Top ten lists-Top Ten Worst Motorcycles

[scoot]

I often wonder who it is that says who is capable of writing a top ten list. What it is that makes that 1 person or group of people such experts on the subject.
http://xmotorcycle.com/2013/02/11/top-ten-worst-motorcycles-of-all-time/

[hubcapsc]

I just stumbled over some Suzuki TM400 info this weekend... a fellow named Bob Gill used
to use a TM400 as a jump bike - he apparently didn't think it was one of the worst bikes
ever  . He was sponsored for a while by Suzuki of Greenville, owned
by Thelma Reeves. Mrs. Reeves passed recently. I worked some odd-jobs at Suzuki of Greenville,
and that's where my TM125 and TS185 came from...



http://www.bobgilldaredevillegend.com/photos.htm

When I was in the 12th grade, Suzuki of Mauldin went out of business. Mrs. Reeves became the
owner of the bikes in Mauldin's inventory, and she sent me over there with a trailer to load them
and bring them to her store. Unknown to her (to me anyhow) there was tax money owed to
the city of Mauldin on the property, and when I was loading my second trailer full of bikes,
an extra-large Southern policeman screamed into the parking lot in his cruiser, screeched
sideways to a halt, jumped out, spat out a big tobacco spit, looked me in the eye and said:
"You're in a heap of trouble boy"...

I love it when life turns into a Smokey and the Bandit movie 

-Mike

[..]

Well the twits that put the piece together haven't got much sense or can't ride too well!

Yammie RD350 what a fun bike. I had one and then a 400. Pop wheelies in first and second no problem.

Boss Hoss- that's just size envy thru and thru  

Kwacker triples. Again what a rush to ride. I rode a 500cc triple often and it did try to kill me but I quickly got wise to its tricky ways.

They missed the Honda CB400T (twin) from the late 70's, the automatic version as well.

Then the road versions of CZ's and Jawas. 

[Daniel Meyer]

Worst bike ever...Bull Taco.

As a flaming fireball of ultimate death it was pretty effective, but as a motorcycle it pretty much sucked.

I've got the scars...but you don't wanna know where they are...

[Valker]

I find it telling that they used a picture of a Z-1 900 four stroke with the blurb about the Kawasaki two stroke triples.

[cookiedough]

Not a Honda in the bunch of 10, at least they got that right? 

[Tx Bohemian]

Worst bike ever...Bull Taco.

As a flaming fireball of ultimate death it was pretty effective...

That's funny!!

And yeah, don't need to know where the scars are...

[old2soon]

Any motorcycle ever built-including our beloved Valkyries-have quirks. I say this with some little bit of experience or frame of reference. The quirk was endearing not worth mentioning or bad enough to sing it's praises to an unsuspecting and preferably unknown buyer. I've ridden a couple of the bikes they have deemed among the 10 wurst. I take it all with a rather large dose of salt. He is after all a scribe trying to earn a living. RIDE SAFE.

[Skinhead]

They left out ALL HARLEYS made while AMF owned the company.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

My Dad was a home builder and he took a Sears 106 as part payment on a huge redwood boat dock he built. That was my first bike I was around 12 years old he told me the day he gave it to me " If I catch you on the main road with it, it's gone " . He caught me on the main road    That bike was a POS and I didn't really miss it I spent more time working on it than riding it. My Grand-ma bought me a Trail 70 not long after and I've pretty much had a motorcycle in my life since.....The Sears 106 should top that list.

[Dave Ritsema]

Worst bike ever...Bull Taco.

As a flaming fireball of ultimate death it was pretty effective, but as a motorcycle it pretty much sucked.

I've got the scars...but you don't wanna know where they are...

As do I. And to make matters worst they reversed the shifter and brake levers as I recall. I never new if I was gonna shift or brake, LOL
And don't even get me going on my Hodaka Super Combat Wombat!

[Challenger]

There were several Kawi 750 triples in our "gang" back when. The best thing about them was the mystery power band. I used to love leaning on the tank, cracking the throttle wide open and watch the tach. Not too much going on until it hit 5000 RPM and then hang on or shut it down. plain scary after that. Couldn't see anything in the mirrors for the vibration and small parts scattered off it as you screamed down the road.   Valker is correct, that is not a two stroke triple in the picture. The one pictured is actually a pretty nice bike.

[Kidd]

kawasaki 750 mach 3  , I had one of these  and yeah , nothing till  the tack reached  about   5000  rpm then WOW  up to 7000 rpm .
Mine was a 1975 I believe  , still the fastest bike I have ever ridden

[DirtyDan]

nuff said

dan

[hubcapsc]

kawasaki 750 mach 3  , I had one of these  and yeah , nothing till  the tack reached  about   5000  rpm then WOW  up to 7000 rpm .
Mine was a 1975 I believe  , still the fastest bike I have ever ridden

I used to hang out at a gas station on the corner of 291 and Rutherford Road in Greenville...
Most every afternoon, a purple Mach 3 with black expansion chambers would come through
the intersection. Often balance wheelies were involved.

-Mike

[Oldfishguy]

That's just funny!  I owned 2 of the bikes in sequence, the Yamaha 350 then the Kawasaki (actually I had the 500 H1).  The Yamaha wasn't much of a machine but it was cheap to buy and cheap to run.  The Kawasaki was an incredible machine!  It taught a lot of us how to get a wild stallion under control , or die trying (literally).

