Pimping My 1050 Speed Triple Rs

I purchased the Speed Triple RS back in March/April 2020 and didn't ride it for some time, not least because I had it in bits for clearcoating the matt black paintwork and then there was lockdown and other distractions. . . .

Anyway, I duly completed the first 500 miles and spent some time wrestling with myself over the first service. Should I return to Lings of Norwich or carry out the work myself? I rang them to enquire if it was OK for me to do the work without affecting the warranty and used the lockdown as my excuse but was told in no uncertain terms that notwithstanding, I would still have to return the bike for the first service to be repeated by them for the warranty to remain valid. The bike was a pre-registered machine with a July 19 plate which means the warranty only lasts until July this year. I won't start riding until perhaps mid-April, which means a couple of months warranty and perhaps 3-4 trips. . . . I carried out the first service and won't bother having the work repeated.

So, to date, I have added a DIN socket, a luggage rack, clearcoated the paintwork, radiator & oil cooler guards with additional carbon shrouds. I have purchased an R&G paddock stand and a BIKETEK headlift stand which is due for delivery this morning and . . . . I have removed the tyres and installed TPMS sensors. In respect of the latter, at this precise moment, I have finished the rear wheel but had no way of raising the front in order to remove the front wheel. I spent some time prevaricating over the issue - do I buy an extra plate for my Bursig stand? Do I go SW-Motech centre stand or headlift stand? etc etc - well, I chose the latter and for reasons which will become apparent later in this thread.

My plan is to cover all the above in as much detail as possible and/or any additional jobs which take my fancy over the coming months but as it's currently a hot potato . . . . we will start with the TPMS and so, here goes


Having read reports various of smashed gearboxes through use of the Triumph Shift Assist quickshifter and having one on my S1000RR which I use for shifting only occasionally, I requested a swap - TPMS instead of ShiftAssist. You will have probably gathered from the earlier discussion that I am somewhat averse to having spanner work carried out on my bikes by anyone other than me and so I took delivery of the shiny new TPMS kit in a polythene bag rather than one on each wheel. The initial plan was to install them on first tyre replacement and then have the dealer activate the system. I enquired if the activation could be done prior to delivering the bike but was told that I should wait or the bike would throw an error signal - hmm . . I suspect I was thrown a curve ball on this request since once activated, the system can be turned on or off by the rider and so surely, when turned off, the bike wouldn't be looking for a signal from the sensors and so no error would be generated?? Anyway, it is what it is and I have to return to Lings at some point in the early spring to have the TPMS activation carried out and whilst there, they will be conducting the front disc pad recall which also affects my bike . . . .

OK - so the plan needed to change a little. I figure I will do maybe 2K per year on the S3 and so the TPMS needs to be installed and not kept in a plastic bag. It was a case of wheel off and into the barn whilst I pondered the job that I had given myself.

As a precursor, I watched various Youtube videos of numerous gorillas destroying their wheels with an assortment of beadbreakers from Harbour Freight and tyre irons/levers from other equally evil rim-destroying brands and armed myself with a long list of things to try and things not to try and eventually came up with a plan.

I made myself a circular wheel table by routing three pieces of 18mm ply and bonding them together and as a concession to touchy feeliness and not wanting to mark my wheels, covered the top with carpet tiles. The central hole is to facilitate the discs of the front wheel . . .



I then made a bead breaking wedge from the same ply and gratuitously laminated it in carbon fibre. The latter was totally unnecessary for the job in hand but having bought some cloth and resin for another project, I was keen to learn the art of working with the stuff and so that is the reason the wedge looks the way it does but in reality, it is made from plywood . . . .



So, the plan was to mask up the rims using some selotape and then slip a rim protector over the rim, place the bead breaker wedge up against the tyre bead and then slowly compress it using the mother of all G-clamps which I also bought for the job.

 

I soon found out that this was not going to be easy, the amount of force needed to break the beads is colossal and the first thing I encountered was the tendency of the opposite side of the wheel to raise up into the air - soon solved by lashing it down to the table using a piece of webbing which was scavenged many years ago from the tail parachute of an English Electric Lightning no less!!



