Bluetooth Module

Had you thought of buying a comms unit and use your phone?

 

I have a 2022 Tiger 900 Rally Pro. The Triumph bluetooth functionality in it is so abysmally bad that I completely disabled and hid all of the functions, removed the app, and unpaired it from my phone and sat nav. Now I pretend it doesn't exist, and I just pair my helmet directly to my sat nav and phone like I did before I bought the new Tiger.

I strongly recommend against purchasing the Triumph in-dash bluetooth stuff. It's a complete waste of money, and from a function and reliability standpoint is utter trash.

 

New member but have been a Triumph owner since 2009.

Ordered the Bluetooth module from the dealer for my 2023 Street Triple RS. Took two weeks to arrive. Installed it in the bike this evening after work. Found the available cable, attached it. Easy enough....

Turn on the bike and there is no Bluetooth menu in the main menu. There's no way to pair the bike with my phone. Completely useless.

Wish I had read more before ordering. Feeling pretty irritated.

 

Update....

Took the bike to the dealer. They identified that the software wasn't the latest and the bike needed a new software flash.

1 hour of shop time. I asked the dealer to contact Triumph, because the bike is less than a year old, has 1,400 miles on it and is supposed to come from the factory ready for bluetooth connection. Triumph responded to the dealer that this is an owner issue. Sigh.....

So, I paid the shop fee so they could hook my bike up and update the software so that the bluetooth menu would appear.

The good news is that my bluetooth module now works.

Also the good news is that I've purchased my last new Triumph. 2009 Dayton 675, 2010 Speed Triple John Bloor Special, 2014 Speed Triple RS and now this 2023 Street Triple RS. Triumph alienated a 15 year, multiple bike owner because they couldn't be bothered to actually be bothered to support their own products. Frankly, this is shameful.

 

(probably final) update....

I've had a couple of days to use the bluetooth module and get some impressions.

My phone will connect to the bike without any issues. However, my car (BMW) is confused. When I started my car to go to the grocery store, the phone tried to connect to the car, then the bike (which wasn't on) then to the car, then to the bike, then to the car. It oscillated between these two connection options about 2x per second and got stuck in a connection loop. It was very, very irritating. I had to manually turn off the Triumph connection in my phone before my car would stay connected. I'm not sure if this is an issue with my phone or not. I will say I have to travel for work and I have about 15 other Bluetooth connections listed on my phone from various rental cars. Never once has any of these other connections caused issue my my personal car's bluetooth connection. After adding Triumph's Bluetooth connection my car's connection is screwed up. Correlation does not prove causation, but the coincidence is very compelling.

Later, I went for a ride to test out the bike's navigation. The first thing I tried was the Free Ride option. I started the bike, opened the My Triumph app and started a Free Ride. This all seemed to go fine. I rode for ~10 miles and then stopped. I pulled out the app and stopped my Free Ride. The app asked if I wanted to log the ride. I answered Yes. Then the app informed me my ride was not acceptable and dropped it. So, my ride (the back way to work) was not logged. Sigh.....

I then went to the navigation screen and entered my home address. It accepted this. I switched to view #4 on the dash because it's the least awful (I can't call it "good" or "best" because it's still terribly bad). I started riding and the turn by turn directions appeared on the left side of the TFT screen on the dash.

Google maps always suggests a route home from work that is not exactly the best. However, it does re-calculate when I make a choice that does not align with the suggested route. This functionality worked fine. This is a good thing.

The implementation of directions on the dash by Triumph may be better than nothing, but this is debatable. The good: the route quickly re-calculates when needed. The upcoming turn direction is very large and easy to see and very clear. You absolutely know if the upcoming turn is left or right or if you need to continue straight. This is the end of any positive commentary.

Everything else about the turn by turn implementation is abhorrent; which means it aligns well with the Triumph TFT display. While it is clear if the upcoming turn is left or right or if you need to continue straight, the NAME of the upcoming road is in a tiny, useless font. I could not easily read the name of the upcoming turn. It was so small it was distracting, and frankly the font is so small trying to read it while operating a motorcycle is dangerous. The font needs to be bigger; significantly bigger. The distance until the upcoming turn is also in a tiny, useless and frankly dangerous font. So, while I could easily tell that my upcoming turn was (for example) a right turn. I could not tell what the name of the upcoming road was nor could I tell how far away the turn was.

Is the Triumph navigation better than nothing? I'm honestly not sure. Is it better than simply memorizing your route and then pulling over, stopping your bike and manually checking your phone navigation if you forget your route? In my opinion, not really.

If you find yourself thinking that the Triumph bluetooth module is going to provide a navigation solution for your motorcycle, I would recommend you reconsider. The Triumph implementation is so thoroughly frustrating that not having it is probably safer. I recommend spending your money on a non-Triumph aftermarket solution. I honestly do not know what Triumph was thinking with their TFT layout design, their after purchase "support" or their UX design for navigation but it is so poor that it's actually dangerous for a rider to use it.

I paid $255 for the module, plus another $10 for the bracket. Then I had to go back to the dealer to have them re-flash my TFT software to enable the Bluetooth menu (an additional $129). I've spent almost 3 weeks of my time waiting for the pat to arrive, two separate trips to the dealer, a separate service appointment at additional expense (for a new motorcycle that is advertise as having Bluetooth capability) to be completely disappointed with the result.

 

@dcm_guitar nice write up to advise others, thanks.
I don't recall seeing anything positive about this module so your info just adds to that unfortunately, although I can see that doesn't help your plight.

