Not sure if this topic has been done before, but if you've been riding for many years like me you sometimes buy a bike which turned out to be a little bit crap. What was your lemon and why. I'll start................ Back in 1976 I had a yearning for a Kawasaki 250 triple. So went down to Eddy's in Leeds only to find out there was none about, so scratching head decided to go for its competitor a Yamaha RD250B. It looked the bees knees in orange and black, but right from the start, it started to go wrong. That bike which should have been a little rocket capable of over a ton refused to run on 2 cyclinders. It went back to Eddy's time and again, they tried everything to fix it and yet it remained the heaviest 125. I came to loath that bike, I had 9 months of hell with it and in the end I got rid of it and bought another Yamaha 250 but this time a reliable 4 stroke the XS250. Your turn
Mine was a Honda H100 2 stroke. Had moved up to Scotland from England 1990 and was unemployed so didn't have a great deal of cash to spend on a bike. Needed one for getting to/from interviews etc so bought this as at that time I was just going to be running around Glasgow. Anyway shortly after buying it it started to lose power, backfiring. Can't remember what the problem was exactly but was timing related. So had to take it to a garage to get it sorted. Cost me as near as much as it had cost me to buy it. Bike wasn't even that old, obviously that was why it was so cheap for the age of it. Never trusted the bike after that was always doing something with it. Had to strip the carb once or twice at the road side. Thankfully it was fairly straight forward to work on but if you saw the amount of tools I carried everywhere I went ...... just incase of if x y or z happened.
RD200 DT125 DT175 LC250 RD400 All good fun but I blew up every one of them bloody 2strokes work of devil
CZ 125 - absolute bloody crap. If you could finally get it started you didn't need to think about fuel consumption as it would stop again in minutes. I think I eventually threw it away.
Suzuki TS 185, T reg. I pushed it more than rode it, especially if it rained. Then I moved the big clump of electrical connectors from right in the water firing line from the front wheel into the headlamp and it was much better. I seized it several times due to running out of two stroke oil. Didn't seem to bother it though.
Fantic six speed moped was my first road legal transport. Barsteward to start even from new, used to melt spark plugs and pistons, it also threw me over the handlebars, not the bikes fault but a plastic shoed smarmy sales rep trying to kill me in an Avenger.
Not saying this was a crap bike in the slightest, just in reply to TC and her XS250 I had a Yamaha XS500 Covered many miles on that bike without a hint of trouble. Good buy for £300 from a mate, I then sold it to my younger brother who ran it for a good few years.
Surprised to hear the RD250 played up. I had its immediate predecessor the DS7 which was pretty much the same less reed valves. It ran like a train and I rode it from Hertfordshire to Dundee at back fully laden in all weathers at least three times. The original Bridgestones were lethal and the metal plug caps threw off blue sparks in the rain. I sold it on to a friend after 5 years and nearly 40,000 miles and it ran well for him right up to the day it was nicked.....
Like GaryM I also had a Honda H100, the SII model in my case. The vibrations over 50 miles an hour meant I went everywhere slowly and I lost count of the times it whiskered the plug leading to prolonged roadside waiting for it to cool down enough not to burn me when fixing it. Of course going slowly also meant frequent baffle removal for a de-coke, which was a chore. Got me through my test and I gladly px'd it the week after for a 4-stroke.
First bike I had on the road, in fact I got it just before my 16th birthday way back in 1966 and what a load of crap. Nearly forgot to mention it was a Triumph Tiger Cub, no brakes, slow, electrics that kept failing and the final straw was it blowing a head gasket in the middle of Chester on a Friday night Wasn't what a 16 year old wanted who's mates were all riding fast, reliable Jap 250's that handled.
Ha! now that you've dared to mention Triumph. I hated my Triumph Daytona after having ridden a good handling, fast and reliable Honda K2 250 for a couple of years. Worst p/ex I have ever done.
My next worst bike and it nearly killed me virtually every time I rode it was a 650 Triton but as a 17 year old you didn't give a fook. When it got trashed which was nearly ever ride, except when my then girlfriend now my wife was riding pillion, bits used to fall off the dam thing. Again bad brakes and electrics. But at times a most enjoyable ride could be had on a sunny summers evening. Riding along a local dual carriageway I'd regularly come across a Triumph Spitfires, top down, guy driving with a girl in the passenger seat doing about 60 mph. I'd slowly pull along side and the driver would have a quick glance and then speed up to about 85-90 mph with me still alongside, they then struggled to go much faster. I'd sit there for a few seconds then look across at the driver and when he looked back I'd wave to him, knock the old Triton into top gear and clear off. It worked every time Hey I was young
Back in 1980 I had an RD400c, a rocket ship! I would come off it once every week and once with the wife to be on pillion it went down the road for no appreciable reason at all, it went very soon after that one! Didn't put her off though.
I think mine was a Friday afternoon special. If I remember correctly they faffed around with the oil pump but it never ran correctly. Good to hear yours was at least OK
Love the photo. My XS250 looked exactly like that. I went all over on that bike and loved it. After the RD it was a breath of fresh reliable air. Mind you it could be a pig to start sometimes, but it never failed me.
Worst bike I had was a bloody XS250, (bought from Steve Rhodes motorcycles!)sorry TrophyCat! Proper bag of shite, never started, had kill me quick tyres, weighed far too much and totally gutless! I modded it after a while but hated it more than I loved it. Bought a brand new Suzuki gsx250 katana afterwards and it was like a freshly made bed after the XS!!