Bikes you have been disappointed in

Well, despite my personal bad experience with BMW, there's no denying that just about all of their boxer twins (GS1200, etc) are thoroughly great bikes. There's just too much evidence to support that to say anything to the contrary. They're simple, durable, easy to work on, and will gladly take their owners 100,000 miles or more with just routine maintenance. It's easy to see why these are clearly BMW's trademark bike.

My F800ST had a vertical/parallel twin, built by an Austrian company called Rotax. BMW supplied everything else.
The best I can guess is that these two units were combined and rushed into production, without suitable time to work out the bugs (instead, they let the consumers do that). Sure, I can understand any new bike needing minor tweaks, but to have the pistons begin slapping the head on every single upstroke? That get's old quick!
A new bike should not have those kind of problems...and if they do, the company should own up to it and make it right. BMW was too proud for that.
 
The ferret_imp said:
Never ridden a V rod but would like to. That was actually a very close race. Having had a GS 1100E Im surprised it was that close.
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It gests better ferret, the v-rod's clutch takes a crap during the show too.

And don't waste your time riding one, you'll be running back to your CB 1100 as fast as you can :)
 
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.
 
Jim21680_imp said:
Well, despite my personal bad experience with BMW, there's no denying that just about all of their boxer twins (GS1200, etc) are thoroughly great bikes. There's just too much evidence to support that to say anything to the contrary. They're simple, durable, easy to work on, and will gladly take their owners 100,000 miles or more with just routine maintenance. It's easy to see why these are clearly BMW's trademark bike.

My F800ST had a vertical/parallel twin, built by an Austrian company called Rotax. BMW supplied everything else.
The best I can guess is that these two units were combined and rushed into production, without suitable time to work out the bugs (instead, they let the consumers do that). Sure, I can understand any new bike needing minor tweaks, but to have the pistons begin slapping the head on every single upstroke? That get's old quick!
A new bike should not have those kind of problems...and if they do, the company should own up to it and make it right. BMW was too proud for that.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that that is true in the overwhelming majority of cases. But in the odd chance that the dry clutch oil seal springs a leak, I remember seeing in horrific photographic detail everything that is required to remove the transmission from the bike just to get to the oil seal (the entire back end of the bike has to come off).. yipes ! the sight of that really put me off.. If a shop were to do that job, it looks like about 6 hours of shop labor total (when they know what they are doing.. and of course, we hope that it happens so infrequently that they won't be practiced at it. say whaaa ?..)

That said, I'm saving funds for the day that the Harley will need a belt/pulley replacement, a job that I will not do myself... The time ($$$) to pull off all the primary drive and clutch assembly just to get to the counter shaft then put it all back together is going to be considerable.. at least that job is *certainly* well practiced at the shop though.. I'm sure that when the worn belt service customer comes in, they see the dollar signs just rolling on in...

crazy bike design hall of famerz....
 
Worst bike? 2009 Sportster. However I have a 2012 I like a lot. The difference. They rubber mounted the engine and put a larger wheel tire on the machine which makes the ride much better. it seems to me the engine "pulls" better over a wider range of RPM's.
 
Worst bike I owned was a brand new 2008 Yamaha XT 660 Tenere which showed massive signs of corrosion (spoke wheels) after few weeks.
I traded it in for a CB 1300 then before it was too late.

My biggest disappointment however was a test ride on the touring icon I always thought of buying once I get old, a BMW R1200RT boxer.
I simply could not drive it. It stalled three times on a 20 minutes ride, just when you need the engine most (e.g. accelerating to turn left between cars coming up in a row).
It pretends to drive for a moment, then it stops.

I ended up driving with the dry clutch stinking, getting away from traffic lights at 3000 rpm or more only to prevent this 1200 cc, 115 HP bike from stalling again.

No need to discuss the boxer engine which warps the entire bike when blipping the throttle in order to avoid the massive "klonk" during shifting (no success anyway, it does clonk always).
Brakes are good though.

Man I was happy when I came back to my Honda which simply does what it's supposed to do. :D
 
By far, the greatest disappointment I've owned was the Moto Guzzi Griso. I felt like I married a supermodel who turned out to be a crack cuss. Lured in by all the talk about 'character' and the beauty of the matte green livery. Horrified by the agricultural running gear, clouds of acrid smoke from the electrics, and a dealer experience second to every other dealer experience.

I still look at the centerfold pictures of my ex. But I know, man, I know...
 
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.
 
Thread starter
Supermodel that turned out to be a crack cuss .. Great line!

But in the back of my mind, I wanted to drive the damn thing off the side of a cliff... Another great line lol
 
Capo_imp said:
By far, the greatest disappointment I've owned was the Moto Guzzi Griso. I felt like I married a supermodel who turned out to be a crack cuss. Lured in by all the talk about 'character' and the beauty of the matte green livery. Horrified by the agricultural running gear, clouds of acrid smoke from the electrics, and a dealer experience second to every other dealer experience.

