Bikes you should never have bought

[kendo57]

Bought a GS1000S over a 350lc when i was 18, thought it was more a mans bike.
Biggest lump of #### i have owned

[KungFooBob]

I've never bought a proper shitter that I didn't already know was a proper shitter.

The least favourite bike I bought was probably my 2014 Triumph Tiger 800XC.

It was to replace a 1000cc Varadero and on paper it was vastly better in every way.

IRL it was a bit bland and the Varadero was better for my needs at the time. I got what I paid for it when I traded in in 12 month later, so no great loss in the grand scheme.

[Druid]

1985 E reg Kawasaki ZX400.

After (at my first VD mem meet in 2003!):
IMG-20240321-WA0001.jpg

I remember that bike. I try to forget it but...

There are two bikes that I souldn't have bought. First one was a CZ250, itwas just shit

Second was a Honda Firestorm, bought new in 2004. It was uncomfortable with a rock hard seat and low clipons, and the suspension was "budget". I chucked a load of money at it and sold it 18 months later for a £3k loss and bought a Speed Triple.

[Bigyin]

It was already mentioned in the other thread. The Yamaha XS400SE which I bought when I realised I was riding illegally on a GS125 as my 2 year learner entitlement had expired as I hadn’t passed a test so I should have been off bikes for a year before I could 125 again …. Stupid unenforceable idea at the time.

So I bought the Yamaha as it was cheap, shiny and 400cc …. What a mistake. Gutless with shit brakes and I didn’t know better.



I used it when I started as a courier, it blew up near Lancaster on the M6 at 85 mph in lane 3 and I managed to push it to Lancaster train station to get it back to Glasgow. After a rebuild it blew up again 2 months later so bought a BMW and the XS was barely used till I joined the RAF and used it to get about while posted to training bases till the bastard thing blew up again ….. sold it for spares

[Dickyboy]

Suzuki VX800 - on paper it seemed like it would suit me, but under powered, under braked & then it regularly dumped the contents of the tank into the sump (all for the sake of the accountants saving 50p) which then sprayed a mixture of fuel & oil out the breather pipe & all over the back wheel.

[Skub]

Bought a GS1000S over a 350lc when i was 18, thought it was more a mans bike.
Biggest lump of #### i have owned

I had a GS1000E which I loved,I always liked the look of the icecream van. Why was yours so shit?

[MrLongbeard]

I'm struggling with this one.
I could say the CM125 I had after passing my CBT, but I didn't buy it.
Maybe the 600 Shadow I had as a first bike after passing the full test, but it served it's purpose, was passed down to the wife for her to cut her teeth on, and then given to my BiL who still rides it occasionally, not a terrible bike just rather dull and long lived.

That second CCM maybe? Should I have had something new / different after throwing the first one into the side of a Merc? But they were fun little bikes if you got the carb icing sorted.

[Pirahna]

Bikes I don't like are 600 fours and naked fours, this that said the bikes I've bought and disliked are: CBR600 (the original jelly mould), 600 Bandit, 900 Hornet, CB1000R. There are probably some more but they're the ones that come to mind.

[Ian]

All of them, I'd be a hell of a lot richer

[Noggin]

I don’t think I have one. The Fireblade was uncomfortable and so I sold it to get the TLs. But I liked it, just hurt my back to ride it (after being stretched out to reach the bars on a Blackbird, the Blade was a bit cramped )

But, most of the bikes I’ve had other people thought I shouldn’t have got them. Never mind!!!

[DefTrap]

Monster750. Beautiful. Sow's ear.

[Skub]

All of them, I'd be a hell of a lot richer

Ah,but so much poorer in life experiences.

[hawkati]

Suzuki gsx750e. The standard non- pop up headlight version. Uncomfortable, lousy riding position for cornering, twitchy handling and bits would just fall off.
The redeeming features were being very very cheap and the engine just would not die so it served a dedostching purpose for around a year of pure abuse.

[Bigjawa]

All of them, I'd be a hell of a lot richer

Is the correct answer

[Scotsrich]

IMG_0239.jpeg (105.23 KiB) Viewed 637 times

GSXR 750y

In a nostalgic attempt to relive my days with my 750 SRAD (see bikes I should never have sold) I bought this.
Unfortunately I was about 15 years older, and less flexible as well as having another bike that I rode more.

I sold it when we were moving house and justified it as needing the money but honestly it just wasn’t getting used.

Not the usual heap of crap that most shouldn’t have bought but it just wasn’t right for me at the time.

[Sadlonelygit]

CB900 in 87. Wouldn't rev past 7,000 and a pig to start.

Bet it had k&n's on it!

