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The worst bike ever made or that you have owned
- Thread starter johnnyb47
- Start date
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Biff600
Veteran
BorderReiver
Veteran
Puch Sports 10 in the early '80s. The 10 part was right (a huge 10 gears!) but the sports part wasn't. Came from Makro Cash and Carry. It's only redeeming features were that it was red (and we all know red bikes are at least 10% faster than other colours) and had twice as many gears as the Puch Prince which it replaced. It was made out of gas pipe and had gear leavers on the stem- not indexed of course- which were in just the right place to cause maximum pain if you had an off. Also those weird little six inch long mudguards that were all the rage in the late '70s. Even they were made of steel for maximum weight. With steel rims and brake calipers made of toffee it was a "challenging" ride around the hills of the Lake District. Interestingly, even with a bottom gear of 42x21 and a weight of about 30 Lbs, I don't remember my 12 year old self walking up any hills. But that could just be my memory going....
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
A Viking Targa DD24 which I bought for £10 but had hardly been used beforehand. It was heavy, slow and basically a piece of cheap junk apart from they disc brakes. Which it didn't need because the bike never got over 10mph unless downhill. It steered vaguely, clunked along slowly and the saddle was a very weird shape. For some reason I did over 100 miles before dismantling it.
I tried giving the frameset and wheels away on here but understandably no-one wanted it.
I tried giving the frameset and wheels away on here but understandably no-one wanted it.
Last edited:
Lozz360
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
As they say, one good Tern deserves another!
- Location
- London
Ah, interesting. What was wrong with the early Bickertons. Did they manage to sort whatever the issue/s were?
Profpointy
Legendary Member
And unstealable ! The rule is "every bike weighs 50lbs". Thus a 20lbs bike needs a 30lbs lock a 30lbs bike can get by with a 20lb lock. A 50lb bike doesn't need a lock
midlife
Guru
I went to the launch of the Grifter, Raleigh reps riding about the stage on them in suits..........blimey they looked peed off
It was the very early Grifters that were thrown together, not sure the people on the production line had been told how to put them together
Shaun
CanucksTraveller
Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
- Location
- Hertfordshire
doginabag
Senior Member
Ok, so i didn't actually own it. But still, the worst £2 I have ever spent.
The worst I owned was a Raleigh mountain bike when I was a kid, around '92 I think. Apparently it was the first Raleigh with front suspension fork, not sure how much truth there was in that, the adjustment did sod all and the frame looked like it had been painted with hamerite.
The worst I owned was a Raleigh mountain bike when I was a kid, around '92 I think. Apparently it was the first Raleigh with front suspension fork, not sure how much truth there was in that, the adjustment did sod all and the frame looked like it had been painted with hamerite.
Biff600
Veteran
It got stolen !!
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Deleted member 1258
Guest
When I left school I worked at the local fruit and veg shop, part of the job involved delivering and collecting fruit and veg on a bike like that. I had some great fun on it. At one point I upset the shop manageress, I nearly crashed it on a steep downhill through a series of bends because the brakes had stopped working, I rode it straight to the LBS to have the brakes fixed then walked into the shop and told her the bike was being fixed.
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
Its strange how this works, the worse bike I had was actually a good bike. As a young fella with a growing family and a hefty mortgage I either built my bikes from bits or brought them from newspaper adds/ shop window adds. At one point I did a lot of overtime and saved enough to build up a bike on a new frame, 12 speed on a 531 frame, it looked lovely, but I couldn't get on with it. I never worked out why but It was never right for me and I struggled on it for the two years I rode it.. eventually a club mate of mine was selling a Dawes frame and I brought it then swapped the components off the Bromidge onto the Dawes and rode the Dawes for years and had some great rides on it. The local plumber had the Bromidge frame in part payment for a central heating repair.
Globalti
Legendary Member
Not mine but a buddy once bought his GF a supermarket special for £99, "just for her to mess around on, you know...." then asked me to sort out the brakes. I've been bodging bikes for about 50 years but I was unable to adjust the brake blocks to meet the rims correctly; the components were so shoot that you just couldn't get it right and I was forced to give it up as a bad job.
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Giant Cypress-weighed too much, rode like crap. Test riding didn't show off the bad characteristics, but it was a dud for sure. I was offered good money for it, and I took it to pay the bills during the financial meltdown/great depression/economic crisis. Once you own a really good bicycle, a lot of the others seem like crap bicycles.
