Worst dirtbikes ever(per offroad.com)

[flynbryan]

Here is a pretty comical link.
CLICK HERE
I found this pretty funny and was curious as to your encounters with the worst dirt bike('s) you've ever had. I've been fortunate in my years of owning bikes and can say that the only problem child I ever had was a 86'Kdx200. It was heavy, sloppy handling, seat felt like I was sitting on a couch, and had chronic bottom-end problems. In defense of the green beast I have to say that we bought the bike used and the fellow before us raced it hard. At the time I had little knowledge of how to work on bikes(my father less still)and finally we just sold it out of frustration for $500. Anyway, lets hear it guys(gals) What was the worst ride you ever had?

 

[Zerotact]

Except the bike i have now, al of my other biked were totally ragged out, old used bikes. I had the owner of owning a 1980 klx 250. I siezed the lower end, while tearing it apart I noticed the head design had no bearings for the cam, and the cam would just wobble in there.... I was amazed it ever even ran. I am hoping they have fixed this......
And then i had a wounderful CR500 that was aircooled, i never could get it to run more than a few minutes..........

 

[jaction125]

A stunningly clean 1983 rm250. Riding it was like trying to hold a 28" chainsaw in each hand, that thing vibrated baaaad. Two hours into the first ride on it...threw the chain and busted the case, gave me 18 stiches on the leg. Oh yeah that was one of them thar right handed chain and sprocket dealies. Just a weird, weird piece o crap. JB Welded the case back together and sold it for a loss..."I don't care how much you want to give me just git it oudda here!!" :uh:

 

[Chief]

I got a Broncco 75 for my 12th birthday. It was tough to start and very rich on the low end. (jets, what were jets?) Clutch was tough to pull in. At first my whole body would twist attempting to pull it in. Overall it served me and the abuse I put on it well.

With that said, it was meant to be a small dualsport, not a racer, and ran pretty fast. It felt much lighter than the honda ct 70's most of my buds were riding at the time, but was also crudely designed in comparison.

It had 13" wheels with 2-3" spokes. I put them out of round on a regular basis.

I remember pulling the baffle out to get some real sound (and power ) out of it. I was so pumped. Then my dad must have put a little braze on it when I wasn't around. I never did manage to get it out again.

At 12 yrs old getiing my first bike free, overall it was a great bike to start on, but a dog compared to anything else I've owned since.

Joe Chief

 

[490Dave]

It figures, i own (now) one of them ten worst, and all this time i thought "I" was the cursed one. It will run on sunday, just not on any sunday...

I think i'll trade it for one of those TM 400's, Just maybe??.....

 

[Jon K.]

Sometime in the '70s Kawasaki had a 175 enduro model sort of thing. It might have been an F-7. The carburetor was down by your right foot.

I had that bike to use for marking trails, chopping limbs, etc. It was downright viscious. I have had bikes that were vague, generally unhappy, moody, pre-menstrual, whatever, but this thing actually hated me. It would only run if it was pointed away from the truck, it would unexpectedly throw me off for no reason whatsoever. I believe I hated that bike worse than it hated me.

It was up to it's old tricks one day and in an attempt to cook me; it caught itself on fire! Ahaaa!!! I quickly turned the tables on the bastid and stepped back to watch it burn! Hee hee hee hee!!!! :yeehaw: I'll show you, you stupid miserable wretch of a motorcycle!!!! Burn you b#*%h!!!!! :flame:

As I was gleefully looking on, my friends arrived and started throwing dirt on the fire. I had to stop them. That day was the best day I ever had on that bike.

 

[KiwiBird]

I had an early Husaberg (1990) that cost me 3X the purchase price to keep it running 10% of the time I owned it. I sold it for $500 less than the cost of the last motor repair I did to it. Even my ex-wife hated it so much she forbade me to ride it (that's just ONE of the reason's she's my ex).

Of course the next guy who owned it had no problems with it whatsoever.

The only good thing about the bike was it ripped and only ever broke down within sight of camp.

 

[NRB]

I have seen this type of thread before. The worst bike I have never owned was a 1998 kx-250. This bike belonged to my best friend and one of the fastest riders I have ever seen, but every time we went riding it would brake down in some way. Usually by fouling a plug. I had to carry two good plugs to install just to do an eleven mile loop. Once with no fouled plugs it decided to blow a water line. No matter what we did, jetting, fuel, carburator cleaning etc. etc. nothing would work. Finally he got rid of the stupid thing and bought a CR- 250.

Nathan

 

[srellis]

My husband had one of the Suzuki TM-400 Cyclones. He said that they put on a heavier flywheel, longer swingarm and reworked the front forks and it did fine....

 

[turboandy]

Chief, I had a Broncco Eagle, at the time I thought it was cool, loud, vibrated and POORLY tuned and designed. But that bean oil still smelt good.

 

[Humai]

Originally posted by jaction125
A stunningly clean 1983 rm250. Riding it was like trying to hold a 28" chainsaw in each hand, that thing vibrated baaaad.

What is it about Suzukis of that era. The worst I have ridden was a buddy's PE250T ('80.'81?) that vibrated so bad that it felt like half the crank was missing.

 

[nephron]

My husband had one of the Suzuki TM-400 Cyclones. He said that they put on a heavier flywheel, longer swingarm and reworked the front forks and it did fine....

Yeah, but Susan you've got to keep in mind that those poor Kali's the wrote that article aren't quite as smart as 'salt of the earth', frequently improvising, Kansans. Go easy on 'em. :p

By the way, those of you who complained of fouled plugs and thrown chains, that's your fault. :laugh:

 

[gwcrim]

Even the worst bike I had was a good one! :thumb:

And that one would have to have been the Broncco 50 that I started out on. But two wheels and an engine at age 8 and I was racing in GPs in my mind.

