Bikes you didn't like nearly as much as you thought you would.

[scrannel]

HD E-glide. Triumph Speed Triple. My only two blow-out disappointments.

[Bueller]

Originally Posted by scapegoat

The 2 GS'es I once owned. Uber let down. I wanted to love them..really.

Agreed, at least for the 1150 variant I owned. Piece. Of. Shit.

You can also add the 650 V-Strom to the list. It was a great bike mechanically, but utterly un-fun. The suspension revealed its place in the world of motorcycling - BUDGET!

[mike884]

Originally Posted by Yokomo

Nighthawk 750. I always liked the looks of them. Got one for a nice price and I tried to like it. It just didn't fit my body and it was boring until you cracked on it, and it was awkward to turn.

I can agree that I had the same experience, I thought the 750 would be a bigger version of my old 650, boy was I wrong. The ol 650 was better in every single way.

[Existence_Inc]

Triumph Scrambler: I had a Bonneville that was totaled in an accident and I wanted a similar bike with a little more leg room. I was all set to buy one until the test ride: VERY disappointed in the engine performance. The 270* vs 360* crank was a serious letdown. The bike felt like it was out of steam by 4k and never really picked up. The Bonneville motor was a blast above 5k.

BMW F800GS: Checked all of the right boxes, but it was boring to ride.

Triumph Daytona 675R: Not the bike's fault, but I can't seem to adjust to the ergonomics. Found out too late, as I had already bought the thing. Couldn't sell it without losing my shirt. In the process of converting it into a mean sport touring bike. There may be a happy ending in sight yet.

~Ex

[royal]

Honda ST1300. Unstable at high speeds, threw an ungodly amount of heat on my legs, heavy and hard to maneuver at low speeds. Just didn't mesh with me. Other people seem to love them.

[norseXL]

Honda GL1800, sure I knew I wouldn´t like it but was surprised how bad it was.
Actually the worst bike I ever ridden and I have tried a lot.

[Gryphon12]

Originally Posted by Existence_Inc

Triumph Daytona 675R: Not the bike's fault, but I can't seem to adjust to the ergonomics. Found out too late, as I had already bought the thing. Couldn't sell it without losing my shirt. In the process of converting it into a mean sport touring bike. There may be a happy ending in sight yet.

~Ex

Please let us know what you end up doing with the bars & upper fairing. I've studied this extensively. If I could fix the bar clearance / interference with the fairing, I'd put the Street Triple rear subframe on the Daytona with the Arrow low-boy exhaust and I'd have the "perfect for me" mid-sized SPORT-tourer. However:

• Apex risers aren't tall enough for me; they are low to clear the fairing;
• Convertibars are probably the best answer, but no one has posted actual results to their website yet (been three years!);
• LSL bars are still like Apex risers - either too low, or you have to cut the fairing.

If you do end up cutting the fairing, please post results. I'm just not brave enough to be that guinea pig.

[iyaoyas98]

Speed triple for me too......

But I kept it, and tweaked on it, and it's slowly becoming a favorite....

[gqelements]

Originally Posted by speedisgood

This is a really helpful thread, and one of the reasons why ADV is such a great place

On the contrary, give it a few more pages and dozens of successfull models (and almost every niche model) will be listed with a cry fest of people that didn't understand the concept for whatever reason.

I don't see this as being very constructive.

[jub jub]

1981 Honda CB-900. My first street bike. It was smooth and had plenty of power but was just plain butt-ugly to me. I sold it and bought a used 1978 Suzuki GS-750 and was a happy camper.

[Barnone]

I paid $8500 for a 1986 FLHTP in 1995 which was a big disappointment for me with the engine leaking oil and shaking itself apart. Luckily a guy came by with ten $k in a envelope and it was gone.

[dogjaw]

XR1200; really wanted to like it, but couldn't wait to get back on my 919...

[meatsack]

1966 Harley Davidson XLCH
-Rebel Machine, F*ck yea!
...not so much. Spent far more time working on it than actually riding it. When it did run it made a habit of trying to kill me with non-existent brakes, dodgy handling and randomly either oiling down it'd own rear tire or setting my pant leg on fire. Oh yea, starting it was a real treat too.

Yamaha Seca (forgot the year)
-This was a friends bike that I rode a few times. Seriously numb chassis, no feedback and hated to turn. Oh yea, the engine was gutless as well.

[JerryH]

'09 Kawasaki EX500 Ninja. Just too uncomfortable, no matter what. Installed bar risers and a used Corbin seat. I bought this bike new for $4500 OTD. I had owned a new '88 model back in '88 and loved it. But a lot of time has passed since then, and I'm a lot older than I used to be, with medical issues on top of that. I put less than 5000 miles on it in over 2 years and finally gave up and sold it. Not blaming the bike, I wish Kawasaki still made them. They were IMO the best rational sportbike ever made. But I can't ride sportbikes any more, and now only ride cruisers. I have owned a total of 41 bikes, some were better than others, but the EX was the only one I had to give up because of all the pain riding it caused.

[Mr. Canoehead]

I wanted a Connie so bad when they came out (I was in university). They got great reviews and everyone loved them – they won all the comparison tests, including against the K100RS/RT. I swore when I graduated, I would buy one and I did, bought it new in 1992 but like the girl you always wanted in high school, the reality never lived up to the expectation. It was heavy and buzzy, didn’t handle very well and I just never loved it in spite of owning it for >10 years; it was reliable though – never did anything but scheduled maintenance.

My old bike recently came up for sale on Kijiji, I was tempted to go and ride it for old time's sake but I just couldn't be bothered.