Took the bike of my dreams out for a test ride yesterday and hated it i had set my heart on getting one of these and as soon as i rode it i realized its not the bike for me

Click to view attachment
this was the bike i rode.

hate that when that happens.

Love my Fazer, the way it looks, sounds etc...........but I dont like riding it (I do that very badly )

I went to look at a 53 plate GS500 the other day, lovely looking bike and went out on it..... it was so different to my old thing, they have changed the seat so it is wider which takes up my very limited leg length, hence making me tippy toe when stationary. The steering is heavier and so is the bike and although I want a newer one, it wont be this model

Will stick with my old rust bucket for now, maybe look at a newer one the same style as mine.................

Aw what a shame. Still if it's not for you, there will be something out there that is waiting for you

Better to find out on a test ride. My boss bought an S-type Jaguar (new), that he kept for 40 minutes and traded in because he hated it...

try a suzuki gladius, karen who came to squires has one and really likes it. She has dachshound legs also

Thank F for that...I'm not really a fan of them..they are every where the finish is okish and the wholething comes over as a bit eerrrmmm... bland ?

How about a Thunderbird..again I'm not bowled over but there is no substitute for cubes

At least you found out before you went and bought one!

I bought a Gsxr1100 without taking it for a test ride and I realised within minutes that I hated it. It went in the paper 2 weeks later but took me 6 months to sell and I lost £1300 on it.
I've also done the opposite. I bought a bike, out of necessity, that I was expecting to hate and I loved it! The object of my affection was a 55,000 mile MZ TS 150

Rocket III it is, then

I had a similar event with a girl I'd fancied all through high school, when we met up in adulthood one evening I was similarly dissapointed.



Pleased I found out at the "test ride" stage too.

is that the America or the Speedmaster?

sorry to hear it didn't work out as planned :(

what was wrong with it?

bad ergos?
poor performance?

It was the America it was great in a straight line then i came up to a roundabout and thats were it all went wrong. lol

I remember when I was riding my 100cc bike I had a jar where I was aaving to buy a Bandit - it even said so on the jar "Bobbi's Bandit Box", cos I loved the look of them.

Then I met a bloke who let me sit on his Bandit and I knew straight away that it wasn't the bike for me! Prolly just as well cos as the rate I was saving I would have been 99 before I could afford one!

Yeah - I was great in a straight line until I merged with the traffic :-/

To be fair, it doesn't look like a serious corner machine, but choking on a roundabout isn't too inspiring. Is that one of the carburetted models? Saw one up north - to get around the emissions laws they dilute the exhaust with fresh air. What a con... Still, it works.

Cruisers are not meant to go round corners like a sport bike or was there another issue?

All jokes about Harley-Fergusons aside, it is a valid point.

Funnily enough i know that especially as the triumph i ride is classed as a mini cruiser but i have never known any bike feel so bad on a round about i tried several round abouts in the end i was going so slow you could have walked passed me the sales man told me i would get used to it but at nearly £6000. it would a very expensive mistake if i didn't. I am going to see if i can find another America for sale near me and try that out to see if it is me or that model of bike?

Maybe the hint is in the name 'America'!

Aye the septics aren't known for their roads with corners are they

Indeed. The dragon's tail has no corners at all, to speak of ... errr ... oh, hang on, yes, it has, lots of them and very twisty it is too.

Aye - I've been on some mighty twisty roads in the US, but if you're on interstates or survey roads they just seem to be straight forever.

Well they might have corners, but a lot of their automotive designers don't seem to intergrate going round them in their designs.

very true. it takes alot more effort to get them leaning over, and you have to work at it to get it round the roundabout with constant adjustments (or at least that what i found on my cruiser) .... unlike the sportsbike where it takes minimal effort to get it going round the bend, and it goes like it's on rails!



poor lean angle?
or were you just a little uncertain about leaning it as it's big, long, heavy, shiny-new, and not your bike?

Easy Cured... get the GS, get some Longer Dog Bones for the rear Suspension Link. this has 2 effects. drops the back end letting you get tootsies on the floor and takes some of the weight of the front wheel.

Job Done..