Personally, I just use Google maps on a Quadlock mount and find it works really well for me (UK). Often I put a destination in, vaguely follow the route shown but please myself, say for a nice road or to avoid bad looking clouds. It quickly reschedules itself and I carry on.
Yes it means having two dashes to keep an eye on, if you like ( bike dash plus phone screen) but I actually think that works better, depending on what info I desire at that moment in time as it's more focused and less cluttered.

Only real negative is bright sun on the phones screen.

 

I should have read this thread before I bought. Caveat emptor.

I'm honestly pretty irritated with the whole experience. So, I'm taking time to list the things that induced me to buy the bike in the first place. It's a very engaging motorcycle and a lot of fun to ride.

 

Nothing to do with the Bluetooth module but Triumph customer support. I want to put a pair of auxiliary lights on my Striple as supplemental DRLs so asked Triumph after sales support how much spare alternator power I had to play with as I had had three power levels of my chosen lamp to choose from.

The initial response was “you’ve already got a DRLs” and quoted the output and battery capacity from the owner’s handbook So I asked what the wattage of the optional auxiliary lamps listed for the 660 and 900 Tigers was as they have exactly the same alternator/battery specs as my Striple. This question was never answered and two main dealers have failed to get an answer as well.

Trying to get some idea as to which power of my chosen lamp to go for I asked how much juice does the bike use in normal dipped headlight mode. Again no answer. My continued questioning of them resulted in them refusing to respond to my further questions, which were always courteous.

So don’t expect satisfaction if you have to contact them.

 

Sorry for my English, as I'm using Google Translate.
My experience with the Bluetooth module is that as a guide it is good, but of course it doesn't compare to maps, navigation using arrows takes time to adapt.
For the intercoms, I thought it was great, being able to change music, answer calls, talk to a passenger, all through the motorcycle's dashboard.
Anyway, it's an additional item, in the case of the tiger 660, an expensive item...

 

Hey Baza - did you ever get this installation done? I'd like to move a set of Denali LED lights from my BMW F800GSA to the Tiger and I'm wondering if you had success in finding the factory installed wiring for the driving lights.

Were you able to use them? What's the connector like?

Thanks,
Pete Bansen
Reno, Nevada

 

Pete,

I didn't use any OE wiring as the response from Hinkley was so "I'm not going to to tell you" I decided to play it safe. The lamps that I chose came in 3 different wattages (40, 60 or 90) and all I had from Hinkley in the end was "you should be ok with 5 amps". Depending on whether you use 12 volts or 14 volts, as shown in the specs in the owner's handbook, to calc the amperage draw will determine how much you are pushing your luck. I chose the 60 watt option and from what fellow riders have said they are just the job. Whilst on the subject of power consumption I have since fitted Ultimateaddons Premium Plus heated grips and still no problems with sufficiency of juice.

So I ran my own wiring via an ignition triggered fused relay which I located under the pillion seat on the basis that if I did find the lamps sucked up too much juice I could pop the pillion seat and pull the fuse from the relay.

During the installation I did discover what I assume to be the auxiliary power socket plug under the nose of the fuel tank.

Also the battery/alternator spec on the 660 and 900 Tigers is exactly the same as on my Striple, 14 volt, 34 amps @ 5,000 rpm. What wattage are your Denali lamps? In addition you will find that the cost of my lamps is no where near a comparable Denali product, and they have been on the bike for a year now and still good.

 

I have a pair of Denali D3's, which are 36 watts each. Should be OK with a 5 amp circuit, since at 14 volts, two 36 watt lights should draw 5.14 amps and there is probably a little fudge factor built in.

I may run them through a Hex EZ-Can controller, but it would be super convenient to simply find the driving light connectors on the harness (if they provide them, which I think they do) and wire to that, because the switch on the left grip cluster would be a convenient way to control them. Otherwise, I'll figure out how the EZ-Can suggests to control them and use that. Usually there's an option to run them at 10% or so with the low beam and 100% with the high beam. A cool thing about the EZ-Can is that you can program it to turn off the driving lights when a turn signal is active and to strobe when you hit to horn, along with a few other tricks.

The Denalis are expensive. Nicely made, but I've used a bunch of less costly LED driving lights that worked really well. The Denalis are a three-wire light, so you can control the output level, which is a handy feature. Good pattern and coverage.

 

Yes, 36 watts should be ok. Mine are 40 watts each which takes me a tad over the notional 5 amps. In addition I now have the heated grips adding to the demand. I think the boys at Hinkley were just being overly conservative on the advice they reluctantly gave.

 

Honestly, a decent comms unit is worth a look. I’m using a Fodsports FX7 on my Tiger and it’s been surprisingly solid — pairs with the phone easily, music + calls work fine, and the battery life is actually really good.

What I like is it keeps the dash clean and I don’t need to add more hardware to the bike. And it’s way cheaper than dropping £300 on the module.

Might be an option if you mainly want calls/music/nav prompts without messing around with extra installs.

 

Just to add — the reason I didn’t go straight for Cardo or Sena was honestly the price. They’re great units but I wasn’t sure I needed to spend that much right away, so I figured I’d try something more affordable first.

Ended up grabbing the FX7 thinking it’d be a “temporary solution”… but it’s actually been working well enough that I’ve just stuck with it. Clear sound, does what I need, and I didn’t have to empty my wallet. So for now I’m pretty happy with it.