What is the worst bike you ever owned?

[seahorse100]

yamaha xs 650 heritage special

[srosa]

Originally Posted by Diablo_man

950SM
seriously? i have only heard good things about it, might be my next bike. what was wrong with it?

It's been a while but I'll try to list everything: 950SM (#1) 47 miles before being stranded with puking of oil out of the head area (sorry didn't hear final diagnosis). Local KTM Dealer was kind enough to unwind the deal and give me a new bike. 950SM #2 was down for 2-months waiting on starter clutch parts, bike had a propensity for clogged main jets if not ridden at least weekly (corroding gas tank), horrible stiction problem with forks, and various electrical gremlins that I resolved on my own. Honesly the bike probably would have been fine had I not sold it out of frustration. Everything but the forks and tank was probably sorted. Most have had better luck than me so I'd say go for it!

[MK160]

It's a toss-up...1971 (2?) TM400 Suzuki MXer...the orange one. We nicknamed it "The Widowmaker" for it's light switch powerband, flexi-flyer frame, no suspension. It made wicked, wicked power, revved instantly, and...God himself had no idea where it was headed.

But, there were parts of other bikes that drove me crazy: the electrics and the Amal carb on my '68 BSA 250, the front brake on the '69 Mach III, the freakin' servo brakes on the 2002 R1150RT, the airbox on my '71 Husky. I'm amazed that more haven't mentioned the early British twins: enough oil on the floor to lower gas prices by a buck a gallon, Lucas "Prince of Darkness" electronics, and those Amal carbs. I've seen many a rider kick start himself into exhaustion trying to start them. The Mach III front brake would lock instantly if there was ANY moisture in the air. And, that damn BMW tried to kill me in the middle of Knoxville 2 years ago. Grabbed the brakes to make a turn and absolutely NOTHING happened. The Husky would drown itself if you rode through more than 3 inches of water. Having the entire back of the airbox open on a motocrosser is not a good idea....

I consider myself lucky, though. I've owned over 35 bikes and have only had a couple of stinkers. Wish I could say that about my cars!!!

MK160

[ghostrider1964]

HMMM, my worst...thats a tuffy...Still bitter about Suzuki not doing anything about my Strom when it imploded at 27,000 miles...but that was more the brands fault than the bike in general...did not like my KTM 504 that puked oil out of the frame when hot, more than once old faithful got me....I guess my worse was Honda Cr450 that I had to replace the top end twice, and ejected me one time when the monoshock shaft broke...oh and it would kick you when you kicked started...roll started more than kicked it find a good hill and hang on

[Barnwell]

a bitsa Honda 350 with JBweld holding the right side header to the head. I blew the valves trying to keep up with a car on route 2 in Concord, MA in which two beeuttiful gurlz (circa1975) were flashing me and two friends. My friends disappeared into the distance and my bike turned into a 2hp smokebomb but made it home.

[JeffPM]

Originally Posted by MK160

It's a toss-up...1971 (2?) TM400 Suzuki MXer...the orange one. We nicknamed it "The Widowmaker" for it's light switch powerband, flexi-flyer frame, no suspension. It made wicked, wicked power, revved instantly, and...God himself had no idea where it was headed.MK160

Oh man, you had me laughing. A friend had one of these and I remember hitting the gas and hanging on for dear life and praying you didn't have to turn!!!

[tedbmw]

07 Harley Street Bob.

[wasions]

Originally Posted by JeffPM

Oh man, you had me laughing. A friend had one of these and I remember hitting the gas and hanging on for dear life and praying you didn't have to turn!!!

A (fairly new) friend offered me a ride on his (brand new) TM400. It immediately spit me off the back while it went on down the gravel road in front of his house. He was pretty cool about it (but never offered again). <--me

[fritzcoinc]

Penton 125
1-Transmission probs. out the ass
2-Frame cracks.
Other than that is was great in the dirt for its time.

[DOD]

late 70's Husky 390 OR. flexible forks and crappy engine. It was safe though. Hard to get hurt when you spend all of your time pushing it.

-dod

[REALGRAVEROBBER]

1977 KE 100 - total POS. So many hours fiddling to get it to run. Turns out they are notorious for erratically-functioning ignition coils.

Wanker that took it from me (long story) put an ign coil off of a car on it and ran it for a long time.

He'd actually run it so hard he would melt sparkplugs! Nice. F all KE100s. :(

[Skippii]

another vote for the XS650. Mine was a '76

[blacktiger]

Originally Posted by gelandestrasse

The one that let you down even though you took great care of it, or the one that was an absolute terror to ride: flexible flyer frame, "excuses" instead of brakes etc. ?

