The WORST MOTORCYCLE ENGINES ever made (AVOID AT ALL COST)

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AI narrator? Creator/editor needs to be slapped... not only are a lot of things mispronounced, it's clear that they have no experience with the actual bikes, only the research. The title is definitely misleading.

Yamaha MT-09 -- motor was fine, fueling not.

Ducati Panigale 1199/1299 -- I own the fastest (i.e. hottest running) of the series. Motor is absolutely mental. One of the only bikes that has ever scared me. Not a great street bike... too much power... can't go fast enough on the road to get any proper air flow over radiator (which is huge, BTW, AI bot, lol).

Bimota V-Due -- (aside from butchering the name and substituting Tesi shots) first all-Bimota designed and manufactured bike (including engine) - design issues for sure, but direct injection 500cc 2-stroke that passed emissions at the turn of the century was quite promising. Finally sorted after project failed, proper bikes are fetching big money and still a blast to ride according to the few that ride them. In fact, I've been beat out of a couple of them (very few stateside) and have started to source them over in Italy. Bimota Classic Parts (business shown in the clip) has two running ones sitting in the showroom that the customers will not part with at the time I asked (November 2025).
 
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I actually thought they brought up some valid points. The comments about the fueling brought up some head nodding on my part. I never road the naked version, but I did try the FJ-09 in the first year. I rode it around the block and couldn't get off it fast enough. I was very tempted to leave it at the half way point and walk back. Why? The throttle was either on...or off. There was no friction zone to speak of. I could see myself in stop-n-go traffic on I-5. Shure I could deal with it. But I shouldn't have to.

Yet all the bike reviewers loved it...because it could pop wheelies so easily. You had to really scour the reviews to find anything mentioned about the fueling till the later models came out...which invariably mentioned they had improved the fueling.

Chris
 
Poor fueling does not qualify a bike to be in the sensationalist "Worst Motorcycle Engine Ever" category. I'd put good money on the fact the author behind the A! hasn't ridden most of the bikes in the vid. if any. I'm not a fan of the CP3 and would take a CP2 or CP4 over one any day. Already have actually. It's still a great motor though.
 
DesmoRonin said:
Poor fueling does not qualify a bike to be in the sensationalist "Worst Motorcycle Engine Ever" category.
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Uhhh...I sure felt like it. :D :D :D

I knew all the hype about how great the FJ-09 was and seriously almost left it half-way as I took it around the block. I hated it and couldn't wait to get off it. It was that bad.

Chris
 
Daboo said:
Uhhh...I sure felt like it. :D :D :D

I knew all the hype about how great the FJ-09 was and seriously almost left it half-way as I took it around the block. I hated it and couldn't wait to get off it. It was that bad.

Chris
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I understand, however, ECU ≠ motor... a real biker calls it a motor, not engine, lol -- same AI producer? ;)

I'm quite familiar with the bike, and it's not the reason I'm not a CP3 fan. If you rode a US model (did they even call it an FJ in Europe?), I believe the snatchiness was more abrupt here vs. the Tracer in Europe, possibly due to tuning/emissions. Still, the guys I knew that had them ran Power Commanders (one Bazzaz I think) or had their ECU's flashed. And I think this was before Yamaha swapped out the ECU's. Today's CP3 (890cc vs 847) is not radically different from the original configuration. Fueling and electronics have changed significantly for obvious reasons. But the video is still wrong IMO, sensationalist, and I maintain the creator/editor needs to be slapped... ok, e-slapped. LOL
 
I knew there would have to be work arounds, if nothing more training my right wrist and getting used to the virtually non-existent friction zone. Those workarounds shouldn't be necessary. I sat on a BMW F800GT next...and fell in love with it. In fact, I didn't bring it back for something like 2.5 hours. That was a totally different experience. The kind you expect of any bike you sit on.

Chris
 
I'm happy you found a bike you fell in love with. but naturally, everything is relative, especially when it comes to various rider preferences. IIRC, when the Tracer came out, Euro 4 was starting to be implemented. To what extent this may have impacted Yamaha's development is lost on me though. A workaround on a new bike with a new engine on a new platform trying to meet a new emission standard is unwelcome for sure, but hardly unexpected. And I've experienced the same on both Asian and European bikes... be careful that you don't paint with too broad a brush... your comment suggests that the snatchiness wasn't addressed until later models which is not the case, Clearly this is not a comparison here, but an I-3 vs. a P2 motor will resonate differently with different people. For example, I generally prefer twins, but I find almost all P2's a bit on the boring side, Yamaha CP2 being one of the exceptions. The right V2's, on the other hand, make me tingly... and not just below the belt, lol. And yet I couldn't tell you whether I would take a P-twin over an I-triple... (okay, okay, I'll take a Rocket 3, lol). In the case of the bikes you rode, no disrespect, but I would likely take a sorted Tracer 9 over your F800GT, despite my love of twins and acknowledging in certain respects the F800 is a better bike. But in terms or excitement? the BMW loses for me, if only for the 25 hp deficit. And an uncorked CP3 is more exciting still. That said, I'm still not enamored by them.

Again, a bike that required a workaround, TSB, or proper sorting does not qualify it for Worst Motor Ever. YMMV, but I predict the CP3 will outsell a lot of other platforms by other "non-worst" manufacturers in it's lifetime, F800 included. Not bad for motor not designed by AI... lolol. Don't get me started on the Panigales or Bimota... ;)
 
DesmoRonin said:
a real biker calls it a motor, not engine
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Surely you jest!
This shatters my illusion of thinking that I am a real biker, how deflating. I am a real mechanic however and to me, and to every real mechanic with whom I have worked, if it consumes electrons it is a motor, and if it burns a combustible fuel it is an engine.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
Surely you jest!
This shatters my illusion of thinking that I am a real biker, how deflating. I am a real mechanic however and to me, and to every real mechanic with whom I have worked, if it consumes electrons it is a motor, and if it burns a combustible fuel it is an engine.
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Yes, of course :D

I was poking fun at the title of the other thread Chris posted and the AI used to generate it.

I am no longer a real mechanic... but even when I was, I wasn't much of a word/nomenclature Nazi... too many colleagues from different parts of the country and educational backgrounds. But we did used to say that they don't call it an "enginecycle." ;)

To add, my mechanic friends in premier international motorcycle racing are from Italy (motore), France (moteur), Spain (motor), and Germany (motor), if I got it right. "Engine" for me is a yummy gin in a container in the shape of a small fuel can from Torino ;)
 
I didn't watch the video, but i do have a 2015 FJ09. A flash of the ECU was one of the best things one could do to it! Smoothed out the snatchy throttle. I find the CP3 a great engine... er motor! Decent torque across it's range, spins up freely, fun to ride. Updating the suspension and adding cruise control has turned it into a decent sport-tourer.
 
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