[Closed] Worst bike you have ever owned

Moto Guzzi V50!

SS inbred with v brakes and rigid steel forks, maybe not the best first mountain bike.

Commencal Meta 4. Short travel, steeg geo and weighed more than my house

Spesh sx trail. Weight of a dh bike, angles of an xc bike

On One Whippet. It managed the complete opposite of the marketeer's 'laterally stiff, vertically compliant', by being both unbelievably harsh and mushy under power.

Sold it on ebay for hardly anything, then saw it back on there for double the price 3 weeks later!

Pace RC305.
I just never got on with it. It was too stiff, too steep and the I couldn't work out why I could never get the rear brake to stop rubbing really badly, turned out the rear brake mount was out by a mile.

I sold it, I didn't miss it

Felt equilink. I did the classic: buying a FS knowing next to nothing about such things.

There was a great big bolt in the main pivot which snapped. Bearings constantly wore out and needed replacing. Swingarm had a groove cut in it from the gear cable. Terrible steep geometry with high BB.

Replaced with an on-one 456 which was superior in every way.

That's easy.

2005 Kona Coiler - angles of an XC bike, weight of a dh bike.

6" travel, sky high BB.

Rode like shit, didn't really know why at the time. Kept it a few months then punted it. Horrible.

Not mine, but like this:
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Kids specialized Hot Rock 20" - leaden weight, a BB as high as an adults bike(!) and steeper than steep head angle.

Titus FTM, just rode horrible. Rear wheel rubbed on the frame under compression. Mech hanger that snapped if you sneezed. Laquer that just fell off. Shame as the Titus motolite I had before was one of the best bikes I owned.

Don't think I've ever really had a bad bike tbh, If I had to choose my least favourite, was probably the Bfe, but only because it just wasn't as nice to ride as the soul I had before, it wasn't necessarily a bad bike.

Went back to a soul afterwards, but by that time they'd beefed up the seat tube for dropper posts and went CEN compliant, just wasn't as good IMO.

Orange Sub 3. Single pivot frame with the pivot halfway up the downtube. It was like riding a trampoline.

(not mine)

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Marin mount vision 5.7 reviews really liked it, it was utter utter shite.

Gary Fisher fat possum. total pile of shyte.

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A Giant something or other from the early 90s. I bought it as a commute and off-road tourer (before bikepacking was a thing).

It was awful. Had it for 3 weeks when a guy at work offered me more than I paid for it 8) happy ending 😉

Not a bad bike by any means, but I couldn't get on with the original [b]Cotic Soul[/b] - never found a position/fork/bar/stem combo I liked. Stuck with it for a year then sold it on.

[b]Raleigh Activator...[/b]
Bought from Kays catalogue - this is the worst bike I've owned but is also the best bike I've owned as I caught the MTB bug hauling that great big lump around the Derbyshire hills. 😀

Not mine, but near identical to the massive thing I bought based of Kays 'size guide'!...
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Tough one.....

My first proper mountain bike was a Carrera from halfords circa 2002. 110mm stem and a 22" top tube on a 21" frame, it was a bit 'short'. Would have made a great disk braked CX frame if I still had it! But I had nothing to compare it to so it's hard to say it was bad.

DMR switchback? Again, not in line with geometry trends 10 years on, but at the time it was fine.

Specialized Pitch. It did what it did really well, but it needed £££ throwing at it to get it to the level the reviews claimed it was. And it still blew up shocks for fun. Fantastic bike let down by the details (needed a 210x63 shock and better hubs and it would have been an alright bike off the shelf.)

In the early 2000s I had saved up enough to buy a Marin Mount Vision. But then Evans offered me an irresistible 50% off a Trek VRX200. It's entirely possible I would not have spent the last decade and a half mostly riding hardtails if I had stuck to my guns and got the Marin. The VRX was neither attractive nor pleasant to ride, although the Rolf wheels stayed on my bikes for a few years.

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On One Summer season, absolutely horrid! I think it actually was made from scaffolding poles.

