Bike you love to hate, but hate to love!

[dcardo021]

Have you ever bought a bike that you have a love/hate relationship with? I have and now that it's down for repairs I miss it. Kinda like a pyscho girl friend! Here's mine! Post yours...

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[Darren Williams]

My 2007 R1200GS. Such a great bike to ride but the multiple gadgets are problematic and very expensive to fix.  Come to think of it, my Guzzi 1200 Sport was the sort of the same way. Super enjoyable to ride but frustrating to own.

[Gliderjohn]

It would have to be my Norge 8V. Full boat pay roller tappet job, failed oil sending unit, a pig to move about in the garage, difficult to get on and off the center stand, should get better milage than it does, side bag latches kind a suck and the bags not only are not waterproof but pool water at the upper latch, right side header pipe shifts and touches the lower tupperware, melting it some, Muffler tried to loose the end cap and the outer shell started coming apart from failed tac welds ,is a pig on the three miles of dirt road I have until pavement compared to my T-3, that it is worth so little used, that people frequently comment on my nice looking BMW, butt.......
I love that 8V motor, love the way it handles and how stable it is at any speed above 5mph, love the way it will eat miles, love the overall fairing and windscreen setup and effectiveness, love the stock seat believe it or not, love the heated grips, love the adjustable windscreen, love the overall egros that fit me just about perfect. Love the looks of it, love the brakes, love the clutch, love the transmission.



upload a photo on internet

GliderJohn

[Shorty]

Moto Guzzi Convert. Loved it when it was running. I was just not mechanic enough to keep it running. They ever build one without needing fluid, (and a trickle charger) I'm in 

[jcctx]

Moto Guzzi Convert. Loved it when it was running. I was just not mechanic enough to keep it running. They ever build one without needing fluid, (and a trickle charger) I'm in 

Kinda like Honda did with 450 & 750 A(s)??

disclosure; I have a CM 450 A (uto)

[Kev m]

My Jackal was that bike.

We went through a lot together. A lot of years and miles, and a lot of repairs...





And a lot of changes chasing something I never quite got right. There were times I loved her and times I hated her, but eventually I knew she had to go for my own sanity.



But she was fun, time and again I had a ball riding her. And she cemented my love for Guzzi.

[lorazepam]

Buell Ulysses. Phenomenal handling bike, but the heat, the screaming fan, and QC issues made it unacceptable in the end.

[Carlo DeSantis]

In 2005 I bought a Honda TransAlp 600 with a bunch of miles on it.

A riding buddy and I planned to ride to the west coast on secondaries and dirt roads, hitting as many ghost towns along the way as we could.  We met in Colorado Springs  (he coming from San Antonio and me from Chicago) and hit the trail.  Literally.  I found the TransAlp to be a handful on the more challenging roads -- especially one that was the "back way" into Bodie, CA.

After spending a few days in California, it was time to head home.  Since I was on a somewhat tight deadline, I got on I-80, pointed the TA eastward and hit it.  Along the way I found out how lacking the TA was as a tourer.  Light weight; high CG; low power; lots of fairing to catch the inevitable winds across the Plains.

My original plan was to keep the TA, using it as local commuter and in-town bike.  However, I was so disappointed with its performance that I sold it within a couple weeks of arriving home.

It wasn't a problem bike, but it just didn't do "it" for me.  Maybe my expectations were too high, based on the TA's reputation and almost cult following.  I put maybe 6000 miles on it and couldn't wait to get it out of my garage.  It was the shortest time I ever owned a bike (something like four or five months).

To this day I like the idea of the TA and love the looks.  I just hated the reality.

Best,

Carlo

[triman023]

Buell Thunderbolt!  The first Buell touring bike. The hand laid fiberglass was prone to cracking along with a lot of other things. The isolation system worked well but the motor vibrated like a paint shaker! Shook off the ignition switch, odometer knob and shook the Edelbrock carb to death. Only carb I have ever seen lose the top of its needle! It was cool looking and fun to ride when you got used to it. Spunky around town but not much left over 6,000 rpms. Not a cruiser or a sport bike, easy to work on but I found myself working on it too much.
Got rear ended by a little old lady and used the insurance money to buy a Griso. A much better bike!

