On the back of paulfastbike's 'best bike you ever owned' thread, I thought I'd take you for a trip down the other memory lane, the bad one...So, what's the worst bike you've ever owned? At a spotty teenager I skived off college on the first sunny day of 1981 to go to Brighton, and parked by the sea I saw a sight I'll never forget - my first sighting of a Suzuki Katana 1100. I vowed right there and then to get one. Well, it took me two decades to get round to it; a customer couldn't pay up on a job and offered me a mint 4000-mile Katana as payment. How could I resist? Straight away, though, I felt ill at ease with the bike; it was such a stretch to the bars I could barely ride it, the engine vibrated quite badly, and it didn't handle at all well. Various modifications came and went, but rarely improved matters, and a massive death weave (forerunner to the tankslapper, for all you young'uns) while chasing a new Speed Triple put me off it for months. But the axe finally fell when I borrowed a mate's GS1000G; the old shafty was barely slower than my Katana, was much smoother and seemed to handle better. That was it, the suzuki was consigned to the corner of the garden while I tore around on my new ZXR750, and I finally unearthed it in a shocking state to sell it for a pittance two years later. Not a hint of guilt; I hated it.
Absolutely no doubt about it, traded my nice clean Yamaha YDS7 250 for a CZ175 Trail in sick green. Boy did I learn the error of my ways quick! Since then I've always done my homework before acquiring a new bike.
toss up between a guzzi 850 california and a honda cb450 dohc twin, both unreliable pieces of crap that spent more time in pieces than on the road
every single one of them !!!!! damn them all .......every one has made me a talentless twat and tried to kill me RS125 ,thundercat,99 r1, 996, B1H ZX6R, 996, 04 R1,04 RSV,996S,08 848, AND SO FAR EMM'S HAD A RS125 , GIXXER6,AND NOW A 748 .......(oh and a cg125 that shall remain unspoken of)
Suzuki GS 250 T... Hideous, awful, unreliable piece of junk ! An absolute electrical nightmare ! And I traded a Honda CD125 in for it - bad, BAD mistake !
I must be in a minority then - as I dont think I've ever had a bad one.... I liked all of them for different reasons.... but the Ducati is my favourite....!
Mine was a 1980 Honda CB650Z. Handled like a mattress and smoked like a chimney. Kept it for all of 6 weeks and swapped it for a Benelli 654, that was a really fun bike!
Kawasaki ER500 in putrid blue ..... was the only afordable bike I could find in a dealers locally...... it went up in flames 10 mins after I rode it out of the garage. Was repaired .... then ran into someone who had just sold it and he looked at it and said I just sold that !! He said it a nightmare .... and thats not the tank I had on mine nor are those miles correct !! Took it in the the local good garage to have some work on it and he went OH no not that bike!!! Get rid of it!! He said the bike was hell on 2 wheels...... I liked my 400 Katana ( exact repilca of the big bike but water cooled)... prices have rocketed on the big mother ships now ER500 It broke down every trip I made!! In the end I got so sick of it I sold it to some guys who exported it to Poland and I lost £800 in under a year. Oh all the kawasaki's I have had have been piles of..... z250 scorpian was a piece of as well.
Vespa Sportique, bought it to take my test on, passed test and bought a brand new 750 Bonnie(1975) , crashed that a couple of months later and had to ride the Vespa while I got replacement fork legs. Scary things after riding a real bike.
I've never had one I didn't like either. The Honda CX500 was slow but sooo comfortable, the scuffed and high miles ZZR600 I bought second because it was so cheap, had loads of fun on that even after I had to head off a finance company wanting it back as there was outstanding finance, the Nortons that something fell off every time I looked at them, and then a stream of nine Ducatis which never failed to make me smile and have led me to meet so many new friends
When I first passed my test my dad told me not to get anything bigger than 250cc, a sensible bit of advice really. I got a CBR250RR grey import from Japan, I was doing 84mph in 2nd when I hit the central reservation and bounced three times before sliding across both lanes of the A27. I was very lucky to walk away, to say I was wrongly advised by the people who talked me into it is an understatement. Not really a bad bike, but not a first bike is perhaps the best description.
the Katana did look good though !!!! i had the 650, that was a bit wet threw some values rattled around gutless shaft drive , but did like it
Still looks good, one of the best looking bikes ever made I reckon. But it didn't suit me at all. I blagged a ride on another one some years later, and that was just the same. The guy that sold me the TL1000 spotted the katana when he delivered the TL and made me a cash offer that I accepted. He spent a fortune renovating it, but came to the same conclusion I did once he started riding it. That bike was built for show, not for riding.
Dont think I've ever owned anything that terrible? Having said that Im not keen on most of the nameless plastic missiles out there so Im not used to having proper brakes & suspension. Had a CD175 for a while, rescued from a hedge. Bolted a CB200 engine, carbs & pipes on, would now crack 85mph & was a competent Winter commuter being like 20 inches high - very little damping but that only added to the riding pleasure. :smile: My cousins used/abused ZX9R was a challenge... the only "maintenance" being tyre inflation over his 5 years of ownership. :frown: Finally persuaded him to bring it round for some tlc - "I think the exhaust is blowing & the back brake doesnt work" (OUCH) Bike needed a complete stripdown & service, a distinct lack of grease in the bearings meant it wallowed & weaved like a fat lass eating a kebab. Two years on and he has agreed to GIVE me the bike! Still undecided whether to break it or repair it??!
you must have had a bad one, as the one i had was one of the best handling bikes i had at the time 20 years ago
my worst bike was a CZ125 what a turd the key was very simple and you could start it with a pencel i was loaned it when i had to take my RD500 in for repair , had to rid it for a week the shame
It was immaculate and original with 4000 miles on the clock. The other one I rode a few years later was exactly the same. That one was a minter too.
