A lot of problems with my R3 !

Hi,

Just after the firt 1.000 miles, I must say that the R3 is good, but mine as several problems that are not acceptable, like:

1. The second day I used it, riding at around 80 mph the handle bar got loss, so you may undestand my surprise.

2. Last nihgy doing some corners, some part ( that I don´t know ... ) feel off the bike. Just recovered one screw, the ones that fix the tank.

3. At low speed, starting the corners, the front wheel does some strange movements, like if the front fork were not working correctly the left vs the right. Now I am not confident about turning in the city.

4. On the highway, starting from 90 mph in advance, the bike makes has a lot of vibrations, that blocks you to go faster, even you can see on the mirrors. Going at 100 mph makes it even worst.

5. After the first maintenance, I cleanned the bike, and next day I had a some oil on the floor coming from the engine.

6. If I touch the bottom of the engine, were the crome oil filter ( ? ) is located, I get a heavy electrical discharge, with the bike in OFF.

7. Everybody says that this bike can stop wonderfull, but mine not, I need to use front plus back to brake, with the risk to fail down because the rear tire tends to block. Using only the front brake means double distance to stop.

For the rest, I am very happy, it does all I dreamed about, acceleration is incredible, no RR 1.000cc could pass me going from 0 to 90 mph, by the momment, as soon I can go at more speed without the problems, let´s see ...

Like most of you, iniatilly I installed the TOR without the CAT, and reprogrammed the ECU, but this gives me a lot of detonations when I stop acelerating. Maybe I need a Power Commander ... ?

Next step will be the long waited K&N air filter special made for the R3, use some TuneBoy tricks, ... and ride some more miles to check the mods.

Waiting for your comments / sugestions about my problems and how to solve them, best regards from Spain,

MadRock

[Toystoretom]

Hi MadRock!!

It does sound like you have some problems. Some of those problems almost sound like your dealer did a very poor job of set up before it was delivered to you. The poor braking and the front end wobble sounds dangerous... I would have the dealer come and collect the bike and address all of these issues under warranty.

The electrical shock is a new one, how does it feel to be a trend setter?? :-D :-D

Let us know what happens... usually Rockets are fairly trouble free and reliable.

The part that fell off??? The gas tank prop wand maybe???

Tomo

[Rocket-tre]

Hola MadRock
First, I´m sorry for the problems You have had. And I agree with Toystoretom. Your dealer has done a poor assembly job.
As far as the oil leak goes, I had mine at the dealers changeing the tank (resprayed it, but did not want to change it my self) I noticed a oil stain where my bike was sitting for the last coulple of months. I asked the dealer to check on that and he replied that they often had to tighten the oilplugs a second time after service!!!!
Regarding rear wheel lock up. That is common on many bikes nowadays. My friend´s Kawa Mean Streak is VERY easy to lock up rear wheel on!

[Aussiekeeper]

Most of your problems are dealer set-up related. The remainder sound like you are not fully in tune with your ride. Take it easy for a while, get to know it better, then go kick your dealers #$$. :-D :nana:

Ron

[Jamie]

Some known... some elusive. Here we go:

1. Bars generally need to be retightened after delivery... and generally before the first warranty service. All Triumph dealers worthy of the franchise ought to know that by now.
2. Everything that may fall off the bike needs to be loctited (rider excluded...). I learnt it early on upon noticing that a few chrome bits were gone with the wind, plus that tank front mounting bolt or screw you mention. It's an easy do-it-yourself chore. You'll know it's done right and you won't have to pay dealer labor hours. No such problem ever since (Oct. 2004), BTW .
3. ??? from your description. But I'd venture wrong tyre pressure and/or diagnosis of problem # 7 below.
4. Wheels badly need balancing or re-balancing, part of the dealer's duty.
5. A drop or two during break-in period not unusual. Comes out of one of the breather hoses that exit under the l/h side of the engine, right? If this is the case, that's almost certainly a symptom of an over-filled oil tank. Check the level per the manual and don't ever consider (as some new owners tend to do) that " a bit more than max " is a good thing!
6. Very dry weather and hot engine kept at idling speed for a while? Nothing to worry about.
7. Suspect the pads are in constant contact with the discs and thus wearing out awfully fast. Might also explain point four above.

My verdict is that your dealer has performed an incredibly lousy prep job on your mount.

Take your bike back "as is" to him right away and DEMAND warranty attention to all of the above (but, until you do, do NOT experiment with Power Commander or any other non-standard tricks or accessories which he --if he is really that lousy-- may blame for your problems)

Better yet, send a registered copy of your quandary to the Spanish or Iberian importer (or the local, factory-owned Triumph distribution/commercial sub if there is one) ) and/or find another Triumph dealer in the Madrid area or close to it.

Best wishes.

[ This message was edited by: Jamie on 2006-02-19 12:45 ]

[Hondax]

Sure sounds like you have a very incompetent dealer and/or mechanic.

Triumph has a daily check list than may have caught the loose fasteners, tire pressure, brake adjustments, etc, etc. It would be wise to study the owners manual. At least until you gain confidence back.

[Psydone]

With more of these types of complaints/comments arising it would be nice to have a sticky, Where a buyer/captain can go to look for comments about particular dealers.

Ofcourse it can't be stabbing at dealers, just the facts:
Squeal
Oil Leak
Handlebars Loose
With a subject line as the dealers name, or if thats legally a problem the dealers suburb.

No need for comment or discussion, don't want to Dealer bash... it would actually work the other way round as people could also post about a dealer they believe to be excellent.
I know I'm not confident about my dealer but in general mechanics***** me anyway. It would be nice to see if others have problems OR think its just my paranoia.

[Toystoretom]

We do have a "Triumph, Models, and Dealers" forum where you could list such things, in fact some may already be listed there.

It is a good idea to warn folks about bad service but on the other hand it may be a disservice to a legit dealer. I just assumed MadRock bought it from a dealer... maybe he bought it second hand from someone who took a lot of aftermarket accessories off of it before he sold it and did a poor job of it.

If a dealer were to get multiple complaints from different people, that would be a red flag, wouldn't it....

Jamie suggested that we start a sticky about common Rocket problems and fixes... maybe we could work dealer comments into that. Jamie likes to suggest stuff but disappears when the work starts :-D :-D :-D I'm just kidding Jamie, put down the gun...

Tomo

[SteveRed]

I think Jamie is on the money here... I had a little oil discharge and I meticulously put loctite on every and any screw I could find. Most problems i have had... except the hot/idle problem... has settled.

Hi,

Thank you for your responds and opinions.

The bike is a 2.006 models, that was bought new last December, at the only official dealer there is in Madrid and that belongs to the official importer of Triumph here in Spain, so I suppossed that I was in the best hands I can find.

I agree on that most of the problems come from a bad pre-delivery job, since they did it to fast on friday night, even the bike arrived with some damages on the tank because it failed in the truck.

As soon it stops raining, I will go back to the dealer and lets see how to solve all this thinks, but since 50% are in the not technicall demonstrated area, I find it difficult to negotiate with them, since the answer will be " it is in your mind, bike is ok ".

In the mean time I keep riding it as much as possible, since I love the bike, its concept, its all big design and performance.

Best regards,

MadRock