Bikes you have been disappointed in

[thessler3_imp]

ROTAX is owned by Bombardier and builds good engines. I believe the BMW 800 motors originally designed by ROTAX were reengineered by BMW and are built in India or someplace similar. Rotax builds all the Ski-Doo snowmobile and watercraft engines as well as V-twins for Can-Am's and the discontinued Aprilia V-twin 1000cc. I have owned a couple of Rotax motors and they have been fast and reliable. If you look into BMW motorcycle reliability records carefully, you will find their record is mediocre, especially when paying their premium prices.

[thessler3_imp]

Some interesting responses here. I have a love-hate relationship with Harleys. I have owned three plus a Buell since 1985. 85 FXRS, 90 Low Rider Convertible, 2005 Sportster Roadster and Buell S3T. Reliable and nicely finished. None ever gave me any problems and Harley company service is the best. They were just not fun to ride for a performance lover. Harleys deliver about 80% of the performance I wanted. I kept the Convertible 4 years. The Buell had a nice riding position, great seat, nice side cases, nice fairing and could have made a nice sport-tourer. Unfortunately, it had poor performance, awful shifting and was not a fun bike to ride. I traded it in on a Speed Triple which was much more fun to ride. Now, I am approaching 67 years of age and performance is less important to me. I am looking at Harleys again. I rented a 2009 Fatboy in AZ for a week and liked it but not enough to buy one.

The two most unreliable bikes I have owned: 1) A BSA 441 Victor - a real piece of crap. Poor performance, hard starting and really unreliable to boot. 2) Norton Combat Commando. Fun to ride, good looking. Broke it just about every ride. Blown clutch, broken wheel spokes and on and on. To quote the Brits: "a piece of @~*^e".

[DAC]

In my old couple and young couple thread in my last post I related how I came to buy my Kaw 1000 after being disappointed after a test ride on a BMW.

In 2006 I again was disappointed on a test ride. I loved my FZ-1 and wanted a dedicated sport touring bike with fairing and hard bags. To me, a FJR was a logical choice. Off to my local Hon- Yam shop for a test ride. Wife and I took a good long ride, about 60 miles. On our way back to the shop, we stopped at a McDonalds for a cold drink and a discussion. I said to my wife " what do you think?" She enthusiastically replied she loved it and thought we should buy it. She was ready to write the check. What did I think ? She asked. Well, I hated it. The clutch was so stiff my left arm was cramping. The throttle was so stiff my right arm was cramping. It felt very top heavy, and I had no confidence leaned over in the corners. I decided not to buy it. Instead when I got back to the shop I told them to order me a Honda ST1300 without even test riding one. Turned out to be a good choice.

BMW R90s and 2006 Yamaha FJR 1300... Two bikes which I wanted which disappointed me badly.

So anyone else think they wanted a certain bike...until they rode one? Or worse, ought one and discovered after you got it home you made a mistake?

For some reason, Ferret's post just came to mind.

This is exactly what I just did with the CB1100 DLX. I did sit on one but it wasn't available for a ride. But, after seeing the reviews of the 2013 and the praise on this forum, I took the leap.

Hope it turns out to be just as good a choice! I pick up the bike Saturday.

[thumper_imp]

In my old couple and young couple thread in my last post I related how I came to buy my Kaw 1000 after being disappointed after a test ride on a BMW.

In 2006 I again was disappointed on a test ride. I loved my FZ-1 and wanted a dedicated sport touring bike with fairing and hard bags. To me, a FJR was a logical choice. Off to my local Hon- Yam shop for a test ride. Wife and I took a good long ride, about 60 miles. On our way back to the shop, we stopped at a McDonalds for a cold drink and a discussion. I said to my wife " what do you think?" She enthusiastically replied she loved it and thought we should buy it. She was ready to write the check. What did I think ? She asked. Well, I hated it. The clutch was so stiff my left arm was cramping. The throttle was so stiff my right arm was cramping. It felt very top heavy, and I had no confidence leaned over in the corners. I decided not to buy it. Instead when I got back to the shop I told them to order me a Honda ST1300 without even test riding one. Turned out to be a good choice.

BMW R90s and 2006 Yamaha FJR 1300... Two bikes which I wanted which disappointed me badly.

So anyone else think they wanted a certain bike...until they rode one? Or worse, ought one and discovered after you got it home you made a mistake?

For some reason, Ferret's post just came to mind.

This is exactly what I just did with the CB1100 DLX. I did sit on one but it wasn't available for a ride. But, after seeing the reviews of the 2013 and the praise on this forum, I took the leap.

