Loose streering head on 2002 S3

I am new to this site and hope that I can get some answers concerning my black 2002 S3. I purchased bike new in late Sept 02 and used it for a month or so before winter. In June 03 the front end (steering head) began to be somewhat loose most notably when stopping. Some movement and slight clicking was evident. Shortly thereafter, I hit a series of bumps going through a corner and got a lovely tank slapper. Drove over to the dealer and he said that he would tighten the head, which he did. This was with 2500 kms. He tightened it again after another 1000km and again and finally replaced the bearing in 2004 after I pointed out that something was clearly wrong up front. His comment was that I was doing too many wheelies perhaps or I was braking too hard!!! Yes the front end sometimes does not touch the ground and yes I have just replaced the front brakes with only 8500kms.....but....I just had it tightened two weeks ago and the ***** thing is loosening up again after 500kms. My dealer says that this is a common problem with Speed Triples!!! I know of other S3s (hi Angus) with the same problem. My past (35 years riding, 7 years racing) tells me that maybe the head was overtightened at the factory and the threads are damaged.
My question!!!!:::Has anybody had this problem and how was it resolved.

[97TB]

I had the same problem, brought it in to the dealer and got the head stock bearings tightened. He said "90% of the riding population wouldn't have noticed it, but they are tightened to Triumph's specs now." I said, that's funny, everyone I let check it out noticed it also .

That was last year, and now I am having the same issue. It is very noticible when I hold the front brake and push up and down on the forks. I'll probably need a new tire in about 1000 mi, so I'll have him adjust the bearings again at that time.

I have read a whole bunch of posts regarding this, and I'm really surprised Triumph hasn't addressed the issue with a recall. Maybe we should get them involved.

Dan

[ This message was edited by: 97TB on 2005-07-27 10:35 ]

[beers2u]

Mine did that about a month after I bought it. I had heard of the problem on various boards and took it to the dealer for tightening. Since the closest dealer is an hour away and I expected this to be an ongoing issue, I went ahead and bought the Triumph tool that fits it for $25. It's a very thin box end wrench, can't remember the size. I've only had to use it once in 10,000 miles and there is no play (or clicking) now.

[Pig9r]

Had to get mine tightened after about 500 miles. I noticed the clunking when braking and going over bumps and asked the dealer about it when I took it in for the first service. The dealer said it was very common to have to tighten it at this point. He said it should be fine after and it has. I don't know if it remains loose for a while and is subjected to hard braking and wheelies if it would have a tendency to "waller" out to where it can't be tightened properly? If the threads were damaged from the factory I would think that it wouldn't tighten at all after the first time.

[ This message was edited by: Pig9r on 2005-07-27 15:40 ]

[Henry8075]

I had the same problem with my 03 triple, tightening the headstock bearings worked the first time, 4 months later it became loose again so they replaced the upper triple tree together with the headstock bearings.