Ayup everyone,
well to be honest i’m getting sick of hearing the sycophantic crap spouted by what seems like every other motorcycle channel out there and so I thought I would have some fun again and undoubtedly upset a few people in the process, but hey ho, that is often the way.
Why I have called these the bikes not to buy will become apparent, is hopefully a little humerous, and it may be a little subjective at times.
And to be fair, if its got 2 wheels thats all good as far as I am concerned.
However, there are too many bikes with what are pretty serious flaws coming onto the market, and that is serious, so I thought I would take a lighthearted look at some of the bikes with serious problems that have been thrown onto the market despite having major safety issues.
These bikes are all fairly new, and although some of the bikes are older than others, for most, the problems are only really starting to see the light of day over the past year or so.
And that is part of the problem, many bikes are sold within 3 or 4 years, and if the recall isnt made until after the first owner has sold the bike, those recalls may never happen.
Some bikes may have gone through 3 owners by then and all servicing is done by the rider, so with no publicity of the recalls and no communication between seller, factory and riders, it is easy for them to go unnoticed.
And that suits the manufacturers, who get little bad publicity and have to fix fewer bikes at their own cost.
But it isn’t good news for riders.
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For today, first, most obvious, and one that has been covered extensively on the channel is not even one bike, but a whole series of bikes that remind me of my old Zane era Laverda in many ways.
We affectionately referred to the Zane Laverda’s as the hand grenades, because you really never knew when they would go bang.
In much the same way, all the KTM LC8C engined bikes, from the insectoid horror shows that are the 790, 890 and now 990 Duke, the 890 SMT and of course the 790 and 890 Adventure models, have all earned a similar explosive reputation, and with no redesign, the new 990 will likely suffer a similar fate.
At least it took the Laverda’s a few more years before they earned the title.
The KTM’s have become the bane of many owners lives. From waiting for parts, having your bike stuck at a dealers or tojust waiting to hear back from the company about their oh so generous “Good Will” scheme.
Some are just riding and hoping and praying they will reach your next stop. Hardly a relaxing ride. The nightmares are seemingly endless.
Market value leaves everyone in deep negative equity and the dealers who sold them won’t even take them back traded in on a newer model now. So owners don’t have many choices.
KTM has continued to take no responsibility at all for the problem and still keeps chanting the same ridiculous mantra’s about cleaning off the faces of the cam lobes with scotchbrite or “It only affected a few bikes”, “No that year isn’t affected” or telling you to visit your local KTM Stealer to have the cams checked over, “At your own expense of course”
Owners are still tirelessly trying to find solutions, but so far that has been a fruitless and disheartening tale of woe.
Cams wear and its the hardness of the cams, or the oil pressure, or the overly aggressive profile of the cams, or misaligned oilways, and on and on. The cam bridges wear and then it is usually blamed on the oil feed, but either way, regardless of anything else, even if the mighty orange machine agrees to pay their dealers to refit the new parts into the motor of your “Ready to race” bike, none of them seem to want to talk about the thousands of tiny particles of swarf that have been gradually deposited into your oil supply and pumped into every last deep dark corner of the engine.
Imagine how lovely and smooth the surfaces will be with all those tiny abrasive balls being flushed around your engine and onto those lovely new parts that have been fitted.
Even if their was a real solution, the reality is, the company is broke and can’t afford to action that fix. As it stands, they aren’t even looking for it.
The only thing they are looking for is someone else with deep pockets to help pay the wages of staff when the Austrian government gets fed up of doing it.
Anyway, KTM are far from the only company chucking out rubbish.
I mentioned the self starting motorbike Triumph managed to build in the recent video about the recent recalls issued by Triumph and we should give them credit for that at least, even if it was a bit late, they did issue a recall, so that is one up on KTM at least.
A self starting bike could be seen as brand new cutting edge technology too, if you like.
But I am not putting the TF 250X in this list, the Triumph spot today is reserved for the Trident 660, and the Tiger Sport 660. You will maybe remember my ridicule of the neither sporty or particularly adventurous Tiger 660, but what you may not know, is that Triumph employed Stevie Wonder to cut the threads for the caps on the front forks.
Dont worry either, it even affects you if you overpaid for the aneamic 35kw A2 licence version, so there is no need for anyone to feel left out.
The threads have been cut so badly that the caps on the front suspension can shear resulting in the caps being turned into projectiles if you hit a pothole at speed. At the same time the fork oil is puked out all across the front of the bike and rider with a resultant instant drop of about 4 inches on the whole of the overweight front end.
And no i’m not talking about you.
This is one of those instances where you see the real motives behind a companies decisions, you see, the full 60Kw version recall was done half way through March in 2024, but the 35kw A2 licence version of exactly the same bike with exactly the same forks, wasn’t recalled until 5 weeks later in the last week of April 2024.
