In recent times, dirt bikes have been getting better and better, with advanced fuel injected two strokes and electric motorcycles all entering the fray.
It certainly hasn’t always been that way, being an industry ostensibly rooted in the leisure market, these motorcycles designed to be fun haven’t always been all that good. Some half baked ideas made their way onto the market, some manufacturing defects snuck in through the back and sometimes under engineered bargain basement offerings have just walked straight in through the front.
For all the good there has indeed been a whole lot of bad too, these are the ten worst dirt bikes that have spoiled their fair share of holidays.
10 Rokon 340
In many ways, this was an innovative machine, but the execution was just horrible. Meant to fill the niche for riders who want an automatic off-road machine, this was something unheard of at the time.
Unfortunately this big Sachs engine weirdly had a pull starter, which was not easy to pull, (few pull starters work as they should) then there was the belt drive automatic. Oh dear. It made the bike really heavy and hard to stop, so the brakes would fade away and if you wanted to slow down for a corner you had to quickly downshift… oh, wait, no, you just crashed.
9 Honda Monkey
Built mostly as a novelty, the Monkey really shouldn’t get classed as a dirt bike, but because so many people used it (many still do) as such, it needs to be on this list.
It has no suspension travel, no power to speak of and is actually pretty heavy for its compact size, so it gets stuck surprisingly easily. Oh, and if you want it to stop, you better get ready to use your feet because those brakes don’t do much at all off-road.
8 Rokon Trail Breaker
In a time before ATVs were a thing, this unusual little two-wheel-drive contraption was a necessary sort of solution for outdoorsmen of that era.
Strangely, these bikes are still being sold today, proving there simply must be a niche for just about anything in the automotive industry.
7 Honda ATC 250R
Another more lethal pre-ATV vehicle was the three-wheeler off-road bike. We could slot one in here from just about any manufacturer, but Honda just made the most.
These bikes still pop up here and there for sale, almost always reasonably priced because the person selling the thing likely got injured riding it.
6 Yamaha SC500
Manufacturers were still exploring the limits of two stroke technology in the early 70s, this was something of a byproduct of their ongoing development.
We all now know 500cc is a bit big for an oil burner, that is, in hindsight. People found that out the hard way when they purchased these machines back then, with a wicked powerband and a rudimentary frame, these bikes were pretty dangerous in the wrong hands.
5 Harley-Davidson Baja 100
Not content sitting on the sidelines watching others make money selling dirt bikes, Harley thought it wise to outsource their small displacement offering.
It was, in a word, dismal. Too short, too tall and too little power, these Italian-made bikes sold relatively well thanks to the brand power of Harley but were found out in short order.
4 Honda CRF250R
If you look at Honda’s reliability record over all their products, motorcycles, cars, leisure vehicles or power products you could probably count on one hand the products that have had manufacturing defects.
This is one of them, the valvetrain on these four stroke 250s and some 450s from the early 00s had serious issues. What makes it worse is the fact that Honda didn’t do any recall for this issue, maybe because they could never really get it resolved no matter how many times they changed out the valves…
3 Aprilia RXV450/550
With pretty much all manufacturers defaulting to the single cylinder configuration for their dirt bikes, Aprilia had a truly left field idea; let's throw a small V-twin into the mix.
It is hands down the best sounding dirt bike the world will likely ever see, but unfortunately the high price put most buyers off. The maintenance was also significantly more expensive, with more expensive parts and shorter intervals.
2 Any Chinese Pit Bike
Since the early 2000s the small displacement pit bike has been all the rage, with teens and adults alike taking a liking to them.
Admittedly, when they run, they are a lot of fun. Unfortunately they don’t run well or for very long, and with no spares network, you just get stuck with a broken, worthless bike.
1 Suzuki TM400
In an effort to boost sales, Suzuki packed their most powerful two-stroke into an old, outdated frame.
It also had a bizarre powerband that came in unpredictably, leaving you poleaxed on the floor before you knew what was what. . It is widely accepted as the worst dirt bike ever produced.