Nothing constructive to add apart from I got so fed up with the brake squeal that I’ve chopped the Speed Twin in for a Speed Triple. Such a shame because I love the way the bike looks & rides, just couldn’t live with the noise & judder. Hopefully they’ll fix it with the R version......
I have the same problem with my speedtwin. Triumph replaced the pads twice and the rotors once. I have complained to everyone in the triumph organization. The go between for dealers and customers at Triumph told me there isn’t any fix for my brakes. Like many of you, this noise ruins what should be a fun bike.
Also, this noise has cost triumph at least 4 buyers. They loved the Speedtwin. But after riding the bike, hearing the noise and hearing my whining, they said no way they would by a Triumph . They ended up buying either the Z900rs or the retro bmw.
my 18 T120 has a "rubber" backer behind the disc to quiet them, others used the thinner T100 discs, i opted for EBC standard thickness floating rotors + will see what happens as my Alpina wheels will be arriving this week!!
Interesting. I just bought a 2016 Tiger 800 XCA, and while there was no issue on the test ride, when I picked it up (after the dealer had given it a once over and serviced it etc), it squeaks/whines like you describe - only on gentle braking. You clutch in and come to slow stop at the lights for example and yo get that whining sound of metal rubbing ..something. I've had it back to the dealer twice and they say they've sorted it (after cleaning it or rubbing the disc with steel wool) and (while it goes for a little while - 45mins maybe) it returns again. The fact that they can do something to make it go away - even temporarily - makes me think a fix is possible. Going back in again on Friday. The mechanic was saying to me that he thought it was a probably a result of a junior guy putting a new front disc on and not giving it a clean first to remove the factory coating - which has then gotten on to the pads and is causing the noise. Should get better over time if that was the case (it hasn't) also, I noticed that I could make the noise (after a ride when everything is warmed up) by just rolling the bike forwards with no brakes, and previously once by turning the handlebars right to full lock and rolling (applying no brakes at all). If anyone else has any ideas about it I'd love to get to the bottom of it too.
If enough of us got together and appointed a lawyer to take Triumph to task I'm pretty sure they'd come up with a fix, as has been said it really spoils what is a nearly perfect bike otherwise. Plus getting MCN to cover the story would probably create enough bad press they'd sort it.
I just drag my rear brake once speeds get really low. This changes the harmonics enough on my bike the squeal goes away. I do apply brake grease every 3 months or so and that greatly helps. Definitely a harmonics issue. Not sure why they went with a 4 pad instead of 2 pad per caliper design on the brakes. Just more things to move around.
Streetbike have had my Speed Twin back twice for this issue. First time it was squealing and then groaning to a halt. they cleaned the discs and pads, fixed it until I got to the second traffic island and it was back again. I put up with it for a few hundred miles and then the front end started to vibrate so badly, it felt like the ABS was cutting in. back to Streetbike and they fitted new discs, new pads and new wheel. Fixed the vibration, but now I'm still getting a light squeal. The workshop manager tells me that Triumph are working on a fix for this.
Translates to Triumph are waiting for the warranty period to expire so they can wash their hands of it
“...The workshop manager tells me that Triumph are working on a fix for this.” —Tallpaul I hope that Triumph is working on this issue. I’d pay my dealer to fix it, if only they knew how. Motorcycles like the ones we on this Forum love are very complicated, low volume production machines. It’s amazing how few issues they tend to have. Remember how finicky Ducatis used to be? My first street bike in 1983 (a Suzuki) had about a 10,000 mile lifespan before parts started to fail all over it. I’m not hacked off at Triumph; this brake issue is the sort of thing that shows up when you buy the first model year of pretty much anything. And I don’t regret owning a Speed Twin. It’s brilliant. I simply want to fix the front brakes.
I got fed up with Triumph with my speed twin. Last year they told me the squealing brakes were a feature of the bike and that NO fix is available.. Things might have changed, but I have my doubts.
hardly used the curvy discs a long time without noise but poor braking, + surely surprising the speed twin does that which makes me think the parts supplied by the typical lowest bidder to triumph specs are just POOR or could be an actual poor spec. design as well as metallurgy goes into everything so its prolly one or the other!
Is this issue just across the Speed Twin? As I'm about to take delivery of a brand new 2020 T100 next week, and wondering if I should be expecting my new bike to have this problem
Hello everyone. I am new in this forum and am very glad to get knowledge from your experiences. I live in Brazil and this is the first time I have a non-Japanese bike and never had such problems with other NISSIN, BREMBO or other brakes in my riding life since my 18 years old (I am currently 59). So, my Speed Twin is just 15 days old (2019/2020 model) and only 500 km. I thought at the beginning this problem would be related with soaked pads with brake oil (that is exactly the same sound and symptoms). Said that, I am very sad to hear this is happening everywhere and that Triumph did not solve it. I should have read comments about the bike before. I am still not giving up because I just loved the bike, but it is really sad. So, as soon as there is a window on the COVID-19´s quarantine I will engage the warranty service to find a solution or a workaround on this. Nice to be part of this forum folks.
