quaility of finish 06 v 02

Having owned an 02 S3 for 3 years and an 06 S3 for 6 months I am concerned about some minor corrosion issues that I am seeing on the 06 -
Banjo bolts - all skinned over with rust - look ***** !
Bars - odd dot of rust already.
Bolt heads - looking shabby and rusting.

The big bits frame/bodywork seem ok tho'.
I hope we are not looking at a drop in quality on this bike because it seems to look like a 2 year old bike in 6 months.
And it is garaged but used in winter.

Any views?
cheers.

[HarriS]

It seems that many of the bolts of my ´05 are stainless including the banjos so no rust here. Are they cutting costs with the ´06? There was some post about crappy looking brake caliber bolts on the ´06 some time ago. The ´05 caliber bolts are very classy looking.

[ This message was edited by: HarriS on 2006-04-05 11:22 ]

[Curmudgeon]

On 2006-04-05 11:21, HarriS wrote:
Are they cutting costs with the ´06? There was some post about crappy looking brake caliber bolts on the ´06 some time ago. The ´05 caliber bolts are very classy looking.

I think you might be misinterpreting the change of front caliper mounting bolts. As mentioned on this brake thread, Triumph may have changed the mounting bolts to address caliper alignment problems with the original '05 bolts, which can lead to brake sponginess. Below is the relevant excerpt:

On 2006-04-02 23:36, bundo wrote:
One cause can be that with the radial mount brakes, the calipers can be out of alignment and this causes the lever to move ever closer to the bar and the spongey feel. Later model 05 bikes use a regular bolt to hold the calipers on which has fixed some bikes and earlier 05 bikes have an allen head bolt which is more prone to this problem.

Has anyone seen other indications that Triumph cuts costs between '05 and '06?

[DwarF]

I just went and checked out my 05 that I have been riding daily for 10 months, even in winter (Texas). 8k miles so far.

There is no rust anywhere. I looked very closely after your thread, and could find no trace of the cancer.

[jdub3]

texas winter doesn't count! i don't think they are putting salt on your roads to melt snow. then again, i'm not sure where simon is from..... anyway, it's usually salt that is a major rust contributor. salt from the ocean doesn't help either.

i wish i was someplace warm year round......

[ This message was edited by: jdub3 on 2006-04-05 20:22 ]

Might want to keep a couple of small brass brushes handy. The local Lowes or Home Depot usually carries them in the section where welders are sold. They are usually pretty good at taking off the corrosion without marring the finish on unpainted parts. As with anything try it on an inconspicuous area first.

As to your question my '03 is still looking pretty fresh but it always garaged and washed and dried regularly.

[Geof3]

I'm the one that posted the caliper bolt thing. The bolts may have been replaced with a different type, but they are still SH!T bolts. If they were going to do it right, they should have used the same quality of bolt (stainless) but with a different head. I don't think this was a direct cost savings thing. I think it was a bit of an oversite. I don't see too many places overall that we "cheaped out". There are a couple, but overall the build quality etc is excellent.

To the corrosion issue. I've got none anywere, and that is a full winter of riding in CO. Not in the snow, but with various gravels, etc. all over the place...

But, I'm also a bit anal about water, after a wash the nooks and crannies get hit with the air compressor... ESPECIALLY the area on top, just in case any water found it's way into the plug holes.

BTW, to Simon. If your banjo's etc are getting furry, I'd DEFINATELY pull the tank and air cleaner and check your plugs...

Thanks for the replies.
It is good to know that other 05/06's are not corroding at the edges. Have to say it is just a few isolated fasteners but the engine mount bolts have some rust coming through the silver paint also. I cant really understand why this would be - acid rain in NW England perhaps?! I do wash the thing occasionally. Not irretrievable by a long way but I am sure it will be outside warranty cover.
Just not nice seeing something as good as this deteriorate.

That is good advice about the plug tops - will get that checked out . Thanks Geof3.