Iron horse 7point, recurring theme... DH weight + XC geo

I liked my SX trail! Mainly as it got me off the log drop at Chicksands. I only rode it once on a proper ride tho. Had an original soul as well and never really fitted. I've have loads of Cotic's since tho so it didn't put me off the brand.

But nothing and I MEAN NOTHING gets close to the horror of

[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/209/505669956_e2ba0bffd7_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/209/505669956_e2ba0bffd7_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/LFG4w ]Ellsworth ISIS - April 04 - June 05[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexleigh/ ]Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Suspension action based on a simple hinge. Made as much noise as an orange 5. Slow on the ups, boring on the flats, terrifying on the downs. After a week in Spain, I nearly left it there!

Pace RC405

Looked beautiful, nice geometry, suspension didn't work due to massive falling rate, paint was dire.

Tried 3 or 4 different rear shocks, even had a custom bottom out bumper made by TF tuned. No better. Rocker hit the frame as well when it bottomed out, which it did a lot due to the falling rate.

Sold it on ebay for a fairly big loss in the end. 🙁

1997 Kona Koa

Looked lovely. Beautiful paint job. Curve cantilever brakes were just awful, as was gripshift. Ride-position (as per most 90s 'XC'-orientated mtbs) monstrous, putting all the weight on yr shoulders, wrists and perineum. Add a cricked neck for extra effect.

But most of all it beat me up hard. Like riding a frame forged from solid unforgivium. I was riding a (albeit fairly lightweight) concrete twin-triangle of pain. Bash, bang, smack. Rode it twice.

Pretty tho...(not my bike/pic)

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That VRX haha, I test rode one and recall I quite liked it! But the only other full sus I'd ridden back then was a Y22, so yeah... 😆

Same as on the first MTB thread...
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Sometime I wonder how it didn't put me off completely.

Cotic Roadrat - lovely looking and well made, but I just didn't get on with it at all for some reason. Oddly I loved the Escapade though and regret selling it

Yeti SB66. For all reasons Yeti. Literally fell apart over the course of about 9 months.

Yeti were a total ballbag to deal with on warranty.

Didn't even ride that nice. The Switch Link was basically a bad VPP system.

456 Summer Season, hard and unwieldy, like a concrete donkey.

The similes in this thread are better than the bikes

riding a (albeit fairly lightweight) concrete twin-triangle of pain

hard and unwieldy, like a concrete donkey.

boardman FS team, circa 2009. very light, great component spec but a frame that brought out the worst in everything. it even made a reba dual air underperform.

Awful steep head angle, long stem, narrow bars and rear suspension that tried to pretend it didn't exist.. can remember the feeling of utter disappointment I felt when I took it out for the first time

94 marin team titanium, just not right.

Giant XTC Carbon - 2007/08 ish - snapped two at the BB/CS junction - replaced on warranty - third one threw me off on a slightly steep drop breaking ribs and wrist. After that I was done with XC hardtails for long day rides. Gave the frame to a clubmate, bought a nicer slack (for the time) frame for riding and enjoying.

Worst bike I've ever ridden though... that is different. Reviewed a few donkeys over the years. One comes to mind instantly.

There's a clear winner here for me.

Back in 2009, I bought a heavily discounted Marin Rock Springs and was told that I needed a medium size. I loved that bike, but it was way too short and I regularly smacked my knees on the bars. On the descents it was utter magic, so I gave the frame to my missus and bought a Wolf Ridge in a large size...

Oh dear.

Mostly, the extra size was added to the seat tube and headtube, there was precious little extra length, so Marin supplied the bike with a 90mm stem. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the front end of the bike to work for me, the steering was completely numb and the geometry was noticeably different to my medium bike with a steeper head angle and taller BB. The Fox RP23 was a pain to get at thanks to the linkages and I ended up throwing a fortune at the bike. In the end, I ran a sticky front tyre tubeless at a low pressure to get some feedback in the front end.

Matters weren't much better at the back. The suspension action encouraged out of the saddle attacking, but traction was very spitty which wasn't great on slippery climbs. Granny ring climbing was an object lesson in elastic suspension, the fitting of a Fox CTD helped somewhat, as did the attachment of a dual chain guide.

