What's the WORST Bike You've Ever Owned?

[CanadianBiker]

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Mine was a '71 or '72 Honda CB500-4. Problems from Day 1. To put it in perspective, all of the 60s and 70s Triumphs I had were gems in comparison. Electrical gremlins, gear issues, leaks. Finally the engine seized, blew needle bearings in the bottom end. Rebuilt it but never trusted it. I ended up abandoning it in a friend's garage, never heard what happened to it.

 

[frekeyguy]

None!

 

[onecartel]

Every used bike I wanted but missed out on for whatever reason. You always end up wondering what if..

 

[RetroGrouch]

Mine was a '71 or '72 Honda CB500-4. Problems from Day 1. To put it in perspective, all of the 60s and 70s Triumphs I had were gems in comparison. Electrical gremlins, gear issues, leaks.

Yes, the original 500 fours weren't Hondas best. They had straight cut gear teeth and tended to stick when the motor became hot, expanding the metal. They were soon replaced with the 550 four, a much better bike. My worst was a 1985 Kawasaki Vulcan 750. Terrible first attempt at a cruiser by Kawi.

 

[bvickerd]

1990 sportster - my best and worst bike. Previous owner had done some truly frankienstein work on it (hence I got it super cheap), so I am constantly fixing things and replacing parts. Every time I ride I make sure I am carrying my CAA membership in case of trouble. Broken chains, multiple electrical problems, messed up shocks, shorted out lights, leaky petcock - the list goes on. But for some reason I love this bike, because of all the time spent on repairs I know it inside and out. When it runs it runs angry, loud and fast.

 

[MacDoc]

Single Ducati 160 circa a long time ago. Swapped a piston on the side of the QEW - luckily easy to work on.

come to think of it ....nah - this was the worst... 32 mph flat out downhill with a fog of blue smoke

Sears mail order by way of Puch....my first machine....marginal use over the bicycle.

 

[Bandit Bill]

1973 Yamaha TX750 that i had in the early '90s. It's of no exaggeration when i say it was one of the few survivors of that notoriously poor design, that should have been mercy-killed instead of being put back on the road by me.

Still had fun with it - but posing with it was mandatory - kick-start only (electric start was a joke), and every time you'd shut the motor down, it'd heat-seize for 1/2 an hour. You had no choice but to grab a cuppa and wait.

 

[Baggsy]

So far it's got to be the Suzuki. First bike that I've ever bought new, hoping to dodge existing problems.

It looks like the clutch play wasn't adjusted when it was taken in to be serviced. Into the third week waiting for a couple of parts from Suzuki. OEM parts were at the shop the next day. I'm starting to assume that they manufacture them one at a time as requested. What's the point in buying a bike that you can't keep on the road, because you have to wait so long for parts?

 

[Invincible]

Aprila SportCity One 50 4t 2011

only marginally better.

dam rear tire came off the bead while i was going around a corner.

next year fz6 here i come.

Single Ducati 160 circa a long time ago. Swapped a piston on the side of the QEW - luckily easy to work on.

come to think of it ....nah - this was the worst... 32 mph flat out downhill with a fog of blue smoke

Sears mail order by way of Puch....my first machine....marginal use over the bicycle.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

1973 Yamaha TX750 that i had in the early '90s. It's of no exaggeration when i say it was one of the few survivors of that notoriously poor design, that should have been mercy-killed instead of being put back on the road by me.

Still had fun with it - but posing with it was mandatory - kick-start only (electric start was a joke), and every time you'd shut the motor down, it'd heat-seize for 1/2 an hour. You had no choice but to grab a cuppa and wait.

Haha, I was just gonna say, what was that bike that was famous for seizing when hot and did anybody have one?

Sears mail order by way of Puch....my first machine....marginal use over the bicycle.

That thing looks cool actually.

dam rear tire came off the bead while i was going around a corner.

Wow, that's pretty bad lol.

 

[RetroGrouch]

Haha, I was just gonna say, what was that bike that was famous for seizing when hot and did anybody have one?

Yes, at high RPMs the crank counterbalancers whipped the oil in the sump into a froth and prevented the oil from being pumped up into the top end resulting in oil starvation.

 

[Bandit Bill]

Yes, at high RPMs the crank counterbalancers whipped the oil in the sump into a froth and prevented the oil from being pumped up into the top end resulting in oil starvation.

The two TX750's that i had (The '73 on road, and one '74 complete parts bike held in reserve) both had the retro-fitted engine cooling kit installed - which included a 'deep sump', an oil cooler and lines, and the oil passages in the barrels and heads drilled out further. As i understand it - this allowed those bikes that survived the first few months of use, to survive a little longer as ornery, contankerous motorcycles owned by those with infinite patience. In effect, the retro-kit allowed the flawed design to live on in 'limp mode'.


