Worst bike ever ridden

[speedpro]

Prize for the worst bike ever would have to go to my mates Ducati 750 Paso
Ugly as sin, very dodgy handling just look at the brakes in a corner and it wants to go straight ahead and the power of a sick 250, dodgy carb set up and way over priced, only good thing about it was that it sounded good

Geez that's a bit harsh, I thought it was OK, especially through the twisties round Taupo. That carb did suck though I must admit. Loved the sound.
The worst I recall was Doug's wife's Suzi GP125(?) commuter bike, absolutely gutless and a big hinge where the frame should have been. It'd be a brave/silly person to give it a fist full down the Ngauranga gorge.

At this point I must register my support for Kawasaki 500 triples. A number of mates owned various models plus one 350 and a few 750 triples. OK, the drum brake on the various first 500s weren't really up to the motor, and neither was the frame when pushing. If you were going to thrash a bit you always made sure the steering damper was wound up. We "borrowed" the damper from one mates orange 500 and he didn't get far before checking out the ditch, on the other side of the road!!! But when you got them up in the power band . I recall quite a few other road users trying it on down the motorway but I don't ever recall coming 2nd. I think they should be judged in the context of the period - and they were the weapon to have, if you could afford the gas, the 350 and the 500s could all be got down to about 18mpg.
Aahhhhh , back in the good old days etc etc. . . . . .

[marty]

mine was my old XS250. big bike, gutless as fuck, impossible to keep in tune, had no idea what direction it was supposed to go in. i leant it to a mate who dropped it on himself as it was so heavy. sold it to him for a crate of beer. he crashed it badly a week later and got really smashed up.

i had a 1981 CX500 that ran as sweet as a sewing machine, but it scared me in the rain as it had the worlds least effective brakes. it used to backfire nicely when decellerating though, but it blew a head gasket, got water in the oil, and spun a main bearing. just wasn't worth fixing.

[marty]

mine was my old XS250. big bike, gutless as fuck, impossible to keep in tune, had no idea what direction it was supposed to go in. i leant it to a mate who dropped it on himself as it was so heavy. sold it to him for a crate of beer. he crashed it badly a week later and got really smashed up.

i had a 1981 CX500 that ran as sweet as a sewing machine, but it scared me in the rain as it had the worlds least effective brakes. it used to backfire nicely when decellerating though, but it blew a head gasket, got water in the oil, and spun a main bearing. just wasn't worth fixing.

although i did have a step thru honda 50 that ran exclusively on avgas. it smelled nice, but i frequently had to stop and let it cool down, as it would sieze if riding at full throttle for more than about 7 minutes. i ported and polished the head, modded the exhaust and rode it like a bucket racer. used to commute out to hamilton airport on it. the snazzy front suspension always provided plenty of entertainment on peacocks road.....

[riffer]

Suzi GP125(?) commuter bike, absolutely gutless and a big hinge where the frame should have been. It'd be a brave/silly person to give it a fist full down the Ngauranga gorge.

oops. guilty as charged. Can't have been that gutless. I learnt to wheelie on a GP125... Of course I ruined the clutch though.

When you're 17 you don't notice unimportant things like frame flex

[White trash]

MVX250 - remember this one racing at Lyall Bay in 1984? Was that Neil Harris on board or someone else? Paul Pav maybe - didn't label my photos too well back then.

Thanks for that pic, Merv!

You must have an immpresive collection of photo albums. I didn't even know they had street races ever in Lyall bay.

God I'm young

[speedpro]

Thanks for that pic, Merv!

You must have an immpresive collection of photo albums. I didn't even know they had street races ever in Lyall bay.

God I'm young

Back in the days when GSX1100s or Katanas and Z1000Js were hot. I seem to remember a bit of a pileup at the first corner in one race involving Glen Williams, Roger Freeth, and one of the Scooter Centre cheating b'stards. One line, three bikes(maybe more), and noone giving an inch. Being a bit slow I had a grand view of proceedings.

[merv]

Thanks for that pic, Merv!

You must have an immpresive collection of photo albums. I didn't even know they had street races ever in Lyall bay.

God I'm young

I'm not sure now how many years it run but I was certainly at two of them that I have photos of being '83 and '84 and they used to call it part of Wellington's Summer City series of events. Free entry if I remember rightly too.

I did have all the photos on my website but after changing free servers a couple of years ago I haven't got around to reloading my old racing pics. One day I might find the time.

[ManDownUnder]

aaaa the good old days when I couldn't afford a bike, and I wanted one anyway.

My Dad, in his kindness, spent $700 getting the top end done for me - it went!!!! It started, it handled like a pig and went about 50 kph flat out (yes, the bottom end needed a lot of work to... as did the timing, the fuel ... the list goes on and on).

It wasn't a pig so much as a piglet... but it was a really bad semlling piglet!

Bright yellow too

[FROSTY:Me]

A Honda cb400n was the worst bike I ever owned.It handled totally weird.
turned out the comstars had worked loose undefined

[shafty]

My 1970's Yammie XS500 twin complete with "Omniphase" (to counter vibration) and 8 valve head!

Had to stop to let it cool down all the time, planed the heads, did the rings etc but the next guy needed new barrels!!

[pete376403]

I never rode one but apparently the TX (?) 750 Yamaha twin of the '70s was pretty grim

[Jackrat]

I never rode one but apparently the TX (?) 750 Yamaha twin of the '70s was pretty grim

That was the XT750,It handled better than the XT or XS 650 and in the time I had one on loan I never had a problem with it.The guy that owned it eventualy had bulk problems with it and another mate that had the XS500 had heaps of trouble with that as well.I would just love to get hold of an XT750 front end and swing arm now as they are both a bolt on replacement for the XS bits but far better than the standard XS bits.The guy that Motu and I rode to Raglan with a couple of weeks back had the XT750 parts on his XS650 and the thing handled like it was on rails.Pity most of those parts were probably thrown away in disgust with the rest of the things.

[merv]

That was the XT750,It handled better than the XT or XS 650 and in the time I had one on loan I never had a problem with it.The guy that owned it eventualy had bulk problems with it and another mate that had the XS500 had heaps of trouble with that as well.I would just love to get hold of an XT750 front end and swing arm now as they are both a bolt on replacement for the XS bits but far better than the standard XS bits.The guy that Motu and I rode to Raglan with a couple of weeks back had the XT750 parts on his XS650 and the thing handled like it was on rails.Pity most of those parts were probably thrown away in disgust with the rest of the things.

I remember the TX500 (like this http://www2.ivers.mcpherson.com/web/cycle/yamaha.htm) and the TX750 twins (like this http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/yamaha/tx750.htm), don't ever remember an XT750 except the Super Tenere dirt job. The TX Yams turned out to be unreliable failures at the time and never sold well. The newer XS models I thought followed on directly after the TXs and the XS750 was a triple later stretched to 850. Then we saw what at the time was a monster the XS1100 that they used at the 6 hour races, shaft drive and all.

[merv]

Here's the XS11 http://www.vjmw.org/tests/yamahaXS1100.htm

[Jackrat]

When I bought my XS 650 it was a toss up between that and the SX1100.
There was a mint one in hamilton at the time.In the end I decided that if I was going to have crap handling I would be safer on the less powerfull bike.
The 1100 when it first came out in 76 I think,was one impressive bike.