Hi,

 The 2014 models are on their way into the showroom.  I plan on buying my 2014 model in 2014, so I have a stamped 2014 built bike.  The sales person is talking me out of it of course and said harleys always release the new models half way through the year.  My logic is there may be better resale value in the second hand market.

If you were buying a second hand bike would you opt for a same year model/built bike over a model that was made the year before?

Thanks,

Why ya thinkin of sellin' her before ya get her ?

Ahhh anyway welcome to the forums , why wait hey ?
Test ride a few , buy the one that is right for you and enjoy the journey mate !
I Think it , 'market and resale value would go more on kilometres , extras and the overall condition it's in for that actual Model Year rather than the build date ?
Cheers

I thought the same thing. Yes it's a 2014 model but 2013 build and compliance.
I'm not sure with bikes but with cars if you have a 12/13 build and it's complied and register in say 02/14 they would treat it as a 13 model and that's what they would trade it as hence giving you less for it because its a year older. I had that happen to me on a car I had. I still say if its released in13 it's a 13 model.

Most auto manufacturers release the future years model around September of the prior year. It makes no difference to value.

Buy the bike to ride and enjoy. If you are thinking resale before you have it then why are you buying it? It would not matter if you have it more than 5 years anyway. You would be better off with a good used unit instead of new in that case. Plenty of good second hand bargains around if you know what you want. It's a buyers market at the moment.

with cars it matters , but with bikes the dealers do tend to honor , if thats the right word , the year starting early and when it was complianced ,

But like others have said , its resale is goin g to be more on condition and mileage , so the best way to keep the best resale value is what most harley riders do ,

Buy it ,, bling it , and put it in the garage , using it has little has possible , generally just pull it out , when the weather is between 28 - 32 , .

Cos i can guarantee you when it,s just run in , at approx 40-50 klm , you will get fack all for it , because its considered high mileage for a harley , Actually its not just harleys ,

Thanks for your input boys. There is a general consensus here that it makes no difference in the bike industry as compared to the car industry.

Will be going down to the dealers to test ride and buy my first bike!

Clocked 50k on the Heritage comin back from Blackwater on the weekend. And don't give a fuck what the resale is, Because it's not for sale

Save yourself the anguish and don't buy anything. Win win.

In a digital age it does have some effect but it diminishes over time. Here's why....

Most used vehicles (bikes and cars) are now sold via online advertising (bikesales.com, eBay, gumtree, trading post.com, etc). All of these mediums allow you to search based on a whole bunch of criteria. Year is one of them, and the year is determined by when it was made. There are some sites that also allow you to also search by model year (MY) but most people ignore that. If someone is looking for a near new bike they will be very specific with the year based on the oldest they will accept. People looking for an older bike will enter a wider year range.

So if you plan to keep it for less than 2 years I would wait for 2014 plated bike.
If you plan to sell it in the next 2-5 years it is possible that it might affect you slightly if you chose the 2013 bike.
If you plan to keep it for 5+ years it probably won't matter much at all.