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

[Bryanj]

That water pump leak was rarely the seal but usualy the copper waser under the domed nut holding impeller on, people just saw a washer and never changed it but it deformed into the splines inside the impeller to seal water so leaked if reused.

[Spitfire]

My 1964 BSA A65R was great for teaching me about maintaining bikes I was always having to fix things, I can remember going down dark country lanes and the lights failed, the electrics were not the greatest. Then I had a melted piston which entailed a rebore, but I really loved that bike, I bought it when I was 16 and it is still sitting in the garage waiting for me to get my finger out and bring it back to life.

Cheers

Dennis

[Trigger]

That water pump leak was rarely the seal but usualy the copper waser under the domed nut holding impeller on, people just saw a washer and never changed it but it deformed into the splines inside the impeller to seal water so leaked if reused.

We used to find that the owner had caused the leak and even worse. They would remove the impeller and notice that the spacer on the end of the shaft was missing, order another spacer and put it on the end of the shaft. The spacer was always there, it was stuck in the back of the impeller.
They would replace the impeller and NOT put a new copper washer but, now the ceramic disc in the back of the impeller would not be touching the mechanical seal, water would come out of the water pump safety drain hole, which they would plug up with chewing gun and the water was forced into the engine and bang goes the crank 

[mike the bike]

BMW K75.   Nice and comfortable bike to ride, heated grips, effective fairing kept me dry, but....

Due to a bad German design,  the rear spines were shagged, not a lot of wear left, it smoked like a 2 stroke, especially after going on the side stand.  Putting it on the centre stand didn't do my dodgy back any good.   The centre stand wasn't too stable either.  In a pub car park it rolled forward and clobbered my mate's 400four and I had to buy him another rear lens.
The rear shock was shagged, didn't damp at all.  Just bounced it's way down the road.
The rubber pipes going to the petrol pump and injectors were all perished and needed replacing.
The starboard side panel used to fall off, secured with a discreet tie wrap.
And the tank was the wrong colour.
Apart from all that,  it was a nice bike.

[Bryanj]

Starboard? Obviously another non landlubber!

[MCTID]

Reading these posts made me chuckle......I must have had a charmed life cos none of the many bikes I have owned have left me with scars like those mentioned........but ALL my Hondas have been brilliant, especially the 1979 CX500 I bought as an everyday work hack (with massive Krauser panniers and Top Box for all my TA kit) which NEVER let me down in two years with minimal maintenance - as nothing ever went wrong with it......not even a blown bulb !

The beautiful looking pimento red Triumph Stag was another story though ! If I was ever to strangle a vehicle and bury it in the woods or set it ablaze, that would have been the one !

What never fails to amuse me though is reading the Test Reports on a £20K or £25K new bike....'Innovative, refreshing, interesting concept' all describing characteristics which two or three years later, the same Journos and the same Magazines will describe as 'trying, expensive to repair, difficult to access, not to be purchased by inexperienced riders, only to be taken on if you have a wallet full of £50 notes - and a large wallet at that' etc etc.

These 'experts' always fail to ask the simplest questions of the manufacturers like 'How can you expect potential buyers to buy this bike when 16" tyres in this speed rating are not yet commercially available or affordable' ? or 'How can you justify the fact that at the 10,000 mile service, it will take a Dealer 8 hours to replace the OHC belt because the engine needs to be removed to undo one bolt which is inaccessible with the engine in place, at a cost of nearly a thousand pounds in labour charges' ? or lastly, 'Why have you opted for using an Air Filter Box which needs three pairs of hands to reinstall it after removal - just to adjust the tick over' ? I did manage to get some 'free' parts from Kawasaki when I complained that the front indicator on my new ZXR1200S which needed replacing due to knocking it against a car park bollard also necessitated a new half fairing, new decals, and a complete respray all because some dopey Designer had chosen to mount the indicator on the fairing rather than a stalk ! But that's another story.

To answer some of the dark and dismal tales of this thread, if only the Journos were to 'tell it like it is' and hold the Manufacturers to account, maybe we would get better products ! LOL.

[cooleronthecoast]

You raise some very good points there mate.  My Tuono (modern) V4 has a major service every 12,000 miles which includes valve clearance checks/shimming as required etc.   It can cost £6 -800 at a main dealer.   I love the bike though and many owners with good spanner knowledge tell me I could probably do it myself.  What happened with the Stag?  They were prone to cylinder heads overheating and warping if I recall correctly.

[SteveD CB500K0]

... if only the Journos were to 'tell it like it is' and hold the Manufacturers to account, maybe we would get better products !

A good point and one made recently by an aspiring motorcycling journalist friend of mine.

You can read his take on “Is motorcycling journalism broken?” here: https://www.tvam.org/is-motorcycle-journalism-broken/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mickwinf]

my first proper bike a royal enfield crusader purchased for i think £30. To be fair it was old and i had zero mechanical knowledge, i had some fun on it until i bought my 250k4. When i sold it i made a profit despite it breaking down on the test run, the lad had pushed it back, but when he saw the queue of prospective buyers on my driveway he bought it anyway!

[cooleronthecoast]

Just to stick another nail in the CJ Hondas coffin, I wonder what CJ actually stood for?   Crap Job  perhaps!   ;-)

[AshimotoK0]

Sorry everyone you missed your ideal opportunity to own a nice CJ 

BTW If you come accross any NOS CJ exhaust components grab 'em cos they are mega rare and go for lots of £££££
 
I always thought CJ was Reggie Perrins boss anyway.

http://classichondamotorcycles.co.uk/bikedetail.aspx?bike=4918


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[AndyD]

Ash,
You're absolutely right about the exhausts.
I haven't seen any replacement ones made anywhere (I guess exhaust manufacturers have their pride!) so original ones are very rare.
I've got one with a almost new silencer worth more than all 3 bikes together probably.
The other two have the most hideous bodge jobs - one has a standard silencer shortened and an end cap welded on, the other a badly fitted odd megaphone silencer!
Cheers,
Andy

[Bryanj]

Ash you have now given me visions of pigs

[royhall]

They don't make replica exhausts so you have to scrap em. Organised by the taste police.

[cooleronthecoast]

The silencer on the CJ looks similar to the ones on the 550F's