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Angel on My Shoulder

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Nikko 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm feeling very fortunate this evening and a bit pissed. I rode by TBird to an annual guy's weekend at a cabin with some old college buds. It's about a two hour ride into the hills of West Virginia. When I got back this morning and pulled into the garage, I noticed a odd 'burning' smell. I checked around the engine block and didn't notice anything unusual. Then I noticed some soft black rubber balls that were about the size of BB-gun pellets on the seat.

I checked the front tire and much to my surprise I saw that the screw that holds the front fender to the forks had worked it's way out and was slicing a gash into my tire just above the rim. I'm so glad my trip wasn't further because I'm not sure how much longer I could have ridden before I had a front tire failure at speed. It brought back to me something dazco said when I first decided to get a bike and joined this forum, never fully trust the work you dealer mechanic does. A bit cynical for sure, but wise, wise advice.



I had my dealer put on the chrome forks at the end of last riding season and they either didn't use the right bolt, didn't tighten it properly, or didn't lock it.

I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow to see if they can come and get it to make things right. I'm not riding it the way it is another mile. My dealer is about 20 miles from me.

I'm having a cold bier, nice cigar on the deck and counting my lucky stars and thanking that angel on my shoulder.
 
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#2 ·
Wow! What ever happened to integrity of workmanship? It's not just Triumph, I constantly hear from people all the time about shoddy work form mechanics, myself included. When you find a good mechanic, you need to stick with them regardless of their price, which I find in most cases is equal or better than what the "careless" mechanics charge.

I do all my own work on my bike, and do many things on my cars because I just need that peace of mind.
 
#3 ·
I do all my own work on my bike, and do many things on my cars because I just need that peace of mind.
Same here. In fact, i will never take it in for anything i can do myself. Unfortunately there are some things i'll have to. But then i will double check bolts afterwards. So far twice dealers have left crucial bolts loose on my last 2 triumphs out of 3 times they worked on them, and both times were during setup. I only took a bike in once and that will be that last time aside from s i said the things i can't do. I have to wonder how many people die because of this. 2 out of 3 tells me it has to happen now and then. I bet those monkeys never forget to tighten bolts on their OWN bikes.
 
#4 ·
..note to self. Remember to pre-flight inspect. You guys are great for posting this stuff.

"Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no trace; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is master of his enemy's fate." Sun Tsu

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Walt Kelly
 
#5 ·
I mentioned this in the post elsewhere, but it bears repeating here. You can't get to them w/o removing the front wheel. They are star heads screws so theres no room between the tire and bolt to get a socket in there. So i would suggest to everyone to remove your wheels and removed all 4 screws one at a time and add some locktite and tighten them good. Better yet, the socket holes are very shallow and the bit can strip them out easily when trying to tighten them enough. So a better solution would be to get some hard grade bolts like stainless that are the EXACT same length. They have to be exactly the same, trust me on that. I don't want to try and explain it, as it will take an entire post. Make sure they are regular hex bolts so you can get to them with a open end wrench w/o having to remove the wheel. Add locktite and tighten them good and they will never come loose till you want them too. i would use the lightest grade of locktite tho.
 
#7 ·
Yes, they did replace the tire at their cost but it did take them nearly three weeks. In fact, I just got the bike back yesterday after raising some hell and threatening action. I lost three weeks of some really great riding weather here in the mid-Atlantic region.

When I paid them a visit last Saturday, the owner made the comment that the loose bolts came from the factory like that... I pointed out the chrome forks and said his guys put those on last August... he paused and his only response was ... "oh.."

It was really great getting back on her after three longs weeks.
 
#10 ·
Well, yes. And these two quotes are my "quality statement." :beerchug Learned to think this way in aircraft operations.

You should have seen me yesterday though. I was really wondering who was the expert/enemy when I was swearing I'd seriously over torqued the front wheel spindle. But, I forgot to loosen the pinch bolts before I checked.

Walt Kelly trumped Sun Tsu that time. How about this one?

“Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!” Friedrich Nietzsche
 
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