Hope it turns out to be just as good a choice! I pick up the bike Saturday.

For some reason, Ferret's post just came to mind.

This is exactly what I just did with the CB1100 DLX. I did sit on one but it wasn't available for a ride. But, after seeing the reviews of the 2013 and the praise on this forum, I took the leap.

Hope it turns out to be just as good a choice! I pick up the bike Saturday.

You won't be disappointed. Congrats on Saturday.

Pity that you'll get zero sleep until that day!

[DAC]

Hey thanks, Thumper. Yeah, sleep will be tough to come by.

Nice stable, BTW.

[PAULIBIKER_imp]

Hands down the 95 VFR750 ............never could get comfortable, felt like it had no power anywhere, & the whine from the "gear driven" camshafts drove me crazy. I will never understand why some people like that sound. It took me longer to change the oil on it than it did to set the valves on my 98 Bandit. It is/was IMO one of the best looking motorcycles made thou.

Funny, a couple bikes mention are actually some of my favorites. The two most surprising (in a good way) bikes are in my garage. An 07 919 and a 88 Hawk GT.

[Tortuga_imp]

The one I never warmed up to was a early FZ-6. Worked well as a naked display for our store but still did not have the detuned motor. Two close to a R-6. Shifted hard and didn't get it's legs until you were at 90mph +. Felt the same way about a Fazor
that I had years before, it was fast but I just could not turn it into something I could ride all day.

I bought a low mileage FZ6N (naked) last year, bought it blind on eBay and has to collect it from the buyer 160 miles away. After the ride home I had nearly crashed through numb hands on the controls several times. I switched to mountain bike gloves after 50 miles in desperation. I hated that ride back. The thing felt like it wanted to wash out the front on every bend too.

After that I rode it once to town to do some business in the heatwave last summer, and a second time to the Honda dealership to swap it in for my CB11.

Terrible bike, awful vibes, uninspiring handling, and zero charisma.

I liked the twin underseat pipes and the snazzy paint job, that was about it.

2006 Suzuki GSX-R 750. At the time, I really liked the look of this supersport. Rode my buddy's Gixxer 600 and really liked it, but for some reason, I wanted to get the 750. It was a bad mistake. The 750 was hard to ride, uncomfortable, and heavy. I got used to the bike, but in the back of my mind, I kinda wanted to drive the damn thing off the side of a cliff.

I can identify with that too, had a '94 GSXR750WP which I thought would be a cornering demon, it wasn't . It was a top heavy, evil handling pile of crap.

Undeterred, in 2000 I bought a brand new GSXR750WV. Looked a million dollars and having ridden a 600 in 97 and loving it, I thought this would be 'the same, but more so'.

No way was it that. Like you say, hard to ride, uncomfortable and with a front end that I could never get to ride as compliantly as a stock 600 with RWU forks.

I sold it with low miles a few years later and lost a small fortune.

When Honda replaced the ST 1100 with the new 1300 I knew this was the bike for me. I was able to find an unsold 2005 at a greatly reduced price and jumped on it. The first sign of trouble was on the ride home. It was a hot July day and my legs felt cooked by the time I had covered the 80 miles to home. It was incredibly top heavy and grossly overweight at 740lbs fueled. The seat was not well designed and the motor sounded like a 30 year old Evinrude. I kept it just over a year, sold it and got a Triumph 1050 Tiger, one of the finest bikes I ever owned.

A Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 taught me all I needed to know about the true meaning of "character", a term the Italians use as an excuse for engineering flaws they just don't have the inclination to deal with. Dodgy electrics, a gutless motor below 4000rpm, weeping CARC drives and an instrument cluster that would decide to take a 3 hour "lunch break" on a whim and I had had enough. Traded it for the CB1100.

Nearly bought a Breva 1200 in a moment of penny pinching before the CB deal was done. Looks like I had a narrow escape!

I rode BMW's for 40 years. The bikes of the 60's & 70's were great, bulletproof bikes. They were the best in the industry IMHO. My friends and I have had some late model bikes. They are not the same company they once were. I could tell you stories.....I'll just say I would NEVER buy another one. It almost makes me ashamed I'm German! (almost)

Yeah, modern BMWs are far more of a national embarrassment than the holocaust

In my old couple and young couple thread in my last post I related how I came to buy my Kaw 1000 after being disappointed after a test ride on a BMW.