Each time I clamped the wedge down, the tyre moved downwards at the bead by no more than 2mm or so and the main deformation occurred in the wall of the tyre so that even at the full depth of my wedge, the bead had hardly moved. I tried a little encouragement in the form of some tyre paste (not liquid soap . . see later) and even a little Wurths dry chain lube but all to no avail. The next approach was to repeat the "bead push" at 10 degree intervals all the way around the tyre so that the tyre wall was away from the rim, exposing a 2-3mm gap all the way around but still not broken. This appeared to do the job because on my next full bore attempt, the bead broke in situ and on repetition either side of the initial break, it was soon off all the way around.


A few pints of blood sweat and tears saw the same result on the other side.

The next job was to insert a monster zip tie (again courtesy of eBay) through the tyre and pull it sufficiently tight so as to bring the opposing beads of the tyre into apposition. This would have been easier with four hands or a helper but as I live alone, it boiled down to two hands and two knees . . . I squashed the tyre with my knees whilst trying to feed the zip tie through. Whilst this procedure did require some exertion, the subsequent 3 ties went very easily. I now had 4 ties in postion - north, south, east and west so to speak. I supplemented the ties with a number of straps made from duct tape and which I used to further secure the opposing beads of the tyre. The following picture was taken before adding the additional duct tape




The above exercise results in a tyre which if coated with tyre paste can be pulled free from the wheel with relative ease and with no tools. The trick is to first remove the four relatively thick zip ties as they take up valuable and needed clearance and then replace each with a duct tape strap. Now slap on plenty of tyre paste and using the webbing, strap the tyre firmly into the drop centre of the wheel from maybe the 8 O'clock to 4O'clock position. This gives sufficient clearance at the 12 O'clock position to simply pull the tyre straight off the wheel and can be done almost with one hand, very little effort and certainly no need for the evil, metalic brew that is . . . a tyre lever/iron.

As it happens, I have no intention of changing the tyre and so after polishing the entire inner surface of the wheel and rims with wax and removing the OEM valve, I set about noting the all-important ID number and installing the TPMS after first replacing the tyre.

There are one or two gotchas at this point . . . . The Triumph instructions merely state to tighten the securing bolt to 5nm and ensure the sensor isn't touching the sides of the wheel - the inference being that it should be mounted "torpedo-fashion" and pointing in the direction of travel. This fiddly job could have done with an extra pair of hands but I had to make do. The securing bolt has a collar onto which the sensor slides and the latter is pushed up against the head of the bolt by a spring, the other end of which mates against inner surface of the wheel. The sensor itself is held in position by a rudimentary and somewhat fragile "ratchet" system which allows the sensor to be position in one of three different positions so as to clear the sidewalls of the wheel and this adjustment is made only when the bolt has first been tightened to to required 5nm.


So, insert the valve stem through the hole in the rim, thread the securing bolt onto the stem and whilst holding the valve stem in the desired position and the sensor against the inside face of the wheel so that it isn't engaged on the ratchet, using your third hand, teeth or any other available implement, tighten the bolt to 5nm. Now gently release the sensor and rotate into the best position - phew.


The final job was to rotate the tyre back to its factory -supplied position with the red tyre marks opposite green mark on wheel. For those who don't know, this matches the heaviest part of the tyre with the lightest part of the wheel and thus means the least amount of lead is required for balancing.


With this done, it was simply a case of releasing the straps nearest the valve and teasing one bead up and over the sensor before releasing the remaining straps.


I then applied an economical smear of tyre paste onto the relevent surfaces and inflated the tyre. The beads were fully seated with the final "bang" at 32psi. Job done . . . . . . . .

All I need to do now is repeat for the front wheel which can only be easier - surely.

Well, I say job done - perhaps not quite. . .

By way of explanation, do not be tempted to use fairly liquid, detergents or other soaps when doing this work. As they degrade, they leave behind a copious layer of corrosive salts which will damage your rims. They can be used for tyre removal if you are careful to washdown and polish the rims afterwards but never use the stuff for assembly. I bought a gallon of tyre paste/wax which is non-corrosive and will last me a lifetime and cost less than a tenner.

Finally, I weighed the OEM valve using jewellers scales - 8.631gms and the TPMS assembly which weighs 36.563 gms. I have some wheel balancing lead weights and as a temporary measure until first tyre change, it is a simple matter to slap a weight equal to the difference onto the rim exactly opposite the sensor and then it really will be . . . . job done

 

It seems I'm all prepped now to remove the front wheel in the morning . . . must wade through my S3RS workshop manual first to make sure I'm happy with the process.
My BikeTek Headstand arrived from The Sportsbikeshop earlier today, I say BikeTek, in reality, it's a rebranded generic jobbie from the land of bat soup and pangolin souffle. I can't complain at the price but . . . . .

