Triumph buys stock in grease mfg!

[tsc17]

I'm convinced that Triumph has taken out a considerable amount of stock into a grease manufacturer.

This can be the only reason why they would use such a liberal amount of grease (everywhere) when manufacturing their bikes.

I recently brought home a 06 Speed Triple, and with only 200 miles on it, I have thoroughly cleaned it twice just to remove grease. It's going to take another cleaning or two before I can get rid of it all.

The scary part was the grease that was apparently coming from the connectors where the two parts of the front rotors come together. Centrifigul force pushes it out, and onto the braking surface! When this happens it will inevitably embed into the pad material. So much of it came out that it was all over my forks, my wheel, and the sidewalls of my tire (as if it were chain lube on the rear). I used an equally liberal amount of Motorex brake clean to remove any grease and residue from my rotors and the surrounding areas of my calipers.

Every other area on the bike that could possibly use grease had it oozing all over. I cleaned these appropriately.

The chain was another challenge. The chain manufacturers always coat them in lithium grease at the end of the manufacturing process, and the stock DID on this bike is no exception. Do yourself a favor and go out and buy one of the best products that most people are unaware of...Motorex 611 Chain Clean. I used the entire can on my first cleaning to remove all of the lithium from the chain and sprocket. After that I wiped everything down to remove any excess, and applied a thin coat of chain lube to protect the surface from rust. After you take about 20 minutes to properly clean the chain, not only does it look incredible, but it's much easier to keep it looking nice.

When you have to remove grease that has flung onto the top of the gas tank, you know that too much was used in the manufacturing process.

Now it's sparkling clean, and I don't have to worry about my brake rotors (do the back, too) being covered in a thin layer of grease.

Have fun!

[kuhlka]

Thats ***** the dealer should have cleaned up before the bike even left the showroom! Did you get charged a 'prep' fee when you bought the bike? They're supposed to clean off all that shipping grease when they prep the bike. Otherwise, if someone were to wreck as a result, the dealer and/or Triumph could get sued probably.

Anyway, the grease that they coat the bike in is there to protect the bike from salt in the air during the overseas shipping process.

[DwarF]

+1 Kuhlka. If you got charged a fee, I would demand your money back. THat's ********.

[tsc17]

Let's not be so quick to point fingers at the dealers guys! I've been working in this industry long enough to know that prepping of the bike doesn't include removing grease used where parts come together, or where it's used to lubricate moving parts. There's no way to see most of this even when it comes out of a crate. There's obviously a difference in manufacturing techniques between the Japanese and (at least) the British. I've owned many Japanese bikes before (some of them purchased from the same dealer), and although there is plenty of cleaning to do when it's new, it's not at the same level as this Triumph was. It actually looked relatively clean when I picked it up (although my bikes are always cleaner than bikes on showroom floors), it's just that excess grease used in manufacturing started escaping from all of those hidden places.

I'm not saying that everybody should go out and check their rotors and brake pads...I'm not about causing riots and panic!

I simply found it somewhat humorous.

[MonkeyHanger]

Mine was mint clean when I picked her up.



MH

[RedNeck-Rat]

No grease cleaning on mine when I brought it home either, sounds like you have a lazy dealer to me............

[buzlin]

I only had the grease flying out of the rotor bolts problem. which, btw, is/was a pretty big safety issue. On my ride home from the dealer a dog and susequently the dogs owner both ran out into the road. I had to pull an emergency swerve/braking maneuver. The rear locked a bit, but the front didn't so s**t! Obviously brakes need breaking in, but the grease on the rotors definitely impacted performance.

Huh? What? yeah, doesn't really apply to the original post, but reminded me of an issue and thus led to this rant and thus lead to this explanation of this rant which is leading me to believe I've had too long of a week which reminds me I shouldn't of had so much coffee today. I need a beer.