So Triumph obviously thought they could get away with it on the restricted bikes. That, or they just think A2 licence holders are expendable collateral damage.
Moving on.
Next on the hit list today are Ducati, and as if the wives of Ducati owners didn’t suffer enough already, Volkswagen Audi Group forgot to tighten the screws on the passenger seat backrest properly and didn’t use threadlock.
So now, on certain years of the Xdiavel, which is of course renowned for its mild mannered performance and tepid acceleration, you can be sure that even if she hasn’t left you already, you will soon be one of the many proud single Ducati owners on the market.
The recall states that if the passenger leans back, that the backrest can break off completely, and in addition, they issue a warning that any passenger should ALWAYS hold onto the rider in case the backrest breaks.
So you now get manufacturers safety guidelines in the user manual for any future partner. They give her express instructions to hold onto you tight for safety reasons.
That’s a new one.
Just don’t forget to explain what happens if she doesn’t.
Or, if fancy a change, go and buy a Ducati Xdiavel.
If you have a wife and she doesn’t leave you as soon as she sees it. It might only take one ride.
Next today comes the fantastic Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin, and I can hear the screams of WHAT already? Specifically, this relates to the 2021 to 2024 models.
Now to be honest, this is one that did affect a buy for me. In many ways the Africa Twin ticks a lot of boxes for me, but I don’t like electronics on bikes above the very basic’s. So I was seriously considering one, but there was always a “but”.
This time, Honda obviously drafted inspector gadget to program the anti wheelie device on the ECU.
In this case, instead of an anti wheelie device it becomes an anti acceleration device that cuts all power to the engine when you open the throttle.
Sometimes.
When IT feels like it.
Settings and modes make no difference at all. This is just a basic “No overtaking” device.
The official version states that;
“Due to improper setting of the programme in the Electronic Control Module, the wheelie control function can malfunction. When the user operates the throttle to accelerate, the wheelie control function can activated. This can affect the throttle response and result in a lack of acceleration. This can cause the rider to fall, creating a risk of injuries.”
So like I said, you open the throttle and pull out to pass a truck and the bike cuts all power to the engine. Leaving you open to a rear end collision in the middle of the highway.
But lets consider the statement, “ the wheelie control function can malfunction” and not it doesn’t say WILL. Now, if there was a fault in the programming of the ECU, surely that would be a definite WILL malfunction. The fact they said MAY malfunction leads me to believe that even the Honda techs have no real idea how the anti wheelie device really works, and that is a scary thought.
Great features on such a high end bike.
Talking of high end bikes.
Next we have an accessory issue, but not just any accessory, these are genuine top of the range, factory fitted, BMW Badged accessories fitted across much of the range. The products in question? Both the BMW Vario Top Box and Panniers.
They were designed so that the key can be removed from the locks even if they aren’t shut properly.
The lock is a multi function lock which SHOULD both lock the case, and lock the case to the mounting rails.
In this case, it does neither.
The whole case can fall off the bike, but the cases can just as easily just empty your clothes, documents, camera, laptop and any other valuables in a steady stream onto the road behind you.
If you are lucky you may realise, as you hear the screams of terror coming from your riding buddies, as they scatter like the pins in a bowling alley, while the ominous luggage system attempts to do an impression of an oversize bowling ball bouncing down the road to take them out.
But dodging the autobahn traffic to try and rescue your precious belongings might mean that some new underwear is required by the time you get back to your bike. So maybe try to rescue that first.
It was April when they first realised there was a problem, when the CEO’s suit went missing from a Top Box, but they didn’t think to check the same locks on the panniers for another 3 weeks.
By then there was a trail of underwear spreading fast in radiating lines away from the factory in Bavaria, and some items may never be seen again.
Next we are back to the bikes.
Not to be outdone by Ducati, Suzuki decided where the Hayabusa is concerned, Brakes are for wimps. Who needs them anyway.
Now I know ABS systems are smaller now, and they must be easy to forget too, because on the Suzuki GSXR1300R Hayabusa the banjo bolts connecting the brake pipes to the Anti lock brake unit weren’t tightened up properly, may come loose, and this can cause them to leak.
Suzuki go on to say that if they leak that the braking distance might increase and this could cause an accident, so I guess they have Sherlock Holmes on the case.
Maybe it was him that realised the leak can also deposit brake fluid all over the rear tyre, because apparently Suzuki didn’t.
Not content with one braking problem on a bike often hailed as the fastest road bike of all, They added something to the membrane around the primary sleeve in the front brake master cylinder that causes the sleeve to swell up and block the bore in the master cylinder.
They then go on with paragraphs of technobabble about back pressure and caliper pistons being drawn back into the caliper, before explaining the really basic and important bit, you will have no brakes however hard you pull the lever.
