unreliable bikes from major brands

[Stephan]

Honda VFR400. Fuck that bike.

Should have gotten an RVF400 instead...

[=Maz=]

Honda VFR400. Fuck that bike.

Really?
The bike is over engineered and very capable.
When I was still racing I was able to get within a second of my PB, set on the KTM, on my first event on the Viffa...planted little bike, great sound...very capable bike.

[Ryanoceros]

Really?
The bike is over engineered and very capable.
When I was still racing I was able to get within a second of my PB, set on the KTM, on my first event on the Viffa...planted little bike, great sound...very capable bike.

Didn’t something err.. happen to that bike ? My one was a piece of shit, and most people I know who didn’t spend thousands modifying or improving them said the same

[Hillz]

i think we are getting confused between reliability & performance in this thread.

the reliability of a bike is how long it will go from the shop floor unmodified no matter how fast or slow it is

IE i brought a DRZ not because its a slow piece of shit but because it will go forever with out touching it and OP was referring to bikes you buy that are the opposite of that

like a ZX10 will be pretty reliable until you get up to 25 / 30k on the clock then the stator will burn out

[=Maz=]

Didn’t something err.. happen to that bike ? My one was a piece of shit, and most people I know who didn’t spend thousands modifying or improving them said the same

Maybe you need to talk to people who push them a bit harder in fairly stock form.
Yes mine dropped a valve through the engine but, the guy from PSB who sold it to the guy I purchased it from bullshitted his arse off about the bike...my plan was, foolishly, floored.

In stock form the Reg/Rec and Rear shock were pretty shit...so reliability in the electricals was a bit dodgy....but the technology is 28+ years old.

[Ryanoceros]

Maybe you need to talk to people who push them a bit harder in fairly stock form.
Yes mine dropped a valve through the engine but, the guy from PSB who sold it to the guy I purchased it from bullshitted his arse off about the bike...my plan was, foolishly, floored.

In stock form the Reg/Rec and Rear shock were pretty shit...so reliability in the electricals was a bit dodgy....but the technology is 28+ years old.

I must’ve bought mine from the same dude hahahahaha

[wheel_of_steell]

i think we are getting confused between reliability & performance in this thread.

the reliability of a bike is how long it will go from the shop floor unmodified no matter how fast or slow it is

Yea that's what I mean. Just basic shit going wrong within the foreseeable life of the vehicle, that should have been caught in pre production or at least recalled and rectified.
-gs500 swingarms rusting out
-bmw oilheads with surging issues or r1200s blowing brake servos really young
-all the 2000s era hondas that reliably blew reg/recs
-tl1000s cracking frames
-dr650s with NSU and countershaft failures
-harley electra glides falling apart generally

Most of those bikes had really long production runs and would have shown those issues on even a half arsed test program. Production engineers aren't dumb, and surely if it somehow slipped through a test program, they'd be looking at the statistics of warranty and parts purchased to keep on top of the product? It's bizarre, given the 'customer is always right' post-hot-coffee-lawsuit era that we live in.

[Heretic]

and i dont think you can confuse design and manufacture build and reliability over the warranty and say 5 - 8 years, against one thats been around for 25 years and bits suffering from just plain old age.

MOST bikes i rekon 25 - 30 years old?? even solid ones? theres going to be "missing scenes" where no one really knows what actually went on or how something happened, but you get to see the end result afterwoods, like a really cracking good weekend on the Bundaberg Rum.

thats a different thing totally from a Hyo or an early Hyundai

or even a recent one some would say

[thro]

When I was still racing I was able to get within a second of my PB, set on the KTM, on my first event on the Viffa...planted little bike, great sound...very capable bike.

I very much suspect there's a major difference between yourself on the bike you rode, and a third rate basket-case example ridden by someone a lot less capable.

They're 20+ years old now and like any 20+ year old bike will vary massively in reliability, handling, braking, etc. depending on how they have been maintained.

If you're not willing to spend the thousands of dollars required to maintain or restore a VFR or RVF400 (or any other small 4 cylinder or two strokes these days), you don't deserve one (or rather, you deserve the problems you get). They're a modern classic and should be treated as such.

[GreenMeanie]

mmm the most reliable bike on the planet haha

Oh. I didn’t mention the cam caps and head ovalling out.
High revs apparently. Fuck off Honda.

But since they build high performance step throughs and big bore CT110s that amount for the majority of their sales world wide there are plenty of Numpties about think they are reliable and well engineered.

And I was beaten for boring.

