Just had the first service on my new T120, only 8 days old. Rode into the dealership, the weather was awful, heavy rain. Rode the bike home, to be fair it was going better smoother than when I rode it to the dealership. Rinsed the bike when I got hope, popped it into the garage. The next morning I saw the casing, the dribble mark was caused by the cleaning fluid left on to long. Managed to polish it out. Took more than a hour. The dealership offered to collect the bike but i would rather work on it myself. View attachment IMG_0785.jpeg View attachment IMG_0786.jpeg
Came across this YouTube link that shows a method of restoring the engine / gearbox casings back to a standard finish. Wish I had seen this first.
Have also got T120, had it since 2019. You really do have to make sure no products get left or can run on the caseing. The scotchbrite method def works to get brushed effect. With winter on way you MUST not leave any road salt on the cases ,it will eat into them and leave very bad pitting. Wash them off with a bucket and brush then dry when get home. Only takes seconds Unfortunately I know the hard way. Polished mine out but can still see pitting up close. PS. Hi from East Devon.
@Brixton Steve Very sorry to hear of the pitting on your bike. The Honda I had back in the 1970s was badly affected by the salt, looked like little worm tracks. Didn’t know about the effects of salt induced corrosion back then. With my previous BM bike I always rinsed in cold water and used ScotOil 365. I was told at the BM dealers that if you used warm/hot water to rinse it “activated” the salt. With my Bonne I intend to rinse well in cold water, when dry reapply some more ACF50 each time it has been out in salty conditions. Wheels as well. A right PITA, but I love the bike and time spent is now not so important as I am well passed retirement age. No one at the Triumph dealers told me that the Bonne casings and wheels were bare aluminium until I came back in a week after delivery!!
Ceramic coat it once you are happy with your polishing? I got some off a fellow on here and its been great. Very much appeals to my OCD!
Had the same with my 2017 T100. Found out after they'd sold out that Triumph did a replacement casing set in black for my model, probably down to grumpy customers. The price of the individual parts was mad so I left them as standard, but I hated putting the bike away for five months every autumn until the gritters were safely off the roads in spring
When i bought my T120 new in 2017, I had chrome engine covers fitted on the first service, never looked back.
There is £bay, have seen them on there , but you have to be careful, some are rough. The sellers have a cheek listing them.
There’s a lot to be said for the black coated engine cases and I like them on the Scramblers but I agree that some models do look more retro with the polished alloy finish. No matter what you try and protect them with, in the end it just comes down to a rigorous cleaning routine, especially in Winter. Even dry Winter days can leave your bike covered in salt dust.