I've never used one before and was debating a front paddock stand (triple tree variety), an additional Bursig adapter plate for my Bursig stand or the SW-Motech centre stand.
I ordered the centre stand a week or so ago but then canceled after studying the mounting instructions. . . . .
a. I'm not totally comfortable with using engine and suspension mounting points to attach the thing and
b. The stand mounting is only totally supported on one side although I'm sure the design is more than adequate but most important of all
c. I already have an R&G paddock stand which is very easy to use on a SSSA and the centre stand will also prohibit removing the swingarm. OK, this isn't a job I'm likely to do very often, if ever but . . . .I want to be able to do so without having to first remove the centre stand and having done that, find I'm then jiggered for supporting the bike.
So . . the head stand won the day but I also plan on buying an additional adapter plate for the Bursig so that I can raise the bike and work on it without restriction if ever needed. The headstand will come in useful as an expedient method of raising the front to clean the wheel and/or remove it occasionally and hey ho . . .it was only circa £60 and substantially less than the centre stand plus . . . I can use it on the other bikes - maybe??

Like all non-OEM kit, pattern stuff never seems to be without issues and the phrase Caveat Emptor is never more appropriate. With this in mind, I watched a number of Youtube videos and soon realised the head stand or triple tree stand is another means by which we can mash our bikes quite nicely if we're not careful.
The stand comes with a number of pegs for the headstock but suffice it to say, 15mm was a little too loose for my liking and the 16.5mm option wouldn't go. Initially, I was a little concerned that raising the front of the bike, effectively on the end of a 14-inch lever would apply a significant torque or bending force to the hole in the bottom of the yoke and so at the very least, I would prefer to use a peg which is a smooth, sliding fit - no worries, when time permits, I will stick the 16.5mm peg on the lathe and turn it down accordingly.
That said, I carried out a test fit of the upper portion of the stand prior to assembly and it's clear from the photo the hinged lifting point at it's base, is more or less directly underneath the headstock pin. Thus, when raised on the stand, the only force the pin will be exerting on the headstock is an upward lifting force - there will be no moment exerted and so the pin being slightly undersize is less likely to cause damage that perhaps I first thought - I will still rework the 16.5mm pin however!!


I have watched enough videos to realise a test fit was advisable - so many folks demonstrate these stands, only to then realise they have crushed their horn, damaged their brake lines, scratched their front mudguards or worse still, pulled their bike off the rear paddock stand . . . .
Thankfully, the peg located into the yoke without issue and with no interference other than a very marginal degree of clearance with the front mudguard. Clearly this is going to risk getting scratched or damaged if the steering is inadvertently turned whilst on the stand and so an initial prep will be to lay several folds of blanket or foam sponge over the fender and down the sides to protect against such an eventuality.




The only other issue of note is the fact that when raising the bike, there will be a tendency to pull the thing off its rear paddock stand and with potentially catastrophic results. . . .
Pressing down on the handle causes the hinged lifting point to rise but also, for it to be pulled forwards. To offset this, the wheels should ordinarily roll backwards but notwithstanding, the action of raising the bike will inevitably pull it forwards as well.


The issue I have is the R&G paddock stand, whilst quite strong and well made is a poor design insofar as the over-centre lock is minimal and even a gentle nudge forward, will bring the bike off the stand and crashing down.
The solution to this will be simple enough - when raising the bike using the headstand, apply downwards pressure on the handle of the stand, whilst simultaneously pushing the top of the stand rearward to counteract the tendency for the bike to come forward. This should allow the thing to come up without pulling the bike off its rear paddock stand.
Re the foibles of the R&G paddock stand, this is the video I made explaining the issue.

Review Of R&G Paddock Stand With Triumph Speed Triple RS - YouTube


I will do the same in due course for the headstand but for now . . . I'm all set to remove the front wheel and install the TPMS. I won't document this further as it is basically a repeat of the rear.

