Worst Bike I Ever Had
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trailwright
GT Fan
Alpinestars Al-Mega XT. Mass produced crappy far eastern 7000 series aluminium frame that utilised a 1 1/4" headset accommodating headtube into which you could push any headset by hand. Absolute polished turd.
Takingabreak
Dave Yates Fan
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Winston Churchill
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
all my non front suspended mtb's
NWisGooderest!
Dirt Disciple
Easy winner was a Schwinn 594.
Alloy frame designed by Gary Klein.
Looked ok, rode like a bag of rigid hot garbage.
Years before in the 80’s I did own an original new Klein Performance so well aware what a stiff as snot road bike was supposed to feel like.
Maybe my Proflex 856? One ride - gave it to my co-worker since it was a spiff from Proflex.
Alloy frame designed by Gary Klein.
Looked ok, rode like a bag of rigid hot garbage.
Years before in the 80’s I did own an original new Klein Performance so well aware what a stiff as snot road bike was supposed to feel like.
Maybe my Proflex 856? One ride - gave it to my co-worker since it was a spiff from Proflex.
Mark Manley
Raleigh Fan
The worst bike I ever had was a $100 full suspension "mountain bike" I bought in Walmart on Hawaii which only had to last a two week holiday of fairly low mileage. However bad you think it could be it was worse, the chain snapped after 3 miles, there were numerous punctures in the tyres which seemed to be made of chewing gum and by the end of my holiday after 100-150 miles both wheel bearing and the bottom bracket had failed, it was a totally pointless waste of energy and materials producing it. I think by mountain bike they meant push it up one and throw it off.
My friend there managed to adjust some of the slack out of the bearings and get $50 from some unsuspecting person, I thought she was just going to take it to the dump.
I do use this photo as a profile shot on a couple of forums but I doubt anyone gets the joke.
Added note-I looked these up after posting, yes too much time on my hands and there was a recall due to the chain snapping and causing accidents.
My friend there managed to adjust some of the slack out of the bearings and get $50 from some unsuspecting person, I thought she was just going to take it to the dump.
I do use this photo as a profile shot on a couple of forums but I doubt anyone gets the joke.
Added note-I looked these up after posting, yes too much time on my hands and there was a recall due to the chain snapping and causing accidents.
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I bought a sit up and beg "Dutch style" bike for my daughter, it looked like a Pashley. I was seduced by the quality components on a bike from a Danish company and I had bought a Gazelle recently for my son's girlfriend that was a very solid and indestructible thing.
It was a complete piece of rubbish. It seemed to consist of good quality components attached to a poorly designed and manufactured frame that was made out of steel with the durability and consistency of a bar of chocolate.
I had bought it second hand and it needed the forks replacing but it came with a five speed, dynamo hub, hub brake, Sturmey Archer stainless steel wheelset, Brooks saddle and grips, the best sounding bell ever and it was in great condition.
Than I set about trying to tune it up and the flaws became apparent, the rear wheel could not be set to run straight and when I took out the rear wheel ( no easy task with a hub braked, Sturmey Archer five speed) I saw that the rear axle had rubbed away at the horizontal rear drop outs to such a extent that there was a 3mm dip where the axle now sat and did not what to move from. The steel in those drop out was clearly made of cheese. This bike was now huge mileage thing either, it looked like it had done less than a couple of hundred easy miles around Hampstead.
I could see why the forks had been bent, I could bend them by hand into whatever shap I wished. It was a very classy looking Bike Shaped Object.
I scrapped the frame and sent it to the tip, but fortunately managed to sell the wheelset for twice what I paid for the bike, and reused the excellent centre stand, Brooks saddle and grips, and capacious front basket on a new bike build for my daughter.
Lesson learned about being seduced by surface gloss.
Edit to add:
I almost forgot...the bell fell off its bracket the second time I tried to ring it. I still have it waiting for when I buy a welder to fix it!
It was a complete piece of rubbish. It seemed to consist of good quality components attached to a poorly designed and manufactured frame that was made out of steel with the durability and consistency of a bar of chocolate.
I had bought it second hand and it needed the forks replacing but it came with a five speed, dynamo hub, hub brake, Sturmey Archer stainless steel wheelset, Brooks saddle and grips, the best sounding bell ever and it was in great condition.
Than I set about trying to tune it up and the flaws became apparent, the rear wheel could not be set to run straight and when I took out the rear wheel ( no easy task with a hub braked, Sturmey Archer five speed) I saw that the rear axle had rubbed away at the horizontal rear drop outs to such a extent that there was a 3mm dip where the axle now sat and did not what to move from. The steel in those drop out was clearly made of cheese. This bike was now huge mileage thing either, it looked like it had done less than a couple of hundred easy miles around Hampstead.
I could see why the forks had been bent, I could bend them by hand into whatever shap I wished. It was a very classy looking Bike Shaped Object.
I scrapped the frame and sent it to the tip, but fortunately managed to sell the wheelset for twice what I paid for the bike, and reused the excellent centre stand, Brooks saddle and grips, and capacious front basket on a new bike build for my daughter.
Lesson learned about being seduced by surface gloss.
Edit to add:
I almost forgot...the bell fell off its bracket the second time I tried to ring it. I still have it waiting for when I buy a welder to fix it!
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