Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
2005 Husqvarna TE510 was worst bike I have owned. Took awhile to figure out the fork springs would coil bind around 2/3 of travel. Frame had strange handling characteristics. Sold it after 6 months and cut my losses.
I hope you had that cylinder re-plated.
That was my first real MX bike. I guess I didn't know better but I loved it. Yes it had a peaky engine but I didn't think it was so bad. Won a lot of trophies with that bike.
The 1982 YZ125 did not have a electric power valve- no production YZ has ever had a electric servo actuated power valve
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
The Yamaha SC500 is in the top 10 for sure! With the
TM400
No doubt...100% this thing tops them all !
For you kids out there, the 1984 YZ 80 was a horrible bike and so outclassed by the KX 80 it was ridiculous. Without race gas it would just seize. Without releiving the exhaust bridge you were doomed a DNF.
83 YZ125- slowest POS I’ve ever ridden.
86 KX125. Race on Sunday- weld all frame cracks I could find on Monday. Also the rims cracked constantly. Don’t even get me started on the poor handling and false neutrals….
I saved and scraped to buy a new '88 KX125 back in the day as I always wanted to race. It wasn't my first bike but it was my first MX bike.
Boy did that thing ruin the whole experience for me.
Let's see if I can remember everything that went wrong....it's a little hazy by now.
Most memorable moments:
After about 4 hours on the bike it wouldn't rev out and hit the "powerband". Took it to the dealer and both of the side powervalves had broken at the stems. I think they were about 70 bucks each. Got them replaced only to have them break again after another 10 hours. Oh and also they needed to replace the water pump impeller as the oil went milky....AND...while in the dealership they had found the electrofusion had flaked off around the exhaust ports and scored the bore really bad.
Dealer literally laughed in my face when I suggested that should be covered by Kawasaki...I had no hope as back then we didnt have the good consumer laws we have now in Australia.
So....I think the new cylinder back then was $700. After that got put the thing kept blowing head gaskets and turned out the head was warped...oh and it kept cracking piston skirts as well.
By this time I was getting pretty broke and hardly done any riding, it also kept cracking the fork boots and greasing the linkages the seals were such a rubbish design that they would seal on the alu swing arm and wear that out making the seal usless so I had to forever be greasing it.
It kept eating water pump impellers like candy then the straw that broke the camels back was when the clutch basket grenaded and took out the RHS engine case.
I was done as I literally couldnt afford to fix it...when I managed to get it fixed I sold it as I wasnt game enough to ride it again and I was done with moto for a few years before I got a used CR125 which never skipped a beat.
Never been on a Kawasaki since.
Edit: reading the post above about the guys '86 reminded me that my '88 cracked the frame mounts as well.
2013 RMZ250. Slow, had defect that kicked back and broke clutch basket and cases. Was a recall and Suzuki covered it. Had good bottom to mid and then just made noise and flat on top. Gear ratios felt odd. Frame didn’t work for that motor but I loved my 2012 RMZ450. SFF fork was mediocre at best.I could go faster on my 04 RM125. It was just an awkward bike for me. Threw a ton of money at it to only find it was a slightly faster slow bike. I have pretty much sworn off 250f’s since that bike.
This...the Carabela Marquesa 125. A portly copy of the 1974 Honda CR125 made in Mexico with a Mexican copy of the Italian Motori Minarella engine. It was so bad that when Dirt Bike Magazine tested it, they used an action photo of the bike they took by pushing it down a hill...because it had already blown up before they could get photos of it being ridden.
It was notoriously unreliable. Rumor was that Carabela was Spanish for "won't make it thru practice".
Honorable mention goes to the Cooper. Another Mexican manufactured motorcycle that was part Maico, part Yamaha, and part bubble gum.
Strange, I bought an '88 new and before I even road it sent the jug/carb to Eric Gore. It was legit over 40HP. I pounded on it for 2 years and never had a lick of problems. My buddy had a stocker and the difference was nothing short of amazing. He never had issues either.
I did , the bridge got the secret fix mod. That whole deal is too long of a story. Man I was up until 4am trying to get unlded. Not what I wanted b4 I went home. I go in to turn in docs 4 payroll. The Lithuanian women is so interesting & Gorgeous. 1st second 1 saw her it was like , whoa super Gorgeous and Super Stylish. I said that to her all tired out. I walk in her office & more or less I,m in a little shock every time I see her. It slipped out whoa you hv such Extremely Great style. Or whatever I said , you know the women that you speak with & it’s seems like a dream. She says Lithuania, internet , etc. then she says your voice hv you ever thought of radio or using your voice . Then she gets flustered & says I must keep working. I said ya I,ve heard that b4. In 8 th grade the hs kids had a dj setup at school the station was on cable . tv. Such an incredible women. I would like it to stay work friends I think. Not to complicate everything. Basically because I would blow it. 1st day she says I must leave & pu my kid. I knew she had a daughter the way she said it. She told me she had a daughter tues. I didn’t say I knew that. Kinda freaks people out like how do you know that ?
I loved my 86 KX125. No frame cracks. Rim cracks? Yes.
1986 KX500 .
I think they must have specifically unbalanced the crank for extra vibration.
Brakes ? Must have been an optional extra I forgot to purchase.
Suspension? Think the springs were from Mattress Discounters & obviously “ compression and rebound “ weren’t words that had reached the Kawasaki factory back then.
Turning ? Last time I flew back home to the UK I was on an A380 and that thing turned tighter than my ‘86 KX.
Plastics ? I think they were in secret competition with each other to see who could break the fastest .
Seat foam ? That broke down before I got it home. My Mums 15 year old couch was firmer .
Apart from that everything else on the bike was absolutely… shite .
It had “ KIPS” technology which I’m presuming was an acronym for Kawasakis Inescapable Pile of Shit .
*Honorable mention goes to the 1992 RM250. The Space Shuttle Crawler - the thing that took the shuttle from workshop to pad - had a top speed of 1 mph fully loaded. It would have drag raced that RM and left it in the rear view mirror . Think the clutch baskets were made of balsa wood as well.
Kind of a broken record, but these aluminum framed CRs just didn’t get enough air. There are lots of threads on opening up the airbox and straightening intake on these. Makes a world of difference. The motors are solid.
Worst disappoinment are the 1997 RM 125 and 250 Honda clones.
Bad jetting, no worries. Underpowered, PC pipe and PR2 porting.
Sagging footpegs and broken footpegs springs, weird.
New clutch every three races, annoying.
Blown 2nd gear. Bike getting costly.
Bent 125 forks under the triple clamps backwards from whoop. Bent 250 forks forwards from flatlanding. Done
Ending up getting the 125 back last year with ama tech stickers and all...rebuilt it minus the motor and put a projector on the bar pad, speakers mp3 player where the motor would go
My wife and I edit my gncc races from go pro and her video camera to show my aging parents our race season. Best use this bike ever made
Pit Row
Did you try the 2000? My 96 cr 80 was faster than my 2000 cr125 it seemed.
I rode my buddy's 05 and it was a really fun bike!
2003 YZF450
1979 Can-Am MX5 250 (more appropriately known as "Canned-Ham"). That year our MX series had a total of 10 races or 20 motos. I finished 9 of them. The other 11 were mechanical dnf's. The only thing I liked about the bike was its power. That Rotax rotary valve 2t was faster than anything on the track and when it came on the pipe, hang on! One time during a race both the gas tank mount bolts broke free from the rubber grommets and my tank came off when I landed off a jump, spraying gas all over me. Also, the primary drive gear on the crankshaft was held by a small woodruff key, sheared the key twice. The definition of lemon, or canned-ham!
Was just a kid but saved up to buy a used Hodaka Super Rat that thing was terrible I don't think there was anything on it that didn't break.
Post a reply to: Worst production bikes ever?