I bought it at the time, because a good buddy back then had a cherry '73 CB750.. i wanted something similar to ride along with.. my thought process was 2 for under a G-note, how can i go wrong ..? <shake head in hind-sight>.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

I don't get tired of these threads, I'll post in them every time.

It's a toss-up between my Suzuki GS and my Triumph Daytona. The GS was a mish-mash of parts from a GS450T, a GS450L, and a GSX400E (all between 1983-1985). The motor was done when I bought it, but I didn't know any better (it was my first bike). The rings were shot in the right hand cylinder and shortly after one of the main bearings failed. Sold it for parts.

The Daytona ('97 T595) - pretty bike, very fast, but some questionable design decisions. Parts were freaking expensive and anything that had to come from abroad took forever to get here. The upper fairing stay was made out of magnesium alloy and was notorious for fracturing (mine was starting to crack). Engines would fail for various reasons, mine spun a bearing (less than 40K on the motor). To top it all off I had put money down for parts at McBride just before they went under. Sold it as a project at a huge loss.

 

[wonderings]

My first bike was my worst, it was an '84 Yamaha Maxim 400. Had a ghost tiger painted on the tank, really classy looking bike.

Bought it from a car mechanic, it had a seized engine, but he got it working... for a little bit. I think it spent more time in the shop then on the road. He covered everything though, about 75 hrs of mechanics time for nothing. End of the first year I got rid of it, I think someone bought it for parts or something.

Moved to a '83 Goldwing 1100 after that, and that was a big jump from the little 400, but such a nice thing to know your bike will start in the morning, or wont just quit when you get to a stop light.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

My first bike was my worst, it was an '84 Yamaha Maxim 400. Had a ghost tiger painted on the tank, really classy looking bike.

Bought it from a car mechanic, it had a seized engine, but he got it working... for a little bit. I think it spent more time in the shop then on the road. He covered everything though, about 75 hrs of mechanics time for nothing. End of the first year I got rid of it, I think someone bought it for parts or something.

Moved to a '83 Goldwing 1100 after that, and that was a big jump from the little 400, but such a nice thing to know your bike will start in the morning, or wont just quit when you get to a stop light.

75 hrs?!?! That's more than enough time to take down the bike to the frame (and rebuild the motor) at least twice! I think the problem was the mechanic.

 

[wonderings]

75 hrs?!?! That's more than enough time to take down the bike to the frame (and rebuild the motor) at least twice! I think the problem was the mechanic.

He was/is a car mechanic and knows nothing about bikes. It was not 75 hrs of consecutive hours, just the total time. It was always something different. Thinking of that bike makes me love my GSA even more, if that is possible :happy3:

 

[Katapult]

83 Suzuki GR650 - Tempter. Electrical nightmare. This was in 1999 i think.
I bought it cheap, or i thought, for 1200 bucks. It then cost me 800 to certify.
The first problem I had was the the oil drain plug dropped out on one of my first rides. It created a slick which dropped in front of my rear tire.
It had trouble cranking over from the beginning and it had issues with the electronics for the entire time I had it. I got really good at bump-starting it.
This bike almost killed me as it was apart more than it was together. It did however teach me a lot about motorcycle electrical systems.

Whenever I see one on the road I just get angry. People keep your GRs away from me

 

[fastar1]

I've only ever owned an FZ6. Not surprisingly, it's the worst bike I've ever owned.

 

[onecartel]

So far it's got to be the Suzuki. First bike that I've ever bought new, hoping to dodge existing problems.

It looks like the clutch play wasn't adjusted when it was taken in to be serviced. Into the third week waiting for a couple of parts from Suzuki. OEM parts were at the shop the next day. I'm starting to assume that they manufacture them one at a time as requested. What's the point in buying a bike that you can't keep on the road, because you have to wait so long for parts?

Suzuki's been killlin' me with getting parts too, I had to ghetto-fix my broken speedo rotor. It's been over 3 weeks, still waiting.

 

[Alvito]

Mine was a '71 or '72 Honda CB500-4. Problems from Day 1. To put it in perspective, all of the 60s and 70s Triumphs I had were gems in comparison. Electrical gremlins, gear issues, leaks. Finally the engine seized, blew needle bearings in the bottom end. Rebuilt it but never trusted it. I ended up abandoning it in a friend's garage, never heard what happened to it.

Bike eventually grew a mind of its own and devoured your friend's soul.

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