Motorcycles can be a mixed bag of happiness and sorrow. You can get anything from a Suzuki to a Harley, some good, while others really bad. Motorcycles, like cars, are also affected by many factors that make for a good or bad one such as handling, design faults, poor maintenance, or a bad set of tires. But there are bikes that stand head and shoulders above others in terms of the worst handling, and the most horrible rides. If that's not enough, you have other people's opinions on the bikes to contend with because individual reviews are most, if not all the time, based on personal experiences with the bikes.

However, we've compiled a list of the kind of motorcycles that people have bought and ended up regretting either because of poor performance, expensive maintenance costs, or they just didn't live up to the owner's expectations based on what they bought it for, and what the bike was described to do. Some bikes can make you think twice before making a purchase, but that means you have to do thorough research before getting one. When it comes to picking out a good or bad bike, you need to consider the model and its year. You can check out some specific bike forums and see what others have to say about it, that way you don't have to part with your hard earned cash and end up with painful regrets and ugly memories.

Here are just 20 of the kind of motorcycles their owners bought and regretted to date.

20 1981 Harley Davidson Sportster

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Sportster first made its debut in 1957 coming with a little around to touch it performance wise. It came with genuine top speed which was a covering of the magical ton and had a very good low down acceleration making it the forefront of the game at that time. With all the goodies that came with the bike, there are some issues that were associated with it that you never wished to be in your ride.

The 1981 model was clumsy in design and couldn’t make the cut when it came to performance.

The bike was too long and at the same time very top heavy. This quality was good for the bike in straight line maneuverability but unfortunately never gave the bike the ability for turns or even varied riding. Sportster also had to be driven at low speeds and therefore it would to feature in a list of top bikes.

19 Kawasaki 500 H1

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Kawasaki has built a name in the world of motorbikes as one of the best producers. Kawasaki products are good but the 500 H1 is an exception to the good ones, though not entirely to be fair. The 500 H1 has some goodies though but the setbacks will make you want to think twice before you spend any dollar to get it. This bike boasts of being very powerful though that power came with very poor handling and inadequate braking systems. Most riders of the 500 H1 frequently complained about its handling abilities. The riders came to know that over the 4500RPM the front wheel would unsafely rise when riding. For this reason they had the reason to avoid this bike since safety always come first above other things.

18 Moto Guzzi

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Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. It is popularly known for its stalwart air-cooled longitudinal V-twins and the bikes were built with great intentions which was to minimize vibrations to its riders. For this reason, the bike was fitted with a rubber mount for the handlebars to absorb vibrations before the rider would feel them.

The sad news is that things never went  as planned by the company.

The handles rather ended up being unstable, a feature that no rider would be proud of. This made riders have a big problem when it came to control.

17 Honda CX 500

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The Honda CX series motorcycles that included the GL500 and GL650 Silver Wing models were developed and released by the company in the late 1970s and their production ended in most markets in the mid-1980s. The CX 500 experienced a major blow from the time of its first production. One of the greatest challenges the bike had was its maneuverability at low speed which wasn’t great. The Honda CX 500 wasn’t a home-run at all despite the fact that Honda is respected worldwide and has a list of great products in the motoring industry. Fortunately this bike sold well despite the drawbacks it came with. In UK market, the bike experienced many faults though with crankshaft. This feature was the major downfall of the bike in the entire British market.

16 1992-95 Honda CBR900RR

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This bikes unfortunately has the same problems as the 1985 GSX-R 750. During its time it was a conventional bike but its problem came from its 16” front wheel which made it turn much quicker. That sounds good but the ordeal comes when stunting from the bar to the beach in half a helmet and flip flops. The bike was good but couldn’t be a good choice for a nervous person who hasn’t known throttle control and descent steering inputs.

15 1997-2000 Suzuki TL1000S

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The TL1000S was created almost the same period that Honda Superhawk 996 was produced so that it compete with Ducati’s Super bike Racing but Suzuki was too smart by half. At the back of the bike’s conventional chassis, Suzuki fitted a separate spring and rotary damper with pushrods leaving out coil over shock. The smaller rotary damper had less oil compared to the usual one and came with smaller metering orifices and they led to a rear end that became spotty when oil got hot and frothy.

