Hi guys. I need your opinion. I sent my Bonnie T100 for MOT and Triumph Glasgow found several problems. Headlight pattern facing the wrong way (wtf ???), rear tyre unsafe for cornering and in need of change, rear brake uneven and pads in need of replacement, left mirrors going salsa dancing on the bars, chain in need of deep cleaning and so on. When they got to my rear brake service they realised one of the bolts holding the "moving parts of the caliper" was seriously f'up and in need of replacement but it doesn't come as a spare part. Apparently after an ebay search, and whatever it was either fixing it one way or another or changing the whole shebang which would be even more costly. My initial Mot fixes Bill jumped from £300 to £600 to make my bike safe. Question: I have that cash available. But my next yearly insurance payment is coming in may. Would it be more financially advantageous of asking my insurer to pay for it, and accept the consequence on my insurance bill or to leave Carole Nash completely out of it ? (first claim in 3 years history, ergo ever) I mean, how much does a "small claim" ( i did not crash the whole bike and asked for a new one) like this would affect my next insurance quote ? Cheers guys.
Well ordinary insurance would not pay for maintenance....... Has the work been done? If this is a UK spec bike headlight alignment is pretty much up and down. You can do it your self against a wall. I doubt it has a right dip lens fitted. The rear brake bolt is a generic high tensile metric item. You don’t HAVE to to have the Triumph supplied bolts. Pad change is easy enough as is tightening down the mirrors. I have a slight feeling the workshop ‘saw you coming’.
The initial bill wasmuch cheaper before the break service and I had to change the tyre and fit it. But Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, but the guy from Triumph explained to me twice that basically the calliper was fucked. And yeah the works have been done. Maintenance, no, but the thing could be qualified as breakdown, as it is not functionnal, no ? Thing is, without my MOT the bike is now sorn
I have breakdown cover and the rear brake was basically non safe. It's a bit of a grey area, no ? Normally I would not even think of claiming on my insurance, but fuck me, this is basically paying my insurance twice.
I still doubt very much that you can claim on your insurance Samuel. It's hard enough to make a successful claim when you have a no-fault accident, let alone trying to prise money out of them for any other reason. Even if you manage to get them to agree to pay what is your excess on the policy? They will also rack up your premium when it's renewed and you would have to declare it as a claim to any other insurance company. Can't see that you would win with this one!
Aaaaaah the wonderful world of government forced services sold by private companies... I can't say I have any surprises there, but on some things, it's always better to ask the opinion of more experienced peers.
As littleade says breakdown cover comes with every Carol nash policy its there to recover your bike and you to the nearest garage should the recovery operator be unable to fix at the road side, it will not pay for any repairs that need doing, the list you gave to be honest seem like normal wear and tear and basic bike maintenance, we all know you lack the confidence and practise to keep on top of all regular maintenance jobs and I still think you need a local guy or small garage to help you out but got to find the right one mate, at the minute your easy pickings Sam.
Yeah Actually Triumph got me easy there, the Bike was in MOT and they were like "this is fucked, we fixed it already you owe us that much". I agreed on £300 of repairs, they sent me a £600 bill. I don't mind paying for my lack of taste in motorcycle mechanics, a bit more when I'm clearly getting ripped off.
For 1 thing they should have called you to ok the extra expense unless it was in the small print and you signed on the service document to ok it, the shops down here usually say if there are any extras how much before we call you. If you didn’t ok any extra work I would take it up with them.
I didn't okay the doubling of my bill, I okay a £300 bill and the research for the part or bolts or whatever. Anyhow this is Triumph/Ducati/Harley (One management). i doubt they will negotiate on anything. Will see. Fool me once...
I'm afraid if you have already paid the bill it will be to late Sam, the time was when he told you the amount of 600 quid, that was the time to question the amount and argue about the price doubling without your knowledge or prior agreement. Another lesson learned.
So. When I raged because my bill just went 200%, Alan, the guy from Triumph took time to explain me as much as I could understand. There was a bold or at least the fixation of a moving part that was fucked up and probably for a while. 1. Which Lead to an uneven use of the brake pads and was messing with the alignment of the calliper. 2. That bolt was very hard to remove as it was broken It took the engineer "5 hours" to fix this. ( So I guess 3 plus lunch break ). 3. Apparently whatever was broken is not sold by triumph as a spare part and could not be bought on eBay. So it was either a fix or a full replacement of the calliper. 3. They fixed it and now consider it safe. Unfortunately, without this fix, they mot sign the mot for my bike, which is sorn (because MOT is now overdue and therefore can't be taxed), and I would have to pay for the existing bill and then get my bike delivered and then find someone else and get the bike picked up and so on and so on. Fuck it... Pay the damn Bill. Get riding.
Unfortunately motorbikes are a luxury item, with commensurate service and repair costs. Your only way to save on servicing is to do as much as you can yourself. The dealer probably thought they were doing what you wanted by getting your bike sorted.
I am not sure any of us have an entirely clear picture of the problem but it does sound like the brake pins (fine bolts) may have seized so the pads could not self centre in the caliper. Triumph will likely only authorise franchised dealers to use their parts for a full repair which can mean replacing bits unnecessarily if they only sell the full assembly. However, Triumph will also stipulate how long a job should take - usually very generous to the dealer - so a 30 minute job is charged as an hour. There is NO WAY a competent mechanic needs 5 hours to fix a rear brake. Buy a manual and a few tools - all of these jobs are well within most people’s abilities and the preventive maintenance will save you a fortune.
Aaaaaaalllllright..... Now I get the bill. Here's exactly what happened: The mounting bracket which was holding the rear brake calliper to the bike was taking pressure and damage from a faulty bolt and a misalignment. So the mounting from the bike the calliper got damaged and stripped hence rending a change of bold useless as it would not tighten anything. Instead of replacing the whole mounting bracket and calliper (not sure I understand this part) in order to come back to factory setting they managed to re drill the hole and use a "helicoil" whatever to secure the whole mounting. (agin my lack of knowledge deserves me I know) It was not just changing one part. it was making sure the whole thing could hold at all. it will now hold securely and I'm advised to check its proper tightening once in a while.
I completely agree with you, but I think the major problem here was extracting the broken bolt without damaging the frame or the mounting plate, redrilling a hole for it, same for the calliper itself, and reassembling everything. I am not a 100% sure of what happen, but there was a clear issue of a bolt dead stuck and broken in 2 holes that needed to be cleared out and redrilled carefully. Thanks for your input anyhow. I appreciate it.
Helicoil......drillling out the old bolt makes a big hole. A helicoil allows you to cut a new exterior thread in the hole and insert the helicoil with an internal thread the same size as the original bolt.....