David

[Denny47]

Never rode a 750 Kaw but bought a new 71 Mach lll. OH BOY, when the tach hit 5 g's you better be hanging on. My bother in law and his best bud had 750 Nortons and kidded me about my rice burner. That all changed  one day when I left them so far back I couldn't see them thru the smoke. No more kidding after that. Or was it the Mach l? been so long ago I can't remember, 500 cc, three lungs anyway

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I traded a Suzuki PE 175 for a 750 Hondamatic once. The Hondamatic should be on the list of ten worst. The 750's were badass bikes for their day. The Hondamatic turned that engine into wet turd sliding slowly down the side of the can. 

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

My older brother Larry had a 500cc kaw triple of the two stroke variety. Seemed to be an incredible bike from my prospective. He said it had to be ridden harder than he wanted to ride it in order to run right so he sold it and bought a 650? Beemer.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Used to be a guy that hillclimbed here when I was a bruised up kid learning to ride. He had a Rupp mini-bike chassis with a Hodaka super-rat motor in it. I think he could have climbed a utility pole with that rig. It was amazing.

[old2soon]

Those Kaw 3 cyl ringy dings would FLAT ASS haul the mail. Friend of mine let me borrow his 750 triple and i remember him saying-be careful with it and i thought-yeah right.  I made the mistake at the time of grabbing a double handfull in 3d gear about 40 M P H and she stood straight up in the air!!  Talk about an attention getter.  After i figured out the power band-i could keep the front end up thru 4 gears. That had to be one of if not the hardest accelerating motorcycles i have ever ridden.  Too bad the E P A put the 2 stroke engines out of business.  Guys on the V-twinkys called them all sorts of names even after i spotted them 5 or 6 bike lengths.  NEVER once hurt my feelings to take their money.  RIDE SAFE.

[Kidd]

They were smokers , too .
The muffler on mine , the brace that held it on kept  tearing , had it welded  several times  .
I bought  mine from a motorcycle magazine  that test drove all new  bikes that came on the market   , I paid $500 for it , think it had only 1500 miles on it , this was in S Ca  ,  Orange  County  .

Those Kaw 3 cyl ringy dings would FLAT ASS haul the mail. Friend of mine let me borrow his 750 triple and i remember him saying-be careful with it and i thought-yeah right.  I made the mistake at the time of grabbing a double handfull in 3d gear about 40 M P H and she stood straight up in the air!!  Talk about an attention getter.  After i figured out the power band-i could keep the front end up thru 4 gears. That had to be one of if not the hardest accelerating motorcycles i have ever ridden.  Too bad the E P A put the 2 stroke engines out of business.  Guys on the V-twinkys called them all sorts of names even after i spotted them 5 or 6 bike lengths.  NEVER once hurt my feelings to take their money.  RIDE SAFE.

[Kidd]

I also had a Super Rat 100cc   , my dad  had a Honda dealership  and sold Hodakas  , too  .
That was not a very good motorcycle   , should of been on that list  .

Used to be a guy that hillclimbed here when I was a bruised up kid learning to ride. He had a Rupp mini-bike chassis with a Hodaka super-rat motor in it. I think he could have climbed a utility pole with that rig. It was amazing.

[Patrick]

I haven't had any of those bikes and this Honda is the first Japanese name bike I've ever owned. I've had 4 Bultaco's and really liked them, but, I was young at the time. And this was when most bikes had right side shift before our government stuck their nose in and made all bikes shift on the left as the Japanese stuff.

[hubcapsc]

I also had a Super Rat 100cc   , my dad  had a Honda dealership  and sold Hodakas  , too  .
That was not a very good motorcycle   , should of been on that list  .

A Super Rat rocked compared to its competition. I had the enduro version of this green bike.
I wished I'd had a Super Rat, but they were like $200 more. I worked a paper route 2 years
to save up the $419 for the Yamaha...



-Mike "later I got a TM125 a few months before Elsinore 125s came out  "

[Hooter]

Worst bike ever...Bull Taco.

As a flaming fireball of ultimate death it was pretty effective, but as a motorcycle it pretty much sucked.

I've got the scars...but you don't wanna know where they are...

You and me both! Don' t forget to open the compression release.

[Kidd]

Your competition must of been different than mine .
My neighbor had a street Kaw 100  , blew my Hodaka  away




I also had a Super Rat 100cc   , my dad  had a Honda dealership  and sold Hodakas  , too  .
That was not a very good motorcycle   , should of been on that list  .
[/quote]

A Super Rat rocked compared to its competition. I had the enduro version of this green bike.
I wished I'd had a Super Rat, but they were like $200 more. I worked a paper route 2 years
to save up the $419 for the Yamaha...



-Mike "later I got a TM125 a few months before Elsinore 125s came out  "

[/quote]

[Hooter]

   Not sure I'd call these the "worst bikes" but just part of the learning curve for a manufacturer. I had some of these bikes and (750 Yammie would flat haul and I had 2 900 Kaws, both would haul ass!) in their time they were fine. Just part of the progression for some of these manufacturers.

   Look at the seats. Can't believe I rode one of those to Florida. Ah, to be young and have numb butt and not care.

[Jack]

My Dad was a home builder and he took a Sears 106 as part payment on a huge redwood boat dock he built. That was my first bike I was around 12 years old he told me the day he gave it to me " If I catch you on the main road with it, it's gone " . He caught me on the main road    That bike was a POS and I didn't really miss it I spent more time working on it than riding it. My Grand-ma bought me a Trail 70 not long after and I've pretty much had a motorcycle in my life since.....The Sears 106 should top that list.

Agreed, the Sears 106 was my first bike.  A 1971 Kaw 350 Twin should be second on that list.