Triumphrat

Daveski

Hi dudes, [and dudettes]
Has anyone had any problems when claiming on the 2 year warranty because various mods have been done to the bike?. Off road silencers,chopped up airboxes etc. It would seem an easy way out for the Triumph dealer to say ' sorry but your warranty is void because you have changed the bike from standard'. Whether the mods had any relevance to the problem or not. I am planning mods to my T100 but do not want to risk the warranty should anything fail or break in the 2 year period. Interested in your experiences.
UK Daveski

badrufus

This is something you may wish to discuss with your dealer, depending on your relationship with him/her. Before I picked up the bike, I asked the dealer to remove the AI, and they did so without any hesitation (had the NB kit in stock). Shortly before the 500 mile service, I replaced the stock filter with a K&N, replaced the stock silencers with NH Classics, and rejetted to 120 mains. I discussed it with the service manager and those limited modifications were okay with them. They could then give it all a once over at the first service. I waited until I was out of warranty to remove the snorkel and install a bellmouth instead and rejet again. I did a number of things that were upgrades during the warranty period, such as Hagon shocks and fork springs, changing bars, grips, and mirrors. I did some electrical changes and they probably could have argued if I'd had an electrical problem, even though my changes were unlikely to cause problems. I think frankly it depends on the dealer. If they want to avoid the warranty work, they have the modifications as an excuse, and then you have to fight it out with Triumph. On the other hand, I can't imagine a decent dealer wanting to alienate a potential repeat customer over a modest amount of modification. I also can't imagine waiting two years to modify. I think it's safe to assume that if you want to do something like removing the airbox, you may need to be willing to assume the risk, or talk to the dealer and see if you can get in writing that it will still be covered. You can understand that they might need to verify that it's been done correctly and that you're not likely to fry your engine by completely screwing up the carburetion--something I'm sure every dealer has seen.

You're in a gray area, because even if you know that what you've done has nothing to do with a warranty issue, you are dependent on the dealer to act as your advocate with Triumph.

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2005 T100

mecscc

Deb has very good advice there.

Do note that IF a dealer wants to hose you then ANY mod, however trivial, will justify it. Even if he is wrong by the time you "win" any appeal you will be too old to ride. So, if you want your dealer to back you, stay on the good side of the dealer. Sometimes that is hard because most dealers have little knowledge of Triumph and only marginally competent mechanics. So you have to know your dealer and whether you can trust them to not only support your mods but to do competent enough work to keep you from wanting to kill them during the warranty period.

Even if your dealer agrees with your mods, should you do a mod and then have substantial damage to the engine, for instance, there is no guarantee that Triumph will support the dealer claim. More risk.

So the only question to ask is what is your risk aversion quotient? If risk worries you, don't mod until the warranty is up. Otherwise a little common sense goes a long way. Deb outlines what I call common sense.

I don't modify. But that has NOTHING to do with the warranty. I just don't want to mod my Bonnie.


MONTE

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Monte

"The Old Ohio Preacher Man"

Echoance

Agreed. Talk it through with the dealers service-desk first. (Not a salesman; it's after-sales/service that're doing the work.)

Also, be aware that, the dealer gets paid by Triumph for warranty work, so the only real reason for him being snotty is because either your mods make the job take longer than it should or he's not happy that he didn't get the work to do/fit the mods. Speak to them and, maybe, get them to do a few small 'jobs' to keep them sweet!!!

What you may want to do (and what I'm doing) is to stick to mods that're easy to reverse. Rather than hack the airbox, just stick to a drop-in performance filter until the warranty expires. Pipes are pretty easy to install/remove.

Remember that they're (generally) bikers, too, and understand the need to fettle.

Referring to the above quote by BR, I'm pretty sure that getting anything in writing regarding this is NOT gonna happen. I may be wrong.

Where'd you buy your bike? Youles?

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Photos

badrufus

Monte said ["So you have to know your dealer and whether you can trust them to not only support your mods but to do competent enough work to keep you from wanting to kill them during the warranty period."]

