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c_dug |
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c_dug Super Spammer
Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :
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Posted: 09:27 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: Least favourite bikes owned previously? |
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Spurred on by the other thread, lets go the other way.
Which bike do you think back on with a resounding "meh"?
For me it has to be my VFR800 Vtec.
I owned it for a year or two, did a ton of miles, commuted it daily, took it to Santa Pod, loaded it up with luggage and a pillion and did hundreds of miles painlessly, tore around the Welsh mountains probably faster than I'd have managed on any other bike I've owned.
And still.
Still.
Just meh.
I don't know why we never clicked, I don't know why I didn't like it. On paper and in practice it is a brilliant bike, but something about it just didn't sit right with me. I think it was honestly a bit too good of an all rounder, it sort of had no soul.
So, what's yours? ____________________ I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock. |
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yen_powell |
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yen_powell World Chat Champion
Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Karma :
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Karma :
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Posted: 10:02 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: Re: Least favourite bikes owned previously? |
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CB400N Superdream.
c_dug wrote: |
Which bike do you think back on with a resounding "meh"? |
"Meh" is a resounding understatement. Horrible thing. Gutless, Superbland, original hinge-in-the-middle handling, everything failed at once. Putting it in a skip would have done an injustice to anything else in there. The dealer who gave me £50 for it to get rid of me was mugged. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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doggone |
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doggone World Chat Champion
Joined: 20 May 2004 Karma :
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MarJay |
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MarJay But it's British!
Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :
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The Shaggy D.A. |
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The Shaggy D.A. Super Spammer
Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Karma :
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Posted: 14:06 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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1979 BMW R100RT.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/bikepics.com/Pics-Web/2004/08/28/bikepics-202568-full.jpg
Of all the bikes I've had, it's the one most likely to be a "no" to the question "Would I have one again?". Nothing particularly wrong, just found it cumbersome.
Some of the other bikes were ones I wanted to get out of my system or served a purpose at the time - glad I had them, but won't need to have another again. GT550, LS650P, CB250 Nighthawk fit that category. ____________________ Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5 |
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bacon |
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bacon World Chat Champion
Joined: 09 Jan 2009 Karma :
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Posted: 15:43 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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ZRX1200R
I personally hate modified bikes of any description, but something came over me while I was looking for a ZRX1200 (probably due to the lack of them around at reasonable cash) and I ended up buying a heavily modified one for a reasonable price.
It had a full akra, pod filters, fully setup to run perfectly (I will give it that, it ran sweet as a nut).
ZX9R USD front end, OEM brake calipers fitted onto some rather chunky custom machined aluminum caliper brackets
Fully floating discs which rattled like a bag of nails.
JMC rear swing arm - Beautiful in isolation
All custom spacers etc to ensure fitting of stock wheels into them.
Very wide (too wide for me anyway) and low bars which I changed to some Rethals which was slightly better.
Battery relocated so you could fit a 1 gallon bottle easy under the seat.
Ohlins rear shocks.
Corbin Seat
Who knows how many other modifications, it's hard to remember them all.
Anyway, a flexible steel tubular frame with a stiff USD front end/JMC alloy box section swing arm made it handle like a twitchy sack of potatoes, terrifying tram lining mid corner etc.
My favourite "find" shortly after buying it was the terrifying >70mph head shake on motorways....
Chased the issue down to the front brake line.....under throttle on the motorway the front end was extended and would pull the bars to the right due to some muppet installing a brake line that was too short and routed terribly.
Considering this conversion work was completed at a "proper" motorcycle machineshop/workshop" in wales, who actually used it in their photo gallery as a portfolio of work done, it was quite shocking they allowed the bike to go back to the customer like this. nothing wrong with the actual machining work I should add.
I fixed the brake line issue by re routing it, it was "just" long enough, but I could never get it to handle satisfactorily, I wish I had bought a stock one and been patient.
Lesson learnt which I won't repeat again.
I just found the link actually to the garage that completed the work.
https://www.motorcycledynobridgend.co.uk/.
The bike on the home page was mine, but it seems the gallery has gone. Images that appear to pop up in the background on occasion there are also of the bike. |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
Joined: 22 Nov 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 16:40 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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w650, may be? you can have fun on these, but you have to be a bit cruel - being under-square, it doesn't really take too kindly to revving - tbf, it will do it, it's just not its forte...so you potter, and pottering's fine - until you realise how bloody uncomfy that seat is
cb125td - yeah, no - wants to rev like fuck but then starts to give off grenade vibes when you do, with a thin comfort zone somewhere in the middle that often proves illusive - heavy too, for what it is
cb500 - nowt wrong with it, everything right with it...but seems to have been determinedly built around a lack of 'x' factor ____________________ "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."
Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125 |
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wr6133 |
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wr6133 World Chat Champion
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
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Nobby the Bastard |
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Nobby the Bastard Harley Gaydar
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stinkwheel |
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stinkwheel Bovine Proctologist
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pepperami |
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pepperami Super Spammer
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Karma :
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Posted: 19:36 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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pepperami wrote: |
Another vote for the crappy Yamaha XS 250...