[Kev m]

Buell Thunderbolt!  The first Buell touring bike. The hand laid fiberglass was prone to cracking along with a lot of other things. The isolation system worked well but the motor vibrated like a paint shaker! Shook off the ignition switch, odometer knob and shook the Edelbrock carb to death. Only carb I have ever seen lose the top of its needle! It was cool looking and fun to ride when you got used to it. Spunky around town but not much left over 6,000 rpms. Not a cruiser or a sport bike, easy to work on but I found myself working on it too much.
Got rear ended by a little old lady and used the insurance money to buy a Griso. A much better bike!

I had an S3T which sounds like it was a good bit improved. I thought it was similar to a Griso in a lot of ways.

[Guzzidad]

   Like Lorazepam, I had a Buell Ulysses. I loved the torque and the handling, but the heat off the engine got too bad. Especially when I moved into the city (Tampa) and I sat at one red light after another. It got so hot I thought it was going to explode. Then the cooling fan quit working. It had to go. I took a bath on that one. Basically wholesaled it to a breaker. It's harder to sell a Buell than a Guzzi. I still like Buells, just won't own one again.

[wymple]

I live on the hiway, and over the years a few people have pulled into my place looking for help. (It looks like that kind of place). This year I trailered home a 600 Kaw sport bike that the owner said has more money in repairs than he spent buying it new. It was rolling oil out the exhaust.  He was set to fix it again. A Buell rider, don't know the model, asked if he could set in my yard waiting for his brother to retrieve him. He never rode further than 30 miles from home on it, and only rode if his brother was available to come get him. They had a bike trailer just because the Buell. You can't make that up.

[flip]

When I got back into riding after a 12 year or so absence, I bought a Suzuki 600 Bandit. I tweaked the riding position so that it fit me well, I upgraded the suspension so that it handled and rode well, I added a bigger windshield and some luggage. The engine had acceptable power and the front wheel would come up in 1st and 2nd when caning it up towards that 12,000 rpm redline. But...I tried everything I could to get rid of the vibrations in the handlebars but never succeeded. It didn't take but about 10 minutes at hwy speeds to put my right hand to sleep.

[vstevens]

1973 Sportster... push rod hell.  Thank you AMF for all the time spent working on the side of the road, and especially that time the sportster stalled on the middle of the Coronado Bay bridge.. 😕

[antmanbee]

1973 Sportster... push rod hell.  Thank you AMF for all the time spent working on the side of the road, and especially that time the sportster stalled on the middle of the Coronado Bay bridge.. 😕

Well at least you had a nice view. It could have happened in National City.

[webmost]

Right now it's my Jackal. Get her up on the freeway, she'll eat up asphalt and spit out miles. Fifth gear at eighty feels as though I am bolted onto a monorail. Comfy seat, comfy ergos, brilliant simple setup. I swing my leg off the saddle four hundred miles down the road and walk like I wiped right. Handles well enough, tho no urban warrior; more of a road warrior. Looks well enough, tho no garage queen. Cavernous luggage I bought off someone here for a mere fifty bucks. Solid all around. Sure, at idle she sounds like "skeletons fornicating on a tin roof" in the phrase of a brother here. She's a shaker at a light. But soon's you get her up to speed, she's the smoothest sexy rumble you could ask for.

So much for the love.

Here is the hate: That kickstand kicks my ass. Extra long kickstand requires extra strong springs requires a pull which my pansy ass bum knee can not deliver. I just can't ride the damn thing. Every time I do, I limp around the house for a week. Wake up in the morning have to use my right leg to carry my left one over the side of the bed. Tweeks my MCL something fierce. It's not the Jackal; it's me. I tore the tendon off my kneecap playing four wall indoor handball couple years ago. Something compensating inside that left knee flat out refuses to tolerate that kickstand. As little a thing as that. That's it.

I gotta sell her. Cause she keeps tempting me till I give in, and then leaves me cussing cause I did.

Anyone want a cheap Jackal, or want to swap for one? I gotta get this out of the garage.

[Lcarlson]

My Ducati Diavel. Ducati Red, bought brand new. Terrible saddle, fixed by Russell day-long. It was thrilling to ride, a ferocious motorcycle that handled reasonably well for what it was. Oddly, in spite of tremendous performance parameters, it did not feel good at sustained highway speeds -- maybe too much unsprung weight with the huge rear tire. Also, the clincher for me was that it was impossible to take it out for a nice mellow ride. It was snarling to go, and snatchy at anything less than 4000 rpm. I could ride our local roads all day and never see 4th gear. One day it just occurred to me: why am I riding a machine like this in my riding environment? Sold it and a BMW K1200GT to get my Cali.

