What's the worst bike you've ridden?

**orangeback** · 17th November 2008, 21:16

Enfield 350 and 500 next to the RZ500 s i've had

**Goblin** · 18th November 2008, 08:31

Worst bike by far was a '95 Vibraglide! Had 1340ccs of noise but very little actual grunt. Forward footpegs meant it was a struggle to change gears so I found neutrals all through the gear box. Brakes were almost non existant. Had to throttle off well before even thinking of cornering. Then cornering was more of a wallow than a corner. YUK!

**vifferman** · 18th November 2008, 09:36

Originally Posted by Goblin

Worst bike by far was a '95 Vibraglide! Had 1340ccs of noise but very little actual grunt. Forward footpegs meant it was a struggle to change gears so I found neutrals all through the gear box. Brakes were almost non existant. Had to throttle off well before even thinking of cornering. Then cornering was more of a wallow than a corner. YUK!

That reminds me - not the worst bike I've ever ridden, but the first cruiser I rode was a Honda 1100 Shadow Ace.

The engine and gears seemed to serve no other purpose than to dial in different levels of noise'n'vibration, and I nearly ripped my boot off on the first corner I came to: a 'challenging' (well... it was for the bike) 50 km/h corner taken at a gob-stopping 20km/h.

Some bikes are just so bad that they somehow revert to being fun. I'm thinking in particular of a Honda Lead 125 scooter I was entrusted with when I asked for a loaner bike. Much giggling was done that day.
Two-up, we had to paddle to get it moving.

The next loaner I had was better, but strangely I found it rather insutling - a crappy rusty Suzuki Volty. I was really pissed off and hated the thing, until I took a Ponsonby backstreet and discovered the light(ish) weight and boingy suspension made it perfect for hopping speed humps.