Whats the crappest bike you've ever owned and why?

[Allington (Steve)]

Hey my Sportster has good brakes! I insisted on buying the ‘R’ model with twin front discs after doing a bike swap with a friend’s Dyna Glide. Following me on my Triumph Daytona 1000, his first words were ‘God you were taking those corners fast!’ I explained that was only because there weren’t any brakes to speak of, I had the lever back to the bar!

Same guy later lent me a Commando, I asked the passenger to put his feet down when he saw me squeeze the lever, I was joking but the brakes were pretty much useless. I remember the 750 was the MCN Machine of the Year at the same time as they were being recalled as the Combats were blowing their main bearings.

At one time if you had a Ford key you could get in any other Ford, but not necessarily free the ignition switch,  I once moved a Granada blocking me in to the middle of the road at a funny angle, as I couldn’t get the steering lock off. I locked it up again and pictured his face when he came back.

I also had a Vauxhall Victor with a sun floor and brakes on one side only, but hey, it cost £30.

Harley actually make some good stuff which you have to shell out for after you buy it new. I did some quick sums with mine to work out how much it needed spending and I just got rid of it 

[Allington (Steve)]

Only thing that kept it going was nostalgia

I guess people had a lot less money (although not clever enough to budget in constant repairs), people were a lot more tolerant and older guys seemed to think that Jap bikes were the work of the devil. I remember being on an almost new gleaming red 750 kettle and an old guy on an old rat infested ex police 650 Triumph pulled up next to me at traffic lights and shouted over "I wouldn't have one of those f@*£ing things if you paid me!"

The change came and it came quick thankfully

[royhall]

I remember a lot of jap hating in the 60s and 70s came from still recent memories of what the Japs did in WW2 passed down from the older guys. Strangely I don't recall those guys having it in for BMW. Plus a sense that the Orient was going to take our jobs as the bikes and cars from Japan were clearly superior. Fair shout really.

In defence of the British it was pretty hard to work to fine tolerances on old clapped out machine tools that spent their best days churning out bombs etc. Thanks to the Marshall plan the Japs had the brand new latest machinery.

In 1980 I owned a Norton Commando 850 roadster that was good except for stripping the exhaust rings out of the head. A local guy machined them out and made phosphor bronze rings for it, they never went again. Even the electric start worked reliably though it did kill batteries.

[bobv7]

The usual sneering comment was "Jap crap!". Well, that didn't last long and was quickly followed by the collapse of the British bike industry. As for BMW they were fairly minor players at the time with only a couple of very expensive and outdated models. There was talk of BMW pulling out of the bike market to concentrate on their growing car sector, but in the mid seventies they played the exclusivity game with hand painted tinware and over the top pricing for really the same bike with different sized pots fitted. I did like the 800 though; nicely balanced once you got used to the interesting handling characteristics.

[MrDavo]

Regarding the clapped out machine tools, apparently the Norton race shop was completely ruined by being moved from Bracebridge St, where the milling machines and lathes had just the right number of beer mats etc. under their corners to be level, and were never the same again.

I was pretty much in the Jap Crap camp at one time, as I stayed at home to disembowel my Triumph. Again. It was a great bike to ride, in between mechanical disasters.

What put me off all foreign bikes, when bikes were my only transport, was having to get a bus to a distant dealer, order whatever part I needed from a surly parts manager, get the bus home again and be a pedestrian for two weeks while I waited for the part to come in.

Now I can order online, using my iPad, from the comfort of my bed.

[cooleronthecoast]

I think I came into road biking just as the British factories were having their last gasp.   As a 17 year old in 1975, there wasn't any Brand new British bikes to be had under 250cc (I'm happy to be corrected on that point if anyone knows better).  So to ride on L plates, it was either a used British C15 or a Bantam or similar or something of Japanese origin. There was the Ducati Desmo 250 single and AMC Harley had a 250 single too, but they were out of my budget new.

I ended up getting a brand new Yamaha RD200 as they were quite a bit cheaper than the 250's at the time, £408 as I recall, against about £525 for the RD250 - Happy days Lol.    The only new British bikes left by then were Triumphs Bonnevilles, the Trident and Nortons Commando 850.  I think even the BSA version of the Trident, the Rocket 3 had gone by early '76.  Didn't Triumph and BSA have a last gasp at a 350 twin, the Bandit? but I don't think it got into showrooms before they folded.   