In 2006 I again was disappointed on a test ride. I loved my FZ-1 and wanted a dedicated sport touring bike with fairing and hard bags. To me, a FJR was a logical choice. Off to my local Hon- Yam shop for a test ride. Wife and I took a good long ride, about 60 miles. On our way back to the shop, we stopped at a McDonalds for a cold drink and a discussion. I said to my wife " what do you think?" She enthusiastically replied she loved it and thought we should buy it. She was ready to write the check. What did I think ? She asked. Well, I hated it. The clutch was so stiff my left arm was cramping. The throttle was so stiff my right arm was cramping. It felt very top heavy, and I had no confidence leaned over in the corners. I decided not to buy it. Instead when I got back to the shop I told them to order me a Honda ST1300 without even test riding one. Turned out to be a good choice.

BMW R90s and 2006 Yamaha FJR 1300... Two bikes which I wanted which disappointed me badly.

So anyone else think they wanted a certain bike...until they rode one? Or worse, ought one and discovered after you got it home you made a mistake?

For some reason, Ferret's post just came to mind.

This is exactly what I just did with the CB1100 DLX. I did sit on one but it wasn't available for a ride. But, after seeing the reviews of the 2013 and the praise on this forum, I took the leap.

Hope it turns out to be just as good a choice! I pick up the bike Saturday.

For some reason, Ferret's post just came to mind.

This is exactly what I just did with the CB1100 DLX. I did sit on one but it wasn't available for a ride. But, after seeing the reviews of the 2013 and the praise on this forum, I took the leap.

Hope it turns out to be just as good a choice! I pick up the bike Saturday.
I did this with mine, sat on it in the shop, made some "brooom broooom" noises and then said "yeah I'll have it "
To add to this list, I'm entering the Kawasaki GPX600R.

Having just pulled out of the purchase of a new 600 Bandit after deciding it was too much money (and losing my deposit) I licked my wounds and bought an old knackered GPX600R.

Maybe I was banking on some Tom Cruise/Pete Maverick style Top Gun Kawasaction?

Anyway, it turned out to be "as we Brits say, a piece of @~*^e".

Less 'highway to the danger zone" more 'made the highway a danger zone'

The thing was a rattle, evil handling death trap. I replaced the Cush drives as the old ones had turned to cheese. The cam chain tensioner had seized and the engine always sounded like it would explode at any moment sending shards of Kawasaki's finest cylinder block 'monkey metal' through my legs and scrotum.

To make matters worse it was white. I know I have a white bike now, yes, and I know that white cars, bikes, and on this forum hair are making a renaissance now, but in the mid nineties it had to be purple, bro! (And about nine other colours in gaudy stripes and flashes).

[Tortuga_imp]

Further to that was my Honda NSR250R (MC18)

A beautiful, sweet handling, light, toy of a thing, I paid a LOT of money for it in the late nineties. This thing was rarer than a jacket on a squid. Never officially imported to the UK it was. 'Grey Import' which made it all the more of a treat.

I used to eat RGV250's, FZR400's and ZXR400's for breakfast, dinner and tea.

Even the beer mat they used for a seat didn't deter my love for this razor sharp tool.

Hell, it even lived in my lounge for several months while I secured my garage rear door! (Not the last bike to live in the house I hasten to add).

So why have entered it in this thread you're wondering?

Well, one day I took my 'then girlfriend' for a ride on it, and carving out of a race-track smooth corner at ahem 'a good lick of speed' the rear wheel let out a piercing shriek, the air was deathly silent once I'd pulled the clutch in and pulled over.

It had seized on me, causing a 20 metre skid mark on the road, a marginally shorter one in my underwear, and destroying the engine internals (crank shattered like a glass hammer).

The bores were special 'Nikasil coated' jobbies and would need to be imported from the landing of the rising repair bill. I ditched it and sold it back to the guy I had it from, who stung me for a cool £1800 for the 6 months or so I owned it.

This was despite my careful warming up routine, use of fully synth 2 stroke oil which cost more than royal blood. I used to top the oil up before every ride, and babied the bike until I knew it was up to temp.

I didn't hate the bike for exploding under me, or even nearly killing me (and her) but I was very disappointed it happened, and how bad it was.

Seizing my Kawasaki AR125 as a teenager was merely an every day embuggerance that was part of my riding life. It went "waaaaaaaaahhhhh, screech, silence, swearing"

Then I'd sit at the side of the road, looking at the traffic go by until I was sure it was cool, then kick her over and continue on my merry way (albeit gingerly).

[Tortuga_imp]

And finally, the Honda MT-5, my first 'legit' bike on the road. What a limp wristed, feeble pile of poo that thing was. I bored it out to 65cc and it hit an indicated 40mph downhill and sounded more like a gutsy lawnmower.

Plus my mates had TS50s which towered above the diminutive Honda!

[paul kellam_imp]

suzuki Bandit!!!