I still look at the centerfold pictures of my ex. But I know, man, I know...
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I was perusing these threads while having my coffee at work (got in early) and burst out laughing. Good thing I had just finished my coffee before reading your message. Just made my day.
 
haha, now I KNOW I'm weird!! I have a VFR, I had a Shadow 750, and I lust after a VRod and VMax!!

LOL guess I'm one of the lucky ones - have not ridden a bike and been disappointed (yet)!
 
My biggest disappointment on two wheels was a brand new '83 Harley Sportster. I don't know what I was thinking. After having owned 3 Kawasakis, I guess I just assumed that most motorcycles were reliable. I was young and naive.

This was just after Harley took back ownership from AMF and the quality of their bikes hadn't really had time to improve. My particular example had problems from the start. Oil leaks, parts falling off, unexplainable cooling problems, leaking gas tank, etc... Long story short, I owned the bike for 6 months and it spent 3 of those months in the dealer's shop. The dealer didn't seem to think this was unusual :huh:

I learned a painful lesson about the importance of quality manufacturing. Without a car, I depended on motorcycles to get around. Fortunately, I'd kept one of my old Kawis and it got plenty of use as my backup bike.
 
After 20+ years of buying very used old bikes I finally was able to buy a brand new bike. I decided to buy a leftover 2001 Kawasaki ZR-7S because it was one of the last vestiges of the old air cooled Kawi fours. Big mistake. As delivered the bikes fueling was super lean, the fork was horribly under damped, painful seat, and the brakes were not good. I owned 20 year old bikes that ran better in every way. All the issues were fixable but I was very disappointed in my first "new" bike but I stayed with it for 6,000 miles just to give it a real chance. Sold the bike and bought a completely clean original condition 94 Pacific Coast to get the taste of that Kawasaki out of my mouth. Great bike, one I should have kept but it was sold to pay for a new left over 2003 Suzuki Bandit 1200S, a great bike.
 
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.
 
Well the bike I tried to love, but it just was, nt to be was my Goldwing 1832cc.
The roads in the UK ard pretty bumpy and the wing never got use to them, use to get bad neck ache and always had a mucky face after a ride of about 80mls.
My wife didnt like it so it spent most of its life in the garage, only used it 3 times last year about 200mls.
Had the CB and its stirring my soul again.....
 
Thread starter
Redbirds...I have a love / hate relationship with my ST 1300. I bought it as a new leftover in 2008 and I have put 37,000 on it, with another 6,000 mile trip planned for this summer. I hate the weight, and although the heat can be an issue I wear Tourmaster riding pants and boots when riding it which shields some of that from getting to me. I had my seat "Spencerized" and its better than the stocker, the major factor for me was he lowered the seat an inch as well as putting his LD foam in it. Where the ST really shines is freeway all day and the adjustable windshield is awesome. When I get headed someplace far away, I love my ST.
 
The ferret_imp said:
Redbirds...I have a love / hate relationship with my ST 1300. I bought it as a new leftover in 2008 and I have put 37,000 on it, with another 6,000 mile trip planned for this summer. I hate the weight, and although the heat can be an issue I wear Tourmaster riding pants and boots when riding it which shields some of that from getting to me. I had my seat "Spencerized" and its better than the stocker, the major factor for me was he lowered the seat an inch as well as putting his LD foam in it. Where the ST really shines is freeway all day and the adjustable windshield is awesome. When I get headed someplace far away, I love my ST.
Click to expand...
I made the same changes to mine and the bike was a comfortable tourer in winter when the engine heat actually felt good. The windscreen is the bike's best feature. I found the bike impossible to live with on a south Georgia summer day when the heat index is 110 or better. Another problem for me is the road I live on. From my driveway to the first paved road is one mile of sand-clay mix graded dirt. The 1300 was always a handful getting in and out, given it's excessive weight and high COG.

5f7ef6419e0f9f1447b57bdbd3855df6.jpg
 
Thread starter
Oh yea, I can see that, that would not be a fun road to ride on everyday. Here in Ohio we rarely get over 90, and on those days I ride early and late. Over 90 and under 30 are both miserable riding conditions on anything.
 
1998 Honda VTR1000F Superhawk.
Fun bike, fast bike, beautiful bike, but fatally flawed because Honda decided that instead of a dedicated cylinder block, they'd simply bore the cylinders into the top half of the squishy aluminum crankcase, then add a rinky-dink later of electroplating that wore out after only 50,000 miles.
It was a wheelie monster, but that was because of the rearward weight bias, and because it was colossally undergeared.
Limp, squishy brakes, laughable fuel economy, a noisy lump of an engine, and I haven't been interested in any Honda bike since that POS, but still I love looking at the old pictures of her.


 
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