never, never brands

[The Gecko_imp]

I know you all like Honda, but I am curious:
IF you had to pay with your own money, and no discounts to the market price - which common brand motorcycle(s) would you never ever buy ?

[Tev62]

KTM - just too many poor reliability stories out there. I know there will be many that say they never had a problem with theirs but there are far too many that do. The motorcycle press seem to turn a blind eye to it too, can't miss out on the latest bike launch in sunny Sardinia! When you see one year old 1290 Super Adventure S's in the dealers you just know why. I've met two 1290 owners here who said never again.

[the Ferret]

Pay for with my money?

BMW
Ducati
KTM
Moto Guzzi
Royal Enfield
Aprilia
Norton
Indian
Harley

Basically, anything Euro except Triumph, and neither of the two big American bikes

I would buy any of the 4 Japanese brands

I would maybe buy a Zero.... if ......... (more range, lower cost)...... but ay 74 years old, they will never have the "if" in what's left of my riding lifetime

[misterprofessionality]

I can agree with all of those except for KTM....i did buy one with my own money, (one of the ones that was made in india no less) and it was a peach. a huge surprise. I didn't expect it to be so high quality but it was, against all odds. Poor thing didn't deserve what happened to it. There's definitely another KTM or Husqvarna in my future.

BMW and ducati are on the edge of buyable but ultimately it's the cost of maintenance that has me never ever buying those brands.

Moto Guzzi just....doesn't have anything to offer me. I really don't think there's anything at all wrong with their bikes, they just haven't made anything that makes me want to buy it. The closest thing was the Mandello S but it ultimately falls short of being competitive in its size and price range. I know that's gonna get me flamed here with the Guzzi guys haha.

Enfield has a long way to go in the quality department but boy are they cheap. You could almost get away with buying one because of the low risk involved.

Aprillia is a fire hazard

Norton is a pump and dump scheme

Polaris and Harley are the same story. Low effort high cost products that ultimately just want you to buy them because "america"

Here's the really shocking hot take though....I think I may never ever buy another Honda. after the CB1100 i just don't think they have anything to offer me. much like Moto Guzzi, just with a higher quality machine. While i have great respect for everything Honda makes, i find myself not really wanting any of it.

[Gone in 60]

Hmm... interesting topic.

To misterprofessionality's point, Royal Enfield does have a ways to go in quality, but it's a bike built to a price, and that price is cheap. I initially dismissed the Interceptor 650 as a "Harbor Freight Bonneville", but once I spent a day on a rental and became intrigued, and then looked at how cheap used bikes were with minimal mileage, I decided that yes the risk was low enough for the bike itself, but was concerned about parts availability. I priced commonly replaced parts on Ebay India before I pulled the trigger, and found them to be laughably cheap. So far, I've paid $24 to replace a speedometer cable. Valve checks are called for every 6k miles, but the tank comes off in minutes, and it has screw lash adjusters. I can do that in an hour with a cocktail in one hand.

Regarding BMW... Ugh, yeah, lovely, and initially the logical and practical German engineering was uber-kool, but when German stuff breaks, it does so in spectacular fashion. Been there, done that, love-em as rentals now, but it's nice to hand the keys back over when I'm done.

Moto Guzzi... I'd love a V7 850. But I'm hesitant... the appeal for me is like the Enfield 650, but I don't think the parts would be as cheap or easy to get.

KTM... my friends have 'em and love 'em, but the slanty, slashy orange/black styling just doesn't grab me.

What would I just not buy? A Harley or an Indian. I did my cruiser thing years ago, and just don't enjoy riding big, heavy yachts anymore. Yeah, Indian has the FTR, but it's not something that speaks to me enough.. maybe it's the price tag.

[1973cb750]

never buy ? ktm, Harley, china brands, appirla

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

I already have what I would buy; a great all-around 2013 Honda CB1100 and a nice cruiser 2009 Yamaha V-Star1300

[dave]

Anything from China. Would never purchase a Ducati because of the maintenance. I was talking to a Ducati representative at the Ducati display at the Laguna Seca race track, and I asked him how long it took to perform a valve adjustment on the two cylinder, Penagale, and he stated "It would take 12 1/2 hours for a trained, Ducati technician to perform a valve adjustment." And I thought performing a valve adjustment for my CB1100 was a lot of work!

[Gone in 60]

As to the anything from China sentiment, I've seen one of our local multi-brand dealers go heavy on CF Moto. If you visit Delamo Motorsports in Tustin, you have to pass a phalanx of CF Moto bikes to get to Honda, Kawi, Yamaha and everything else. I've looked at them, and have to say that the quality doesn't look bad, but I'm not ready, even though I've got an Indian Enfield and a Malaysian Triumph. Also means that I've seen a growing number of those new CF bikes on the road from that dealer. When I can catch an owner, the first comment is always "Yeah, I know, right? Never thought I'd buy a Chinese bike. But I gotta say for the price, it's pretty nice".

You get the feeling that those owners figure another rider's first comment is going to be about the bike's origin, and having bought one, they're ready to defend it.

[clearviewx]

HARLEY DAVIDSON