OUR BIKES
Sorting the back end then just highlighted how poor the front still was . At this point it was the Triumph that was left in the garage if we were going to ride some of the less smooth backroads , simply because it wasn ’ t enjoyable on bumpy roads . It became ‘ fix the damping ’ or look to trade the Triple . But ... there was nothing else out there that appealed . So , the OEM damping stack had to go . Fitting RaceTech Gold Valves up front wasn ’ t cheap , but it was worth every cent and I do ask myself why I didn ’ t do it earlier given how obvious a problem the front damping was . The bike rides so much better over rough surfaces now and I never baulk at taking it out on runs that might involve poorly maintained stretches of tarmac . The total cost of sorting the Triple ’ s suspension front and back wasn ’ t a hell of a lot less than $ 2500 ( AUD ), which is quite an investment although all things considered , it ’ s a lot cheaper than trading the bike for something else .
WEAR AND TEAR There have been a few wear and tear costs along the way . The regulator / rectifier failed at around 36,000km - a known weak spot on Speedies . I was one of the lucky ones because the stator didn ’ t get fried at the same time . The reg / rec is an easy plug in replacement ; upgrading to a MOSFET unit is a popular option , but I was a little cash strapped at the time mine expired so just replaced it with an OEM part . Hopefully I ’ ll get 35K out of that too . Back up at the pointy end , some early 1050 Speedies are prone to warping the front brake rotors and yup , mine was one of them . The originals were replaced by the dealer just before I bought the Triple , but those replacements only lasted another 15K . It seems to be a relatively common issue and the fix is ‘ don ’ t buy OEM ’ so I sourced some replacement MetalGear rotors locally and those have been on there for 14,000km without any issues yet . Fingers crossed they ’ ll not get bent out of shape any time soon . I run EBC HH pads in the front . Last gripe , the finishing on the Triumph isn ’ t the greatest , although I know things have improved a lot in the 10 years since mine was manufactured . Paint on the tank marks easily and some of the brackets ( mirror , horn , radiator ) and bolts are showing signs of superficial rust . None of these are serious blemishes , but , comparing to the quality of detailing on my old Honda , the Triumph simply doesn ’ t come up to that standard .
OTHER STUFF The OEM gear shift linkage is a lot more complicated than it needs to be , with a couple of rods and rose joints conspiring to make for a less than direct feel . A very popular fix to this is to replace the jumble of parts with the shift lever from a Yamaha YZ85 dirt bike . This mounts directly to the original gear shift spline , doesn ’ t do anything funky like reverse the gear shift , yet makes for much more precise gear shifting . Ok , you might have a bit of a dirt bike on your streetfighter , but you won ’ t regret it ( caution : this works on 2005-2010 models , I have no idea if it ’ s suitable for other model years ). Cosmetically , I ’ ve replaced the indicators with LEDs - like many owners . The OEM parts aren ’ t cheap ( you need a relay as well as two sets of indicators ) and it ’ s actually a bit of a fiddly swap , especially at the front where the connectors are under the tank , but they look good when the job ’ s done . The rears are a bit exposed mounted up high on the R & G tail tidy and the stems aren ’ t as flexible as they look - they ’ ll fracture if you knock them a few times . I know this from experience . I didn ’ t much like the look of some of the aluminium accessories like the shark tooth on the swingarm or the heel guards next to the footpegs , but some time with Dr Google
48 KIWI RIDER