PS, I also hate chain final drive.

[Noguzznoglory]

My F800GT. love the bike. great handling,great power, looks great and whenever i'm riding it i love it. but then i have to pay for repairs and maintenance and it reminds me of my opinion of all BMW cars and bikes: quality is overrated and they're very high maintenance cost.

[bpreynolds]

Far and away the bike that wins this award for me personally was the former '99 Triumph Thunderbird Sport I owned previously.  Pictured here.
IMG_5768 by Brian, on Flickr
I bought the bike because I thought and still think they are just gorgeous.  Also, on those rare occasions when it was running it was simply and purely delightful in an ancient kind of way.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a fast bike, it didn't handle well at all, and truth be told it was quite uncomfortable, but it had a fantastic charm to it that felt much older than its model year and was kind of a hoary beast of a bike in its way.  I bought it for these reasons and also so that I could learn some wrenching upon it  Why I did not choose a simple old CB to start is testimony to my ever enduring passion to learn things the hard way    I often joke that all I wanted was a 2 year associates degree in wrenching and wound up, courtesy of the TBS, getting near a Master's.    I later sold it to a hipster here in town who I see around about once every six months and, of course, who now claims he's never had to do anything to the bike since buying from me 
Good bedtime reading here.
January 2015
I purchase bike.  It�s a gorgeous, manly bit of British machinery.  Won�t run.  Owner swears it was fine before he went to trailer it to me from Owensboro.  Yeah buddy.  Whatever.  I replace dead old water filled battery. Bike runs for exactly 19 miles before stranding me on the Watterson Expressway.  Towed back to house I work on the bike for several weeks to get it running again.
Feburary
I disassemble and clean dirty tank petcock while also flushing tank.  I then remove the carbs (all three of them), clean them, and reset bad float heights.  Still won�t start.  I then discover the problem was not the carbs nor the petcock; rather, it was a clogged exterior fuel filter and clogged/ridiculously useless Triumph interior fuel line filter as well � latter quickly tossed into the garbage and appropriately never replaced.  I ride the bike about 3 weeks but as the ambient temperatures rise as March approaches I notice the bike is vastly overheating on my legs and alerting me as much on the dash.  Put the bike back up on the lift for more repairs.  Also decide to clean air filter and discover only one of the many delightful design curiosities of this John Bloor era model, the airbox came sealed from the factory.  Sealed as in it has bolts, yes, but is also glued together and must be pried apart to access filter.  Brilliant.
March
Upon inspection - can't believe I waited this long to check it - I find the almost solid orange mud in the coolant system.  Me and a waterhose do a lengthy flushing act on the radiator that would make a colonoscopy and combined enema seem like a sunny pedicure.  Once flushed clean and coolant replaced bike is still overheating.  After testing and checking, it is then revealed the coolant is not circulating in the system nor is the fan on the radiator running.  I order a new fan switch/line and a new radiator thermostat.  Wait on parts from dear old mother England.
April
Install new parts and bike runs okay but still hot and still a bit lean.  Regardless, at this time I also remove the crappy lowering kit the previous owner had on the rear and his also lowering the front yoke to match.  Afterwards I have to raise the front end to match the newly raised rear end.  In doing so I nearly drop the front yoke and whole bike itself down the forks and into the ground before catching it, sweating profusely, and ultimately securing it back to stock height.  I am a natural at this I say to myself.
May
I decide bike is running in a way that maybe the valves are out of sync a bit. I remove the 12 or so bolts to the valve cover only to find�another valve cover.  Gotta love those Brits. Many clearances off.  I replace shims in bucket for proper clearance and remind myself to never again purchase another motorcycle with bucket shim valve setup. I must be a natural at this I say to myself
June
Feeling bold I decide to attempt the documented cam swap and accompanying total carb rejet, airbox cutout modification along with repeated valve clearance check and shim replacement following cam install.  These all described at length on the Triumph board.  Whole process is supposed to ultimately yield 8-12 greater ponies.  I do this.  It takes 2 months.  I may not be a natural at this I say to myself.
August
I finally get the whole mod done above and enjoy the bike for a couple 100 more miles but ultimately figure that a lean carb combined with the previous owner�s goofy sprocket setup is resulting in way too many revs for any kind of riding whatsoever and also still causing the bike to heat up too greatly.  I pull carbs, reset air mix screws for richer setup, then swap both sprockets and chain for a more relaxed and reasonable setup.  This all takes me 5 months.  By this point I know I am not a natural at this.
January 2016
I finally get all sprockets installed but bike will turn over but not fire.  Then the whole process begins as described in earlier email.
March 2016
Triumph finally runs again.  There is much dancing in the streets.  There is laughter and many happy tears.  A kind of parade around the garage erupts.  Old and broken alliances are reforged.  The people are quite happy but for how long.  Perhaps not long as history has proven with the Thunderbird.  Time will tell.  Sold before something else could go wrong :)