[dern]

TZR 125 as my first bike. Great bike in theory but in practice the one I bought was shit. All sorts of problems. Should have bought a 4 stroke.

Gen 1 KTM 1290 superduke. Liked it on the test ride but as I got to know it I liked it less and less. I understand that some people like a difficult bike with character but the handling irritated the crap out of me. Replaced with a tuono v4 aprc that truly put the ktm in perspective by being an amazing bike in comparison until it got written off two days later. Really need to get another one.

[mboy]

Caved in to peer pressure 2yrs ago and bought an R1200GS… God it was dull!

Immensely capable for sure, capable of taking you places at speed and in comfort that not many other bikes can absolutely. But thrills?!?! Absolutely none!

Got rid after 6 months thankfully. Lost about £2k on it but was so glad to just get it gone… It reminded me that Twin Cylinder engines should be V shaped and not horizontally opposed, and that suspension forks should be conventional not telelever! Been happy back on KTM’s again since.

Also bought a bit of a lemon of a Gen1 Aprilia RSV a few years ago too… Despite my better judgement, I caved in to the fact it was a bargain @ £1800 and I didn’t want to get the train home 100 odd miles. It was short on MOT so I knew a few things would likely need sorting, and it needed a jump start to get it going. Fortunately I knew I had a spare battery at home (as long as it made it) and could fix a few of its potential issues myself with the aid of Griff @ APWorkshops tutelage… Got it home at least, but discovered a fairly significant flooding problem that nearly killed the sprag, an airbox leak causing it to run lean and shoot flames on the overrun, and all sorts of wrong bolts etc… Oh and the clutch needed bleeding every ride!

Got it through its MOT ok, which was just as well, as the clutch slave cylinder failed on the way home from the MOT! Riding a 1000cc V-Twin through rush hour traffic with no clutch was fun… NOT!!! I had to do more than a mile of stop start traffic, stalling it when traffic stopped, and then running with it as I thumbed the starter to get it going again!

Robbed a clutch slave cylinder off a donor bike I had bought cheap for parts, and got rid a week later… Amazingly I sold it for £2200, albeit if a garage had charged for all the work I had done to it, there would have been a £1k+ bill in labour for fault finding alone I guess!

[Skub]

Caved in to peer pressure 2yrs ago and bought an R1200GS… God it was dull!

Immensely capable for sure, capable of taking you places at speed and in comfort that not many other bikes can absolutely. But thrills?!?! Absolutely none!

Got rid after 6 months thankfully. Lost about £2k on it but was so glad to just get it gone… It reminded me that Twin Cylinder engines should be V shaped and not horizontally opposed, and that suspension forks should be conventional not telelever! Been happy back on KTM’s again since.

Also bought a bit of a lemon of a Gen1 Aprilia RSV a few years ago too… Despite my better judgement, I caved in to the fact it was a bargain @ £1800 and I didn’t want to get the train home 100 odd miles. It was short on MOT so I knew a few things would likely need sorting, and it needed a jump start to get it going. Fortunately I knew I had a spare battery at home (as long as it made it) and could fix a few of its potential issues myself with the aid of Griff @ APWorkshops tutelage… Got it home at least, but discovered a fairly significant flooding problem that nearly killed the sprag, an airbox leak causing it to run lean and shoot flames on the overrun, and all sorts of wrong bolts etc… Oh and the clutch needed bleeding every ride!

Got it through its MOT ok, which was just as well, as the clutch slave cylinder failed on the way home from the MOT! Riding a 1000cc V-Twin through rush hour traffic with no clutch was fun… NOT!!! I had to do more than a mile of stop start traffic, stalling it when traffic stopped, and then running with it as I thumbed the starter to get it going again!

Robbed a clutch slave cylinder off a donor bike I had bought cheap for parts, and got rid a week later… Amazingly I sold it for £2200, albeit if a garage had charged for all the work I had done to it, there would have been a £1k+ bill in labour for fault finding alone I guess!

Did you buy the Priller from Pony before he got into car dealing?

[ZRX61]

Bought an '81 or '82 Z250 for despatching. Fucking hated it, gutless & just horrid. Actually kicked the fucking thing over in a Cambridge street one day after opening the fuel cap & threw a match in the puddle of petrol.
Some goddamn *hero* rushed over with extinguisher & saved it. The fucker. This was followed by "an interview" with a cop about the act (minutes later) who told me as I hadn't claimed off the insurance there was no crime of arson & I needed to move the bike off the pavement. FFS.
A couple of months later it rewarded me by snapping the crank in half while flat out in the Fens near Ely. It actually keep going for for at least another 1/2 mile. Sold it for scrap to a breaker in Cambridge.