Triumphs build quality. Just a mini rant/observation... While Triumph's build quality has supposedly improved markedly in recent years, there have been many comments from many places on the interweb regarding parts corroding prematurely, most of these seem to stem from the modern retro lines. I love the idea of modern technology and old school looks, but I struggle with the shortcuts Triumph took in terms of keeping tubed tyres and the lack of corrosion resistance to many parts. It smacks of cost-cutting in production on a supposedly premium product where they should be manufacturing up to a quality instead of down to a price point - especially when they are charging premium prices! Tubed tyres in this day and age? Seriously? Phosphating the steel and Cerakoting all the metal finishes - it works with both aluminium and steel and would leave a bike that was properly corrosion resistant - which would be a huge selling point! My opinion is that Triumph should be showcasing how good they can be rather than having to show how well they deal (or in some cases fail to deal with) warranty claims; and be leaders rather than followers!
50,000 miles in 25years that’s 2000miles a year, how do you keep your mileage so low. No wonder it’s mint.
Do Triumph sales persons ever mention to buyers that a tubed tyre will deflate much faster than a tubeless would ??
I've had over 50 different bikes over nearly 40 years of riding and for me Triumph build quality now is up there with the best of all the large manufacturers and their attention to detail is now brilliant. The only time I can think of a manufacturer possibly being better was Honda in the late 90's early 00's when their quality was exceptional. Bikes have always been built to a price with good reason. I'm sure that build quality could be better but the question is how much would that add to the end price and would buyers be prepared to pay it? I've had plenty of bikes that I've watched rust and fall apart in bad weather or rattle to pieces or had shite fasteners or nuts and and bolts made from butter. Want to talk about shite build quality? A couple of years ago I had a Harley itch that desperately needed to be scratched so I did what I never should have done and spent £15k on one. At the time I also had a GS that was absolutely bullet proof and could be abused and left filthy and wet without a problem. I rode the Harley to our house in Wales through some crap weather and when I arrived I was wet and cold so I did what I'd have done with the GS and dumped it in the garage and went indoors to warm up and dry off. The weather didn't improve and so I didn't go back out to the garage for a week and when i did go out this new £15k bike had signs of corrosion all over it. I've never had a bike so susceptible to a bit of standard British weather. Needless to say I spent a few hours cleaning up the bike and then immediately traded it at a substantial loss. I wouldn't touch another Harley. The first bike I owned was a Beta MX5 and that was a catalogue of disaster, it siezed three times, the back light blew 9 times and the back wheel collapsed before I eventually sold it. If I'd chucked it in a river it would have floated. On the upside I've had numerous Honda's, BMW's, Triumphs and even Ducati's, none of which have missed a beat and all of which have taken the worst that the British weather and roads can throw at them without complaint beyond the odd rusty fastener. I have to agree about the tubed tyres though. There are plenty of solutions to running tubeless tyres with spoked wheels, (BMW simply repositioned where the spokes attach to the rims), it does seem uneccessary.
Suzuki do tubeless spoked wheels on their Stroms. The Honda Africa twin has tubes and personally I would not touch one for that reason. As for Triumph quality, well I ride all year round and my Oct 16 Sport has 9000 miles and looks ok but the down pipes are a bugger to clean. The rest of it is solid though. I am keeping it a while longer yet so we'll see how it deals with the elements over a longer period.
Nice deflection O Might One...... you still didn't answer..... Do the bikes actually ever go out (Apart from MoT time of course)?
DozersDad likes to think he is the forum master. Illusions of grandeur I'm afraid. Nursie will be along soon with his medications. Then a few hours in the padded sleepy room, into his onesie. Back to normal. Just humour him..... we all do!
