Triumphrat

BCTriumph · 08-18-2008, 07:01 PM

Kickstand half extended + tightening luggage strap = Over She Goes!!!!
The bike went over on it's leftside, bending the shifter (still works freely with slight foot contortions to reach it) and the clutch lever (adjustable type). The clutch lever snapped after a careful (what I thought was careful) straightening attempt.
Anyway, I'm just looking for tips, do's, don't's and "watch out for's".

Thanks All

Baltobonneville · 08-18-2008, 08:24 PM

Hope that your shift shaft, or whatever it's called, isn't bent. Look for proper position, smooth shifting action, and check for leaks around the seal. Hopefully you can find a used shift lever, e.g. from someone who has installed rearsets.

Replace the clutch lever.

It happens to all of us sooner or later. I recently half-dropped mine for the first time in the 3+ years I've had this bike. I was too tired to dismount and keep it balanced and put it on the center stand (without lowering the side stand). Luckily, I and the junk in my garage were in the way, damage was limited to two small scuffs on the left side case, which I can live with. Two neighborhood teenage boys who just happened to be in the alley pulled the bike up and off me. Embarrassing!

WaltZ · 08-20-2008, 04:08 PM

Yeah; A Tip: It'll be about 1,200.00 if you do the work, and NOW put on the Hepco-Becker Crash bar. ($200)

Don't ask.

dledinger · 08-20-2008, 04:23 PM

How's a clutch lever and a shifter going to cost $1200?

BCTriumph · 08-21-2008, 02:53 PM

Got 'er all fixed. $60 for the adjustable clutch lever and bent the shifter back to normal.
Thanks folks, for all the input.

3Moons · 08-21-2008, 04:31 PM

You got off cheaper than me. On Monday my 2nd bike, an 05 GSF1200S Bandit, tipped over on me when I had just dismounted. Some stone pieces gave way in the macadam and the 530 lb machine (I had just filled the gas tank) started to topple over onto me. I was able to slow the fall a tad, but the bottom line was: replace front and rear cracked turn signal assemblies and a snapped clutch lever ($125 for OEM parts at BikeBandit), aside from scuffs on the engine casing.

The best part? As I was grunting to get my Bandit back on two wheels, a voice asks, "Do you need any help?" It was the superintendent of schools where I work looking at me from his car, a few feet away in the parking lot.

"No, I'm fine," I said, as if uprighting a machine 3 times my weight was just what I had planned for the day.

B02S4 · 08-21-2008, 11:38 PM

BC, be glad it wasn't worse. You got out of it relatively inexpensively.

jdirt1 · 08-23-2008, 09:13 AM

ya, we all do it. Just bought my 2008 TBA, after a 200+ mile ride i just simply forgot to put the kickstand down! bent the clutch lever and the shift lever. what suprized me was that nothing else touched the ground. maybe because my leg was under the pipe. did the same thing as you with the clutch lever, trying to strighten it, ya that doesnt work. snaped it in to. so what i have done now is created a system that i follow every time on shut down which includes the kickstand. After replacing the clutch lever I drilled out the old one and inserted a nail with JB weld and put the lever back together and put it in my parts bag on the bike. Just incase i do it again i will not be fully stranded.

Firstman · 12-04-2012, 06:30 PM

Cast clutch levers will most always snap when bending them back. When I used to race dirt bikes, a spare shift and break lever were always close by. Most likely everything else is okay, you should be able to bend the shifter back without any issues.

A helpful bending tool is two crescent wrenches, one on the area you do not want to move ( close to the splines) and the other out near the end. Wrap the metal in tape or a rag to avoid scratches.

Oldcase · 12-04-2012, 08:27 PM

Don't, I mean DON'T attempt to straighten the shift lever while mounted on the bike. You can break a tooth off the shifter shaft more easily than you think. I did. Whole thing had to come out and be replaced...