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My 2009 Bonneville SE almost killed me yesterday.

76K views 462 replies 92 participants last post by  propforward 
#1 ·
Driving South on the 405 Freeway in Irvine California at about 70 MPH traffic started to slow, I stood up on the pegs to look for an opening ahead and bang!! My right foot was standing on nothing the left foot-peg fell off onto the freeway and I lost control of the bike.

It took a huge effort to keep my foot from hitting the ground at 70MPH and keeping the bike upright. I swerved across a few lanes before I could regain control and slow down and stop safely. Went back and retrieved the foot-peg from the roadway.


The bolt had sheared off right at the point where it extends from the clevis into the bike. There was no reason for it. Never dropped the bike, no sign of rust on the bolt, I did not hit a bump or jump up suddenly just stood up gradually like I usually do to look ahead when approaching slower traffic. I weigh less than 250 pounds. There was no reason other than a manufacturing failure. The sheared bolt is clean and shiny it just broke for no reason.

If I had not recovered from the bolt failure crashed and died the authorities would say another biker just went down on his own and overlooked the sheared off foot-peg as a symptom not the cause of the crash.

Dang, Triumph what kind of steel are you using for critical parts? There is no SAE stamp on the bolt, it may not be hardened or conform to any standard. This is a real issue for us riders and a liability issue for Triumph. I am going to contact Triumph what they say about the failure of this critical component. It should have been tested by Triumph prior to me riding on the freeway with my less than 3 year old bike. I will post the response on this site if I get any.
 
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#440 · (Edited)
I've looked at many other bikes since this issue came up and could only find one other one with the same bolted-up clevis bracket but that was by means of an M10 high tensile allen bolt rather than an M8 welded stud.

All the rest have the clevis bracket built in one piece with the outrigger forgings or other sort of bracket, including other Triumphs, the Bonnie seems to be an exception. The Scrambler does have the clevis in one piece with the outrigger though.

Strangely enough this morning I had a nice ride on a friend's new Honda CBF600 Hornet and the first thing I did was to examine the footpeg fixings closely. My friend was a bit nonplussed about that and asked what was I looking at. I explained excitedly with some pleasure that his footpegs were mounted on fixed clevis brackets...

I think he believes I've flipped or suffer from dementia or something. All those lovely technical features on his new bike and I concentrated on his footpegs...:)
 
#450 ·
I've looked at many other bikes since this issue came up and could only find one other one with the same bolted-up clevis bracket but that was by means of an M10 high tensile allen bolt rather than an M8 welded stud.

All the rest have the clevis bracket built in one piece with the outrigger forgings or other sort of bracket, including other Triumphs, the Bonnie seems to be an exception. The Scrambler does have the clevis in one piece with the outrigger though.

Strangely enough this morning I had a nice ride on a friend's new Honda CBF600 Hornet and the first thing I did was to examine the footpeg fixings closely. My friend was a bit nonplussed about that and asked what was I looking at. I explained excitedly with some pleasure that his footpegs were mounted on fixed clevis brackets...

I think he believes I've flipped or suffer from dementia or something. All those lovely technical features on his new bike and I concentrated on his footpegs...:)
Good comments Forchetto! I find myself eyeballing the way other bikes have their footpegs designed...funny what snapping a footpeg off does to you! Have a Merry Christmas!
 
#459 ·
Can we close this thread then? I have been wanting to for some time as I think the title alone is missleading. Its just going around in circles.

That's your call. It's not violating the AUP, no one is really pissed at each other, it's just one of those things that keeps coming up.

No big deal. I'd leave it open for the time being, although 46 pages on the subject with no resolution or clear direction seems to suggest that it is about done.

Chuck said:
I might not have a new Bonnie or a new bike but that does not mean I do not care about my Wind Brothers and Sisters no matter what they ride.
A fair point, but the bulk of your recent posts seem to have been largely sarcasm, which generally speaking drive such threads off topic and into not very useful land.
 
#463 ·
Ah - we have reached thread closure time, now that the petty and childish abuse is being hurled around. Not entirely surprising.

Traveller501 and Chuck you can both go and think about how to converse via the medium of the internet. Getting huffy at each other is a waste of everyones time. I don't care how much or what experience you have - it doesn't give you the right to talk down to someone.

And consider carefully before PM'ing me an insulting diatribe. I recommend a glass of egg nog and a sit down for a bit.
 
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