2012 Model Quality - First Disappointment

[Martin_R]

Originally Posted by Oops!

It appears that it's the linkage that has failed and perhaps I could repair it

Failed as in sheared to pieces, or just had one of the threads come loose?

In case all your parts are still OK, tighten nuts 11 & 7 and the ballbolts at both ends (the ones going through #4s). Using blue loctite on ballbolts will help prevent them coming undone.

- but I didn't purchase a new Triumph to get my hands dirty. To put it very simply - I bought the Speed Triple for leisure and pleasure not fixing failed components.

Sure, that's one way of looking at it. The problem with your method is that you'll miss many days of riding, trailer the bike back & forth to dealer, and loose valuable time you could have used doing something useful/fun instead.

You would have to touch the nuts on the linkage anyway every time you adjust pedal position up/down. Surely you would not take bike to dealer every time you need to adjust something?

[Speedycaptain]

If it is a loose nut or bolt, I wouldn't refer to it as a failed component. I am sorry that you aren't getting much sympathy here, but if it is just loose, it seems mighty trivial. Your clutch is going to need adjustment, chain cleaned, tightened, lubed. Your tires are going to be worn out by 2000 miles and need changing. Speaking of tires, I can almost assure you that the dealer didn't deliver it with the correct tire pressure, so check those. My point being, this is simple vehicle ownership. Now if it was something major, like a leaky head gasket, sure. But if it really is a linkage that needs a turn with a wrench, cmon. Would you have the dealer installing bar end mirrors? Exhaust? Change your oil? No, for God sake no. When the zombie apocalypse comes, you are going to be SOL.

[sugarbear]

Bikes, as all things mechanical, require maintenance and adjustments. Take a sunny afternoon a couple of times a month and give your bike a little love. Check the oil, lube the chain, check things over, especially if you notice something amiss. Its that old adage, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A few minutes to take care of the little things means riding a mechanically sound bike, instead of letting it sit in the driveway. . I really don't think a nut coming loose is a defect, it's just life.

Sugarbear

[mnhoulden]

I guess you lot didn't give Oops the support he was looking for.....

[Joe Houle]

Tough love.

[DeanRider]

Sounds more like a bolt working its way loose rather than a mechanical/manufactuing failure. Not a biggy really. As wabill rightly comments, we need to see pictures of the fault to really be sure...

Each time I finish riding for the day, I always give a quick lookover my entire bike in the form of a safety check. Stuff happens when riding: nails get into tyres, chains work loose, cables slacken, pipes get loose, bolts vibrate loose, oil levels change, tyres wear down and sometimes need air, etc. I cannot expect any machine to wait for its next service before it shows signs of being ridden -- neither can I expect the manufacturer to foresee every issue the bike may have. It is just part of life. Period.

Back in the day, especially with older British Iron, every owner of a motorcycle -- from a BSA Bamtam to a Norton Commando knew how to attend to the basics -- from valve adjustment on a 4-stroke Triumph to de-coking the exhaust on a 2-stroke Francis Barnett. It was a necessary part of life. That said, I personally feel we as motorcycle owners are enormously privileged at the lengths all manufacturers go to to ensure their machines are virtually trouble-free in day-to-day operation in all kinds of weathers and road conditions -- and in the hands of all kinds of riders!

So, the moral at least to my mind is: be prepared to get your hands at least a little dirty. A tightening of a bolt here, or the turning up an adjuster there may be all it takes on our modern machines.

As the old adage goes, "a stitch in time, saves nine" -- and even at times may indeed save you from a breakdown in the middle of nowhere, or even worse...

[wabill]

I'll be bold and say I think I smell a troll.

[dantastic]

ROFL... All the Triumph fan boys in here defending the "character" of their bikes... A bike with 1700 miles should have NO problems. I've been through 3 bikes (R6, SV1000S, and my S3) with nearly 40,000 miles combined. ZERO problems. I hope my S3 isn't the first problem child.

[scoutpilot]

Originally Posted by dantastic

ROFL... All the Triumph fan boys in here defending the "character" of their bikes... A bike with 1700 miles should have NO problems. I've been through 3 bikes (R6, SV1000S, and my S3) with nearly 40,000 miles combined. ZERO problems. I hope my S3 isn't the first problem child.

While you're busy talking **** and calling sensible bike owners "fan boys" you might take note that the problem appears, in all likelihood, to be a loose nut. A nut. A fastener.

Crappy owner maintenance != Crappy quality.

[Oops!]

Originally Posted by Martin_R

Failed as in sheared to pieces, or just had one of the threads come loose?

In case all your parts are still OK, tighten nuts 11 & 7 and the ballbolts at both ends (the ones going through #4s). Using blue loctite on ballbolts will help prevent them coming undone.





Sure, that's one way of looking at it. The problem with your method is that you'll miss many days of riding, trailer the bike back & forth to dealer, and loose valuable time you could have used doing something useful/fun instead.

You would have to touch the nuts on the linkage anyway every time you adjust pedal position up/down. Surely you would not take bike to dealer every time you need to adjust something?

Martin R,
Many thanks for taking the time to post up the exploded view - most informative. Nuts 11 and 7 appear tight and as the factory set them but for some reason the ballbolt that links into the gearchange lever has failed. Not a big or difficult job to replace in a workshop but rather frustrating when it fails as dusk approaches in the badlands, the Triumph toolpack doesn't include the relevant spanners and roadside repairs don't seem an attractive proposition.