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

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Katapult said:
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 :)
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I also had a GR650 Tempter for a few years, again back in the early 90's. An '84 model, it was my third bike concurrent with the TX750, i think. I was actually pretty glad that i had the GR650 as a back-up/regular bike. While it was a total odd-duck of a bike as compared to the other Suzuki models of the time, i thought it was an ok ride. All of them had the bad starter motor - i had mine reworked by an alternator specialist, and it never let me down again. It even had a sidecar attached to it for a while, with a big whopping rear sprocket on it that limited it's top speed to about 145 km/h. I did replace the motor about 1/2 way through my ownership from one i picked up wrecked.

I think i actually sold it on, at a profit..
 
TwistedKestrel said:
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.
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That kind of eerily sounds like a mish-mash project bike that a friend's father built up (he owned an independant shop in Oakville at the time) and sold on. What a ghetto-tastic nightmare that bike was.
 
Bandit Bill said:
That kind of eerily sounds like a mish-mash project bike that a friend's father built up (he owned an independant shop in Oakville at the time) and sold on. What a ghetto-tastic nightmare that bike was.
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Hehe, would you recognize it from a picture?

a6442923.jpg
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Hehe, would you recognize it from a picture?

a6442923.jpg
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My recollection goes back to circa 1992 - i remember the bike being trailered back from whatever crap-hole that he found it in. As i remember it, it was a red trim on white base stock paint-job originally. That rear light looks like something he'd have done - as i recollect, the original would have been flush mount with the rear cowling. The paint job that bike has, looks eerily similar to a 'Wardair' paint job that he'd have a friend spray for him during his 'off-time' while working with the airline.

It's been too long now for me to be even remotely sure.. but i seem to remember something about one of the motor's cylinders being down on compression also...
 
Italjet 50cc trail bike. Bought it new. May as well have rescued it from the rubbish tip the amount it ran. Restricted engine gave me 30mph with a good breeze behind me.
 
70' something kawasaki KE 100, what a POS. Everything that could go wrong with a bike went wrong with this one, EVERYTHING! Really EVERYTHING!
 
It's the late 60's Honda 175 that had no handling and could be out run by a bicycle. Its ignition switch wore out, the mufflers rotted and the footpeg assembly fell off. I regretted replacing my Yamaha 100cc "Twinjet" 2 cyl 2-stroke with it. I loved the Yamaha. It was great except for seizing every time I rode any distance at highway speeds. It also wheelied unpredictably, more so than any recent larger bike I've had. BUT IT WAS A MOTORCYCLE!! I'd waited since I was 8yrs old for one.
 
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In terms of worst reliability, it's a tie between my '95 Triumph Thunderbird and my '01 Triumph Tiger 955i. My '71 BSA A65T was more dependable than those two.
 
the 2003 Bajaj Pulsar i had for 3 months in Guatemala.
It was a piece of crap, despite buying it brand new. The shop where it was "waranteed" was good about giving me loaner bikes, so that made up for it.
sold it to the family i lived with when i left.
 
No question, early 70's Kawi 400 2 stroke triple. Those people that lust after the old 2 stroke street bikes must have never owned one.
The only good thing was the mileage was so bad you had to stop often...which at least kept you off the bike for a little while.
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