I didn't want to kill my dealer until after the warranty period--when I heard what he did to Monte with the lousy rear tire repair after Memorial Day. Then I was angry. Funny thing though--a little over a week ago, I thought to measure my tread depth on my front Metzler. It looked good, and I'd had ME33 Laser last a long time on the front of other bikes, so I hadn't actually measured it for awhile. Got the little gauge out and --- 1mm in the center!! So I'm thinking there is no way I'm going back to Kingsport after what happened to Monte there. I went down to Asheville, about an hour and a quarter, to talk to the folks at Myers Triumph/Ducati. I explained the situation, trying to emphasize that there seemed to be a management issue at the old dealer rather than describing them as incompetents. I met the service manager, ordered a new Metzler and tube through them, and scheduled an appt to have it put on three days hence. They have three Triumph-trained mechanics, their mechanics appeared organized and busy on Saturday when I went down to get the tire, and their charges were no more than Kingsport. They're fine with my doing a fair amount of work on the bike and bringing it in for things I can't/don't want to handle. The only problem--I have to look at all those gorgeous Ducatis. Worse yet, the S2 Monsters are a perfect fit for the inseam-challenged.

[ This message was edited by: badrufus on 2007-06-22 20:35 ]

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2005 T100

panthercity

Get a copy of the federal Moss-Magnusson Warranty act and be proactive. In short, warranty claims can not be denied unless the warrentor can prove that the suspect modification led directly to the warranted failure.

In other words, if your spokes fall out, they can not deny the claim because you hacked the AB.

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Bob AMA #162726 LPR #54
`02 BMW R1150RSA
`06 Triumph "Scrambled"

webonnielad

Daveski

Just a word of warning, my ex dealer was a real fussy B*****D!

He's such a purist, it took him 5 years to come to terms with AI removal and thats the only non OEM mod he will even consider.

I waited 2 years and changed dealers in the end because he wouldn't MOT it modified and I wasn't prepared to put it back to stock to MOT it, when the pipes were the only real failure on it because they're off road use and not E marked
NH Classics).

Noise at least for now is at the MOT testers discretion.

Interestingly he was fine with the TOR's I bought of him (they're not E marked either) when I first purchased it, but not anything he hadn't sold me..

Go to a Triumph dealer that already stocks and sells after market parts, ask him if it affects servicing and MOT's or wait 2 years is my advice.

After 2 years you can get pretty much any motorcycle shop in the country to MOT it.

I too am UK based.

Jon (UK)

p.s. 2010 the regulations change again in Europe and all road bikes will have to be manufactured with fuel injection, water cooling and with catalytic conversion to conform to type approval laws.

My family didn't even own a motor vehicle until I was 18
(my first bike), we were so poor when I was a kid that we only had 2 plugs for electrical appliances and had to swap them between the 5 appliances we did own.

So as far as I'm concerned I've already done my bit for global warming.

p.p.s. Can anyone tell me.
Why none of this garbage legislation seems to apply to Harley's?
Is that part of the special arrangement ( negotiated between Bush and Blair ) that allegedly exists between our 2 countries in return for visa waivers or something.

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790cc 2003 T100 Bonneville. 18T Front Sprocket, AI Removed, 125 Mains, 40 Pilots, Thruxton Needles, 1 Shim,3mm Air Hole, Mixture screws 3 1/4 turns out left carb, 3 turns out right carb, Unifilter, NH Belmouth, NH Classic Togas with no mutes inserted, Stock Ignitor Unit. Hagon 320mm rear shocks & progressive fork springs. Last measured. 61.60 hp, , Max torque 48.40 in 5th gear at the rear wheel at 7200 rpm, 105 mph in 5th at 6500 rpm.

rodburner

Its a simply payback for your inability to send us a real and manly James Bond. AGAIN ! uke: :-D

[ This message was edited by: rodburner on 2007-06-23 08:00 ]

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Ruining a perfectly good Bonnie since 2004.

hkt100

agree with rodburner on the JB comment. I think Elton John would have been a better choice than Daniel Craig.

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2006 T100 - SOLD

joerockhead

Yeah, it's Bush's fault that your country favors American bikes over the local product!
For cryin' out loud....

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BIR #190