TL1000S are great bikes when put to normal work, but if put on tight and technical duties the rear end doesn’t keep up with the front.

When both the rear shock and rear wheel are cooked there will be no much traction and can put you down when you overpower the tire with more torque of the V-twin.

14 1985 Suzuki GSX-R 750

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If you don’t give some respect to the power which the GSX-R offer then it will definitely scare the heck out of you for the first few years. This bike came with an inch shorter swing-arm compared to other bikes of the modern generation. Most riders blamed the shorter wheelbase that made the bike become nervous and unstable at speed. Today, there are tremendous adjustments that have been done on the bike making it fun to drive. The bike has a weight of 400lbs with 100hp, a 56” wheelbase and its rake measures about 25 degrees and this doesn’t make it look radical today and when compared to others it looks nervous. During the first year of the bike its ride seem normal and is similar like that of 1975 and feels like a race horse after a few coffees.

13 Kawasaki 2 Stroke Triples

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Kawasaki came up with H1 Mach III 500cc 2-stroke triple in 1969 then followed it with the H2 Mach IV 750cc three years later. This two bikes gave the public all the reasons to be scared of them however the popular ghost peppers some people enjoyed their speed and punishment that when trying ride the bike. The bikes weight 400lbs, their wheels had the rider far back and would wheelie easily when their engines came to power.

The bikes also featured thin, lightweight, tubular frames with little torsional rigidity even when they are coping with modest tires that were from the early ‘70s.

Their front forks (being 34mm) flexed too and were thinner compared to other mid-size street bikes at that time. The H1 had poor discs. This bike also had an issue with ignitions.

12 The Vincent Black Shadow, Black Prince And Black Knight

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Apart from the unpleasing names that this bikes had, those who had previously owned these bikes still remember the terrifying experience they had with them. When they were first introduced in the market, these bikes were the fastest in the world and that was a good gesture. Before you get flattered with their speed wait a moment, this bikes came with some issues which you never wish to experience. One of the problem with them was their poor handling. Despite the drawbacks these bikes are popular both in Australia and New Zealand.

11 Anything With A V8

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A motorcar fitted with a V-8 engine might sound amazing and powerful but bikes having this engines should be avoided at all cost following the problems that they come with. Most bikes with this engine were considered to be home-built jobs such as that of the agricultural drag bikes owned by E.J Potter. Apart from E.J, Hoss also has some of this bikes which are slightly advanced. The issue with the bikes that had this engine before included lack of modern disc brakes, hydraulic dampened suspension and clutch. These are problems no rider would wish on their bike. The good news is that despite the fact that these qualities lacked in Potter’s bike, the modern bikes are having them making the ride easy and enjoyable.

10 Greeves

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The first Greeves motorcycles were introduced in the market in 1954 as a lightweight motorcycle. The first units were powered by Villiers 200cc two stroke engines. The company has had a good history of motorbike production though some of their bikes were not 100% perfect. Some of them came with some problems which riders wished to avoid. The bike was downright hectic to ride even for the seasoned riders. All of the bike’s leading link front forks models came with issues. Greeves bikes had them from day one and consistently made riding too much of a hassle. Some of the issues were related to suspension that was completely lost when the rider applied any braking and this wasn’t good for any rider.

9 Kawasaki 750 Triple 1V

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Before you would take out any dollar to buy Kawasaki 750 Triple 1V, ask yourself if you can put up with some of the changes it comes with. Despite some of its positive features such as a sporty design, this bike made it to the list of worst bikes of all time with ease. It must have come as a surprise but it surely does deserve to be there. At first when the bike is being driven there isn’t much to complain about and that's pretty good.

The issues came when it was taking corners.

When it reached a bend even the slight one, it would rid the riders of control. The other issue was with both the brakes and its handling, they were Kawasaki 750 Triple 1V immediate downfall. After knowing the drawbacks of this car you can decide whether to but it or not.

8 Suzuki GT380/550/750

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Suzuki has produced some of the best bikes the world has ever seen but there are some of them which came with some drawbacks which nobody would wish his/her ride to have. Some of the Suzuki models you should avoid are the Suzuki GT; 380,550 and 750. This bikes came with a lot of problems with them. First they had terrific ground clearance a problem that was caused by muffler. The second issue with this bike was that it had a much too flexible swing arm which was terrible since the rider would easily lose control of the ride. If you thought of buying a bike that can work well in both wet and dry surfaces then the GTs are the wrong options, the bikes performed dismally on wet surfaces. This bikes lasted for less than ten years and left some terrible legacy that almost every rider would wish to forget.

