What is the worst bike you have ever owned

[Deleted member 1183]

My worst bike was my first one. I started motorcycling around 1970 after a friend of a family member allowed me a short spin on his Triumph TRW. I was hooked and went to a local second hand dealer to buy my own bike. He sold me a BSA M21. On my first spin out on it after purchase, I stopped it to look at the scenery. I couldn't get it started and he had to rescue me. Long story short, I always had difficulty starting it as I was light and there was a lot of compression on a 600. A couple of times when I didn't get the starting sequence right, the non folding kick start lever nearly broke my leg. On other occasions blowback from the carburettor nearly set my trousers on fire. It leaked oil. The brakes were practically non existent, and on one of my trips out on it I fell off because of them when they failed to slow the bike entering a greasy bend. I then put a side car on it and promptly turned the outfit over going too quick around a left hand bend. I gave back the sidecar. Then one day I was approaching traffic lights in the centre of a large town. I had shifted down and then suddenly the clutch was no longer working. The bike kept going straight thru red lights as I simply couldn't stop it, and the brakes had no affect despite that I had completely shut the throttle. When the panic subsided a little I eventually put my hand across the carb bellmouth and it stopped. Fortunately the traffic was light at the lights and I got away with it.

The dealer was called again and this time he discovered a clutch centre bolt had come loose. He spot welded it on but by now I had had enough. If I had kept it, it would have killed me even before my motorcycling career had progressed beyond its first year. It was replaced by a shiny new 200cc Yamaha that I could barely afford on hire purchase. The BSA was my first bike and despite its best efforts, there was no turning back for me. I have been riding ever since without a break, and have loved every moment of it. Would I buy one now for old time sake ? I probably would, except for one reason, I would still have the devil of a job starting it as the legs are no longer as stong as they were. The pic is only an example of the marque.

 

[Brillot2000]

I won't call it the worst bike I've ever owned but the bike I like the least and kept the shortest time was a 1996 Katana 600. Heavy as hell and no power. I had it two months and sold it.

However my wife's first bike was a 2003 Suzuki Bandit 600 that I bought used from a dealer in 2010 as a "learner" bike for her. It had constant problems with the carbs and vacuum leaks. I rebuilt the carbs once but was forever fiddling with them to try and get it to idle right and not cough and sputter. After a seemingly constant bout of issues last year the minute I got it running well again I traded it for the NCX. Was never so happy to shed myself of a bike.

Ha, I had a 99 1200 and decided to tweak it. With four carbs to rejet, 4 k&N air filters, 5 degree advance and a Dale Walker exhaust with header pipe, it took me a month of adjustments to get that bike right. It was unholy! I ended up selling it to a guy that took it out and wrapped it up. Bye-bye Bandit! They were tough to get right so I can sympathize with you.

You all have confirmed my thoughts regarding Suzukis that I formulated when I was 10 years old.


My brother-in-law at the time had a 1977 GS550, fully dressed. Beautiful looking bike. It had a lot of electrical issues and did not run very well then it did. It was a "POS" all around.

I "NEVER" owned one in the last 27 years I have been riding.

 

[L.B.S.]

Siiiiiigh.

 

[treybrad]

You all have confirmed my thoughts regarding Suzukis that I formulated when I was 10 years old.
My brother-in-law at the time had a 1977 GS550, fully dressed. Beautiful looking bike. It had a lot of electrical issues and did not run very well then it did. It was a "POS" all around.

I "NEVER" owned one in the last 27 years I have been riding.

Oh, each mfg makes a few bad ones. My GS500 was a bit of a pain -- regular fiddling with the carbs, fork seals that seemed to blow every 6 months -- but it was 10 years old by the time I got my hands on it, and had lived a very hard life. My SV650 was flawless the two years I had it, and my Bandit 1250 was as well for the 5 years and 60k miles I kept it. Nothing but tires, oil and brakes in those. Never even had to swap a valve shim on the Bandit.

All that said, the worst bike I ever owned wasn't even actually mine, but a roomate's Suzuki Bandit 400. Talk about fiddly carbs, yikes. That and the infamous 'black box' electronic module... it was quite a nightmare.

trey

 

[TrackCage]

So I'm a youngin' spoiled by modern bikes my whole riding career. Here's a list of what I've owned. Honestly, none of them were difficult or bad... so I'm just going to pick the one I disliked the most. And to be fair, it's hard for me to nitpick any of these bikes:

1989 Honda Hawk NT650 GT
2006 Yamaha YZF-R6
2004 Suzuki DRZ400S (converted to SM)
2008 Honda CBR1000rr
2007 Honda CBR600rr
2013 Triumph Street Triple R
2012 Honda CBr250r
2009 Yamaha YZF-R6
2012 Honda NC700x

Many of these bikes I still own. My least fav was the Suzuki DRZ, only because it didn't have the motor I desired. If I really wanted a supermoto, I suspect a KTM 690SMC would strike my fancy, but at a much prettier penny than what the DRZ cost me.

 

[L.B.S.]

So I'm a youngin' spoiled by modern bikes my whole riding career. Here's a list of what I've owned. Honestly, none of them were difficult or bad... so I'm just going to pick the one I disliked the most. And to be fair, it's hard for me to nitpick any of these bikes:

1989 Honda Hawk NT650 GT
2006 Yamaha YZF-R6
2004 Suzuki DRZ400S (converted to SM)
2008 Honda CBR1000rr
2007 Honda CBR600rr
2013 Triumph Street Triple R
2012 Honda CBr250r
2009 Yamaha YZF-R6
2012 Honda NC700x

Many of these bikes I still own. My least fav was the Suzuki DRZ, only because it didn't have the motor I desired. If I really wanted a supermoto, I suspect a KTM 690SMC would strike my fancy, but at a much prettier penny than what the DRZ cost me.

