Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 36

Thread: Death traps you have ridden

  1. #1
    Join Date
    20th May 2007 - 12:04
    Bike
    various
    Location
    HB
    Posts
    2,881
    Blog Entries
    13

    Cool Death traps you have ridden

    Was sitting and thinking of bikes I have had the fortune to ride. Many outstanding ones came to mind. There is the Martin Ford V8 2 wheeler, a Black Shadow, and my old 48 Panhead obviously and some others.

    Then I started thinking about the ones at the other end of the scale. Bikes that I for one reason or another should not have ridden (but as a result of youth, enthusiasm, foolishness and perhaps a bullet proof attitude I did ride)

    When young I had a 50cc moped (well, used to be 50cc...) that I managed to get to do 80K/h +. I was interested in getting her to go fast, and so stopping was not on my mind. No brakes... Was going full speed behind a bus lying down and reching the hair raising speeds of over the mentioned 80K/h when the bus suddenly decided to stop. There was something happening ahead. Only had a split second to think and laid down her on the L/H side. I slid under the bus and smacked against the back axle. There I lay waiting for the bus to take off. And when it did I stood up, lifted the moped, started and off I went again. And that was in the days when you did not need to have a helmet when riding mopeds...

    Also at 13 I was given a 150cc Vespa. Motor run well, but the handlebars were loose and you would have to turn them 45 degrees to right or left before the front wheel would follow. When going slow it was a problem. But as the speed built up the gyro force from the wheel made the front wheel run straight. She was best in a straight line. Used to end up in the ditch when the road turned.

    May the bridges I burn light the way.

    Follow Vinny's MX racing on www.mxvinny.com


  2. #2
    Join Date
    12th July 2003 - 01:10
    Bike
    Royal Enfield 650 & a V8 or two..
    Location
    The Riviera of the South
    Posts
    14,068
    A Phillips 'Gadabout' moped

    A CA Bedford van with mid-mounted 272 V8 - and NO brakes!
    Boy, did I ever get the learn about need for brakes in THAT sucker!! (long story)
    Winding up drongos, foil hat wearers and over sensitive KBers for over 14,000 posts...........
    " Life is not a rehearsal, it's as happy or miserable as you want to make it"

  3. #3
    Join Date
    12th August 2004 - 09:31
    Bike
    2013 EX300SE
    Location
    Top of the Gorge
    Posts
    1,511
    None, my Dad would have killed me if I had a car or bike in that condition!

    I had a Vespa 150SS for a short time while I was getting my licence. Even in reasonable nick it was a bastard in any sort of corner. All of my bikes were good, but I did have the brake lines on my 100E Prefect fail across the Foxton Flats once, but managed to limp back to Wellington. Wouldn't want to try that again.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    6th March 2006 - 15:57
    Bike
    Rolls Royce RB211
    Location
    Martinborough
    Posts
    3,041
    A Kawasaki Monkey bike as a kid, minus everything except frame and wheels. We'd push the thing to the top of our hill then ride it down. No brakes meant ride it out or jump for your life. It had those square wheelbarrow type tyres on it too so you went from having a huge footprint on the ground to riding on a knife edge as soon as you leaned it over....maybe that explains my attitude to corners now (one day I'll learn to open my eyes).
    I had a nice RZ350 at one stage and many years later getting back into bikes I came across an RZ250R with an RD350LC engine. It was a bit rough but I liked the idea of tinkering as I reacquainted myself with bikes. I tidied it up without spending a fortune but the throttle didn't so much regulate power as switch it on or off thanks to some dodgy porting and Boyesen reeds. It would burble and splutter along then FUCK ME WE'RE OFF! I soon learn't to make sure I was pointing in the right direction when I wound it on. I bought it as a pig and sold it as a slightly prettier pig but that thing was porcine through and through.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    3rd November 2005 - 15:20
    Bike
    Cagiva Navigator 1000
    Location
    1A
    Posts
    1,603
    A Kawasaki H2 750 gave me the scares of my then 17 year old life closely followed closely by an angry little Anglia that I had fitted with a 2.0L cortina engine.
    Once, out of youthful exuberance, I was convinced to fly a microlight. The 2 stroke snowmobile siezed at about 500 feet after take-off, revealing that the whole damn contraption only had a glide ratio similar to a brick. I wound up in someones back yard lucky to be in one piece.
    Last edited by terbang; 17th July 2007 at 11:14.
    If you love it, let it go. If it comes back to you, you've just high-sided!
    مافي مشكلة

  6. #6
    Join Date
    12th September 2003 - 12:00
    Bike
    Katana 750, VOR 450 Enduro
    Location
    Wallaceville, Upper Hutt
    Posts
    5,521
    Blog Entries
    26
    I'm fairly certain that riding my IT400 after the throttle cable snapped qualified here.

    It snapped at the throttle end, I wound it into a loop and tied it and rode home along Hutt River Stopbank from Taita to Stokes Valley like that.

    And a T500 with dodgy steering head bearings over Wainuiomata Hill...


    Scary
    And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.

    - James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    30th July 2006 - 16:30
    Bike
    2017 GSXR 750
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    1,213
    When I was 15 i used to ride this old piece of crap that i found behind the shed on the farm.

    It was some sort of step through and could do a wopping 60k .. LOL, no brakes so it had to be slid to a stop .. damn that thing was dodgy.

    Moved from that to my 2nd car, datsun 260C with a 318 Valiant V8 slapped in, that thing used to bounce off the right hand mud guard just from the twist of the engine ..

