Thruxton Warning - Gear Shift Linkage

Discussion in 'Thruxton, Scrambler & Trident' started by Dave Roxburgh, Jun 3, 2022.

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  1. Dave Roxburgh

    Dave Roxburgh Well-Known Member

    Jul 5, 2019
    63
    68
    Suffolk
    Quick warning for you if you run a Thruxton or a Speed Triple - a mate and I were doing a one-hour ride-out today and half-way I noticed a gear shift was 'sloppy'. I thought my boot must have slipped off the lever and carried on riding. On the next shift the lever just came loose completely. Fortunately, there was a layby just ahead and I coasted into that.

    The gear change linkage rod is held to the gear change arm by a fixing with a thread on one end (that screws into the arm) and a ball on the other (that the linkage rod is clamped onto). The threaded end had unwound from the arm and fallen out completely.

    Fortunately, I was able to screw it back in by hand and continue but if it had failed in the middle of an overtake or something it could have been nasty.

    I would recommend removing yours and putting some threadlock in there - that's what I plan to do.

    My mate has a Speed Triple and it has the same design. My Haynes manual covers the Bonneville, T100, T120, Bobber, Street Twin, Cup and Scrambler so I suspect they also use the same design.

    It's a shame that after 36 years of buying second-hand bikes and maintaining them myself and *never* having had a failure like this, I buy a bike new, have it serviced by the dealer every year and it literally just falls apart while being ridden. That's disappointing.
     
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  2. Pegscraper

    Pegscraper Elite Member

    Jun 12, 2020
    2,933
    800
    Yorkshire
    The Street Twin, Scrambler and T100 don't use a linkage as the change lever itself clamps directly onto the shift shaft. I wish my SS used a linkage as the selector forks are less likely to get damaged by an impact to the shift lever if the bike is dropped.
     
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  3. Greywolf55

    Greywolf55 Noble Member

    Oct 4, 2019
    913
    443
    Duluth ,Ga
     
  4. Greywolf55

    Greywolf55 Noble Member

    Oct 4, 2019
    913
    443
    Duluth ,Ga
    Happened to me , luckily I was right by an Auto repair and he lent me a 10mm wrench to get it back tight, hit it with blue loctite when I got home and it's been fine since
     
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  5. Kinjane

    Kinjane Active Member

    Oct 15, 2017
    233
    43
    Bristol, Land of Enger
    There was a recall for this problem for dealers to reapply a thread locking compound to the threads. Apparently there was a problem with a batch used on the production line permitting the assembly to loosen.
     
  6. Ducatitotriumph

    Ducatitotriumph Crème de la Crème

    Apr 25, 2019
    2,181
    1,000
    Rothwell
    My speed rs had the same. As above, I noticed it getting "sloppy " for changing gears and luckily, spotted it with a couple of threads left.
    Loctite and all has been well after.
     
  7. timboo

    timboo Senior Member

    Oct 17, 2021
    271
    113
    Cambridgeshire
    Thanks for the heads up I will check mine when back from hols.

    Ta
     
  8. timboo

    timboo Senior Member

    Oct 17, 2021
    271
    113
    Cambridgeshire
    I will ring my triumph dealer to check what recalls were do e when I bought it as I know there were a few done
     
  9. Kinjane

    Kinjane Active Member

    Oct 15, 2017
    233
    43
    Bristol, Land of Enger
    The gear linkage recall RM/2020/01 was issued in January 2020.
     
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  10. timboo

    timboo Senior Member

    Oct 17, 2021
    271
    113
    Cambridgeshire
    Cheers 99.9% mine would have been done as purchased it nov 2021 but will double check
     
  11. Wessa

    Wessa Cruising

    Apr 27, 2016
    11,318
    1,000
    North West England
    I had problems with gear linkage on both my speed twin and Thruxton R. Both were fixed by my main dealer. Yes disappointing that oem parts should fail on new bikes.
     
  12. Wessa

    Wessa Cruising

    Apr 27, 2016
    11,318
    1,000
    North West England
    I had problems with gear linkage on both my speed twin and Thruxton R. Both were fixed by my main dealer. Yes disappointing that oem parts should fail on new bikes.
     
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