It put me in A&E three times in the four years that I owned it.

I eventually replaced it with a Spesh Stumpjumper 29er, which is beautifully balanced, has suspension which works and fits me like a glove.

My old Rock Springs is now ridden mostly by my stepson, who loves it. If only they'd upsized the frame properly.

Sorry wrong thread 😳

Haha Concrete Donkey...I like that. 😀

Mountain Cycle Zen. Bought as a warranty replacement from CRC after my very enjoyable tomac eli had cracked itself to bits.

The Zen lasted less than 20 miles before being stripped and dumped on eBay. More life in a ketamined sloth.

I lusted after a VRX! Steve Worland gave it a glowing review IIRC.

Not owned enough bikes to have had a total dog, but nearest was my RM ETS - mainly because it cracked. It also had such a high BB that it was quite ungainly on singetrack. Thing climbed like a mountain goat with crampons though.

Santa Cruz V10 (original version) - never got on with it, felt like a plow and didn't suit my riding style.

Commencal Meta V3 - wanted to love it, full Bos suspension. It was useless up hill and only average down.

this is easy!
Cannondale 27.5" jekyll via this forum from Pauls Cycles. Absolute crap geometry even with 2x offsets fitted its not brilliant. The dyad shock spikes/locks over fast stutter bumps, non replaceable threads for the rear axle, absolute crap BB30 bottom bracket, and then to top things off the bloody thing cracked.
Couldn't sell the warranty replacement frame for love nor money so have ended up building it up again - no inspiration to ride it but hoping it cracks again and i can get the new Jekyll instead.

Trek Remedy 2009. Dreadful dreadful bike that I really wanted to like but it fought me at every stage. Used it totally standard, made changes that should have improved it but they didn't, they just made it worse in new and unexpected ways. Never have I been happier to see the back of a bike than I was to see the back of that one.

Yeti 575.....the one with the Fox DHX shock (i think) from years back. It was pig. The shock either blew through its travel at every ripple on the ground or was so rock hard as to be a hardtail - there was simply no in between. It might have been better with a better shock, but as standard was awful. Was delighted to see the back of it.

The worst bike I ever owned by any tangible measurement was a GT i-Drive Comp from Halfords, but I can forgive it because any MTBer who’s been involved with it for more than a little bit would know a Halfords only GT from a million years ago meshed with a load of non-branded and bargain basement stuff would be crap.

The worst bike though was my 2011 Spicy 516 because it was expensive, £3300 when they was a lot of money for an MTB – it was all bark and no bite – FOX 36s!!! they shouted, but they were really crap OE only ones with a cheap and nasty open bath damper which just didn’t work. Silly light wheels which would have been better on an XC bike, they just meant it never held a line (not helped by the fork) really crap OE non-chilli Conti tyres (£15 tyres on a £3k bike, really?) filler over the welds to make it look smooth and ‘Carbon ish’ which cracked after time. Really it was a great looking bike (white looked good back then) which should have worked on paper but in reality had been cost-cutted to death.

Ragley blue pig Mk1
Felt totally different from anything else I'd ever ridden, and I couldn't adapt to it.
Went for a pace rc303 which I still have but never ride really anymore apart from out with the kids.

Cant say ive every had a bad bike and seeing some of these names i'd have loved a yeti probably as they were expensive looked good and great colour
My Kona sex 2 never gave me any sex so that was a bit disappointing and a Giant xtc did my knee in so it gets the prize

A custom built Ti Blacksheep
First attempt arrived and I couldn't fit the rear wheel/ tyre combo that I'd asked him to build clearance for.
Second attempt arrived and the top tube was an inch longer than the drawings and then it cracked several times.
Third attempt was wrong on a few aspects from the drawings and tried to kill me more than once...
One thing I learned from that experience is to never waste cash on a custom built frame again.

GT Xiang. Nicely made, looked good. Biggest pile of poo it's ever been my misfortune to swing a leg over. It tried to kill me on several occasions. A genuine piece of nastiness that should never have seen the light of day. Utter shite.

