I used to work at 'world of motorcycles' after it was bought by a builder who knew nothing at all about bikes. He turned it into a furniture shop after a few years and it looked more like a dole office handouts shop!
Steve Rhodes was run predominantly by Satans Slaves members. Geoff Westerbys in Bradford was always a good place. Jack Harts in Birstall, a Father and Son business, right pair of characters sat round the log burner in the centre of the shop.
I like the log burner thing, that's my style!! As for the Steve Rhodes, yes your correct in saying that also one of my grubby school mates worked there but he's 6 foot under now. Westerbys was a good shop but even things moved on for them and was never the same when moved on canal road.
Had a very varied selection of bikes in the past, some 2 stroke, some 4. Worst two stroke, Gilera Enduro when I was 16, blew crank seals, electrics naff, and was a bugger to start, (It was easier to bump it most of the time), forever getting stopped by the Police and given producers, (thinking back the bike must have looked a right shed), taught me a lot about bike mechanicals though. Suzuki gt185, mudguards rotted out, got through 3 cranks, and forever just stopping (usually at the worst time/place) with whiskered plugs. Worst 4 stroke, without a doubt, Yamaha xt500, nasty, put me off singles for life! Naff electrics, never did get the hang of kicking it into life, and when it popped back at me, and left me unable to walk properly for 3 days, it had to go!
Lots of hating on the 2 strokes I loved mine and would have another one tomorrow I've never had a lemon though had KH250 and then a H1E500 Kawasaki
I started on a Suzuki GP100, never ever let me down , I had dropped handlebars and a expansion chamber exhaust pipe on her, real boy racer, . I thrashed the poor thing all over the place,had a few spills on her as well, still have the gravel rash scars to show for my over zealous right hand . i have a phono of her somewhere , i will dig it out .
When I was permanently skint back in the early 1980s I resorted to buying a Jawa 350 brand new, it was a bit of a duff bike to say the least, every time it rained the LH spark plug shorted giving it a misfire, the only way I cured it was to change the suppressor cap and grind away a bit of the cylinder head fin nearest to it, the speedo used to fill with water and they wouldn't fix it under warranty, the cables always used to fray no matter how much you lubricated them, I was forever being pulled over by the old bill because even having the two stroke oil pump set as lean as I dared it would belch clouds of thick blue smoke when you opened it up, it would struggle to see 50mph if you hit the slightest headwind........I was regularly passed by spotty faced kids on their Honda 125s, very embarrassing, otherwise not a bad bike NOT. The best bike I ever owned? not counting my new Thunderbird Storm I would give that honour to my 2014 Harley Davidson Street Bob, that was some machine, not the fastest in the world but a great bike to ride.
Suzuki GT550 - yep, another 2 stroke ! I remember one trip to Scotland from London, where I was getting 25mpg average. Kept overtaking a MZ250, kept waving to him as we refuelled every 30 minutes.
Had some nightmares over the years, but some really good stuff too :- Honda CD 175 M reg suffix self adjusting timing Kawasaki KH 250 R reg Suffix Some barsteward set it alight BSA Bantam 175 never ran for long a 2 stroke pig Honda CJ 250 T spent more time fixing than riding Honda CB 250 RS W reg Suffix Yamaha XS 750 T reg Suffix Yamaha XJ 650 W reg Suffix Camping holiday in 1982 St Tropez Suzuki GS 1000E T reg Suffix Kawasaki GPZ 750 BSA A10 650 BMW R 100 RT T reg Suffix 2 x Yamaha XJ 650's 81 & 82 BMW R 1100 RT 2000 9 years and still going strong ???????????? still looking
Had many crap bikes when I was skint, Jawa/CZ 250. Custom 6v electrics that made Joe Lucas look bright and oval drum brakes. Yam RS125. Electrical failures - but only in the middle of nowhere! Suzuki TS185. Fast as hell, lights dimmed more the faster I went. And one when I wasn't skint. Ducati 250 Desmo without a doubt the best and worst bike I've ever owned. If the timing hadn't adjusted itself and the Italian electricals were happy and there was no hint of rain, then it was pure joy. If not then it had a dozen or so tricks up it's Conti silencer to stop operations and turn itself into a very pretty ornament.
This might be a bit controversial on here. My worst bike ever was an early Hinckley Thruxton (carb model). The handling was atrocious at anything over 50/60, the front end always felt like it was going to wash out, and in the wet it was worse. Tried to fix it, and did make some small improvements but it was never surefooted. The final straw was on a trip back from the south of France, when seven of the rear spokes snapped, which weren't snapped when I left because I checked. (Word was getting out they had a problem) Triumph replaced them under warranty, couldn't fault the service, but I'd lost confidence. Was replaced with one of my best bikes, a Ducati GT1000. Had it four years and did 60k on it without a single problem. Currently loving my Daytona 1000 now it's running right. I did try a later injection Bonnie with alloy wheels, and that was much improved.
Suzuki B120. Seized twice due to oil starvation. Finally found fault: crappy spring-loaded ball bearing non-return value in oil gallery intermittently jammed. It had a huge appetite for plugs. My right calf muscle is ~30% larger than my left from kicking that bloody thing over! Sorted it just before I sold it, which was just as well as it was on its finale rebore. Crappy days...
I had the XS850 triple and that too was a lovely and reliable ride. My worst was a Husqvarna 600 crosser. Bloody thing tried to kill me every time I got on it! I don't know why they bothered to fit a front wheel as you couldn't keep it on the ground. It was more dangerouse than one of their chainsaws and less fun. Only kept it a month then sold it to someone I didn't like.
It would have to be 2003 Hardly Reliable Road King Custom big, slow, uncomfortable, sh1t round corners it lasted a month with me and traded it in for a new MT01 with the dealer paying me on the part ex!
I had the XS750 for a while, torque reaction made it an interesting ride after being on a chain drive bike for so long before ......
I'm not sure that I have ever had a crap bike. That includes some pretty rubbish bikes by today's standards, but all of them were generally reliable(ish), some needed lots of attention to keep them reliable, but I have enjoyed every single one of them. Except the GSX750ES. Hated it. We just never clicked and I don't know why. I had more fun on my Jawa 350 combo. Actually, I had loads of fun on the Jawa once I had disconnected the tacho which regularly caused it to drop the left hand cylinder! I have probably owned over 50 bikes in my 45 years of riding - some only for a few weeks, some for 20+ years. My name is Dave and I appear to have a problem....
Try telling yourself that stuck on Dartmoor in the rain and sleet with soaked electrics, polishing don't help! lol
Probably not what you'd expect...... Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring. Great bike to ride (when everything was working).... But shite to own, lost count of how many times it went back to dealer when it got to double figures. Back to Triumphs (and minimal electronics) when warranty ended.
