Your LEAST favorite motorcycle you owned?

EffZeeOne

EffZeeOne

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By a wide margin, my least favorite was this cherry 2007 VTX-1800 Spec-3. I thought I wanted to go cruising again after owning a Bandit for 7 years. So anyway, $7000 later I'm on Honda's flagship cruiser. I owned it for 8 months.

Comfortable at a standstill and up to 10MPH. At highway speeds, especially over our windy bridges, I was miserable. It had great acceleration, but I'd hit the rev limiter through every gear but 5. I called it "a fast motorcycle that you can't ride fast".

07F3.jpg
 
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I suppose if I had to pick a least favourite, it would be my 1982 Suzuki GS650E. But even being my least, it was still a fantastic bike.

It was sexy bike with an amazing exhaust note but I think it just lacked the tightness and precision of a modern bike when it came to operating the controls, clutch & shifting, on/off throttle, steering, etc. Brakes were weak, chassis was lazy but it was pretty fast for an old stinker.
 
Dustin said:
I suppose if I had to pick a least favourite, it would be my 1982 Suzuki GS650E. But even being my least, it was still a fantastic bike.

It was sexy bike with an amazing exhaust note but I think it just lacked the tightness and precision of a modern bike when it came to operating the controls, clutch & shifting, on/off throttle, steering, etc. Brakes were weak, chassis was lazy but it was pretty fast for an old stinker.
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I think that bike is classy. I'd love to have one of them old GS's to just tinker with and take on short rides. I remember one GS I rode that had lights in the speedometer to tell you what gear you were in. So perfectly Japanese!
 
EffZeeOne said:
By a wide margin, my least favorite was this cherry 2007 VTX-1800 Spec-3. I thought I wanted to go cruising again after owning a Bandit for 7 years. So anyway, $7000 later I'm on Honda's flagship cruiser. I owned it for 8 months.

Comfortable at a standstill and up to 10MPH. At highway speeds, especially over our windy bridges, I was miserable. It had great acceleration, but I'd hit the rev limiter through every gear but 5. I called it "a fast motorcycle that you can't ride fast".

07F3.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow! That's not a bike I ever thought would be on anyone's least favorite list even though I'm not crazy about cruisers. I have ridden many of my friend's cruisers but not that bike. Their owners usually laud the VTX's. Out of curiosity are there any cruisers you've ridden that you liked better?

As to your original question I haven't met a bike I didn't like but if I had to pick one I least liked it would be the briefly owned 2009 Kawasaki KLX250SF mostly because it was a little too anemic for my taste. I also had forgotten how much I dislike carbureted vehicles, lol.
 
Hummm, toss up between my 2008 Buell 1125R or my first bike, a 1973 Yamaha TX500. Both were the most unreliable POS's. At least when the Buell wasn't in the shop it was a blast to ride.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are my current bikes; the FZ1 and the R6, both are so much fun, and never break.
 
Dustin said:
I suppose if I had to pick a least favourite, it would be my 1982 Suzuki GS650E. But even being my least, it was still a fantastic bike.

It was sexy bike with an amazing exhaust note but I think it just lacked the tightness and precision of a modern bike when it came to operating the controls, clutch & shifting, on/off throttle, steering, etc. Brakes were weak, chassis was lazy but it was pretty fast for an old stinker.
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With the right mods the old GS's actually performed pretty well.

My '81 GS1100EX had shocks, steering damper, fork brace, fork springs, stainless steel brake lines, and frame gussetting. With those changes it handled and braked pretty well for 550 lbs.

View attachment 4920
 
1973 Honda QA50
Honda-QA50-1973.jpg

We had an orange QA50 and had to share it with my brothers. Sure it was better than nothing and I had tons of fun with it. I wanted the 1973 Honda XR75 but my little brother was 3 or 4 years old at the time and my dad thought the XR75 may have been too much for him. The QA50 had a 2 speed automatic transmission. I'm still mad at my little brother because of this and he sold his 1984 Kawasaki 900 Ninja that was in perfect condition. He should have givin his GPz900R to me since I didn't get the XR75. :spank2:
 
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Norm said:
Wow! That's not a bike I ever thought would be on anyone's least favorite list even though I'm not crazy about cruisers. I have ridden many of my friend's cruisers but not that bike. Their owners usually laud the VTX's. Out of curiosity are there any cruisers you've ridden that you liked better?
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I had fond memories of my Shadow1100 and a short stint on a Vulcan 750, and those memories were the catalyst for buying the VTX. I was fine with those older cruisers. The VTX was also a fine bike, just not for me. People do seem to love them but they are heavy-assed dinosaurs in my book.
 
Mine was the first street bike I owned. It was probably a great bike in its day but the used one I got? Well, I was very young and did not know a lot about bikes. I bought it cheap and got what I paid for. The thing was under a wrench more than it was under my arse! 1977 Suzuki GS 400 and no where near as good as this Google file pic!
1977_GS400_blue_800.jpg
 
Norm said:
Actually Eric that's a pretty decent looking bike. It reminds me of some of the classic Triumphs, T100 type stuff.
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I think it would have been great if it were in better shape when I got it. And you are right, it is a good looking little scoot.

