What's the worst bike you've ridden?

**Forest** · 15th November 2008, 11:17

Originally Posted by AllanB

Hmmm, I rode a GPZ305 when they were brand new- I thought it was fine for the size, year etc - it even had a radical belt drive instead of a chain.

There may well be worse bikes than the GPZ305, but fortunately I haven't ridden them.

I had the earlier chain-drive version of the GPZ305. Aside from the rust and the poor handling, what eventually soured me on the bike was the oil pump. The bloody thing was driven by a nylon gear - which eventually stripped off its teeth and seized my engine.

Consequently I've refused to buy another Kawasaki. I didn't have much money as a student and a seized engine was the last thing I could afford!

The bike ended up being thrown into the Leith.

**KX500** · 15th November 2008, 11:21

Originally Posted by raftn

And that is a good decision indeed!

Stick to your solex's boys, Green Machine way to much power.

**rocketman1** · 15th November 2008, 19:30

Any bike that is out of tune , not running sweet, or has the tyres worn badly or wrongly inflated will feel like a pile of shite
Get the same bike in good running order, and you would not think its the same bike.
All manufacturers these days make pretty damn good good bikes, they would not be in business otherwise.
Its only the handicapped owners that are to broke to maintain them, that generally stuff a good bike.. enough said...

**DougB** · 15th November 2008, 22:04

Army Indian, hand operated gear lever, the same hand as operates the throttle, foot clutch. A friend swapped the throttle of his to the other handle so it opened and closed the oposite way to all others. He was most dissapointed when I didnt turn it the usual way and charge into a conner and fall off.

**Ixion** · 15th November 2008, 22:12

Surely Indians had the throttle twistgrip on the left handlebar ? The ones I rode did. Very confusing, but logical once you got used to it. Like BMW indicators.

(Oddly, Harleys, didn't!)

**rodimus** · 15th November 2008, 22:19

A bike by the name of Trisha McKee.

**fatzx10r** · 16th November 2008, 03:45

883 sportster. never again

**naphazoline** · 16th November 2008, 04:25

Originally Posted by rocketman1

All manufacturers these days make pretty damn good good bikes, they would not be in business otherwise....

yep....that may be true, but they all had their lemons along the way.

**OregonKiwi** · 16th November 2008, 04:34

Originally Posted by naphazoline

one day while following a truck,i decided to pull out to pass.
what a joke.it took about a minute to get half way up beside him,then i had to pull back cause of on coming traffic

this happened 3-4 times,when i happened to see the truck driver pissing himself laughing.

Did the same on a '68 Vespa 90 heading south out of CH CH, all the truck driver could hear was this high pitched buzzing. I could see his head frantically turning back & forth wondering what the fuck it was, until he pulled ahead, saw me, laughing as i dropped about 2k rpm's...funny.

No real bad bike, had many brands, they're all good rain or shine...location & desire to ride!!!!

**OregonKiwi** · 16th November 2008, 04:50

Originally Posted by naphazoline

one day while following a truck,i decided to pull out to pass.
what a joke.it took about a minute to get half way up beside him,then i had to pull back cause of on coming traffic

this happened 3-4 times,when i happened to see the truck driver pissing himself laughing.

Did the same on a '68 Vespa 90 heading south out of CH CH, all the truck driver could hear was this high pitched buzzing. I could see his head frantically turning back & forth wondering what the fuck it was, until he pulled ahead, saw me, laughing as i dropped about 2k rpm's...funny.

No real bad bike, had many brands, they're all good rain or shine...location & desire to ride!!!!

**madbikeboy** · 16th November 2008, 09:14

Originally Posted by rodimus

A bike by the name of Trisha McKee.

This post is useless without pictures.

**Beemer** · 16th November 2008, 11:23

The worst would be the second-hand Suzuki Goose I rode at Bikeforce in Rotorua when thinking about buying the new one they had for sale. The old one had been owned by a foreign student who obviously hadn't looked after it and as it was being sold on behalf, they hadn't touched it. The chain was so loose it was just about swinging and the guy had put a bellypan on it so every time I went to change gear my boot got caught on the edge of it. It was running really rough and kept cutting out on me, so I wasn't totally convinced I actually wanted one when I got back from the test ride! The new one had no battery in it so I couldn't take that one out, but my husband told me he'd ridden one and they were really lovely so I took a risk and bought it anyway. He was right, when I got the new one it bore no resemblance to the one I'd taken out!