Triumphrat

Steve5270

Just had my 2003 1200 serviced.(5963miles) Extreme shock, front pads OK, rear pads well worn out with only 2.5 thou wear on the disc.I dont use the rear brake as a matter of course as 98% of my mileage is motorway. Stinking letter gone to Triumph, anyone else had similar experience?

jimballard

A couple of sillly questions: Do you ride with the rear brake pedal under your foot or is the rear master cylinder over-filled? Both of these conditions could result in the rear brake pads being applied just enough to cause wear. Actually, anything that can keep the rear master applied (sticking brake pedal, linkage etc.) should be checked. Kind of shooting in the dark on this one, but maybe it'll help.

Good Luck: Jim

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Jim Ballard

The older I get, the faster I was....until lately!! (Speed IS the fountain of youth)!

AndyA

Steve,
I took my bike in for a new rear tyre at 9,300 miles and was informed by my dealer that the rear pads were almost "gone" and needed replacing. Apparently the rear pads do wear much faster than the fronts and it's something to keep an eye on.

P.s I bought the bike with 6,500 miles on the clock and don't know if the pads had been renewed previously, although I doubt the would have been.

regards
Andy

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Not just the Trophy brakes. My mate's 02 ST wore the rear pads out in about 9k miles. They had worn at an angle as well. We checked everything but couldn't find anything out of line, no sign of pistons sticking, brake pedal sticking or master cylinder not working properly. His front pads were ok.

A word of warning. He ordered some new pads by post from a Triumph dealer who sent him EBC HH pads. They were a lot cheaper than genuine Triumph pads but they overheated the disc which quickly 'blued'.

Paul

Snooping around here because am looking at a Trophy 1200. Interesting discussion about the rear pads. Heard the same thing from dealer about my Bonneville rear pads at the 10k service. Being an ex mechanic, I bought a set of front and rear pads, and pulled out the rears, which were pretty thin, but 60% as thick as the new ones. Thought I'd jump into your forum here and mention that, as so far no one has talked about whether or not their pads are really worn, or just reported to be worn.

Paul
02 Bonneville
92 K75

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Paul

stevent

Good point Paul, I just changed tires on my '02 Trophy @ 12k and while the pads showed some wear, they were no where near worn out or even close.

I hate to point fingers or talk down dealerships I know nothing about, but the brake pads will show wear after the first thousand miles, whether they're "worn out" is another question. One of the biggest reasons for doing as much of your own work as possible is that you can check on things such as this without having to take someone's word for it.

Any time the wheels are off you should jam a wooden wedge in the calipers to prevent hydraulic pressure from pushing the brake piston out too far out, this will make the pads drag and wear alot faster than normal.

It's possible that your dealer or mechanic was just being prudent and saving you extra labor costs by changing pads while he had the wheel off, which is fine but he should have told you so if that was the case. Next time hold your old pads up next to the new ones and see for yourself how far gone they are.

[ This message was edited by: stevent on 2004-02-15 09:40 ]

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stevent....."May the Goddess turn the hearts of those who hate us, if not their hearts then turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping..."

Steve5270

Thanks for all the suggestions lads but no i dont ride with my foot on the pedal (too bloody uncomfortable), rarely use the rear brake, no wear on disc & pads were down to 50 thou, well under service limit. Big argument going on with Triumph at present, will post result, Steve

ufee94

Had a similar experience (around 7500 miles) on my 01 Trophy 1200. Dealer had the usual feedback..do you ride with your foot on the pedal, use the rear brake eccessively, etc. Looking forward to hearing what Triumph has to say. Thanks, Bob

Steve5270

Right lads & lasses, reply from Triumph after several letters.To remind you front discs have 10 to 12 thou wear with loads of life in the pads, rear disc has 2thou wear & pads below service limit. Dont ride with foot on pedal & rarely use rear brake. Bike done 5963 miles in 6 months. Triumph state that this is PERFECTLY NORMAL wear & tear. (Last bike did 51,000 miles & didn't need any pads) So according to their ratio I should be on the 4th or 5th set of front pads. This means every 6 months is going to mean the cost of 6 month service, new rear tyre & a set of rear pads. Triumph took my money & basically now don't give a s--t about customer safety or satisfaction. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

jimballard

Going out on a limb with this one. Is there any way of checking that the same brand and quality of brake pads are used throughout the Triumph production runs? I spent enough years in auto repair to know that all brake components are not created equal. Even some name brands have differing grades of materials in them. If a lesser grade product was sent to the factory, that could be the answer. Tough one to call, though.

Just one of my crazy thoughts: Jim

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Jim Ballard

The older I get, the faster I was....until lately!! (Speed IS the fountain of youth)!