Valve Clearances

["Jonathan Schulster" <Schulster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Had a long chat with my dealers' chief mechanic last night, after taking in the ST for its 10,000km service.  I insisted on them checking the valve clearances since 8 of 12 on my T509 were out of spec by 9500km last year.
He related an interesting account of how Triumph is handling the situation which makes for a sad story typical of British attitudes to business (I am a Brit so I can say this!).  Here goes...
Triumph know that most 1997-98 bikes taken in for service at 10,000km (6,000mi) are showing serious valve shim wear on 509/595/955i models, but it would cost them alot of money (estimated £7M for frame swaps in '97) to replace these free of charge.  So, they are using the following loophole. The bike is sold with a service manual which states that the valve clearances should be checked only at 20,000km and NOT at 10,000km (6000mi).  If you choose to pay to have this done at 10k service then that is your problem, but as it was not a warranty service item, anything revealed at 10,000km service is NOT THEIR PROBLEM.  Of course if you leave it to 20,000km there is a good chance you have burnt out valves or permanently damaged engines, and all they will pay for (perhaps) is the cost of changing the shims!
They were selling bikes in 1997-8 will shims made of 'cheese' and this is their 'business' solution to the problem.  From a marketing point of view they have been quite successful in brushing this whole thing under the carpet - it is much harder for motoring magazines to run a bike for 10k to find out if the shims wear, than to crash-test a few frames (as they did in '97 leading to the frame swap).  Fortunately some magazines, like Motorrad have done long-term detailed tests on the Daytona and sure enough the valves were partly burned out at 20,000km.  From a long-term business perspective, it will lead to Triumph's (in the 90's) getting the kind of envious reputation for reliability that Ducatis have - when these engines start dying after 50-60,000km alot of people will think twice about buying a 2nd-hand Triumph, and all bikes including the ST will depreciate quickly.  This is not really the kind of reputation you want if you are trying to build a long-term market on sport-tourer and touring motorbikes!
The only good news is that the mechanic believes the 1999 model engines have changed source of valve shims and are lasting much better.  All we can do is collect detailed information on valve clearances measured by those who choose to have it paid for at 6000mi service and compile a list on the web page.  I should have mine tomorrow.
cheers
Jonathan



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