[antmanbee]

Here is the hate: That kickstand kicks my ass. Extra long kickstand requires extra strong springs requires a pull which my pansy ass bum knee can not deliver. I just can't ride the damn thing. Every time I do, I limp around the house for a week. Wake up in the morning have to use my right leg to carry my left one over the side of the bed. Tweeks my MCL something fierce. It's not the Jackal; it's me. I tore the tendon off my kneecap playing four wall indoor handball couple years ago. Something compensating inside that left knee flat out refuses to tolerate that kickstand. As little a thing as that. That's it.

I gotta sell her. Cause she keeps tempting me till I give in, and then leaves me cussing cause I did.

Anyone want a cheap Jackal, or want to swap for one? I gotta get this out of the garage.

Why not get a center stand for the bike? You could probably find a used one for not too much. I also put a folding handle near my rear shock mount to hold and lift with (thanks wavedog for the idea) and it makes it easy to get on the center stand.

[drbone641]

The girl in white on the right. CARBS!!!!!!

[decotriumph]

2000 Excelsior-Henderson Deadwood Special like this one. Rebuilt the transmission twice, replaced motor mounts, replaced wheel bearings, it blew oil out the breather on my pants leg a few times, had all sorts of electrical gremlins. That was my first E-H and we finally got all the problems sorted out. I had two more later with no problems at all.

[apex1397]

1971 BSA 500 single. Bastard to start. Got to the point I didn't want to ride it anywhere there wasn't a hill I could coast down to catch it in gear.

[webmost]

Why not get a center stand for the bike? You could probably find a used one for not too much. I also put a folding handle near my rear shock mount to hold and lift with (thanks wavedog for the idea) and it makes it easy to get on the center stand.

Tried. Can't find one. New stand no longer produced. Not the same stand as the other Californias. Someone has one used, I'd score it from ya.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Triumph finally runs again.  There is much dancing in the streets.

Good one, BP.. 
I should tell about my Ducati Darmah that I never rode farther than I was willing to walk..

[decotriumph]

Good one, BP.. 
I should tell about my Ducati Darmah that I never rode farther than I was willing to walk..

Yeah, had one of those, too.

[et18]

Mine was an '85 Suzuki Madura 1200.  It had a big V4 that could run with the Magna V65's and V-MAXs of the day and it really fit me well.  Loved the power and ergos but that was the smallest tank I've ever seen on a big bike, 50 miles and you had to look for a gas station.  65 miles to reserve, 75 miles and you were walking.  Filling up 3+ times on a Sunday ride is ridicules.  Yeah, and maybe it wasn't the most attractive bike I've ever owned.

Forgot to mention that you had to clean the carbs if it sat for 3 weeks.  I really hated those carbs.

[Chesterfield]

1971 BSA 500 single. Bastard to start. Got to the point I didn't want to ride it anywhere there wasn't a hill I could coast down to catch it in gear.

'86 Honda XL600 for the same reason. I knew it would never be usable after I asked the service manager for advice on what could be done to get it to start easier. and his answer was buy the XL650 with an electric starter.   

[Kev m]

Tried. Can't find one. New stand no longer produced. Not the same stand as the other Californias. Someone has one used, I'd score it from ya.

Just an FYI, but when I bought my Jackal many years ago the dealer sold me s centerstand of an older Tonti Cali. It fit, it worked well, but it was a little low meaning it rolled on effortlessly but you needed level ground or it was in danger of rolling off. And it was a little narrow, I ground off a bit of the legs for more tire clearance, but eventually ran a 130 rear and it was fine.

[antmanbee]

Yeah, had one of those, too.

I had a Darmah and used to ride it for 2-300mi rides in the mountains around San Diego frequently and never had any issues nor did it need any repairs. I did prefer my 900GTS ducati over the Darmah for ergonomics that were more comfortable. Mostly the seat on the Darmah was a bit on the thin and narrow side with the fiberglass tail piece.