Boy there sure aren't many of those Bronccos around now.

 

[mx547]

my worst bike was an '81 yz 125. it wasn't very reliable. lots of little problems.

 

[High Lord Gomer]

My worst was a badly ported 93 YTFH250. It had 75 HP from 8.000 to 14 million RPM. The rest of the RPM range it had 3.2 HP.

Oh yeah, the spring that held the needle down in the slide was worn out so if you cranked it full throttle the needle would come up out of the main jet and hang the carb wide open. The third time was jumping a sand dune that was about 75 feet tall. I (thought I) chopped the throttle near the top but it laucnhed! I bailed off the back and landed halfway down the hill. The bike made it to the bottom.

 

[srellis]

Originally posted by nephron


Yeah, but Susan you've got to keep in mind that those poor Kali's the wrote that article aren't quite as smart as 'salt of the earth', frequently improvising, Kansans. Go easy on 'em.

My husband told me that they cut down the swingarm of one of my Brother-in-law's bikes by 1 inch to make it legal in the class he wanted to ride in. I doubt that too many people these days would do that to their $6000+ bikes. I guess being farmers by trade they learned how to make what you've got work for what you need.... ;)

 

[markthomps]

This one is ez for me: 1997 CR250 Honda, the first aluminum framed "wunder." Awful powerband that even Eric Gorr couldn't improve much; incredibly harsh and imprecise handling that you couldn't trust to hold a line; uncomfortable and tiring to ride at any speed, but too hyper for any kind of just-playriding fun; it damn near drove me out of bikes, I hated riding it so much. With all the mods and money poured into it, this piece of crap was still junk. I could race it, but didn't trust it and that's death to a racer . . . sold it at a loss just to have it gone.

And then got another CR which I still have.

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by markthomps
Awful powerband that even Eric Gorr couldn't improve much

i loved the powerband on that bike.

 

[MRRMX]

Originally posted by Jon K.
Sometime in the '70s Kawasaki had a 175 enduro model sort of thing. It might have been an F-7. The carburetor was down by your right foot.

I had that bike to use for marking trails, chopping limbs, etc. It was downright viscious. I have had bikes that were vague, generally unhappy, moody, pre-menstrual, whatever, but this thing actually hated me. It would only run if it was pointed away from the truck, it would unexpectedly throw me off for no reason whatsoever. I believe I hated that bike worse than it hated me.

It was up to it's old tricks one day and in an attempt to cook me; it caught itself on fire! Ahaaa!!! I quickly turned the tables on the bastid and stepped back to watch it burn! Hee hee hee hee!!!! :yeehaw: I'll show you, you stupid miserable wretch of a motorcycle!!!! Burn you b#*%h!!!!! :flame:

As I was gleefully looking on, my friends arrived and started throwing dirt on the fire. I had to stop them. That day was the best day I ever had on that bike.

 

[MRRMX]

yep...with chrome handle bars.... and ya had to love the passanger strap aross the seat. If I recall the later model had a way of having a lower range and a high range gear box......

Originally posted by Jon K.
Sometime in the '70s Kawasaki had a 175 enduro model sort of thing. It might have been an F-7. The carburetor was down by your right foot.

I had that bike to use for marking trails, chopping limbs, etc. It was downright viscious. I have had bikes that were vague, generally unhappy, moody, pre-menstrual, whatever, but this thing actually hated me. It would only run if it was pointed away from the truck, it would unexpectedly throw me off for no reason whatsoever. I believe I hated that bike worse than it hated me.

It was up to it's old tricks one day and in an attempt to cook me; it caught itself on fire! Ahaaa!!! I quickly turned the tables on the bastid and stepped back to watch it burn! Hee hee hee hee!!!! :yeehaw: I'll show you, you stupid miserable wretch of a motorcycle!!!! Burn you b#*%h!!!!! :flame:

As I was gleefully looking on, my friends arrived and started throwing dirt on the fire. I had to stop them. That day was the best day I ever had on that bike.

 

[MRRMX]

I had a 1992 XR250L ...down right evil.....That bike put more riders on to the ground, Than anyother bike I ever knew of....It was know as "The evil one"
It had no power....compared to a Xr250R....Was tickled pink when it left the garage......

 

[motometal]

I have had two good friends quit riding, they both had a '97 or '98 CR250 as their last bike.  Coincidence, I think not.  Yes, I know some have adapted to this bike, but others didn't.

A relative had an '84 KDX 200 that blew the crank bearing when it was almost new.  Must have been a weak spot for this otherwise bulletproof bike.

The worst bike I encountered was a '73 or '74 CZ 125.  When it was almost new it seized, and after several new pistons and cylinders and fiddling with the carb, we gave up.  It's still sitting somewhere with dry-rotted tires and about 3 miles on it.

 

[Jon K.]

Originally posted by motometal

The worst bike I encountered was a '73 or '74 CZ 125.  It's still sitting somewhere with dry-rotted tires and about 3 miles on it.

I'll give ya $20 for it.

 

[kev_rm]

1974 Honda XL100. The first bike I ever owned. 300lbs, 15HP, 4" of rear suspension travel, needer a pumper carb BAD.

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by motometal
I have had two good friends quit riding, they both had a '97 or '98 CR250 as their last bike.  Coincidence, I think not.

how funny. when i got a 98, i instantly went from winning about once a year to winning about every other race. and i was coming off a '93, the bike that i now consider the most overrated bike ever.