tried to post the following on BaT...... They are reviewing it....... likely due to the time that has passed since the auction ended.


"The market decides what someone is willing to pay.

Consider that there is a border involved which limits potential interest.

The seller is also partially responsible for answering question in a timely manner to build interest and engage with bidders.

Perhaps a seller has overpaid for the bike in the first place and timed or misread the market.

A case in point is everyone saying how rare and wonderful it is and what it’s “true” value is; yet nobody bid on it.

Laverda’s are great bikes but they need regular attention and can have some foibles that can be expensive to repair and require people with firsthand knowledge to do it.

It’s a nice complete and original example, but it’s certainly not a 5 figure bike in US dollars in my opinion.

Cheers"


Silvaire is bang on the money......... All sorts of "Big Rollers" talking the talk but no action. I would have bid higher but the seller ghosted me so f#@k him. I know of that bike....... it's a $6500-$7000usd bike and not a penny more. I do believe that the ignition has been replaced..... can't recall with what offhand.

Anyway, blah blah blah and onto the next.

:)
 
I'd agree, Ian Short. It looks to me based on recent prices and bids in Europe and the US that a non-running RGS needing work has maybe a $4K-$5K USD market value, a decent RGS that runs maybe $7500 USD, and an RGS Corsa in good shape maybe $10K USD (one of those was listed in Europe recently). The non-running Executive with bags was bid up to $3952 USD in the Iconic auction that just closed, and did not reach reserve.

If you want one and can buy one at real world market value, I think this is really good for a special bike.
 
Then non-running project RGS Executive in the Iconic auction finally sold via a post auction offer for $5350 plus 7% buyers premium or $5725 USD total.

I’d guess based on experience that it may take $3-4K to dial it in mechanically and cosmetically if the new owner does the mechanical work himself. Tires plus mounting alone is $500 these days, paint repairs and wheel refinishing etc total maybe $2000. So call it $9K total or a little more needs to be invested to make this a nice bike. Personally, I think the sale price was fair.
 
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