7 Ariel Arrow

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Ariel Arrow made its debut in 1960 but was later discontinued in 1964. The 20-hp Ariel Arrow Super Sport model was commonly referred to as the Golden Arrow since it bared a unique colour scheme. The motorbike come with a pressed-steel beam-type frame covered in attractive; bodywork, windshield and leg shield.

This bike boasts of being one of the few British bikes at that time to bare the distinction of being made using plastic as a construction material.

This bike came with moderate handling ability but its mufflers were too low and proved to be a harrowing quality that most cyclists never liked more so when making turns which required leaning. Despite the good looks that the bike had it didn’t produce an excellent performance.

6 Honda C50, 70,110

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These Honda models should be avoided like the plague since they come with some drawbacks that no motorcyclists would wish to experience. And that is the reason why it has appeared on our list. The very first versions of these bikes had some problems and one of them was that if the rider switched the bike’s gears too fast, the weeks were prone to locking. And no rider would wish to have a bike with such problems where his safety isn’t guaranteed. Besides this motorbikes seemed not to be pocket friendly since such problems required high amounts of repair cost in the long run. To add to the locking issues, the bikes’ suspension were also not that good, enough to keep the bike going for a longer time.

5 1975 Yamaha TZ750 Flat Tracker

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This 1975 Yamaha bike is about as common as a Bigfoot sighting. Today these bikes are few since most of them are kept in the museums for safety. This bike was one of the fastest in its time. Kenny Roberts a road racer and track racer once won a race with it but promised never to use it again. The rider claimed that he wasn’t being paid enough to ride the bike. Now that you got it from the horse’s mouth, the TZ750 should not be the only option you have when buying a bike. Even after being fitted with 125-hp engine the bike was still considered unbearable in the dirt.

4 The 1971-74 Suzuki TM400

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The TM400 will be remembered as the first serious production open-class motocross bike ever produced by Suzuki. Suzuki has been producing hand built works bikes and winning and the production was to give a world class power. And the power would be bundled with lousy shock and fork damping together with a flexible frame with poor geometry. This bike also came with aptly named Pointless Electronic Ignition fitted with electronic advance curve. Other problems associated with this bike include poor handling and absence of real instrumentation. However the company added heavier flywheels to calm the bike down and even fixed the ignition issue in the 1975 model.

3 Three-Wheeled ATV

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The ATV quickly became popular in the 1980s. Early trikes came as a little balloon-tired back woods crawler that had a top speed of 25 mph and at the time their terrific handling never mattered to many people.

Since most Americans love bigger and faster things, the company bent and most people ended up buying a heavy trike down into the ditch.

These bikes were frequently recalled in the 1980s and outlawed completely. In the long run the factory stopped the production of these bikes and later offered free safety classes to those who were interested in buying the,.

2 Husqvarna 250 MX 1970

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This bike Was one of the favourites among actors like Bruce Brown and Steve McQueen. The bike came with some goodies that stars really loved such is eight-speed making it easy to ride the bike. Either way, all that glitters isn’t gold, and the 250 MX had some issues too. The bike had some issues with difficult handling and driving it on a straight line seemed perfect though when it came to cornering, it wasn’t so great. When riding on this bike you won’t wish to go through bumps since it would cause major issues. The 250 MX also had issues with poor suspension and made the bike so uncomfortable to ride. Still with regard to discomfort, the bike had innovative seat that was made to prevent the rider from sliding upwards but it become a terrible failure and ended up being so uncomfortable.

1 Someone Else’s Project

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Some modifications are seriously outstanding and fascinating but it would be better if it is done by a specialist. There is nothing more devastating than buying a motorbike modified by somebody with dubious talent and knowledge. To come up with a modified bike one just has to take a quick spin around Craigslist and search for Bobber, Custom or Café Racer. In most occasions these modifications are done with best intentions but the absolute worst are those bikes done that were began in an attempt to produce a quick buck or a resurrect a motorbike.

Sources: themotordigest.com, thoughtco.com, rideapart.com