The same goes for the equally horrid XS 400 I owned. |
If at first you don't succeed, double down! ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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pepperami |
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pepperami Super Spammer
Joined: 17 Jan 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 19:51 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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It took three XS’s before I learnt my lesson ____________________ I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now! |
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virus |
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virus World Chat Champion
Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Karma :
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Posted: 20:04 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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Similar to the xs250, I would like to offer up Kawasaki's offering to the gods of fucking disappointment. The Z250 twin. a heat siezing mess of utterly shite proportions. I feel Ill every time I see one now, thankfully most of them have been crushed and turned into something useful by now... ____________________ own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance. |
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ThatDippyTwat |
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ThatDippyTwat World Chat Champion
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Bhud |
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Bhud World Chat Champion
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virus |
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virus World Chat Champion
Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Karma :
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Posted: 22:45 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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Bhud wrote: | virus wrote: | Similar to the xs250, I would like to offer up Kawasaki's offering to the gods of fucking disappointment. The Z250 twin. a heat siezing mess of utterly shite proportions. I feel Ill every time I see one now, thankfully most of them have been crushed and turned into something useful by now... |
Fortunately, I dodged a bullet on one of those when it turned up for sale last year.
Couldn't have been as bad as the Z200 single though.
That thing is rough as hell. Couldn't wait to get rid. |
It was worse. same size sump, same size woefully shite oil pump and thimble filter... ____________________ own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance. |
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Shaft |
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Shaft World Chat Champion
Joined: 27 Dec 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 23:08 - 15 Jul 2021 Post subject: Re: Least favourite bikes owned previously? |
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chickenstrip wrote: | CB400N Superdream.
c_dug wrote: |
Which bike do you think back on with a resounding "meh"? |
"Meh" is a resounding understatement. Horrible thing. Gutless, Superbland, original hinge-in-the-middle handling, everything failed at once. Putting it in a skip would have done an injustice to anything else in there. The dealer who gave me £50 for it to get rid of me was mugged. |
Now I loved my Superdreams, absolutely brilliant for what I was doing, which was being a London courier.
My favourite was a 1981 example in black, with front and rear crash bars and Hagon shocks, it was solid, able to take any amount of abuse and as reliable as night following day.
I thought it was infinitely preferable to the other most popular 'small' dispatcher, the CB250RS, which I found to be a cramped, twitchy vibe monster.
Which brings me to my least favourite bike................. the CB250N Superdream
Specifically the one I bought a few years ago, a non runner that I got cheap, with a view to fettling it up a bit and reliving my youth.
Got it going in the end (even did a resto thread here) but the rose tinted glasses were quickly cast aside, when I realised it was a slow, heavy pig of a thing, that handled like a supermarket trolley.
I managed a slow and tedious run to the Ace, used it a few times to go to work on, then it let me down in the car park at Box Hill, when the new throttle cable broke.
By this time I had decided this was one chapter of my younger days that should've stayed firmly closed and, after it languished outside my gaff for a bit, it was crammed into the back of a rented Berlingo and sent off for a new life with another BCF member.
I know he bought it as a stop gap, but I never found out how briefly he had it, or what happened to it next, but if it had been a horse, the kindest thing would've been to put it out of it's misery and shoot the bastard ____________________ Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035 |
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mentalboy |
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mentalboy World Chat Champion
Joined: 05 May 2012 Karma :
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
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arry |
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arry Super Spammer
Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Karma :
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Posted: 09:32 - 16 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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I suppose I'm lucky that I haven't had a glut of poor bikes - probably the benefit of starting out quite a lot later than you guys - but for me, it has to be this thing:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51315679510_44f311e267_c.jpg
I know Nobby loves his but it'll be just another thing we disagree on.
I bought it because I wanted a Speed Triple but needed a one-bike solution for taking the missus around the place and the Speed wasn't going to work for that.
I thought I'd fallen for it because of the engine - which was fabulous - because the pop pop crackle bang on the overrun was addictive and the rush of torque through all of the rev range was extremely useable and effective.
But every other part of the bike I was just meh with.
The brakes were uninspiring and vague. It always felt heavy - heavier than its claimed weight - and very top heavy with it. Long sweepers it was fine but anything technical it just tied itself up in knots super quick.
It didn't know what it was. Sports-Touring bike that did neither particularly convincingly. The underslung exhaust was a PITA for luggage, no bungee points, crap panniers - heavy, leaky, odd shape, very little room, and a riding position that forced your knees up around your ears for no good reason whatsoever. I suppose it did have a decent tank range but that's about all I could commend. Sporty? Nah, not really. It was sporty for a big bike but no sports bike by any stretch. In short, my CBR600F had it all boxed off in every department and I should have kept the CBR, and never have kept the Sprint for 4 years. Never.
Cheap plastics, fasteners, fake metal bits, metal bits that furred up mentally quickly, horrific chain adjuster hub that'd seize you so much as think about moving it.
Nope, no love for it at all. |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Karma :
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Posted: 10:36 - 16 Jul 2021 Post subject: |
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mentalboy wrote: |
My mate had a fully faired 250 wetdream, by far the worst bike I have ever had the mispleasure to ride/work on. Thanks to that machine, it was twenty years before I dared buy a Honda. |
I never did after the wetdream. Not only was there that experience, but all the problems they had with cam chain stuff (that was back in the 80s, and they were still having problems when I was working for dealers in the late 90s) and just a reputation for blandness which I think they've never really addressed, never mind shaken off. I used to drool over pictures of CB1100Rs and still love the look of a nicely modified CB900F, but always had this suspicion that ownership would be another kettle of fish. I know there have been Fireblades and CBR600s that are raved about, the SP1 always looked the nuts imo...but, well, just Honda. They just always seem to miss the excitement of motorcycling for me. To this day, road test after road test by publications and individuals always seem to mention how they do things well, but never seem to have any one outstanding characteristic that you could say they were all about. Just too civilised for me I guess. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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arry |
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arry Super Spammer
Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Karma :
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 2 years, 284 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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