Naff bikes that just LOOK great?

[rodericb]

Bikes which look great but are a bit, ahem, underwhelming somehow?

Yamah R7. Both iterations might be such - the old one needing the race kit and the new one being amazing-looking but just a twin cylinder commuter underneath.


Come to think of it, the great homologation 750's of the 90's were a bit ordinary without their respective "race kits" to unleash their potential.... But by god I love 'em. The Ducati 851 and 888's were a bit like that too......

[srob]

Did many of the homologation specials need race kits?

I know there was different versions of things like the RC30 for different markets with varying levels of power. Similarly things like the ZX7-RR and RC45 I don't remember being restricted without the kits?

Just interested really. That's my era, used to love walking round the bike parking at race meetings in the late 80s, early 90s as a kid trying to spot real OW-01s and RC30s. Much to my dad's annoyance as he wasn't interested and just wanted to watch the racing

[black-k1]

Back in the '80s, I really liked the look of the VF750 (I still do) -



but ... oh dear! What a mistake for Honda to make!

Still, without the disaster of the VF750 we'd never have had the VFR

[snagzie]

[Tango13]

black-k1 said:

Back in the '80s, I really liked the look of the VF750 (I still do) -



but ... oh dear! What a mistake for Honda to make!

Still, without the disaster of the VF750 we'd never have had the VFR

Knock, Knock...

[slopes]

I always wanted one of these when i first saw it back in the late 70's early 80's and by all accounts, they were poo



The Vetter Mystery Ship.

How on earth he got that so wrong after he designed the Triumph Hurricane i'll never know

[scorcher]

snagzie said:

I took my specs off to see if it looked any better, but it still doesn’t look great. Maybe if I look from a different county it might improve.

[bogie]

In the early 90s when faired in bikes became a thing and air cooled Ducatis were 50bhp down on the Japanese ....it even had "controlled air flow"

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

Ducati Monster 620. I really wanted one of these back in the days of 33 bhp limits and I was on a Kawasaki ER-5.

Finally saw one at the Excel show. I didn't fit - couldn't bend my knees and ankles enough in my bike kit to fit on the thing. A sad moment.

[srob]

I always thought the Phillipe Stark desgined Aprilia Moto 6.5 always good. No idea if they were any good or not, but I suspect the latter!

[podman]

As hinted above, ZX-7R falls into this category, no quicker than the VFR750 of the era , a proper porker, I just found it ponderous after an SRAD.




I would also put my 996 BP into this category..Looks and sound fabulous granted but its far too harsh on the road , riding position is horrendous as well, I dont find the engine particularly exciting either Vs a Blade of the same era.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

A few decades ago, my first "big" bike was a Suzuki GS500e. According to the reviews, there were far better similar bikes available, but I thought the Suzuki just looked great compared to the competition. I actually really enjoyed owning it, no regrets.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Any Royal Enfield

[spoodler]

Sadly... most older Italian bikes.
I know lots of folk love them, but I've yet to ride a Guzzi, Ducati or Morini that I've liked.
I bought a Morini 500/6 Sport for my better half, to cut a longer story short, I always felt it would be a much better bike with a Japanese two stroke motor... But, I could quite happily have parked it on the coffee table just to admire...



My California looked superb, but it rode like a tractor - and that's coming from someone who has covered a huge mileage on old Harleys!



As for older Ducatis... A friend had an M600 Monster from new, one of the first I'd seen. I thought it looked stunning in its yellow paintwork, however, despite her claims to the contrary, the motor was far too weedy and bits fell off with remarkable regularity.
Her other half had an ex-works 600 Pantah that really was about as reliable and oily that anything Redditch might have churned out in the sixties - we regularly started it by running round and round a petrol station forecourt (similar to a mate's new Ironhead sportster). And on one weekend away we had to err... put a fire out as it caught alight when trying to start!
They also asked me to "look after" a mint 500 Pantah, 'twas so lovely to look at that even the neighbour who'd reported me to the Police previously came over to admire it. Again, sadly I didn't dare go anywhere on it as it wouldn't start when warm... and it barely had enough grunt to make it into top gear on anything but a level road.
Wonderful frames, but woeful engines.

An exception to the above is my '74 Laverda, not everybody appreciates its looks, but it has so far proven to be bombproof.

More "naff but good looking bikes" - a surprising number of those modern Chinese things, or Mash and AJS etc. that have taken inspiration from what's come before and tidied it up for a modern market. Reviews often paint a picture of lousy quality, unreliability and plenty of other issues tho'.

[srob]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Any Royal Enfield

Over 700,000 bikes sold year to date up to August '23 and predicted 900,000 sales to year end.

Assuming they're not all new customers a few people disagree they're naff

[Birky_41]

I dont want to admit it because I have a massive soft spot for these and if garage spaced allowed I'd get one in a heart beat just to store

But...The Benelli Tornado Tre 900

I loved its looks (I have a thing for Italian bikes), the sound and it handled from what I remember pretty good

It was however naff in the way it was made, the actual power it produced and reliability

I rode the crap out of it in my mid 20s back circa 2005-2006. I gave up road bikes for 10 years after this. Everything broke, warped or snapped off

But it sounded amazing and looked great

I had it about 3 weeks and took it Brands - a bolt actually came out the dash mid session on one of the videos (Its recorded on VHS) https://youtu.be/GZ1625r6IJk?si=GXC8GOeLncg9ivLr

Isle of Man TT Mountain section when it was 2 way - again VHS https://youtu.be/xdZZ0ksnC0E?si=iJ9AiuDoXdETnhVu

I have more videos of it broken then working. At IOM I had to put 2 elastic bands on the gear shifter so it had a return as the spring went. Was always a funny memory that one.

[fred bloggs]

srob said:

I always thought the Phillipe Stark desgined Aprilia Moto 6.5 always good. No idea if they were any good or not, but I suspect the latter!

This picture made me sick in my mouth. I worked at a Aprilia dealer in the early 2000's These things were AWFUL.

[Jazoli]

fred bloggs said:

This picture made me sick in my mouth

Of course it did

[robsa]

srob said:

I always thought the Phillipe Stark desgined Aprilia Moto 6.5 always good. No idea if they were any good or not, but I suspect the latter!

But could you use one to squeeze and orange?

[Waynester]

black-k1 said:

Back in the '80s, I really liked the look of the VF750 (I still do) -



but ... oh dear! What a mistake for Honda to make!

Still, without the disaster of the VF750 we'd never have had the VFR

Same..and after owning a VF400F and VF500FII I thought I would progress onto the 750 as my next purchase, but I bought a KR1 instead.