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RE: Valve Clearances



It strikes me that this is going to be less of a problem in the UK, where
average bike annual mileages have now fallen to about 3,000 miles and more
of these bikes will be caught by the timed service interval than by the
mileage intervals. Plus if they do get to 25,000 miles and shit themselves,
it'll be better part of ten years down the track.

Unusually, I put just over 12,000 miles on my T595 last year before chopping
it in for the ST, and I would expect to have done the same or more this year
had I kept it. Had the bike blown up while still in warranty, no amount of
'not our problem' from Triumph would have sufficed. 

I'm currently pursuing a warranty claim with Triumph (UK) on the ST, the
outcome of which I will report. I was stranded on the Isle of Man with no
clutch - two clutch plates had exploded into little pieces and the remainder
had burnt themselves out, it transpired. The Trumpet dealer on the island
decided that I must have 'abused' it for the thing to have failed thus, and
left me to pick up the GBP350 odd bill for parts, fluids and labour to clean
the bits of clutch out of the sump of the motor, replace the entire clutch
and change the oil during TT week. Took 4 days as well, which cramped my
style somewhat...

Anyway, I complained to Triumph and arranged for the bits to be sent to them
for analysis - clutches don't tent to explode at any mileage, especially on
1065 mile, 2 week old motorcycles which have been run in properly.
Admittedly I was riding extremely hard on the island (attempting to stay
with a well-ridden YZF1000 ThunderAce makes you do that), but I certainly
wasn't 'abusing' the thing. The dealer probably means pulling wheelies.
Yeah, right - do it all the time. Just call me squid-boy. 

Anyway, it's obvious to me that the two clutch plates concerned must have
had some kind of manufacturing fault, and I'm currently waiting for it to
become obvious to the Triumph factory warranty department themselves. The
process is taking longer than I'd expect or like, and since I'm presently
£300+ out of pocket, I'm starting to frown somewhat. I don't think it's down
to Triumph that these two clutch plates shattered, but that's for them to
sort out with their supplier. Me, I just want my warranty honoured in timely
fashion - and that /is/ down to Triumph! So far the delay is not entirely
down to them, but the clock is very loudly ticking...

Ken Haylock ['99 Sprint ST]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Schulster [mailto:Schulster@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 07 July 1999 08:48
> To: ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Valve Clearances
> 
> 
> 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-t!
> ourer 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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