Other Stuff > Misc / Open
Whats the crappest bike you've ever owned and why?
Tomb:
How the hell did this thread turn into a car discussion? ;D ;D
bobv7:
Logical progression.
1. Buy crap bike , learn how to fix it.
2. Sell it, buy crap car know how to fix it.
3. Get good job, buy good car.
4. Spare cash, buy crap bike, fix it.
Simple! 8)
matthewmosse:
I bought a busmar astral sidecar to go on my BMW outfit in place of a watsonian Palma. The busmar asteral is a massive caravan style thing from the 1950's made with a floor that looked like a country cottage door and the internal ply was recycled tea chests and looked from the nail holes on the alloy skin etc like it was original woodwork. The ignition key for the BMW bike I was fitting it to fitted the sidecar door perfectly. None of other 100 odd keys I have in my box of odd keys fitted so it wasnt a case of any old screwdriver- not like Lucas tractor keys... I geuss that bike was fated to carry that chair.
Allington (Steve):
In 1974 (I think) bought a year old Norton Commando. No idea why, sold my beloved Yamaha 2-stroke and spent the next year inside many workshops and garages keeping a 750 Fastback (Combat engine) in one piece. The thing never broke down, it just "grenaded" itself for fun on a very regular basis. Pistons breaking up, it would go through crankshafts and bearings like my Yamaha went through 2-stroke oil, exhausts fell out of the head, carbs fell off of the head, center stand fell off at just about flat out and bounced over a car, the brakes came off a bobsleigh, the electrics were designed by a blind monkey, you would have needed Red Adair to stop it wee'ing oil like a 50 year old incontinent dumper, every possible nut, bolt, fastener and everything else would fall off on a weekly basis and I think the Japanese paid the British Bike industry to keep going just to catapult their own bikes into the world.
Unless you are a true biking masochist the Commando was a complete and utter horror story compared with what was available from the land of the rising sun at the time. Gave it away when it was about 2 years old to some idiot that came along and told me that it looked a lovely bike! The British bike industry up until around about the time of Hinkley had nothing at all to do with biking. It was just keeping the spanner industry going.
Funny enough if you ride a new Harley Davidson Sportster back to back with a 70's Commando now with your eyes closed (you might as well as both have no brakes) apart from the fact that the Harley starts easy and is quite reliable you would never tell which bike you are on. The riding experience is pretty much identical.
No idea how the Brit industry of that era managed to limp along for so long. The pleasure of giving the thing away outweighed the excitement of buying it!
Bryanj:
Only thing that kept it going was nostalgia
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