Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes The worst motorcycle I've ever ridden

I'm shopping for a new bike - my V-Strom was stolen and I got the settlement check from the insurance company this week (the story ends well - I got more for insurance than I paid for the bike two years ago. And now I can go shopping.)

A friend at work was excited to let me ride his 2014 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, for which he paid $28,000 earlier this year. Who was I to say no? You don't get many chances to test out a pricey motorcycle like that. Even though there was no way I was going to buy one, I took him up on his offer. Plus, my girlfriend works for him so I thought it would be good to get her some extra face time with the boss.

I've always known Harleys are overpriced and that you're paying for the name and their marketing efforts. I had no idea how much that was the case though.

This bike sucked. Three blocks into the ride, I wanted to turn around and bring it back to him and say, "Yeah, no." It shakes like a sonofa... at idle. It has no power (70 horsepower! according to my friend). It's fat and heavy and difficult to get off the kickstand. Your feet are really close together on the floorboards - I felt like I was on a scooter. It's slow and sluggish and feels like its going to fall apart at the seams at highway speeds. The buffeting was far worse than I thought it would be considering the size of that fairing. I liked nothing about this bike. I don't even need all of the electronic gizmos - I'd rather hear the wind and the road noise than music when I ride.

I'm simply amazed that anyone would pay this much for a substandard motorcycle. For $28 grand I could get three great bikes - say an America, a V-Strom, and a Yamaha FZ-09 - and have a versatile stable of bikes for any mood.

On another note I also test-rode a 2009 Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200 which my local dealer has on the showroom floor for $9,200. It likewise was a really bad ride - way buzzier than I expected for a bike like that.

So, if I had to wager a guess, I think I'll end up buying the bike I've always wanted in my stable - the Tiger 1050. There are a bunch of nice ones available for sale with accessories and low miles. The Tiger 800 and the Scrambler are also under consideration. I'll keep ya posted and post pics when it's in my garage alongside my America.

the grass just LOOKS greener on the other side of the fence

You cant go wrong with the tiger 1050. My tiger made my bonny a garage queen! Take a look at the fz09 you mentioned,its quite a few clicks below the level of the tiger in everyway but cant be beat for the price.

Reviews are fun to read. If you think V-strom, and FZ are good bikes you could never like a heavy cruiser.

If you gave me any of the 2 above I would keep them just long enough to take the first bids to sell them.

The Ultra is a great bike for short people that like cruisers. Prices don't matter when it comes to taste. BMW and Ducati prices always made me cringe. So much money for such an ugly bike. But people buy them for some unknown reason.

I have an old BMW that I love. Only HD I ever had I hated.

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This bike sucked.

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But owning no other motorcycle will afford you as many wardrobe options.

I dunno, dress like a pirate day is alive and well in the Triumph crowd too.

Not to mention I see more and more Triumph branded clothes in the dealerships too.

WoW! 28 K for a Hardly?! That's just nuts. Thanks for the review. It's always interesting reading what someone thinks, regardless of the bike.

So is the ultra in reality.

If not a slow,overpriced,overhyped bike with a target consumer group of slow,overpayed goatee wearing weekend riders...........yep,its a good bike the ultra

The FZ-09 triple has been getting great reviews by the magazines, with special emphasis mentioned about its low comparative pricing. The sole negative often mentioned about it is with that low price comes rather low-end suspension units which one would be well advised to immediately upgrade upon its purchase.

(...hmmmm...sounds familiar, doesn't it?!)

Sounds like the bs that spewed about the tigers low end suspension.
Talented riders can do without the upgrade and the untalented can do nothing different with the upgrades!

Really, Mike???

So, I suppose YOU never noticed the difference a GOOD set of shocks made and how much better your Triumph Twin handled (remember all that wallowing in the twisties???) on YOUR Triumph after you sh*t-canned those pieces of crap that the boys in Hinckley bolted onto your bike???

(...well, I HOPE you sh*t-canned those pieces of crap and eventually replaced 'em with a set of GOOD aftermarket shocks, anyway...'cause trust me, what those motojournalists and very "talented" riders say about such things is NOT "BS", my friend!)

Actually dwight I rode the ba for several yrs with the stock susp on it. Just last yr installed a 2nd hand set of rear proggresives. Wallowing? I've never been one to blame my tools,I truly notice just a small diff between stock and the aftermarket. As for the tiger well I must admit that its tricked out in the susp dept with ohlins rear and racetech front but that's a different animal. I have ridden tigers that were bone stock and it still handled very well but I'm kinda talented in the twistys with pretty much anything.

Trust me Mike, you WOULD have noticed a BIG difference in the handling of your BA once you would have been half-way up one of the mountain twisties around HERE in northern Arizona. A BIG difference.

