Worst bike ever ridden

[FROSTY:Me]

Mate of mine had A Ural,Don't know just what it was but he had a side car on it an used it as the shop bike for his wrecking biz'.
It was so ugly every body wanted it.I went in the chair one time and a hose came off the dodgy fitted oil cooler,I copped most of the oil in my lap,Don't know why they call em' coolers cause that oil was bloody hot,all heaps an heaps an heaps of it.
Me mate bought it off Motu from this site.I think Motu probably still has a chuckle about that one.Me mate even rode it to the Kiwi an back but that's a long story in it's self.One of the boys scored a new nick name in connection with that bike,(Sooty)I'll let you work that one out

I think said mate now has an ex cop cbx750 with a chair on the side

[scumdog]

You haven't lived until you have ridden a Jawa from the 70's. Just watching others trying to work out how to start it is a good way to start your day - you push in the gear change and flip it back to become the kick start, all on the left hand side. Looks like a trail bike and they do not easily leave the trail, you leave the bike while it follows the holes to the bottom.

Yep, I used on of them, had a rear sprocket the size of a sawmill blade to get the gearing down as it was in reality a road-bike.
That "push-in-and-push-forward" of the gearstick to make a kickstart was sadisitic, 'specially when you had muddy boots on and each time you kicked the mother your foot slipped off and the pedal went back to gear-stick mode adlf

[Jackrat]

I think said mate now has an ex cop cbx750 with a chair on the side

Yep,and two BSA goldflashes, a Meshismit scooter,a Russian Ducopff Diana sport scooter that is one of only forty in the world,And a couple of Suzuki 125s that are his Riding school bikes.Do you know the man as well??
If so,It's not my fault mate

[vifferman]

Motu said:

It's all relative I think,if we went back to ride some of the shitters they might seem better in a new light,the dream bikes pieces of crap.

Too right, Motu. All the bikes I rode in my youth seemed really exciting, apart from an old Yamaha 125 trailbike one of my friends bought. We could never work out waht was wrong with it, but even after I spent hours working on it, it was still crap, and backfired, coughed, farted, stalled, and generally behaved like a pig
.
One of the bikes I've most enjoyed was the XBR500RS Mutant (a CB250RS with XL500 engine). In hindsight, it was a piece of shite compared to everything I've had since, but I had some fun overhauling it and riding it.

I've never ridden a REALLY bad bike, but I borrowed a Honda Lead 125 scooter once when my bike was in dock, and that was a scream. The tiny wheels gave it scary handling, and two-up you needed to paddle to get it to move at all.

One thing I will say, is that although all my Hondas have been relatively reliable (the only one that left me stranded was the the VFR when its R/R died), Honda makes crap (CRAP!) camchains and tensioners.

[pete376403]

One of the bike mags here called them "Urinals".I once caused mayhem on another message board by calling Harleys "Rich Git`s Urals",when you get the kind of reaction i got to that one you just know you`ve hit home.They`ve also been sold here as Dniepr(catchy or what?)and Cossacks.On the chair models the sidecar wheel drives and they`ve got reverse gear,plenty of scope there for blowing some minds.

Boyles had one of the Chinese versions with a sidecar a while back. God, but it was ugly. I wanted it sooo much. This was a copy of the Ural, which in turn was a copy of the German army BMW (except the Chinese on was side valve)

There was a guy in Upper Hutt years ago, Kevin Bock (he owned a bike shop for a while) who had a genuine ex-Afrika Korps two wheel drive BMW. Unfortunaltely the spandau machine gun was only a replica - that could be just the ticket for errant cagers

[Kwaka-Kid]

One of the bikes I've most enjoyed was the XBR500RS Mutant (a CB250RS with XL500 engine). In hindsight, it was a piece of shite compared to everything I've had since, but I had some fun overhauling it and riding it.

Dude?! Your kidding? what did you do with it? I Think it may have been one of the 3 my dad built. I want it back! if so i think that sounds like the first revision, the only one i have a firm answer on was the Honda NRS500 (Nods Racing Snail) CBX250RS with XR500 motor + CBX250 6 speed box + CB400 front end (i think?) all painted up in silver with NRS500 on sidecovers, but that one went to South Africa ... anyway id be interested in buying back one of these machines if anybody knows where they went? - the 4th revision sits in garage now - MVX250 with XR500/650 motor, a long way off completion unfortunatly.

[What?]

Dude?! Your kidding? what did you do with it? I Think it may have been one of the 3 my dad built. I want it back!...

This gonna be a treaty claim, KK?