BMW R100GS. Always limping home from abroad with something broken.
Owned it for 7 years and 52000 miles. Every time I wanted to get rid, something went wrong so I had to spend money and thought I'd get some use before selling it. That cycle went on far too long.
Gearbox rebuilt 3 times, 3 drive shafts, 3 rear shocks, generator rotor, starter motor, wiring loom went up in smoke.

Best bike? My current Triumph Tiger955i 54000 trouble free miles. Chalk and cheese or what?

[wbrisett]

For the most part, I'm not sure I've ever had a worst bike. I had one bike for a very short time that I thought would be a nice 'first' bike for my wife. A Suzuki GS 550E. I bought it used with a salvage title from a former shop mechanic who would buy stuff, rebuild them and then sell them off. It always had a tendency to pull a bit and just never felt right. It did seem to run OK, was a bit of a hard starter, but overall worked. However, I was able to sell it for what I paid and buy a Buell Blast for her that was a bit newer and didn't have those problems.

What I find strange is the number of stories I read about bikes I have owned and think, "gee, I never had issues with mine." I guess it's all a matter of things that may work for somebody and not somebody else... or somebody else simply has "that" bike. The one you never want because it's always in the shop or down.

Wayne

[Menasco Pirate]

My father paid $65 for this back porch find after months of serious begging from me. It didn't run and we were in the middle of a Kansas winter. Our new to us Oldsmobile wagon had been broad sided by a local racer at an enter section on the fourth of July. I was in Junior High at the time and my father was determined I would never have a motorcycle (the rider, Kenny Presgrove, was later killed on the race track.) We could not tell at first if it was a four stroke or a 2 stroke. It had left side shift with a rocker pedal and a beautiful red with gold and black trim European tank with a decal the proudly proclaimed that this was a six days trial bike. I don't remember its year, but it had to be mid sixties since I was 15 and getting my drivers license close to Christmas in 1971. We were not poor, but we were not rich either. My father being a product of the depression and WWII, never spent a dime on anything that wasn’t necessary for the family and never a nickel on himself.

I got it home and as my friends laughed at me, we started into cleaning the $%# Amal carb, gas tank and the $^*%$ Lucas electrical system. The carbs were full of crap and every electrical connection was corroded. My father was convinced that I was safe as this piece of crap would never run again. Late that night I made my first ride on a snow covered road.
My friends all had Honda SL100 or Kawasaki 100 cc bikes. I did not have money but this bike let me ride with my friends and boy we did. Gas was less than 25 cents a gallon so for lunch money I could ride all afternoon after school was out. I got an afterschool job to keep up with gas and parts. The Guzzi 125 could almost stay up with my friends modern 100cc Japanese bikes.


I learned about tool kits, field repairs, flat tires, thrown chains, researching parts for vehicles that did not have any dealers around, and fabricating what I could not find. I learned how far I could push a bike back to a road several times.


The bike basically had no suspension. The forks would bottom anytime you touched the brakes and we thought for the longest time that the rear shock did not move. Three up off a jump proved they could. The bike spent most of its time getting me to and from High School and the afterwards to the closest trail.

My buddies, who I still ride with, took me to their secret riding place. Wow, I had a bike now and could go with them! We were in a heavily wooded area, following a narrow path at high 100cc speeds. All of a sudden we faced a very steep hill. With my best friend leading, I stayed as close as possible as I had never been up a hill before (remember this is Kansas). Just before we crested my buddy hit the brakes and made a sharp turn to the right. But I had Guzzi brakes and had picked up a lot of momentum to insure I made it to the top. I had to cut slightly to the left to avoid hitting him and launched myself into the lake. It was a dam! My high school buddies are spread all over the country, but we still like to go over these old stories when we get together.

I learned about bike maintenance and repair including welding, splitting cases (broken crank), overhauling clutches, brakes, fabricating Amal carb parts on the school lathe and painting.

The bike shook like a paint mixer. I was 16 and thought it was OK and my girl friends never complained. In fact, one asked all her friends to go for rides. I had no clue as to what was going on but they loved to go for long rides. After I figured out what was going on I broke a crank keeping it at high RPMS.

So I also learned something about life, money, parents, friends, girls friends and taking care of the situations you get into. Several thousands of miles later I sold it for twice Iwhat I had paid for it to a farmer who had several of the same bikes.


I bought my next bike brand new with the money made working all summer before my senior year. It was an $525 orange 1972 Suzuki TS125. It was not much of a bike by today’s standards and even then it lacked handling and suspension. But it was so much better than where I had come from. I loved it and the freedom that a reliable bike can give you.