Ha ha, ya those all look more like "best" vs "worst", hard to pick a bad one in the bunch!

 

[Old Can Ride]

The hands down winner for worst motorcycle is : Harley Sportster

But, the hands down winner for best looking motorcycle is : Harley Sportster

Traded for a Honda.

 

[Big Thump]

The hands down winner for worst motorcycle is : Harley Sportster

But, the hands down winner for best looking motorcycle is : Harley Sportster

Traded for a Honda.

That bike looks familar - "Then Comes Bronson"?
Yes, I had an custom 81 Ironhead that used to scorch my balls. I wish I had a digital pic of it cause it was a looker. Not fun to ride though!

 

[weird harold]

I bought this blue beast new in '70 or '71 for $995.00. Someone said it was like strapping a hot motocross engine to a Schwinn. There was no damping. The shocks were only added as an after thought to prevent the swingarm from falling off. The front forks flexed like spagetti. The drum brakes did nothing to impede forward motion. The engine had no torque below 5000 rpm and just bogged down and fouled plugs, but when it came on the pipe - lookout! It would leave a patch of rubber on the road and lift the front wheel. You had better have it pointed in a straight line when that happened. If you were deep in a curve when this thing came on - you were screwed! No tail light was needed because a cloud of white smoke followed the bike everywhere making the bike impossible to see anyway. If you were lucky, the little gas tank held just enough gas to get this thirsty mutha from one gas station to the next. Don't start a trip without a box of NGK plugs and a couple quarts of oil. One thing that this bike had going for it was - "it was cool". When you rode this thing around the college campus, everyone knew that you has the hottest iron on the street.

 

[Old Can Ride]

Had to be the 1971 or 1972 trip to Sturgis, when we met a couple at the Wyoming/Colorado boarder taking a picture of the state sign riding this exact Kawasaki triple. First met them because they fell over trying to stop to get a picture at the state sign. He was short, she was tall, and every time they would stop if she did not get her feet down first over they would go. They road with us the rest of the way to Sturgis. Very interesting! Never, no never ever have I seen one motorcycle fall over at stops so many times.

Hope it was not you!

 

[weird harold]

OCR,

As you can see in the photo, I put some "crash bars" on this thing when I first bought it, but I never did drop it - just lucky. I rode it about 2000 miles and decided that I was too young to die so I sold it to another kid for $800.00.

Rich

 

[tew47]

The XS750 that I had never gave me a bit of trouble.

 

[Fuzzy]

No complaints on any of the 4 bikes I have owned. They all provide fun and fulfilled a need for me.

 

[Todd L.]

Worst bike by far was a 2008 Kawasaki KLR650. Biggest lemon on the face of the planet with a multitude of issues from the factory. Even warranty service couldn't fix the issues (most notably the oil burning, 1 quart every thousand miles before and after service). My Versys was much better, but still a poor quality bike. Kawasaki used to be a top manufacturer, but there build quality and reputation are nothing like before.

 

[stu]

Worst bike I have owned was a Honda Deauville.
I had just been stopped by the Police for 120 mph on my ZX7R and I needed something different to slow me down. so I bought this Deaauville for about £400 with no keys. I bought a replacement lockset for it, but I lost that key before I had even got them all changed.
After about 4 years I sold it again for about £300 - it never having turned a wheel or even starting up :lol: I guess I didn't really want to ride it anyway.

 

[CaptDL]

Gotta go with the Buell Blast on this. Bought brand new in early '02. Absolutely loved Honda's FT500 single back in the day and here was an American made thumper with 20 years of advancements. Wrong! Had a 100 mile commute, 6 days a week and after 6 months the bike only had 6000 miles on it. Spent too much time at the dealership for stuff that SHOULD NOT FAIL on a new bike. ( Inserts a few lines of expletives about quality control )

 

[MyNc700x]

My 1997 Buell S1 Lightning 1203cc.

Boy she was fun when she started. I bought it from the dealer used with under 1k on it. I replaced everything on the bike by 6000 miles then filed bankruptcy lol

But man doing a wheelie at 75 MPH when it started...those were the younger days...

I am certain she is in a scrapyard somewhere.....






Best Bike I ever owned. 89 nx650 Honda. Nothing but oil 30k+. Unreal little runner:

 

[Xylx]

2007 Honda vtx 1300R. What was I thinking? Carbs gummed up straight off the showroom floor. Uncomfortable to ride and the transmission clunked badly. I sold it after 400 miles and lost thousands. Only cruiser I've ever owned. I'd say it was a mid-life thing, but that was a Range Rover years ago. So I have no explanation.

 

[Del Mar]

I've not owned a huge amount of bikes as I tend to keep them for quite a while - probably 10 or so.

I can't think of a duff one out of any of them.

But duff dealers and support, now that's another subject!

 

[mhadden]

My worst bike was also my best (it was a love-hate relationship). It was a '06 BMW K1200GT. Beautiful bike, extremely powerful and went like hell. But when stuff broke, it was expensive. The final straw was when I started having intermittent stall problems which I, nor the BMW shop, could diagnose. I still believe it was something simple, but I wasn't about to start spending hundreds (which would've turned into a thousand or two) to start replacing parts to see what was wrong. It's left a bad taste in my mouth, but the good part tastes better. I plan to purchase another Beemer in a few years, either the new R1200RT or if they still make it by then, a K1600GT. I'll just make sure to keep the NCX for when it's at the shop!