 

Hi Sprinter . . . I have a balancer and will balance the wheels when I replace the tyres but as the bike is brand new with only 500 miles, I didn't see any need - I simply replaced the tyre to the same position from which I removed it. I then weighed the TPMS sensor, subtracted the weight of the OEM valve and will stick a dob of lead on the opposite side of the wheel equal to the difference - job done.
I grant you it's a minor cop out but as of this moment, I don't have a set of cones that will work with the wheel from a Single sided swing arm. I have cones which will allow me to balance the front wheel and the wheels off my S1000rr and Tiger but not the S3. I plan to turn some up on the lathe out of acetal but . . . there's no rush for now as I'm sure my solution will suffice for this set of tyres ;-)

 

Out of interest and the reason I went for TPMS - I've only ever had one puncture over 40 on/off years of riding bikes and it was two years ago at 75mph whilst on the motorway aboard my Tiger 1050. In hindsight, I know what happened as some ten miles earlier I had felt a hard jolt as I rode over something in town. I realise now that it was a large bolt which had penetrated and stayed stuck in the rear tyre. Some ten miles later and marginally above the legal limit, the thing flew out having caught and ripped into the hugger. It left a 6mm diameter open hole in the tyre but strangely, it didn't affect the bike one jot . . I carried on at the same speed whilst acutely aware of a strange roaring sound which I assumed was the lorry behind me. As this faded into the distance but not the noise, I realised something was amiss and luckily, it dawned on me that the noise might be tyre roar and so I feathered the throttle and pulled onto the hard shoulder, whilst slowing gradually to a halt and without touching the brakes. Things got decidedly squirrely once I was down to about 25mph but I kept it straight and pulled up to a halt.
It took 3 sticks of "liquorice" and 4 CO2 cylinders to get me back on the road and I limped the remaing 100 miles home at a top whack of 25mph.
I guess I just got lucky - if I'd been cornering then maybe I wouldn't be here now but life itself is a risk. There's no point in making it more than it needs to be and so TPMS struck me as a cool idea . . .

 

I did say that I wouldn't bother writing up the front wheel but I've discovered one or two useful snippets which will help conclude this particular episode, that is . . . . until I get the system activated in April when I start riding.
I repeated the previous exercise on the front wheel today and being only a 120, it went very smoothly.
First job was to test out the BikeTek stand and being very distrustful, I decided to tie the back of the bike to the garage door just in case . . . somewhat perversely, once it was up on the stand the whole thing had moved backwards slightly and the straps had gone slack - go figure!!


I broke both beads on my first go and had the sensor installed in half an hour.
The first hurdle I faced was somewhat unexpected . . . detaching the front calipers in order to remove the front wheel. Jeez!!! - with both bolts undone, the caliper could be taken right up against the inside face of the wheel and still wouldn't slide away from the disc. I wasn't going to risk trying to squeak it out because didn't want to mark the wheels but as it turns out, the technique would appear to be to to rotate the caliper from side to side in order to push the pistons back - they only need to go in by a single millimetre or so and then with a cloth placed over the caliper to prevent marring the wheels, the thing could be teased out. The other thing to be mindful of is to keep the body of the caliper parallel with the circumference of the wheel so that you get every last micro of clearance - do this in haste or without being aware of this and you're very likely to scag your wheels and so do take care.


When the sensors are activated, I will need to remind the dealer that I want PSI and not BAR or pascals etc and if it is an option, to set the baseline at 36/42psi. It appears Triumph use the same sensor part number for most of their current range and given there will be a spectrum of inflation pressures for different models, there must be a setup menu which requires the "normal pressures" to be entered as the sensor itself will be just sending the data and nothing else.
I've had a good look through the owners handbook and there's no option to turn these things off in the bike's menu and so in 3-4 years time when the batteries go flat, I'm going to get an annoying flashing light on the instruments but luckily, the "dealertool" (much like Tune ECU) kit which I bought does have this option.
Ostensibly, this is to allow you to ride on track days etc with lower pressures but without the warning light flashing. Afterwards, it is a simple enough job to reactivate the system. Sadly, the Dealertool does not offer an option for coding the sensors in the first place and so each time I swap the things out, it's going to be another £40 and a trip to the dealers to have them recoded. . . hey ho.
One final point . . . if you take a look on Youtube, there are various videos of folks dismantling their sensors and installing replacement CR2032 batteries - sadly, Triumph or rather the manufacturer -LDL Technologies have got wise to this and the latest sensors are tamper-proof. They are literally bonded together using high temp resin and so I guess it's just a fingers crossed exercise in terms of how long the batteries last . . . according to the dealer, the lifetime of the bike - sure thing buddy, can I snort some of that stuff too fella .

