Triumphrat

redsprint · 02-12-2009, 11:21 PM

Lads (and ladettes),

Filling up my bike yesterday I went to reset the trip meter and noticed alot of movement in my Tacho/LCD as I pressed the two buttons. Got the bike home and ripped the fairing off her to have a sneak peak and found some more quality Triumph work at hand. Refer pics.

You'll notice that there is only one threaded bolt holding this to the bike and the other two "plugs" (1 and 3 in pic 1) rely on their fit with the grommets. My remaining pics show the amount of play that has crept into this set up. Cause unknown to me at the moment. The grommets don't feel heat affected, the "plugs" have no stretch/wear marks and the bolt is as tight as you'd want to go without ruining it.

Just want to know if anyone else has noticed this on their machines? I'm not a huge fan of it as vibrations are not electronic's best friend.

Going to run the settup down to my local bike shop this arvo to see what kind of solution we might be able to come up with. Keep you all posted.

Neanderthal · 02-13-2009, 12:46 AM

When I installed the flyscreen I noticed this design flaw myself. My solution - I used some thick tie-wraps and wound them around the posts, filling in the gaps. So far it has worked nicely, no problems whatsoever.

Neanderthal

redsprint · 02-13-2009, 01:05 AM

Neanderthal, good little fix. Most likely what I'll adopt after I go to the dealership. The boys down there said they want to take a look for future reference and some feedback to the company on these machines.

corpsedub · 02-13-2009, 10:57 AM

i noticed this as well when doing my flyscren. perhaps i'll do the neanderthal on mine as well.

Djm · 02-13-2009, 12:42 PM

I used Neanderthal's method when I installed mine...worked like a charm.

Neanderthal · 02-13-2009, 02:58 PM

I didn't have the proper time or supplies, but my intention was (is) to get a 1/4" thick piece of soft rubber, cut it into a washer shape and pop it over the stud. The tie wraps did work well and are holding just fine, but I'd like it to look a little more professional, lol.
It's hard to imagine what the engineers at Triumph were thinking when they got to this part, maybe it was on a Friday afternoon?

Neanderthal

Diego · 02-13-2009, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neanderthal

It's hard to imagine what the engineers at Triumph were thinking when they got to this part, maybe it was on a Friday afternoon?

Or maybe it was intentional.

Sometimes you want an assembly mounted with a certain amount of flexure for one reason or another. Not all vibrations are the same, so far as electromechanical devices go. Sometimes a higher amplitude vibration is more acceptable than a lower amplitude vibration that has high acceleration values, as would be more likely with a rigid mount. I often had to take this into account when designing electronic equipment for portable or mobile applications.

I'm not going to pretend that I know what the exact reason would be in this instance, as I can only guess for now. But I'm going to keep an open mind until I can get mine out of storage in after I'm done moving, and check into it.

D'Artagnan · 02-13-2009, 09:02 PM

Not having the proper size O-rings laying around, I, too, opted f/ Neanderthal's fix. Hope it eliminates the dash rattle.

While under there, I also noticed that the rubber boot that protects the wiring connection had slipped out of place leaving about a 1/2 in. opening instead of sealing the electrical connection point. I'll check it again in a week or so to determine if some method of anchoring the boot in place is in order.

MacBandit · 02-14-2009, 01:57 AM

BMW instruments were mounted identically to this for years and years. On the BMW they were loose because if (I had customers that did) you bolted them down tight they shook all the bulb connectors and odometer wheels to pieces. I would think the solid state electronics and LED lights wouldn't have the same problem.

Diego · 02-14-2009, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacBandit

BMW instruments were mounted identically to this for years and years. On the BMW they were loose because if (I had customers that did) you bolted them down tight they shook all the bulb connectors and odometer wheels to pieces.

This appears to be a practical example of what I was hypothesizing re: peak acceleration due to vibration when the mounting is more rigidly. While the Street Triple does not have as many mechanical parts within the instrument cluster as older designs did, there are electrical connectors which could either work loose, or the connectors' solder joints on the circuit board become stressed by repeated shaking, producing intermittent faults. And of course, the tach itself is an "old timey" electromechanical meter with comparatively sensitive bearings.

It may be wise to exercise prudence in "fixing" this, lest one introduce some real troubles later.