Maybe a good restore project but if I do, I'll try and find the early 80's GS 750. ;)

1980_GS750G_black_450.jpg


Look what this guy did to his '77!!
suzuki-gs-750.jpg
 
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Easy, my first bike was a 2003 Honda Shadow 750. paid 3300 for it and then the dealership tried to F$#k me out of 1200 for new sprockets, chain etc etc etc. I told them to shove it.

Maybe it was the dealer as much as the bike that pissed me off.
 
Mine would have to be my first street bike, the venerable Yamaha Virago 535. Since I am 6' tall and 250lbs I was told on multiple occasions that I looked like Magilla gorilla or Grape ape on the thing.
 
My older brother convinced me I'd love the 650 V-Strom ( he owned the 1000 V-Strom). V-Strom owners I spoke with were like evangelicals about their V-Stroms. They'd say things like, "It's the perfect motorcycle". After owning one for several months, I came to a couple of conclusions: The V-Strom is a compromise bike. It doesn't preform well in the dirt or on the road; it performs both duties in a mediocre fashion. Secondly, I realized: For me, motorcycling is riding a sportbike-not an adventure bike. So, after two emergency manuvers on the road, in which the bike performed abysmally, I sold it.
2008 Suzi 650 V-Strom


2008-Suzuki-V-Strom650-DL650b-small.jpg
 
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Polestar said:
My older brother convinced me I'd love the 650 V-Strom ( he owned the 1000 V-Strom). V-Strom owners I spoke with were like evangelicals about their V-Stroms. They'd say things like, "It's the perfect motorcycle". After owning one for several months, I came to a couple of conclusions: The V-Strom is a compromise bike. It doesn't preform well on the dirt or the road, but does both in a mediocre way. Secondly, I realized: For me, motorcycling is riding a sportbike-not an adventure bike. So, after two emergency manuvers on the road, in which the bike performed abysmally, I sold it.
2008 Suzi 650 V-Strom


2008-Suzuki-V-Strom650-DL650b-small.jpg
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An extremely thoughtful evaluation of that bike IMHO! I rode one once and I too failed to see the zealot like love for the bike. The problem I have is that once you've ridden an FZ1 or an FZ6 you become very spoiled. Since most of us are on pavement most of the time we want bikes that respond to our thoughts, not to mention our inputs, which both the FZ's do. Of course there are even better bikes in this regard, but the VStrom is not one of them.
 
Tie: YZ400F and 2003 BMW K1200LT-C

It would have to be a tie. I loved the Yamaha YZ400F I purchased when it came out, but literally the bike WOULD NOT START if you stalled it during a Hare Scramble. I would kick til I thought I was going to die, then the plug would foul. To top all of that off, you plug was buried so DEEP in the HEAD that you had to remove the whole damn seat, shrouds, and gas tank just to change the plug! What a nightmare, and it was bone stock. In the rain, in Florida, in the woods, taking 45minutes to simply get the bike to start again and working the whole time on it was HORRIBLE. So, I loved it while riding it, but absolutely wanted to submarine it off a cliff simply because of the ridiculous starting issues and plug replacement procedure.

Worst street bike... That's easy. The 2003 BMW K1200LT-C, also known as the flying brick. Heavy, slow, ridiculously overloaded with stuff, and no fun at all to ride. I guess I was trying to do something similar to what's listed above with the VTX1800, thinking I was going to change or mature or whatever. I had 7 bikes at the time including the MV Agusta and I couldn't have been happier to sell that BMW. Heated grips, heated seats, ABS, Alarm, and a 6-disc CD changer all couldn't save that bike from its ultimate fate of being sold after 8 weeks.

I will say the intercom system, GPS, XM Radio, and electronic cruise control were all very nice, but the rest of the bike was just simply not for me. Reverse was cool, too, but I'd prefer a bike that didn't need it!
 
I should add that in the back of one of those pics you can see my 2003 FJR1300 in the garage, and I guess since that was one of my favorite bikes the BMW didn't stand a chance.
 
Norm said:
An extremely thoughtful evaluation of that bike IMHO! I rode one once and I too failed to see the zealot like love for the bike. The problem I have is that once you've ridden an FZ1 or an FZ6 you become very spoiled. Since most of us are on pavement most of the time we want bikes that respond to our thoughts, not to mention our inputs, which both the FZ's do. Of course there are even better bikes in this regard, but the VStrom is not one of them.
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You know, I've struggled with the realization that the V-Strom is the perfect bike for me on paper. It has the fuel range, comfort, headlights, luggage capability, etc, etc that I need; but I have no interest in it whatsoever.

I think it's an awful bike, terrible to look at and completely uninteresting in every way.
 
My first bike which was a kawasaki ZZR250.
It wasn't too bad a bike for a learner but compared to my other following bikes, it paled in comparison.
 
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