Pronghorn PR6- FS Carbon
The downtube delaminated on it's fourth ride, shortly after my teammate's had done the same thing in the same place.
Also in the team two others broke and one never arrived. The only one which both showed up and didn't disintegrate in the first couple of months got nicked! Many, many bolts and pivots across the five bikes, not one of the threadlocked, one bike literally shook itself apart.
Warrenty support was non-existant, although they were team bikes we had all paid a significant amount for them and the team folded after threats of legal action from the riders. Utter, utter, sh1te.
Their hardtails were made by someone else and just had their stickers on (exact same frame as the top-end Raleigh M-Trax for example) and actually held together, still got a couple of those, but I wouldn't go near the company with a sterilised barge pole.
Google picture
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Best bike was an Intense Series 1 Slopestyle. Years ahead of it's time.
Fantastic in every way.

Probably my Pace RC303. Laughably small for a large frame and then it cracked, as they all did. Got an RC305 under the warranty and sold it on immediately.

Best bike was an Intense Series 1 Slopestyle. Years ahead of it's time.
Fantastic in every way

Mine turned left better than it turned right, and the pivot bolts kept coming undone....

One thing I learned from that experience is to never waste cash on a custom built frame again

that sounds a painful tale of woe SSS!

Marin Rock Springs, 2004 model I think
Always felt like I was perched on top of it and along for the ride rather than actually in control
It was my first full suss and a reintroduction to MTB after a few years with minimal riding so it served a purpose and instead of putting me off completely led to buying a Commencal Meta 5

The worst bike I ever owned by any tangible measurement was a GT i-Drive Comp from Halfords, but I can forgive it because any MTBer who’s been involved with it for more than a little bit would know a Halfords only GT from a million years ago meshed with a load of non-branded and bargain basement stuff would be crap.

I think GT I-drives rode pretty nicely. The I-drive did a great job of minimising pedal feedback whilst keeping the suspension active for its day. Perhaps it was just the cheapo spec that ruined yours.

Tough one this, Raleigh Grifter springs to mind as being way too heavy for a kids bike - but I did have a lot of fun on it.

In the MTB category probably an On One Inbred Singlespeed - just hard work and not very pleasant in anyway.

Spesh sx trail. Weight of a dh bike, angles of an xc bike

Loved mine. They were ahead of their time back in 05 as were the Enduro's.

Loved my Kona Koa too. Had some great times as a teen ragging it around the woods and ruining the geo with RSt Mozo Pro 4.5's....

Worst bike I had was a Patriot 66. It was bought as a substitute for a DH bike and a hardtail. I ended up loathing it; it climbed like a pig yet was horrible on the descents. I hated it so much that I stopped riding for a while and sold bits off it. A truly hateful bike.

The first GT Zaskar Elite 29er. Very, very pretty and graceful looking but a horrible thing to ride trails on. Steep head angle and a stem about a foot and a half long combine to make it particularly unwieldy. I'm forever ****ting my front foot against the back of the front tyre when I turn as well. It's almost like it's a road or touring bike that's been given some mildly chunky tyres and told to go and pretend to be something it's not. I tried it on trails a couple of times and just could not gel with it, and no-one has wanted to buy it for even a few hundred quid (it was £1,300 new!) so it gets used purely for dragging the youngest to school. Which it can't even do competently because the rear QR keeps working loose. It's a truly hateful thing and it's put me off 29ers for life.

Worst was my Raleigh Marauder, second worst my Carrera Krakatoa- but they weren't bad bikes by the standards of the day, in fact the Krakatoa was bloody nice for 1990. But by modern terms, rubbish.

So a fairer answer, my Ellsworth Dare, it was just shite. Bad geometry, not very good suspension, less capable than my trailbike at the time and I couldn't look directly at it without dying inside. I literally rode it twice then sold it, I was close to just throwing it in the scrap metal bin and my ad said something like "Here's an ellsworth dare, it's awful, but it comes with a good shock and it's dirt cheap, don't blame me when you hate it".