    Ahhh .. to be young and bulletproof again.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    14th June 2007 - 16:14
    Bike
    2007 HondaXL1000V Varadero and 14 others
    Location
    Russell, BoI
    Posts
    271
    MY TS185 bought for $25. That alone ought to tell you lots. Gear lever welded on, home-made expansion chamber, one of those useless plastic front brake levers that bend waaaay before the brake shoes actually apply pressure to the drum.

    The one thing that disgusting pile of poo could do was jump. I jumped it into a river once.

    And left it there.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    12th April 2007 - 16:36
    Bike
    2018 Suzuki GSX-R1000
    Location
    Metropolis
    Posts
    656
    My enduring memory of a death trap was an old GS1000 Suzuki ex race bike. This had a Yoshi pipe and worked cam, probably putting out around 120hp at the crank. I took it on the southern motorway and it set about tankslapping the hell out of me at 240kmh, I just managed to hold on to it and returned the bike to its owner very much at the speed limit. Phew


    http://sportbikerider.17.forumer.com
    the DEAD forum for politically incorrect Sportbike riders!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    16th September 2004 - 16:48
    Bike
    PopTart Katoona
    Location
    CT, USA
    Posts
    6,542
    Blog Entries
    1
    Bikes:
    a) K100 POS, front brakes only, no grip (off road trails), bent rims, no exhaust, fouled plug, loose triple clamps, no pin pegs
    b) RZ250 which would shoot hot water on your leg when it reached certain temperatures.
    c) RG150, got bored with it - paid a motorcross mechanic to work on it. Bayride suzuki ended up using my bike as a blue print for their race bike as mine was faster. Fast, light, with the words most ridiculous power band above 11K (10hp-->38hp dynoed in less than 2000rpm).....blew up after 24,000ks of abuse.....nearly killed me more times than i'd like to imagine.

    cars:
    a)83 sigma estate, which i sold the tyres off (i was poor and it only had to last 1 more derby) and then put steel belted radials on......as in all you could see was steel belts. I got the car for $10, it was low k's but it had been t-boned so there was no left hand side (i.e. doors and pillar). It had various pointy bits as one could imagine.
    b)79 vauxhall chevanne, had a manifold an nothing more - really bad to drive through fields of tall grass as the engine was set to mild so with no back pressure the undercarriage had a 4 foot flamethrower. Neighbors placed an official complaint about the noise (city-slickers), they lived about 2 k's away. It ended up have destroyed front suspension to the point when the mounts had actually bent 3 inches up, the shock had collapse and the spring semi inverted, tow point was 3mm off the ground. After that the steering rack semi connected, so it either turned perfectly (f1 style) or the wheels did what ever they wished.
    Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    30th March 2004 - 11:00
    Bike
    2001 RC46
    Location
    Norfshaw
    Posts
    10,455
    Blog Entries
    17
    I feel deprived - I can't recall any particularly dangerous bikes I've ridden.
    We owned a Fiat 132 for years (of the cars we've owned, probably my favourite), and the brake master cylinder should've been replaced, but they sleeved it instead. So it developed this 'interesting' intermittent phenomenon that 5 return trips to the brake place didn't fix. You'd put your foot on the brake pedal, and whether the brakes worked or the pedal sank to the floor (as the brake fluid bypassed the seals) was entirely random. It was OK for me - I'd just test the pedal before I needed to stop, and if they didn't work I'd frantically pump the pedal till they woke up and returned to normal. But my wife kinda freaked out, having a baby on board and one incubating, so we chucked it in the auction and bought the most uninteresting yet reliable car I've ever owned: a Ford Telstar 1600. Crikey, what a yawnfest that was...
    ... and that's what I think.

    Or summat.


    Or maybe not...

    Dunno really....


  12. #12
    Join Date
    25th March 2004 - 17:22
    Bike
    RZ496/Street 765RS/GasGas/ etc etc
    Location
    Wellington. . ok the hutt
    Posts
    21,314
    Blog Entries
    2
    My Vauxhall Victor 3.3 I bought as I thought my girlfriend would like to go out in a car for a change. Took it for a warrant & it came back with a full page of faults, some quite scary. Turns out she liked the bike better. She’s long gone, but I never bought another one.

    When in a friends Falcon it broke down & I had to go retrieve his bike. The throttle had been dubiously repaired & the clutch seemed to slip, but kinda roughly (it was dark). Turns out the sprocket was only bumpy, not toothy.
    Don't you look at my accountant.
    He's the only one I've got.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    17th August 2006 - 22:42
    Bike
    Triumph Thruxton
    Location
    Wellington
    Posts
    382
    Ive never had these kinda experiences. The closest Ive came is with a Datsun 160J which I dropped a 2 litre into with dellortos, then as the carbs are wider than the factory SUs the throttle linkage was too short. So I made one up out of a piece of wire...problem was as it bent itd drastically change the idle. Drove it from Chch to Dunedin and back like that, would pass someone with foot flat and take your foot off and itd keep accelerating. Kinda disconcerting coming into a 70k town and having to brake and put other foot under accelerator to stop it speeding through.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    7th February 2007 - 04:22
    Bike
    bandit 1250 and 900 fire blade
    Location
    NZ somewhere
    Posts
    712
    the fire blade i bought recently had a very, no read VERY warped front disc on one side, and we didnt even realise it had three, yes 3 bolts missing from the calipers of said front discs!!!

    damn im glad i didnt need to use the brakes too often!

    oh and i rode it from auckland down to napier like that....
    i wouldnt want to be caught dead in the same grave as me.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    24th November 2005 - 12:40
    Bike
    anything I can get my grubby wee paws on
    Location
    Outside
    Posts
    1,532
    Kawasaki KH100 ('nuff said)

    Aveling Barford PG (1953 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer grader with dodgy brakes)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •