Posts
564
Joined
5/3/2013
Location
Fresno, CA, USA
Edited Date/Time
7/1/2013 9:08pm
I don't mean worst brand, size, era, etc. I mean the PHYSICALLY worst bike that YOU, personally, have ridden.
For me, it is HANDS-DOWN the 83 YZ490 a buddy got for FREE from some rancher. It was blown up....among other problems. My buddy, being my buddy, spend like $100 on a piston, literally "honed it out" HIMSELF (NOT a professional engine mechanic, but good with tools), and got it running. However, there was no kick starter so you have you bump-start it. Luckily, there were also no hills for miles. Fun times.
Then, there was no back brake. Literally, NO brake.
There may have APPEARED to be a front brake mounted, but it only worked a little bit. But the best part, was that there was a crack in the front number plate and when the forks would compress, the cable would snag and voila, you'd have a front brake more powerful than a GP bike's front brake and down you'd go.
The thing was like 5 feet tall. Like unreasonably tall....or at least it felt that way.
There was also some issue with the transmission but I don't remember what it was. I think like 4th and 5th gear were broken or something. I never needed anything but second gear. It was terrifying.
My buddy literally rode the piss out of that thing. It would boggle my mind. I can't fathom going fast on a bike that is literally falling apart but he did.
For me, it is HANDS-DOWN the 83 YZ490 a buddy got for FREE from some rancher. It was blown up....among other problems. My buddy, being my buddy, spend like $100 on a piston, literally "honed it out" HIMSELF (NOT a professional engine mechanic, but good with tools), and got it running. However, there was no kick starter so you have you bump-start it. Luckily, there were also no hills for miles. Fun times.
Then, there was no back brake. Literally, NO brake.
There may have APPEARED to be a front brake mounted, but it only worked a little bit. But the best part, was that there was a crack in the front number plate and when the forks would compress, the cable would snag and voila, you'd have a front brake more powerful than a GP bike's front brake and down you'd go.
The thing was like 5 feet tall. Like unreasonably tall....or at least it felt that way.
There was also some issue with the transmission but I don't remember what it was. I think like 4th and 5th gear were broken or something. I never needed anything but second gear. It was terrifying.
My buddy literally rode the piss out of that thing. It would boggle my mind. I can't fathom going fast on a bike that is literally falling apart but he did.
edit: no clutch , one tip over & your pegs , rear brake & gear shifter gets bent. made me so damn frustrated riding it for a half year while trying to save money for a CRF 125
One of my first full size machines was a 74(?) MX400... Got it free as mix of 3 different bikes and one working engine. Cobbled one together and rode it all over the country, until the transmission locked up while I was speeding down the tarmac at 45 or so. The bike was held together with coat hangers and standard threaded bolts shoved into metric frame hardware. I'm lucky I didn't kill myself on that one.
Friend's 85 KDX200.. front of engine a glob of black goo.. no shifter just a pair of vice grips with a nut welded on the end. Missing side plates, blue yahama fender. He was pretty fast on it though.
Those two stand out.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
from past bikes, it was some kind of Husqvarna 125 from the 80's, a woods version. I took that thing through a whoop section on a track and it did not like that shit at all. It bucked me off the seat and my knee came back down on the top of the 3 ft long silencer sticking out of the rear. My knee puffed up to what seemed to me at the time the size of a basketball. Never have rode a Husqvarna again.
Never told him how horrible it actually was since his family had invested lots of $$$$ in it, but they clearly knew that something was wrong since they swapped to a full Öhlins setup a few weeks later.
Lesson learned: Put your money in the suspension department before you go hunting for more horsepower.
If I remember correctly the front forks were nothing but an external spring over top of the fork tubes. I found that out because the rubber accordion boots dry rotted and the springs were exposed. The drum brakes barely worked, the shoes may have been worn out long before it got to us. The chrome fenders fell off so many time that we eventually just stopped bolting them back on. And the splines on the shift shaft and kickstart shaft were worn to the point that it was impossible to keep them tight and on the bike. We regularly had to back track through the trails by our house looking for them when they fell off. My dad tried tried welding them to the shafts but they still broke loose. Eventually we lost both of them for good and had to resort to bumpstarting the bike and riding it in 3rd gear.
After we got all the fun we could out of the bike my brothers friend bought it for $50 and rode it for a couple more years.
Even thought it was the worst bike I have ever ridden it probably has the best memories associated with it due to all the fun we had riding it.
Pit Row
this kid at the track had just bought it and was using it as an excuse when i was giving him a hard time for tiptoeing through the whoops..
i took it for a spin and it was god awful..literally unrideable..it was a big name suspension company..not sure if the previous owner had messed with it or not..i cant imagine a shop sending out something that bad...like you said it went side to side more than up and down..
Too big in all ways. Won't turn for me, and every time I ride it, I pretend the fenders are Yellow.
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