R III Reliability

[Pig9r]

Originally Posted by Molinoman

Oh...that would make sense.
Dennis

I actually think that if you have been a member for over a year you get "senior" status.

Mad Rocket, my uncle went through a similar experience with Harley a few years ago. He had to file a civil suit and went as far as taking depositions before HD would produce a fair offer. Fortunately for my uncle a relative represented him for very little. Otherwise it probably wouldn't have been worth the expense.

[bozosl8]

I bought my '05 in November of '04. I have put over 40,000 miles on it, and to date, have replaced one foglight bulb and adjusted the idle twice with a screwdriver. If anything, it starts and runs better (smoother) today than when I first got it. Oh, and I crossed over to the darkside 30,000 miles ago. ss

[Rocket Mad]

Hey Bozo, quit your clownin.

I’d hang on to that Rocket if I were you. Sounds like you’ve got one of those rare R3s that just gets newer with age.

Now I see why you were cancelled.
_____________
RM

[rndtaylor]

Jack, I really am sorry that you and the other guys have had, and continue to have problems with Triumph. I do not want people outside of this circle to get the idea that every Rocket has the problems you did, before you sold Spike. I ran into another Rocket rider today who does not have the same problems with one dealer that I have always had, and we surmise that it is probably just a clash of personalities in that case.

What it boils own to is a matter of perspective.
From my point of view, the Rocket is all I could ever want in a bike.
From your point of view, it was a fun machine, when you could keep it on the road, and the dealers and Triumph just suck.

I hate that your experience was so bad. If I had the same problems as you, I would probably feel the same as you.

I wish everyone was as happy with mine as I am.

Randy

[Ugarte]

Originally Posted by rndtaylor

I wish everyone was as happy with mine as I am.

Randy

I've got 57k miles on my 05 with no major problems. It does have the paint can rattle....since 10k. I made it a point to ride the hell out of it the first two years and put down 50k, just to try and work out any bugs it might have before the warranty expired. I don't ride it much any more cuz I have grown to like my 08 KLR for its light weight and off road ability, and, I just don't ride as much anyway. Still its one helluva big thrill when I do ride it. It will be my last cruiser though but I will probably keep it as long as I have room for it. <p>

My 08 KLR....well, the shock adjuster broke the first time I tried to adjust it and its stuck on the lightest setting, the engine burns oil at about 1 quart per thousand miles, and the exhaust bolts fell off and almost the exhaust....after only 5600 miles.

[busajack]

Rndtaylor,Hi, spike had absolutly no problems. I changed the lower timming chain sproket just for my own piece of mind.It realy didnt need it. I loved the bike but the that the company gives customers made me sell. Peter Carlieo is supposed to be customer service and has driven more people away from triumph than any other thing. Some folks have paid over 18 grand for a loaded rocket then get treated like scum when they come back for service or there rip off assys.I have gone back to a jap cruser and the assys are 1/2 the cost.The B.S. dealers and service depts.have told customers should be classed as criminal. Great bike shetty co. Just hope you don't have anything happen where you need a human from triumph to help.They would rather pay lawyers to fight cases than fix things and raise their standing in the motorcycle world. I have joined three other MC boards and have not heard more than 2 complaints in three months. I will probably get another rocket in the future if they change their attitude towards the customer.The internet is just what Peter C needs to finnaly get rid of him.He has no Email hows that for service.I really wish you luck with your triumph. Just dont keep it to long because when they go down the drain I don't think they will keep parts on hand for 10yrs like is required by the american and Jap manufactures. Now I have to go look for dirty bikes..Later.Jack

[bozosl8]

Well, we all knew it would happen sooner or later. Rocky's got a really bad case of the strangles. That's right. At 40K I was braggin' about how all I'd had to do to him (and he is a male) was change a foglight bullb and tweak the idle a couple of times. But those days are gone because it looks like I'm gonna have to replace the fuel filter now at 42K. I missed the little dot on the maintenance schedule that said I was supposed to replace the filter at 20K. But again, like BusaJ says, it ain't Rocky - it's the fact that I don't have a dealer, not even a bad one. I had a bad one, but he died. So, now I'm waiting on a $50 fuel filter and $20s worth of gasket and washers to be shipped to me from a dealer 200 miles away who is waiting on them to be shipped to him from whoknowswhere - AND, I am a "shetty" mechanic. Please keep me in your prayers. Normally I wouldn't make such a radical request but I recently heard a very disturbing rumor that the fuel filter is actually inside the tank! BigErn, why, oh why hast thou forsaken me in my darkest hours?

[TRIIICK]

I bought a 69 Mustang Mach 1..351 Cleveland..at the time there were no internet chat lines to compair rides. In a way it was the Rocket of the era car wise..but after two years it started going south..I was young and drove it hard ..teeth started to break off the fly wheel i ended up having to push it to find teeth to engage it,only then did i think about getting a new one (fly/wheel)..lol. I've always been attracked to fast cars and bikes...IMO if your going to own a bike like the Rocket 3 you can't expect it to last forever..it blows my mind the torque on this beast .I'm 6'2" and weight over 200lbs and this bike takes me along for the ride like no tomorrow..! It's a production bike and like production cars it not built like a Swiss watch. My feeling is the cost for this toy goes far beyond what folks are willing to risk for something that will eventually self distruct if not maintained properly....!!

[barnyy65]

just had the output bearing replaced on mine 23000 trouble free klms out of warranty but due to the nature of the fault done by triump for nicks

[y2khonorsgrad]

It has been a very long time since I have joined this forum and posted anything! I am 53 and this is my first bike in 30 years.
When MY R3 runs right it is a great bike! Problem is, it rarely runs right. 13 weeks out of the 26 months it has been in the dealer. 7 weeks out of the last 12 weeks it has been in the dealer, and it is going back tomorrow because something in the cluch came loose or broke. The warantee ran out on March 6 and Triumph did replace the transmission dampener shaft and bearings that went out a week after the warantee expired. They kept it a month and I got it back Sat. and the clutch broke Sun. It seems I get to pay this time. The whole clutch assembly is well over $1000 (plus labor) and just the plates are $300 (plus LABOR) but no one knows what it is going to take to fix it, yet. The dealer is 160 miles away and takes about 25 gallons of gas each trip to drop off or pick it up at what ever cost per gallon. My summer week to ride to the Austin, Texas ROT Rally in two weeks is quickly fading. I will have already spent well over $1000 on services and six trips to the dealer (plus what ever the CLUTCH repairs cost are), if I even get My R3 back by Friday June 13.
I drive my R3 pretty careful and get about 7500 out of my rear tires, as an example. I never ever pop my clutch and rarely make the jump from 70mph to 120 (for less than 15 seconds) to pass.
If my R3 has this much problems with me being basically careful, what if I had chosen to drive the crap out of it, talk about cost of ownership! The R3 was a large stretch for my budget to buy the bike. The service and tires (every two and a half months at $300) cost has already crushed me, but now that the warantee is up...