Once I replaced those stock pieces of crap shocks and tightened-up the front end with Progressive units, my BA's handling was transformed into a motorcycle which I always knew it could be. And yes, I like to ride fast in the twisties, and THAT is when and where anyone with "talent" as a rider will notice such things.

(...especially as they come up upon all the freakin' Harley riders up there on those mountain twisties who apparently have NO idea OR "talent" about how to ride a motorcycle, but think they "look sooooo freakin' cool" on their bikes while sportin' their cute little freakin' Pirate outfits!!!)

We have the same sort of roads over here dwight,though not near as steep they are quite twisty. Never said I didn't notice a diff,I said I didn't notice much of a diff. Not all riders NEED high end suspension. I would have never spent the money on the tiger that the previous owner did and it wouldn't have mattered one bit . Quit talkin so much trash dwight,your online too much to be out riding all THAT much.

Btw Mike, if one would be looking for a big Cruiser style bike, I recently test rode a couple of the new Indians, and I have to say the engines were very smooth running and torquey as hell, and for a big machine they handled pretty darn well with surprising amounts of lean-angle available before you start scrapping hard parts.

I agree with Mike, I run the stock suspension on my Speedy and have never seen a good reason to do anything with it. As he said there are some very twisty roads around here up and down hills some turns apex at the crest of hills etc.. I ride pretty hard at times. I think a good rider with experience makes up for a lot.

Eeh! You're BOTH wrong...well, to a degree anyway.

Look guys! I'm NOT tryin' to "brag" about my riding abilities (or "talent" if you prefer) here, BUT there is a CLEAR difference in how our motorcycles or motorcycle in general (or "tools" if you prefer, once again) handle near their limits after their suspensions have been upgraded.

(...though I'll admit as Mike said that "not all riders NEED" the upgrades...especially as I noted, most of the freakin' HARLEY riders who's main "objective" appears to be to slowly cruise around while "lookin' cool" and makin' a whole lot of noise so everybody will notice 'em...while in their cute little pirate outfits and doo-rags!!!)

I don't know, my friends BB dyno tuned night train couldn't keep up with me until we were over 100mph, up to then I slowly pulled away from him.

I'm with dwight on this one, i also agree that you may not require the upgraded suspension for most driving, you will also however learn to ride with what you have and the limitations of that gear so as not to push it out into a curb or what have you, but you would truly not no any difference in terms of performance and just good old stability until you actually swapped them out. A great example would be a simple swap of the front progressive springs, i would never hammer the front brakes on the way i can now if i want with the oem springs unless i wanted to see what my tank looked like upside down, or off to the side as my front end gave way..... i am not by any means a great"rider" a good rider i suppose but i noticed the difference in new springs both front and rear when i upgraded. JMO

In an attempt to restore the thread to the original and tie it all in to Dwight's alluding to handling characteristics and abilities. One riding an ultra, regardless of skills or riding miles logged, will not likely benefit from any form of riding upgrades due to the fact that the damned beasts drag just beyond the 90 degree upright position. I'll also add that there are exceptions to everything - so don't bother posting the video of that super talented cop riding through the cones. The Ultra is to motorcycles what the box van is to 4 wheeled vehicles. Just sayin - and yet I find some of them purposefully nice. I'm done.

What about that guy on the dragon on a GW if I remember right.

Went out for a bit today with my friend. Not an Ultra but a Road King. I had really no trouble carving up a road a little on it. I could touch down the boards but its not a twisty bike. 104lbs of torque on that 103. You guys have different Americas. The HD 103 is faster than an America. Or at least as fast.

Once you are higher than 14 seconds in the 1/4 it really doesn't matter, you are in the slow group.

Nobody buys an Ultra to go fast straight or twisty. If you are successful enough to drop 28k and feel like dressing like a pirate you should be allowed to do that.

So much for go your own way.

The guy on the HD really doesn't care what the guy on the Vstrom thinks anymore than the football captain cares what the chess team things

Y'all need to come ride with Tracy. his ultra classic hung with us all w-e long in GA!

My money says that's likely the result of talent more than top shelf shocks and springs

bone stock. smooth as silk

I test rode a Tiger last year. Great while it's moving but my legs are WAAAY too short. I almost need a ladder to get on and off the thing.

My brother has an Ultra, he's a big Harley guy, but he always wants to swap bikes when we ride together.

I personally like the "lil" 883 sportys. They feel way more powerful than they really are and are a blast to throw around. The 1200s leave me cold. Too heavy and the vibration is KILLING! If an 883 ever came up cheap, I'd buy it to add to my fun stable.

I could never buy a sportster in the circles I hang they are girls bikes.

Actually most of them like that bike since it is a 64 with Earls front end on it. Very different looking cool bike. The over all styling is nice on those, the spring towers on the back and such.I should take recent pix of it, this is what it looked like the day I brought it home pic is from my "Old Stuff" folder in my photobucket I link in my signature..