My Camber was second best. It wasn't terrible, it was perfectly adequate, but it was so completely pointless- worse at basically everything than a stumpy, not any lighter, and though it pedalled a little better it still didn't pedal well. So it was basically either an overweight inefficient XC bike, or a kneecapped trailbike, either way it was stupid.

Not sure....it was either an Orange X1 or a Massi full susser. I didn't own it long enough to remember its name. I snapped the shock mount in faily short order, it went back under warranty. I reckon they gave it to an work experience welder to fix it....there was a massive blob of weld which was supposed to 'mend' the mount. I swapped it with the Massi rep for something else, apparently he liked it! Rode like a pile of poo.

The X1 was heavy with a pogo stick unit for a rear shock. I had some Rock Shox Quadras on the front and they were dire.

I had an On One Scandal too, that was horrible.

dans160 - Member
GT Xiang. Nicely made, looked good. Biggest pile of poo it's ever been my misfortune to swing a leg over. It tried to kill me on several occasions. A genuine piece of nastiness that should never have seen the light of day. Utter shite.

richmtb - Member

Pace RC305.

I just never got on with it. It was too stiff, too steep and the I couldn't work out why I could never get the rear brake to stop rubbing really badly, turned out the rear brake mount was out by a mile.

I sold it, I didn't miss it

I concur with all of that. By far the worst bike I've ever owned as well. I bought it, built it up and hated it from the first time I took it out. It just felt dead. felt like it was made out of lead, or old scaffolding poles, or something. Horrible thing!

Worst riding - on the wrong trail (anything that's not big big lumpy rocks), Kona Coiler that I bought cheap a couple of years ago. 180mm forks help the angles, but not the bb height, and the frame is a bit on the small side for me. Well OK a lot on the small side. But it ploughs through stuff nicely.

Worst overall bike - OO Ti456. Or "the on two" as it became christened after snapping 3 months after purchase.

Got a warranty replacement that I didn't really want (as it was clearly a design issue not a one off manufacturing defect). Ebayed it and bought a Kona Hoss frame for a fraction of the price (and a bit of a weight penalty) on the basis of what was available cheap online, that lasted until I went 29er (and one day will be reincarnated as a singlespeed) and rode quite well, with no fear of anything breaking.

In the MTB category probably an On One Inbred Singlespeed - just hard work and not very pleasant in anyway.

Yep another vote for the inbred. Wanted to love it, I thought steel and singlespeed was a recipe for fun times... but fun times were not experienced.

And although I was always a bit of a GT fanboy, both the Zaskars I've had were flipping boring to ride too - climbed well but that's it.

My Camber was second best. It wasn't terrible, it was perfectly adequate, but it was so completely pointless- worse at basically everything than a stumpy, not any lighter, and though it pedalled a little better it still didn't pedal well. So it was basically either an overweight inefficient XC bike, or a kneecapped trailbike, either way it was stupid.

Out of interest what Camber did you have? I have a 2012 Camber Expert, last year before the 29ers took over

Cannondale Super V 700. Just crap, headshok needed more TLC than a Russian internet bride, weight was comparable to a DH bike and like most other 'Dales of that era it cracked.
Bought a Litespeed Pisgah instead which was a joy.

that sounds a painful tale of woe SSS!

I have perhaps been lucky never to have had a really poor bike, but the one I liked least, or perhaps I should say was most disappointed with because it behaved woefully below expectations, was a Ragley Ti. I wanted a longer travel/slacker head angle version of my Litespeed Kitsuma, what I got was a harsh riding lump. Strangely I had ridden a 18" version that seemed much nicer than the 20" version I had

Specialized Epic. Purely because the proprietary rear shock was terrible and lasted a matter of hours. Sweamrs called the bike "problem child". To be fair Specialized were okay to deal with but it has put me off the brand since.

rascott - Member

Out of interest what Camber did you have? I have a 2012 Camber Expert, last year before the 29ers took over

A 26er Pro, I think. The red one.

Intense Series 1 Slopestyle (sorry Dan). Loved the aesthetics, the brand and the idea behind the bike. Even have the perfect terrain for it on my doorstep.

