Triumphrat

Celt · 07-09-2005

ok i got the bike back from first service and they say that they bled them but the squeal when i break hard is worse if anything and they are still the same i.e. i can still pull lever to within a cm of the bar and thats with the span adjuster full on.

help can i sort this myself?
has anyone contacted triumph?

these nissin's are supposed to one of the best setup's about but i dont think they are working properly on the 05 triple

[ This message was edited by: Celt on 2005-07-09 11:39 ]

kuhlka · 07-09-2005

I have to think there is some kind of design flaw or some little cranny where air bubbles get trapped really easily in the S3 brake system. My front brake is exactly the same way, yet my rear brake is great and has a really progressive feel and takes a good firm push to get the rear wheel to lock up.

crashmasterd · 07-09-2005

There is something rotten in the '05 brakes. My dealer bled mine which produced a remarkable improvement. Afterwards they felt like the true superbike brakes that they should be. I thought that solved all complaints about the bike.

Six weeks later and now they are back to mush.

When I get a minute I'll take it back and have them bleed the things again, but this isn't right. Something is wrong.

Speed3 · 07-09-2005

A couple of '05 Speed Triple tests I read commented on how they didn't like the progressive feel Triumph incorporated into the new brakes. Not as crisp as earlier years, they said. I don't know what you have to do to get them to work right, but I'd be pissed. Mu '01 brakes are dialed!

jnicosia · 07-09-2005

Quote:

On 2005-07-09 14:13, crashmasterd wrote:
There is something rotten in the '05 brakes. My dealer bled mine which produced a remarkable improvement. Afterwards they felt like the true superbike brakes that they should be. I thought that solved all complaints about the bike.

Six weeks later and now they are back to mush.

When I get a minute I'll take it back and have them bleed the things again, but this isn't right. Something is wrong.

the rear brake caliper is differant than the front. I just think it is what it is. they do stop perfectly I have tested them on the track and hard core street riding. thay haven't failed yet. maybe they just need to be power bleed with a special device who knows.

Big_Guns · 07-09-2005

Yeah, they pretty much suck. My dealer bled mine at the first service also. About a 50% improvement but still the worst of the 8 bikes I've owned. No feel and I pinch my 4th & 5th fingers between the lever and the bar when 2 finger braking. I think I'll try a Brembo radial master cylinder.

crashmasterd · 07-09-2005

Quote:

the rear brake caliper is differant than the front. I just think it is what it is. they do stop perfectly I have tested them on the track and hard core street riding. thay haven't failed yet. maybe they just need to be power bleed with a special device who knows.

There's nothing wrong with the rear brakes. This is all about the fronts. They aren't failing really, and in fact I did a little test at the track. 130mph down to zero in just about 250 feet. The problem is having to pull the handle clear back to the grip. When they are bled properly and I pull it comes about 3/4 of an inch from the handle and stops dead. Now it's back to pulling so far back it touches the rubber. This in about six weeks of regular riding.

This can't be just a "It is what it is" problem. If it's good one day it should still be good the next.

Hmmm. Brembo. $$$$$.

Diego · 07-10-2005

> these nissin's are supposed to one of the best setup's about

Kind of an arbitrary assumption, I fear.

Triumph concedes that the radial front brakes are mainly there for styling considerations. They also say it took Nissin quite a long time to get the pad compound good enough and the master cylinder durable enough to work well enough in that configuration. Unfortunately, the physical layout of the system also does make it extraordinarily difficult to fully bleed them.

Brakes are really one area where I have reservations about sacrificing performance for style. And I observe that, so far, no one here has even mentioned noticing that they changed to radials this year. So much for its marketing impact, I'd say.

Legman · 07-10-2005

I am reading all these posts over the last three months about squishy brakes and the lever coming back to the bars.
I have had my triple for 4 weeks now and have done 1400km. While the brakes require a stronger pull than the ZX12R brakes that I was used to, they work fine with two fingers, and don't come more than halfway to the bars. I have noticed a couple of other contributors over the last couple of months have said that their brakes are OK also.

The fact that the brakes work fine for some of us suggests to me that there is nothing wrong with the basic design of the system, but that there is a problem that is occurring for other reasons. The fact that repeated bleeding of the lines results in improvement in the brakes leads me to the same conclusion that others have come to - that it is difficult to remove all the air from the fluid.

Perhaps it is time that Triumph investigates the problem and comes up with a practical solution. Japanese manufacturers will issue a recall for much smaller, less serious problems than this issue.

Crashmasterd - if bleeding your brakes again results in an improvement, do you think that this might mean that your system is not air tight?

kuhlka · 07-10-2005

I'm going to do a very thorough bleed and replace all my crush washers when I swap out the master cylinders. I'll post up with the process and results when I get the thing in the mail and get it all done.