So really there wasn't much choice for a 17 year old learner rider outside the Jap 4 companies at that time.

[Allington (Steve)]

I remember a lot of jap hating in the 60s and 70s came from still recent memories of what the Japs did in WW2 passed down from the older guys. Strangely I don't recall those guys having it in for BMW. Plus a sense that the Orient was going to take our jobs as the bikes and cars from Japan were clearly superior. Fair shout really.

In defence of the British it was pretty hard to work to fine tolerances on old clapped out machine tools that spent their best days churning out bombs etc. Thanks to the Marshall plan the Japs had the brand new latest machinery.

In 1980 I owned a Norton Commando 850 roadster that was good except for stripping the exhaust rings out of the head. A local guy machined them out and made phosphor bronze rings for it, they never went again. Even the electric start worked reliably though it did kill batteries.

My friend Mick had a much modified 850 Interstate (he was an engineer) and it was a much better bike but he enjoyed the fixing as much as he did the riding which is possibly why. Fixed the constant exhaust problem in the end by drilling a fin either side and then the finned exhaust screw and wiring them.

[Allington (Steve)]

I think I came into road biking just as the British factories were having their last gasp.   As a 17 year old in 1975, there wasn't any Brand new British bikes to be had under 250cc (I'm happy to be corrected on that point if anyone knows better).  So to ride on L plates, it was either a used British C15 or a Bantam or similar or something of Japanese origin. There was the Ducati Desmo 250 single and AMC Harley had a 250 single too, but they were out of my budget new.

I ended up getting a brand new Yamaha RD200 as they were quite a bit cheaper than the 250's at the time, £408 as I recall, against about £525 for the RD250 - Happy days Lol.    The only new British bikes left by then were Triumphs Bonnevilles, the Trident and Nortons Commando 850.  I think even the BSA version of the Trident, the Rocket 3 had gone by early '76.  Didn't Triumph and BSA have a last gasp at a 350 twin, the Bandit? but I don't think it got into showrooms before they folded.   

So really there wasn't much choice for a 17 year old learner rider outside the Jap 4 companies at that time.

I had both a C15 and a Bantam but really as having a bike was your only form of transport and easily accessible HP by then it just meant you could get to work and have biking fun with the reliability. The 70's saw a new breed of biker with L plate usable bikes that were great fun.

[bobv7]

A mate of mine still has his Interstate Commando bought new in 1972. Not entirely original now or without it's problems, but even with the Combat engine he has still singularly failed to blow it up. Here it is with my old CB175 and another friends Suzuki 500 as usual outside a pub in the rain.
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[Laverda Dave]

This is worth a watch (well, there's nothing else to do is there!).  It tells the story of the demise of the british bike industry due mainly to the poor management, lack of investment in new tooling and models. 

https://youtu.be/uvmIq6walP8

[Colonial-Clive (yindi)]

Never had a bad bike just bad taste, try a Russian Jupiter 350 two stroke built like a tank and weighed as much compared to the jap stuff. Many encounters with solid stuff that came off second best to the rugged Russian and gave me a good grounding on motorcycle maintenance and riding before graduation to cb500/4 in 76. That’s when the real enjoyment started on the 2 wheel stead’s. 

[taysidedragon]

In answer to the mention of the Triumph Bandit and BSA Fury 350 twins, they have some of the prototype or pre-production bikes on show in the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.
They were hurried towards production so use front forks and brakes from the bigger twins, no disc brakes.
I think they were good looking bikes with a decent ohc engine and could have been successful.  Too late unfortunately. I took these photos on an earlier trip to the museum. Well worth a look.

[MrDavo]

If it weren't for the lockdown I was scheduled to visit the Honda museum at Twin Ring Motegi sometime this week.

No driptrays there.

[Allington (Steve)]

A mate of mine still has his Interstate Commando bought new in 1972. Not entirely original now or without it's problems, but even with the Combat engine he has still singularly failed to blow it up. Here it is with my old CB175 and another friends Suzuki 500 as usual outside a pub in the rain.
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If it's a combat it will be about the only one in existence that hasn't. He deserves a medal 

[Bryanj]

I hate to think how many Norton gearboxes i rebuilt