[Hillz]

i still dont under stand what you are trying to say, yeah sure you think hondas are shit but its just a fact the majority or them are bullet proof

Z50
CRF50
CT110
every XR
VTR250
all the quads they make (i have a 1988 TRX300 that has never been apart) the list just goes on forever etc etc etc
you have worked with Jordan.. he would say the same thing

[=Maz=]

I very much suspect there's a major difference between yourself on the bike you rode, and a third rate basket-case example ridden by someone a lot less capable.

Thanks Thro...you'll make me blush. lol
In reality, had been off the race bike for at least 6 months when I entered the Historic State Championships last year...so well out of race-conditioning...and the bike was basically serviced and the springs changed all around to match the fat bastard on the bike. So maybe a first-rate basket case.
My point is...even with a fat, out of condition but reasonable rider on it the bike is able to carry corner speed and pull out of corners well enough that even an average-condition VFR400 has to be respected. Bang for Buck...the NC30 beats the RC30.

[Heretic]

Reliability from a US non bike site, Honda's up there with Suzuki, Yamaha. then Kawasaki

"The reliability ratings are based on failure rates for 4-year-old bikes:

Yamaha/Star (11 percent failure rate)
Suzuki and Honda (12 percent)
Kawasaki (15 percent)
Victory (17 percent)
Harley-Davidson (26 percent)
Triumph (29 percent)
Ducati (33 percent)
BMW (40 percent)
Can-Am (42 percent)"


Linky : https://www.moneytalksnews.com/the-m...nd-not-harley/

[Kristy]

I was interested to know what constituted a "failure" but despite following links on that page, couldn't find it (article mentioned failure rates but talked about satisfaction ratings - link provided to failure ratings didn't bring up anything). Is failure considered anything that breaks/stops working before its time (i.e. not strictly wear and tear [e.g. brake pads] but maybe reg/rec as an example), or are we talking mass failure (e.g. engine says no, or a crack in the frame etc.)? They mention repair rates in one of the articles so it must mean *anything* that stops working. If I rode a bike 20,000km/year and had 1 thing break in those 4 years I'd be pretty happy.

[thro]

Between 2 10 year old Hondas with 180,000 between them the only failures i have had, have been a kill switch that needed contact cleaner, and a broken indicator switch.

[Kristy]

I've had more bikes than I've had hot dinners, ridden around 150,000km and honestly can't recall any major things failing, but the longest I've had a bike for was my CBR6 which was probably about 7 years, and the most kms I've done on any one bike was 38,000km on my K9 gixxer over about 1.5 years and not one issue. The two most major things that come to mind was a cam chain tensioner on my CBR6 (ex-race bike) and a super pesky FI light on both of my L1 gixxers - both FI light problems arose after lack of use. Have replaced spark plugs due to me being a dunce and repeatedly trying to start the bike when the battery needed a charge but I think that's about it.

I've had more problems with cars.

[Hillz]

americans are a joke & the things they consider failure would be common sense wearing items i would imagine..

example... there is now warnings on pistons for California, maybe so they don't put them in their vaginas like mobile phones & sue

[TurboR1]

there is now warnings on pistons for California, maybe so they don't put them in their vaginas like mobile phones & sue

I've seen some pretty knarley videos in my time... turns out everything is a dildo if you're brave enough

[sixofthebest]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=1HDnqyZ5RVU

[Para045]

-all the 2000s era hondas that reliably blew reg/recs
Most of those bikes had really long production runs and would have shown those issues on even a half arsed test program.

Actually that was more the mid>late 90's, by the mid 2000's they'd pretty much sorted the electrical issues with upgrades R/R's and stators
Honda did get a bad rap because they made/sold so fucking many more bikes than most others so obviously the overall ratio of bikes with issues will be higher
My 98 BB has done over 167 000km's and had 1 stator and 3 regs go but the original reg lasted over 8years/40k and I had no issues with the upgraded R/R till about a year ago @ ~160k due to me not diagnosing the issue of a corroded/melted fuse box and dodgy stator correctly I killed the 2nd R/R in only a few months/low km's
Once D Ball had sorted the melted fuse box and there was a new stator and reg in her she was all good again

and i dont think you can confuse design and manufacture build and reliability over the warranty and say 5 - 8 years, against one thats been around for 25 years and bits suffering from just plain old age.

+1

Oh. I didn’t mention the cam caps and head oval lung out.
High revs apparently. Fuck off Honda.

I think you're confusing them with the ZZR1100/ZRX/ZXR's etc pitting and losing the surface on their camshafts