[Deebeeriz]

Yep, I used on of them, had a rear sprocket the size of a sawmill blade to get the gearing down as it was in reality a road-bike.
That "push-in-and-push-forward" of the gearstick to make a kickstart was sadisitic, 'specially when you had muddy boots on and each time you kicked the mother your foot slipped off and the pedal went back to gear-stick mode adlf

one thing in its favour ,if you ever broke a clutch cable you could ride without one by using the gear lever as a clutch i had a 64 cz 175 i liked the kick start i wish my savage had the same idea

[Redstar]

Yamaha XS250,complete heap of crap,still notorious over 20 years later in Britain as a fine example of how not to design a bike,they seemed to come out of the factory with a glitch that made them cut out at the most inconvienient/dangerous times.this one came up on another site as several people`s "worst ever" and a mechanic from the old days reckons the problem was that Yamaha gave the wrong info on timing the sodding thing so first time they were serviced the timing got set wrong and the problems started.like a lot of other mugs I got mine cheap thinking it was a bargain.Ended up selling it even cheaper and was glad to see the back of it.Honda CB250G5 was nearly as bad,everything scraped on just about every corner,the paint faded on the red ones within months and if they ran at all in the wet you`d get electric shocks down your legs from the plug leads,it was also dog-slow,with that handling it`s just as well I suppose.XS500?lovely bike when everything was set up perfectly,slightest thing a touch out of tune and it was a pig.mine had the top-end re-built under guarantee and again 3 months later when I`d had enough and was actually going to see a guy about a swap deal,luckily it was dark and I wiped the oil off and did the deal.Got a snotty letter almost in the next post,telling me to pay half the cost of the quote from his dealer.If he`d asked I would have,matter of conscience if nothing else.As it was didn`t like his attitude and wrote back,"go and F*** yourself",dont know whether he did or not because he didnt reply.

I agree XS250 I had one and it was super slow and at the time there were Yamaha RD250 and SuzukiGT250'S My next mistakes were Triumph Bonnivile (Vile I wont correct that fraudian spelling error)and a fast but bloody dangerous GT500A suzuki with plenty of play in the swinging arm bearings and pegs that acted as high speed pivots

[Big Dog]

So I am the only person who thinks that a properly serviced XS250 is a great bike? Maybe it just needs 120kgs rider to make it ride well, maybe I just had a really good mechanic, or maybe I just didn't know any better? At the time I had only ever riden a cb 100 remember. Mind you it seemed positively archaic compared to the Gpx250s.

[Motu]

All this XS650 talk and I wasn't even here to interupt! All good stuff,thanks.

I am one of those who sometimes says the XS650 is a copy of the A65,but only to counter those uninformed who says it's a copy of a Triumph! The two have more in common than the Triumph because they are later designs - 75x74 is a near square bore/stroke 650,more sensable at the time than the long stroke Triumph,although the Triumph always felt peppier and free reving.Duplex frame? who would want a single downtube in the sixties? The 6 holes in the brake drum had been used by BSA from the 50s,but widely copied by home builders anyway - I used to run YDS3 wheels on one of my BSAs,the front had scoops and 6 holes,this was before the XS1.

I always thought the XS1 had great basic handling,on a smooth road it's a joy to ride - put a dip mid corner and you are in big trouble.Percy Tait just added a hell of a lot more weight - I think it was a frequency thing,all the added strength of tubing damped it out.

The so called head designed for Toyota was the biggest thing holding the XS650 from further development,to get up to at least the 90HP that Kenny Roberts needed to take on the XR750s they had special new heads cast,there is a story on the development of his bikes somewhere on the net.

One of these would make me happy - thanks for the photo OWL.

[Big Dog]

I want a xs250 for my mrs to learn and learn basic maintenance on and then hand down to my next generation of bikers.
so all of use who hate them give it top me gratis and it will teach my pillion then be handed on to my step daughter, which when she gets her full my son will be learner age when he gets his my twins can learn! So anyone who wants to help initiate five more bikers with a one of donation of a road legal XS250, I would eternally be in your debt! (any road legal 250 would be good

[marty]

i've just realised that my XS250 was not the laid back cruiser that is generally referred to. i found a pic of one here >

[marty]

here's a better one - mine was a 250 not a 400 though

[pete376403]

All this XS650 talk and I wasn't even here to interupt! All good stuff,thanks.

The so called head designed for Toyota was the biggest thing holding the XS650 from further development,to get up to at least the 90HP that Kenny Roberts needed to take on the XR750s they had special new heads cast,there is a story on the development of his bikes somewhere on the net.

One of these would make me happy - thanks for the photo OWL.

Kenny got real power when they built him a flat tracker with a TZ750 motor. Apparently he rode it, parked it and said "you can't pay me enough to ride that thing"