 

As I like to use an optimate over winter, I have been looking at the various options for connecting it. The S1k simply has a fused lead which I connected to the battery and the connector is stowed under the rear seat hump - it's simple enough to pull it out and leave it dangling when the bike isn't in use. Originally, I did the same with the Tiger 1050 until I realised that it was wired for a DIN socket and once connected, this gave me a permanent "live" on the side of the bike and a highly convenient charging point . . .

I decided I would go the same route on the S3RS. Strangely, the accessory socket ( A9938037 for the Tiger) is listed for most Speed Triples but not the RS. It seems that Triumph have deleted the wiring from the loom.
I took a look at various folks' solutions - most of which involved connecting an accumate lead to the battery and then a cocktail of creative stowage solutions. I didn't much like any of them and so purchased some 12 gauge silicon wire from eBay- a length of black and a length of red, a suitable in-line fuse and having purchased the accessory socket, simply wired the thing straight to the battery. I ran the leads down the side and under the tank, cable tied as necessary and the final installation is neat and uber convenient . . another job done.

I rang the dealer today to ask if I could send my OEM brake pads back and swap them further to the recall . . .makes sense - the bike is SORNED and so why not do it now whilst the calipers are hanging off string from the indicators?? There is of course another reason . . . I don't want a random mechanic removing the calipers and grinding them onto the inside of my wheels but sadly . . . . they wouldn't play ball - I have to take it in. I'm seriously considering forking out the £120, buying the damned pads and fitting them. I'll have to sleep on it. It seems the pads can become disbonded when subject to corrosion from wet and salt . . hmm - I only ride on dry summer days and so maybe not an issue but it's kinda safety critical isn't it?? I think I'll splash out and be done with it or maybe try one or two other Triumph dealers and see if any of them will do a swapsy with me if I give them the VIN - fingers crossed

 

Haven’t been around for a month - distracted by house maintenance again. Will update on paintwork later.
On the subject of brakes, I decided that I would do the pads myself because I expect most dealers are going to mash the caliper into the wheel on removal. I was hoping that I could persuade the dealer to simply send me the pads and swap new for old - they won’t - nor will another I tried and so I’m stuck with forking out for new pads. Had intended buying OEM triumph at around a hundred notes but maybe worth looking around. My main concern is I don’t want anything so hard it emerges the discs too quickly - absolute stopping force not that important as I’m not an aggressive rider and besides, if brakes are powerful enough to engage the ABS, I don’t need any more bite than that.
Of most interest is your dealer being prepared to mark the recall as done!!! Sounds like they are more helpful than mine who I suspect won’t do that if I don’t let them do the work!
Who is your dealer - might be worth a call!!

 

About time for an update . . . .
I bought some EBC HH FA447HH pads to swap out the faulty OEM Brembos. It wasn't a difficult job and at only £40 all in, not that expensive - it would have cost half that to drive over to the dealership and have them do it and so I'm happy enough.
In the end, I bought an Abba, Single Side Swingarm adapter for the rear wheel and balanced both wheels from scratch, having first removed the OEM lead weights. Again, no dramas but at least the job is now done properly.

At the time of purchase, I was unconvinced by the matt paint finish but didn't much like the pearlescent white either and so decided to go for the matt finish but have a local paintshop apply a gloss clearcoat.
I removed all the panels and masked them myself where necessary. I removed the pump from the tank and covered any holes where laquer could get in and then left it with the paintshop.
Overall, I'm pleased with the effect and it should be easy enough to maintain with just normal washing and wax polish. The only minor disappointment was the presence of a number of dust nibs in the finish and whilst the paintshop were superficially obliging by suggesting I could return the parts, whenever I contacted them, they were always "too busy mate" and clearly weren't interested in helping further.
In the end, I purchased a Festool denibbing tool, a 3M Perfect-it 3 Polishing kit and microfibre cloths and finished the job myself. It was unknown territory for me and I was rather concerned about cutting through the clearcoat but in the end, all went well.
As a final nod to paint protection, I applied some PPF to the back of the tank instead of a tank pad, some to the rear quarter panels where my backside will probably rub the pain and also, covered the bellypan.
The final job was to reapply the Triumph Tank badges which, although not listed on Fowlers or WOT, are available as a kit for "only" £25 which from memory, was cheaper than buying just a single badge as listed on their sites . . . still crazy money though for some stick-on lettering.
The following photos show various before and after photos . . . . . .