But... steep angles, choosing wrong way on a size cusp... it wasn't to be.

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Cotic BFe. Small and cramped with geometry not suited to long travel forks. A jacked up XC bike, with high BB and too slack seatpost. It was as harsh as a budget ally BSO.

Looked good, was light enough and well made though!

I'm another proghorn victim.

The first ride: main pivot bolt comes undone.

One month old: blown shock

Four months old: snapped frame.

No name road bike when I was about 11,wanted a bike,and it was in my mates backyard,dying.It had been there for 2 years according to his mum,she happily gave it to me.Cleaned it up,greased all the bearings,new pads and cables,may well have been ok for all I know,it had 5 gears and the frame was so much too big for me,I could barely get my feet on the pedals,never mind the floor.I rode it all over for about 6 months,one day I left it outside my mates,and their coal deliveryman reversed over it,and then dropped a ton of coal on it. It put me off bikes for years.

my last one whos forks snapped after 2 rides

Intense Spider FRO (2008), it replaced my classic Blur which had worn through its chainstays. The Blur was awesome, I didn't like the replacement Blur XC, and the Blur LT was wasted on me. So I ordered a Spider FRO, which took about 6 or 7 months to arrive, it looked the absolute thang. The stickers started peeling off even before I'd ridden it, it was extremely twitchy, it threw me off repeatedly. I got Marzocchi Corsa forks for it which never worked properly and replaced them with SIDS, which also never worked properly. The Platform shock made the VPP act funny I liked the big Air shock on the Blur. I haven't ridden it for years. I should get rid of it really.
Trek Portland (2010) - I wanted it for the Bontrager Wound-Up copy forks - they looked great. It handled like a dog, Trek road geometry of course - I should have thought about it after being asked to test ride a Trek Madone for procycling in about 2007/8 which I couldn't get to go round corners either (the Colnago EPS that they got me to ride after was perfect - just like my Merlin CR64, which isn't surprising really as all that Tom Kellogg geometry was De Rosa). I used it for riding a 40 mile a day commute with panniers for which it was acceptable. The Shimano cable discs were impossible to set up properly to get power from. I rode it at the first 50:50 Gravel Dash - it was completely unpredictable whether it would dig into a corner or go wide, or just get round at all, the brakes did bed in properly though after descending off Bulbarrow Hill. I haven;t ridden it since either - that must go as well.

I havent had any absolutely terrible bikes,theyve all been varying degrees of good, but the worst bike i have had was an ibis mojo hd.

In isolation theres nothing wrong with it ,it was actually a good ish bike, but in comparison to others it just doesnt justify its high price tag at the time .

Genesis Day One Alfine. Piss potting with the matching dots for gears and the gas pipe frame.....it were like pedaling a Barge through quicksand. Utter sh1te!

2009 specialized FSR - just crap in every possible way.

More recently. 2016 synapse Di2 disc - shit,

A Marin Mount Vision Pro back in 1997, horrible bouncy thing that managed less than 100 miles before i sold it on

Back in the day, my first mtb was a Carrera Krakatoa, as Northwind, and I loved it for a while.

Then I realised Halfords had sold me a bike far too large and the left pedal snapped out of the crank arm as the thread only went in to hald depth before bottoming. Most odd.

Got a refund and swapped it for a Raleigh Montage (think that's one higher in the thread). Loved that bike, so much so that I got another when it was stolen. That was also stolen so then bought a 91 GT Timberline. It was so heavy but great to ride.

A few other bikes after and I've never really hated any of them, except a 2006 (iirc) Heckler that I just couldn't get on with. Had a Superlight at the time and loved that (still do), but the Heckler was like a tall, short trampoline, with no grace or finesse. Just bounced everywhere.

Had a mk1 Piglet too, which was great downhill but felt dead everywhere else. Had paint issues so swapped it for a Marley in the end, which was promptly sold without ever been built up.

Raleigh Shopper - nothing majorly wrong except the basket is a hindrance sighting on steep rocky enduro trails