Crappy Bikes

[mikexup]

09 Buell 1125 CR
Cheap plastics & switches, ran so hot the fuel boiled in the frame and leaked out the overflow when you parked it in the garage. Header pipe would glow red hot. With the clubman bars that came on the bike, it was the most uncomfortable bike I've ever been on. The engine sounded like a bucket of bolts rattling around in the cases. When Buell went out of business I bought the bike to resell, which I did, but couldn't imagine having bought one to keep.

[bandit1250]

1975 Harley Davidson XL175. Rode it a few months with no license. The day I got my license some dickhead cuts me off so he could pick up 2 girls hitchhiking. Hammer on the brakes, the arm holding the rear wheel hub in place snaps in half. The hub spins yanking the rear brake cable with it. At the same time the tab the chain adjuster rests against on the swingarm snaps off. Rode it with no rear brake (and consequently no brake lights) and a nail shoved in the hole where the tab for the chain adjuster went for 6 months till the throttle cable snapped, leaving me a 5  mile ride home pulling what was left of the throttle cable with my fingers. Try doing that on a bike that only has front brakes. Worst POS I ever owned, although the CB360 that replaced it was a very close second.

[leanin]

'04 KTM 950 Adventure - 2 water pump failures that dumped coolant in the oil, 2 oil sensor failures that dumped oil all over the back of the bike and rear tire, 2 front fork seal replacements that dumped oil all over the front brakes, a water temperature sensor failure that caused it to dump coolant, a rear brake master cylinder seal failure that caused it to dump the rear brake fluid on a steep mountain downhill trail while 2-up, bent rims from the butter soft Behr rims, carbs that had to be synched several times.  All this in under 20,000 miles. Oh yeah, oil changes suck on this bike!  I absolutlely loved riding the bike on some real adventures to Copper Canyon, Baja, CO, NM, AR, MO.  But,  after losing all confidence in the bike's ability to get me home, I practically gave it away.

[expatbrit]

'04 KTM 950 Adventure - 2 water pump failures that dumped coolant in the oil, 2 oil sensor failures that dumped oil all over the back of the bike and rear tire, 2 front fork seal replacements that dumped oil all over the front brakes, a water temperature sensor failure that caused it to dump coolant, a rear brake master cylinder seal failure that caused it to dump the rear brake fluid on a steep mountain downhill trail while 2-up, bent rims from the butter soft Behr rims, carbs that had to be synched several times.  All this in under 20,000 miles. Oh yeah, oil changes suck on this bike!  I absolutlely loved riding the bike on some real adventures to Copper Canyon, Baja, CO, NM, AR, MO.  But,  after losing all confidence in the bike's ability to get me home, I practically gave it away.

Wow. That makes my KTM 950 SM story pale in comparison. 3 petrol tanks in 14 months was it for me, though, as well as the water pump replacement, two oil leaks that dumped oil over the exhaust, a coolant leak, and eventually the rear carb just deciding it was done for no reason and puking petrol all over the rear cylinder.

I was done with it. AMAZING fun to ride, but I just never knew what was going to break next, or what fluid was going to spew out.

[Pat S.]

Worst bike I ever owned was a 1980 Kawasaki 1000. Seat was a rock, didn't handle well, wouldn't run well for the first 10 min. until warmed up well---it was a turd! I traded in a 1979 GS1000E that was twice the bike. A short time later I sold it and bought an 81' Suzuki GS1100EX that turned out to be a great bike. Wish I still owned it.
                                                                      Pat

[Kraz]

If you want a crappy bike - go to the classifieds forum and look for anything that's got "possessed" or a curse word in the title.

 

Or anything else there that's branded with a blue and white badge.

[clyde]

Honda Metropolitan scooter. Couldn't get the bastard to run faster than 15 mph, even after taking out the carb restrictor plate. Of course it didn't help that my friend left gas in the tank for 4 years But even the dealer couldn't get to run well.

[cbsnbiker]

If you want a crappy bike - go to the classifieds forum and look for anything that's got "possessed" or a curse word in the title.

 

Or anything else there that's branded with a blue and white badge.

 

[Dan K]

My old 1986 Honda Shadow VT700C was not quite the bike I thought it was when I first started riding it.  Ultimately realized it was a 700 pound moped and moved on to better rides...

My buddy still has it, but it needs a carb clean.  He didn't store it right for the winter....

- Dan

[Rattlehead]

Maybe not “crappy” but the worst, or should I say, “most disappointing”, bike I’ve ever owned was my 04 XL883C Sportster “Custom”. I expected a lot from that bike (was hoping for a “sporty” cruiser”) and it was a real letdown.

Things I didn’t like:
-No power. Not like “a little underpowered” more like “embarrassingly gutless”  

-Wet Noodle Forks- lots of flex- felt terrible- clanged and banged constantly with my 180lb self on board.

-Garbage bin suspension- not enough travel, poor dampening, cheap, cheap, cheap components.

-Not comfortable at stock height.- after raising the back 2.5” with some longer shocks comfort shot WAY up, as did handling and cornering clearance. Suspension still needed major work though (see previous 2 points).

-No cornering clearance to speak of-it would drag hard parts at speeds BELOW the posted corner speeds.

-Mediocre brakes- pretty good at lower speeds but they fell off fast as speeds increased. “Feel” was terrible though, regardless of speed.

-Rust- the bike was garage kept and thoroughly cleaned at least once a week and yet rust on the front wheel and on all of the fasteners was a constant battle.

-Oil consumption- I’m of the mindset that no modern bike should “Eat” more than 1/2qt of oil between changes. The Sportster was about 2-3x what I consider acceptable. Only my “Sportster engined” bikes ever had this issue (my Sporty and later on, my Buell). All others I’ve owned have used exactly zero. Oil burning is not something I feel like I should have to deal with in this day and age.

-Oil dripping. No, not oil leaks, per see. The cases were sealed tight save for some minor “weeping” at the cylinder bases. No, the idiotic breather setup on that Sportster would saturate the oil filter and gunk up the housing. This would cause oil to drip out of the air filter housing and down the side of the engine and cases if it wasn’t cleaned out periodically. For my bike this was once every week or 2.

Overall, the bike had some really good points and it had HUGE potential for greatness but I felt like it was held back by compromises made in the name of style or simply by cheap parts and lack of development. I didn’t feel like putting $1000’s into it, especially considering how much it cost initially, so I sold it. Fortunately, the “Harley resale” worked in my favor and I sold it, in the middle of winter, for exactly what I paid for it.
Part of me still likes the idea of another Sportster but I’ll buy a wrecked one for peanuts since most the parts will be removed and replaced with ones that actually work anyway.  

[Giaka]

If you want a crappy bike - go to the classifieds forum and look for anything that's got "possessed" or a curse word in the title.

 

Or anything else there that's branded with a blue and white badge.

Three of us can link to one thread there.  

[Brad1445]

Buell 1125 Series