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

'03 SV650 naked. Lots of great reviews and I bought it without a test ride. The motor was fine and the brakes 'ok'. But the suspension was terrible and because of the ergonomics I was in pain after less than an hour. Made some mods but it never really helped. Sold it after a couple of years. Oddly, I now have a Triumph Street Triple R and just love it even though according to some reviews the ergonomics are very similar to the SV.

'84 Guzzi SP1000. Found a nice example and thought, "Cool, a touring bike and vintage to boot." Took a test ride with I thought realistic expectations, but it vibrated much, much more on acceleration, the front brakes could be described as wooden (and that's being kind) and having to jerk my leg violently upward, and taking my foot off the peg, to attempt to change gears was too much. I felt bad, but walked away.

I'm slowly coming to realize all bikes I had in the past were worse than I remember. Nostalgia and all that. But ...

97 CBR1100xx. Flawless build, incredible top-end surge, super smooth engine, moderately comfortable on the highway at 70mph..... gutless midrange, bars too low /pegs too high for around town, steered like a truck.

97 Ducati M900. Great sound, beautiful bike. But ... Did Surgio actually bother riding this POS at any position other than WFO when he was setting it up? A carb jet kit and TBR pipes helped not at all except give that unburned gas smell at stops. No matter how lean or rich the setup it surged and bucked at 1/3 throttle.

09 DR650SE. TBD - in process ... takes a butt-load of money to make it into a decent reliable 3rd world travel bike. Then if you equip it for touring for more than 4 weeks it's slow and awkward because of it's paltry 37hp. Parts vibrate off, even with Loctite blue, when you ride many hours at 70mph. .... I'm still coming to terms with it. Maybe it'll redeem itself on the next trip.

yes a little more power would have made all the difference. and i was in sport mode. beautiful bike though.

This is a great thread. I'm particularly interested in the posts that include dimensions of the rider and thorough descriptions of the issues they had with the bike. I've owned somewhere around 50 bikes, but currently own only two. Considering the fact that I didn't wear any of them out, that sort of says it all

For me it's been a fairly common theme to enjoy something on a test ride, then later on after purchase and some real time in the seat start to realize the shortcomings. Then a long list of mods usually ensues - bars, risers, or sometimes even entire upper fork bracket replacements, seats, peg kits, and on & on, all in the name of comfort. I'm not a tall person at 5' 8" with a 30" inseam, and I think my arms are a bit on the short side too. This makes most bikes inherently uncomfortable out of the box for me when coupled with middle age, arthritis, and other issues. Even the one motorcycle I once considered to be as close to perfection as I was ever going to find - the BMW RT (oil heads and hex heads - I've owned 4) now feels uncomfortable to me due to knee bend. With all of the mods I've made to my current ride - a 2012 Tiger 800 - I've finally accepted the fact that it's me, not the bike.

I'm always on the lookout for that perfect combination of performance, economy, comfort, ease of service, light weight, and touring ability with lots of luggage room, but I also know it doesn't exist. Every motorcycle is a compromise.

Because we expect and desperately want so much more from a bike. Even a guy who could drive a Camry, wants THE bike that rocks his world.

THE perfect bike doesn't exist, but, let's keep looking.

I had a 07 990, loved it in the dirt, absolutely hated to ride it to the dirt. I am 6'3", maybe that was part of the problem. Oil changes are a serious pain in the rear. I put a renazco and foot pegs on it to try to make it more comfy, money well spent but just not enough to want to keep it.

Finally went to the GSA and have not regretted it for a second.

So how do you like the RC8?

I have a Super Duke and looked hard at RC8s, talked to a couple guys who traded SD for RC8 and regretted it.
Great going fast, not so great when just riding.

Sounds like a serious conflict



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The Tiger 800 is another that disappointed on the test ride. I'd ridden the 800 XC earlier in the day and loved it. But the 800 suspension didn't work as well on the rough road, and the 1/2 hour ride made my hands tingle.

I also loved the Tiger 1050 I rode that day.

Weird how the one in between (800) didn't do it for me. But it's the one I nearly bought--it seemed most practical for my riding. Bars can be changed. Suspension can be dialed in. If the dealer hadn't asked exorbitant fees I think I would have done the deal. Sure I could have negotiated. But I had lost interest.

my dad go a 990adv on a 06 plate and loves it found it topes out at 130ish 2up. great on the road and he is 5.7ish so has to stand on the pegs to get on and off. the bike does not see much dirt.

After 13 pages , doesn't anybody have something horrible to say about the 955i Tiger ?

Haven't ridden a v-storm but had a test ride of NC700. Found the seat very uncomfortable. Also found the way the tank is designed uncomfortable on the inside of thighs where u grip the seat. Engine would take some getting used to. But just too uncomfortable for me.

Who mentioned about some folks hating and others loving the same bike? Here's a good example- the quote above vs. our experience.

Our adult daughter has a 2002 ZX6R that we picked up used but in good condition. She loves it- 5'-7", 115#

If I crank up the suspension to carry my weight, I really like to ride it too- 6'-2", 180#

One of the easiest bikes to ride and FUN too.

Go figure.......

This is the stuff legends are made of.

The Versys.

People always said "It's so fun, it's like a big supermoto!". Well I've owned a DRZ SM and the Versys is no supermoto. The biggest thing for me was the riding position - I like my nuts on the gas cap when slamming the bike into a turn. On the Versys, like my Ninja 650r, there's a whole lot of room that gas tank takes up that I can't move up. Luckily I only took a ride on it at a Kawi demo day. Edit: I was also dissappointed in the power - I knew it wasn't going to have as high horsepower as my 650R but I thought the midrange would be noticeably better than it was.

From the sound of this thread it looks like I'd love a Hypermotard. Too bad it's Italian.

They must lack character and soul as nobody complains about them.

The only bike I can recall right now that I really thought I was going to like, but didn't, was an '08 Uly. I had read so many glowing reviews here about it's comfort, soul, character, etc, that I just knew I was going to love it.

Nope.

Not a bad motorcycle mind you, just not what I was expecting. To be fair it was so new it wasn't broken in yet, nor was the suspension dialed in for my weight. But neither of those would cure the vibration at idle, shortish wheelbase, or nuclear cooling fan...

Whats so good about this thread is some of you guys bought a bike with the same reasoning\expectation that I woulda had .... and then the result.

The good thing is that some of the bikes I've been mulling over have been shown in a different light here, and the honest truth is; when I get overwhelmed by purchasing choices I often buy something so stupid and so inappropriate that it defies logic to others. Cheers

I test rode the Ducati Hypermotard thinking I would be ready to purchase after the ride; I didn't. The rake of front forks and feeling like I was sitting over the front wheel was not confidence inspiring. Great motor and brakes though.I guess you could get used to it, but it seemed weird. I test rode a BMW Hp2 Megamoto with 6K miles on the odo and bought it with a huge grin- Such a great sport bike, couldn't be happier

This sounds to me like the only thing separating you from 95% of all motorcyclists on the planet is honesty. You have it.