Well, that's a little disappointing. I took the bike for a run on Boxing Day and, when I was washing it down before putting it away in the shed, I noticed the back wheel looking less than perfect. It certainly doesn't look like the back wheel of a bike that is less than nine months old. See attached. There's similar things going on with the shocks. The bike was registered in March 2019, and was a dealer demo until June 2019 when I bought it. Since I've owned the bike it's been kept in a shed every night and, after each outing (since mid-October) it's been washed down and dried, before being stored under a ventilated cover and over a tubular heater. When the dealerships re-open after the New Year, I'll raise it under the warranty. Any idea what sort of response I'll get? And any advice which would help me prepare my case? Thanks in advance John
John Wamphray Yes very poor. Most dealers of any sustenance will be on your side. What you need to do if they replace the wheels is beeswax them once a year to seal the chrome. Other wise it will all happen again. Like some of the peeps are saying Triumph seem to be lowering their high standards. So sad the great mark should go this way. And yes it does bring back the days of old Triumph quality issues. Happy New Year. Joe.
That don`t look good ! My T120 is a 2018 with 4300 miles on it, I also wash it down and dry it but always spray and wipe over with GT85, also sometimes give the wheels a polish first. (They are still looking like new) I do this as I have seen other posts saying they rust easy ! I do ride in the rain so treat the whole bike like this + use ACF50 on much of the frame/engine. All takes time and costs a bit, but so did the bike !
Hi John, The honest truth is that chrome rims are horribly vulnerable to salt and moisture. My 2005 rims are little worse than when I bought the bike 7/8 yrs ago but the post ride washdown is invariably much more than a rinse and involves soap, sponge and brush. If I don’t it takes even more elbow grease and polishing to reverse the corrosion. Did I mention the copious WD40 to expel moisture from rim, spokes and nipples? My rims are Italian from the last of the Hinckley builds and not of the ‘old’ British quality you would have found on a 60s bike. (The engine was another story!). I suspect your rims are maybe Thai or Taiwanese and great for California but a bit delicate for Borders winters and brutal South Lanarkshire gritters. The roads here are loaded! Peeling chrome is one thing but that surface blotching is a plea for love.... and elbow grease and a protective coating of light oil or wax.
From the picture it looks like a liquid has sprayed onto the rim and dried, not wishing to state the obvious but are you sure it’s not chain lubricant or similar?
Thanks for the replies. And the sympathy. (And Happy new Year, one and all) It's defo rust, Callumity. And it's present at the shockers as well. I understand the need to maintain a bike to keep it in good nick but the thought of spending longer with hose, rag, dryer & wax than I do in the saddle makes me think I might have bought the wrong marque. It's the first "new" bike I have ever owned and I've treated it with more care than any of my previous machines. I've hardly used it since the salt went down (perhaps twice since the end of October). The dealer doesn't re-open until 7th but I'll head up there the first decent day and see what they say.
Oh it’s clearly rust, no arguments. If you are heading to Embra up the 701 you will pass close by my humble abode.
it does seem that the latest generation of classic triumphs have many issues, problems with chattering brakes, poor quality finish, electrical problems. Even the first gen of classics seem to have more problems than the equivalent Japanese models, with electrical parts failing and carb problems seemingly common after relatively short periods. I only recently added a classic bonnie to my life, but it has had problem after problem and is currently in the dealers yet again, I toyed with buying another Kawasaki at the time instead of it and perhaps that would have been smarter. I wonder how these problems have affected sales.
I realise that the example I bought had been stood for a number of years and that is an issue with modern fuel and it is the problem bikes we hear about not those that have no problems
I don’t remember roads being gritted in the 60s and 70s as they are now. It was common enough for people to throw clinker from fire grates onto snow to improve traction but generally it was much riskier! I just wonder whether modern gritting is clashing with classic styling. Time was when we simply could not ride on iffy roads and now, because of gritting, we do but then salt spray everything. Car anti corrosion has improved immeasurably but their paint, powdercoat and waxes are found on more weather resistant bikes.....not the throwback ‘classics’.
This is true, and if you are unlucky enough to experience a problem, you then are likely to search for problems, which reinforces a negative experience. I've had four Triumphs, two under a couple of years old, and the two I still have that are both over 10 years old, and so far (touch wood ) I have had no issues with any of them other than expected wear.
Indeed. In its 14 yrs my 2005 865 has needed (consumables like tyres aside) a new rec/reg and ignition coil.
Triumph sold about 67k bikes last year. We speak of ‘manufacturing’ but, in truth, they are a mix of manufacture and assembly as are all vehicle manufacturers - Nissin or Brembo brakes etc., are externally sourced. Somewhere in the back room a production engineer, buyer and accountant will argue about the design, cost, quality equation for a profitable sale at a competitive price. Time was when Central Wheels in Birmingham laced all their chrome rims sourced from Italy. With Classics mostly assembled in Thailand I suspect an acceptable complaint rate applies for bikes sold to salty latitudes. You would struggle to make chrome rusty in swathes of the US or Southern Europe.
You shamed me into spending the last 90 minutes cleaning up my garage. The floor is done, shelves and bench next
I love the bike and am willing to wait whilst they fix it, but there will come a point if they continue to fail to fix it for more than a week at a time I will give in and demand a refund and buy something else, maybe a different bonnie....or not
I've lived in Scotland all my life (and in Orkney for a couple of decades) so I know all about Scottish air, salty roads etc and yet I've kept my previous bikes without losing them to corrosion. But if this is what happens to a new bike, after (what?) 2 months of salt on the roads, I dread to think what it'll be like in a year or two. The bike was ACF50'd in October (although I admit I might not have done it like an expert) and it's been washed in accordance with the owners manual (I've just checked). One of the reasons I bought the Bonnie rather than a Royal Enfield was the fear of corrosion (although I also wanted to return to the bike of my boyhood). We'll see what they say when I take in to the dealers. And maybe I'll have to buy myself a cheap winter bike.
