What was the Worst Bike you've ever owned

unomike wrote:

Bad Kaw wrote:

I swear...Yamaha...they always have to do something different don't they...I mean they ruined some potentially decent bikes with their addiction to 'shaft drive' (XS11, XJ750, XJ900, Vision) and the 5-valve cyl-head...I mean WTF!!!??? Anyway, those carbs SUCKED, too!

Hmmm, I'm sure others will come...I'll chime back in...

Just purchased a 83 Yamaha 750 SECA. Shaft drive with four carb setup. This Yamahammer is hard to start and keep running ... Inspection revealed the carb to engine boots leaking air due to cracks in the rubber. Bike Bandit wants $220+ dollars for OEM replacements .. after reading some posts concerning Bike Bandit, I'm not so sure I want to deal with them. This bike may take first place in my worst catagory if it is a engineering and maint. nightmare! This bike is a fix, sparkle and sell project so I'm not going to put much cash into it. I'll either make my own boots as I can mold rubber or modify existing OEM Boots to fit.

Advice on the carb-boots: smear clear silicone over them and it will fill in the cracks and seal the boots. Then forget the $220. Good luck on that.
-KR

Oh, and I always LOVED the way Sabers looked! Beautiful bikes! If you think the 750/700 was a bad handler...ride the 1100...just more power in a similarly weekly suspended package...I agree: just plain scarey! Another motorcycle ruined by the 'shaft'!

-KR

2006hhr wrote:

No such thing as POS bikes, just more involved projects. Virago's are a bitch about starters, but decent power and reliability are good once a 4 brush starter is installed. Never had Vision, but i have heard they are a real pain, Suzuki Re5 the same. The worse bike i had to work on was my '74 Z1, never could get it to run right for me, but learned a lot about carb syncing, rebuilding and cam timing or non timing, 4 broken valves when i timed it wrong), but it was fun. The Virago's (750 and 920) were great bikes, just had to learn a lot about starter rebuilding 101. My current 650 SR started off as someone elses POS project, but with a bit of work and cash infusion it is the sweetest bike i have owned short of my '92 EX500, now that was cremepuff. 55 mpg, 12.7 1/4 mile and handled like nothing else. Should have kept it... One bike that somes to mind as my worst POS was my first bike at age 11, a 1974 Kawasaki KV75. The ignition had capacitor issue and the dealership said it would cost more to fix it than it would cost to replace the whole bike. Bought a 1971 Honda SL70 and rode the piss out of it for the next 4 years. The KV went to the junkyard.

Ive put crank in a 900 virago, owned a 750. Worked on newer one replaced starter etc. Straight up junk and the starter gear was machined with too much clearance on the shaft so it tilts and kicks away from the flywheel. The 900 ran for years though, long enough to get dumped a couple times even and never broke down. I raise my right hand and state this: I hate viragos. If they start on fire think before u put it out. Without the virago you'll live another day, with it you'll live in the garage. Never trade work on a virago for meth. When they book you they'll be asking about the parts in your pocket, those would be the starter gears. And no, they won't want to talk about them. :ohmy:

Worst bike was a rupp minnibike with a techumsa, carb would not stop leaking, never start never run right, no it was the honda 250 elsinor. Bought it from the neigbor/vet. Muffler was plugged, he forgot the plate over the shift drum pins, took it all apart windy as heck, never got it to shift, ruined the local mechanics manual. Just run out of gas on that one. Chyropractor/welder did an excellent job welding broken frame in two spots below the motor though! He ran the most perfect beads around those tubes.

I've had two '78 Z1Rs. One was (no kidding) frame #666 and it handled like it came straight outta Hell. :huh:
I've still got my other one, and it's always been a pretty decent handler. Seems like that's what you get with a Z1R: one that works just fine and one that wags its head. I have a friend who has two, one stocker and one built; same with his bikes, the stocker shakes its head real bad but the 1260 NOS bike runs straight and true (it better the frame is braced and it's got 17"s and 'beefy' front and rear suspenders).

Oh well...gotta love the Z1Rs, though. :blush:

-KR

Bad Kaw - I scratched the idea of investing $220 in new boots. And I scratched the idea of making molds and casting new rubber boots as well since the cost would be just as expensive as buying new boots. Your suggestion is the way I'm going to go on this. Silicone the cracks up and I'm going to take it one step futher ... coat the outside of the boots in black liquid plastic to give it the smooth shiny look.
Also I found a small pinhole in the lower right hand side of the gas tank that needs repair. Plan on brazing the hole closed and re-painting the tank. Since I weld for a living this is a no-brainer for me. This will be the third tank I've brazed up in two years.:woohoo:

1972 Screaming Yellow H-D SS350 Sprint. You ALWAYS parked on a (big) hill if you expected to get it running. Wouldn't mind having one now though.

Well since i've only owned the one bike it's a default for worst bike (also for best bike lol).

'82 kz550. Bought it for $300 because someone unplugged all the wires and the guy couldn't figure it out. Fixed all the wiring problems and got 'er running. Then she decided that she wanted to blow up a fuse while the fuse didn't want to blow. Short circuit later and I get stuck on the side of the road twice with a dead battery.

Fix the fuse, ride her a little more, find out the hard way that the prime position on the petcock doesn't leave a reserve. So, pull the petcock apart to find that someone put the spring on the wrong side.

Fix the petcock, riding around and all the sudden shes feeling slow, then wont move at all. Look down and the front brake is smoking. Take the pads out and ride home on the rear brake, that was fun! Come to find out the master cylinder got plugged up.

Then I decided the headers needed new paint. Took them off and have found a crack near one of the flanges, so that gets to be welded.

And the latex spray paint came off around the gas tank when I spilled gas on it...

Still love to ride 'er though! and she is a great bike most of the time, just a little quirky!

Maxim 550. A real POS.

Ah, here's one that came to mind: I had a 97 Honda Shadow 1100 that I bought to "turn and burn" on and whilst picking up the odds-n-ends parts to get it fixed back up into running condition the thing totally turned me off to Honda Shadows...what a total POS! EVERYTHING on that slug was 'year specific'...turn indicators, foot controls, rear shocks...freakin' everything! What a crap heap. Ended up going aftermarket with almost everything and (you'll like this) "customized" the things that I needed and couldn't get in the aftermarket.

...damn I hate cruisers...

-KR

My worst bike is my 83 Nighthawk 550. I bought one to repair and ride it. crazy electrical problems, never did fix them. then bought another 'cause the frame was good, had a roasted engine. Swapped motors. Rode her for a season and a half. One day while accelerating on the freeway, a bolt from the conn. rod fell out... locked up the rear wheel at 60+. Still looking for a replacement crank.

But when she was running... it was the most fun bike I've ever owned.

another one that makes my list of worst bike ever to work on has to be the cbx 550 with the inboard disc brake setup another freakin masterpeice from honda