10 WORST Motorcycles Ever Made

Today I am going to take a look at some of the worst bikes ever made. You know in general I love anything on 2 wheels, but the bikes I have included all had such serious flaws that they cost the companies concerned very seriously in one way or another.
Whether it was poor workmanship, bad market research, awful design or poor engineering decisions, they all had such major issues that success was never an option for most of them.
They are an example of how even the biggest most successful companies just get it wrong sometimes.
These are the bikes that the manufacturers would rather we forgot

Full article here

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:30 Honda DN01
03:10 Morbidelli V8
04:30 Honda 400 Hondamatic
05:59 Buell R1000 and 1200 Battle Twin -
07:52 Bimota Vdue
09:47 Yamaha Niken
11:30 Suzuki RE5
13:00 BSA Ariel 3
14:40 Dodge Tomahawk
15:51 CF Moto V5 Sport Cruiser
18:00 Final thoughts

I have set up a 2nd channel called barebonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness
so please go and take a look,
this channel could still be removed at any moment
so it is critical to stay in touch via the Website and the other channel

More Real Biker Footage

The Best Biker TShirts

Made by Bikers for Bikers.
Check out the Reviews and Maintenance tips in the Blog too

For other designs and merchandise like mugs sweatshirts art prints phone cases and more look at our other shop here

Why Not Join Us on Facebook
It gives you access to a helpful group of riders and mechanics from across the world. The group began in the UK but has now become a worldwide phenomenon. So whether you are buying, selling, or simply want advice, there really is no better place to go for anything motorcycle.
Join us on the Italian Motorcycle Owners International Facebook page too.
It’s a great place for members to share their stories, experiences and love of Italian Bikes with other like minded people.
All for FREE. #BAREBONESMC
#RIDEFREE

[alexandernev]

Anything built by Orange County Choppers should be on this list

[paulcopper]

I was working for BSA Group when the awful Ariel 3 was lunched. Just before its demise demonstrators were sent around the plants in the group in an attempt to get employs to buy one, at an amazing discount. Like the Ariel 3 this was doomed to abject failure but we got 30 minutes off work to watch one being ridden round and round in endless circles. Thanks for the memory and a laff.

[karlfonner]

My first motorcycle was a 1976, 750 Honda Matic. It was so slow, the police could catch me on foot. I still loved it and rode it slow on purpose. It still got me to the beach.

[nigelgoodwin]

My first ever bike was an Ariel Three. When I was 14 I wanted a motorcycle & my mum said a big no. I bought a non running Ariel Three for £4.73 & when I took it home my reasoning was ‘it’s a tricycle’. I got away with it for being smart & not clever!

[-drakrats-]

I bought, and still own a Niken and it's front end has never needed anything other than regular maintenance. In fact the whole bike has never broken down. I bought it after back surgery to get back on the road...and just haven't bought anything else.

[celsocarvalho]

Congratulations on your video, a pleasure to watch. You missed the Amazonas 1600, fabricated years ago in Brazil with the VW Beetle engine. It deserves being in your list so much.

[marcusgeorge]

Hello mate. I love this! So many manufacturers have got it wrong over the years. The worst one that I’ve owned is the first Suzuki TL1000S. To put this into context I was racing for Suzuki Australia at the time with Phillip Island as my home track and got one for the streets. No matter what myself or even race team manager did to adjust suspension set up it was borderline dangerous in high speed corners. It sounded incredible, was quick in a straight line for its time, just lacked the ability to mildly push it through corners to a point where I had the chain come off the rear sprocket, mid corner. My team manager was an Australian Champion from the early to mid 80’s and his thoughts after he rode it were the same. It just spent more time in the shop than on the road until Suzuki admitted it had “a fault” and ended up replacing it for free with the R version. This was an improvement however only had a bandaid fix to the rear setup instead of a complete redesign that it required. So, for me the S was the worst bike I’ve owned in over 40 years. Keep up the awesome work you do and provide as it’s second to none and possibly why YouTube is causing “happy days” for you. 👍😎🇦🇺

[electricboatal]

This is a fabulous compilation of the worst of the worst. I remember each and every one of those piles of crap. I worked for Kawasaki and later Yamaha. In the R&D department and we saw an endless stream of bad ideas come down from corporate. Somehow when someone is put in the higher management levels they had to put their ideas into the mix with the corporate boys. It becomes abundantly clear that getting to the top of an industry didn’t make them any brighter. There are of course other jewels of the two wheeled industry. The Puch Twingle comes to mind. A 350 twin with one connecting rod and cast iron cylinders was my favorite of the why bother models. It was pathetically underpowered and fortunately it wasn’t fast enough to 😊get you into too much trouble because the stamped sheet metal frame and front forces were as spongy as if it were made of wood. Did I mention the saddle? A blob of foam covered with some rather slick plastic let you slide around while trying to get the thing to go around any corner. We took one of them to a flat track race as a joke during intermission to give the crowd some entertainment. The plan was to take it out on the infield track and wrestle it around some corners and then have it catch fire. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Well it had a fuel line pop of the carburetor during a corner and cover the engine and my boots with gasoline and proceeded to catch fire. That definitely got the crowd cheering and I didn’t know it was happening until I felt the heat and looked down. I hopped off of the bike and let it burn. The crowd liked that even more. Apparently they didn’t appreciate the infield entertainment. A complete and utter failure. I learned to not get involved in anymore ridiculous schemes again.

[stefanpaege]

I still remember the adverisements for the BSA Ariel 3:
„Here it is, whatever it is!“

Talking about confidence in your own product…

[KRColson]

Very well done. It was very interesting as I had never heard of most of these disasters! Thank you.

[bobritter]

Great vlog. I laughed out loud more than once. I actually really like the DN-O1 & the Niken, but I am a bit weird. Damn... that CFMoto at the end was truly shocking. 😅
Thought I'd mention that YouTube unsubscribed me from your channel. It's happened with a few other channels, too. I don't know what the heck they're playing at.

[plunder]

I had an English teacher who bought a BSA Ariel 3, She utterly hated that crappy thing - even when it would run at all.

[chrisweeks]

The rotary engine has always given problems, just ask NSU... Mazda poured a fortune into getting the tip seals right. I used to race an Mazda RX-3, but with a full-race periphial-port 13B instead of the standard 12A engine. I periodically had to replace the tip seals with new ceramic ones that cost $1, 000 each and there's three of them in the engine. That was back in '93, so that 1k would be $2, 200 each in today's money.

[joeclark]

Thanks for an interesting vid with some hilarious commentary. I subscribed!🌞

[petebuttons]

I had a good giggle listening to your description of these bikes.

[Nobby]

Hahahaha. BSA ariel 3 truly horrific but a hilarious fun ride
Cheers for the mention mucker

[michaelglinski]

I always assumed the Tomahawk was never intended as a production bike. It was Dodge's half-attempt at a concept bike, and half marketing ploy for their Viper engine.

[CEDARRISE]

Superb and very entertaining video. Had me laughing at the way through and gasping in disbelief :-)

[Darth_Chicken]

'It looked like a lawnmower engine was powering a ray-gun'
😆😆😆😆😆😆

[stevepage]

A true rogue's gallery of duffers, almost enough to turn you off biking! Great vid!