On a Hayabusa!
Yeh, right.
Sounds like great family friendly fun for a Sunday afternoon.
The reality is, if the leaks don’t get you, the blockages will, and either way, slowing down the fastest bike on the market should NOT be left to chance.
You might leave a black streak in the tarmac as you leave, but it might well be another brown stain when and if you get back.
Now I know this next one will please some viewers who seem to have a complete meltdown any time the word China is mentioned, but I am not mentioning this because it is on a Chinese bike, I’m talking about it because it is so ridiculous.
Or maybe not. Remember that after all, CF Moto have been learning about the Western Markets via KTM.
It isn’t long ago really that I first talked about the failed 450 Twin project that KTM had dropped all of a sudden.
Before the MT450 Ibex, the CF Moto 450SR and SR S, introduced the CF Moto built bikes that were built around this new 450cc twin engine.
It maybe didn’t have quite the marketing blitz of its Adventure bike cousin, but it was plastered on many websites and video’s, and it looks a serious lightweight sports bike, other than the fact it weighs more than an R6.
But, in their infinite wisdom, CF Moto mounted the telematics box that feeds all the information between wheels and ECU under the steering head with an elastic band. How they made the elastic band weigh more than bolts and a mounting plate I will never know but they did.
Anyway, the quality control at the rubber band factory was obviously run by an ex Boeing engineer, so it suffers from fatigue, and perishes, leaving the telematics box to rattle around in the steering head until it falls into the front forks, restricting the movement of the steering.
And this is where I say isn’t all this getting a bit ridiculous?
When something new and groundbreaking is first used and tested, there are bound to be some problems, but these issues are all affecting things that have been working on motorcycles worldwide for years.
Why is it all of a sudden now they don’t?
Have Suzuki really forgotten how to make brakes that work?
Have CF Moto never used elastic bands to mount anything before?
Did BMW not expect anyone to put luggage in their top of the line hard luggage kit?
Who did Triumph get to cut the threads in the forks?
Well they aren’t the only ones that fail.
This next one I failed on, because all I can tell you is it was on a Yamaha.
I would guess it was the T7, but I don’t know that for sure.
All I know is that there is a recall on the Yamaha site with no details at all about which bikes are affected. All you can do is put your vin number in to see if it is flagged up.
The problem, is that they built the lower engine protection bung too big, So the rear brake pedal wont push down far enough to actuate the rear brake.
First spotted in Spain, this is an elusive recall.
Sightings have been recorded in Denmark, Croatia, Ireland, Sweden and Slovenia too, but details are sparse because none of the bikes concerned have managed to stop yet.
We have more brake problems at Harley Davidson too, and I know some of you will be saying that’s ok they don’t go fast enough to need brakes, but sometimes there just isn’t enough time for an anchor to stop you.
The problem was on the Harley-Davidson FXRST Low Rider El Diablo, and the FXLRST Low Rider ST, and this is another case of incompetence, either in design, manufacture or production.
Harley blame production, and the monkey bending the brake lines got sent back to the zoo.
Because where the brake line is bent wrongly, it can rub against the fuel tank, leading to leaks as the brake lines get worn through with the vibration.
They go on to say that “if the brake fluid loss goes undetected that the front brake will be compromised, increasing the risk of accidents.”
So I think they must have had inspector Poirot doing the fault-finding on this one.
How many years have we had hydraulic brake lines? Is it really that hard to route them in a way that doesn’t cause premature ejaculation of the brakes?
Next we have a brand who have been getting more and more common on UK roads. Another one of the Chinese usurpers who are trying to make a name as a more quality driven Chinese brand.
The motorcycle concerned is the Voge SR4 Maxi Scooter, a big bulky 350cc scooter, built to make everyday commuting a comfortable experience.
The fault?
Not the brakes this time, the fault is with the traction control system.
They obviously copied the drawings from the Africa Twin’s anti wheelie device, because again, unfortunately, this bike has a tendency to cut all power to the ignition unexpectedly while overtaking.
Why they would be as specific as to say when overtaking im not sure, but the bike is fitted with a multi camera dashcam system, so maybe it waits until a truck disappears from the view in the front camera before cutting the power to the ignition?
This is another recall that was first flagged up in Spain, and I am starting to wonder if Spain has a system in place to weed out the bikes with design flaws faster than everyone else?
What I understand less, is that when a problem is flagged up in Spain, why the recalls aren’t rolled out in all the countries the same bike has been sold into.
Yes some may be specific to a particular production run at a single factory, but most of these appear to be design flaws rather than production issues, so you would think that once recognised the recalls would be rolled out across all countries.
Unfortunately, that seems very rare.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments about these and what do seem to be the escalating number of what I would consider stupid mistakes made by even the biggest bike manufacturers.
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