Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[admin]

Originally Posted by Heorot

Yesterday, there was an accident outside our village and the police closed the road, the A140 main road between Ipswich and Norwich heading to Norwich. The trouble is, the only alternate roads are single carriageway unclassified roads that wind between high hedges. Ferkin idiots driving way too fast and one only just managed to stop before ploughing into me on the bike. It's not an A road for fux sake, drive slowly.

Same around here in Shropshire. Drivers have no concept that there might be a bloody great tractor or truck around the next blind bend.
It might be me but i don't recall roads being closed as frequently in the past. You never used to hear of motorways being closed in my youth.

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[Heorot]

The A140 is a dead straight former Roman road where a car hit a pedestrial at 11:00AM breaking an arm and leg. How the feck? And why was the road closed for four hours.

[Adam Ef]

Originally Posted by Heorot

How the feck?

Driver probably staring at their phone. I'd say one in ten people I pass on my commute into Bristol is driving and using a phone at the same time.. that's my gripe for the day.. and every day. The total lack of respect people have for the lives around them driving a few tonnes of metal along and not having a care about looking ahead because they can't tear themselves away from their phones / texting / social media etc.

[Heorot]

Highly likely Adam. Back in March a young girl was killed when she drove into a tree on the same stretch of road; no other car involved. Police checked her phone and found that she was texting at the time. Same again back in November. It's dead straight road too.

[Bike27]

Originally Posted by Seeker

My Kawasaki H1F experience continues to be a nightmare. The bike was returned 10 days ago to have a new kickstart spring fitted which requires the engine to be removed and cases split. They ran it for a few days to confirm it was running ok but on the scheduled return delivery date (Wed 18th) the centre exhaust split on a seam (and they are like rocking horse excreta). There's a beaten up one on ebay now complete with acid stains and dents for £86, another in the US for considerably more but in no better condition.

Last week, David Higgs (owner of Higgspeed expansion chambers) was involved in a bad car crash - I was going to order a set of spannies, but I'm holding off for now as buyer's remorse is setting in. Teething troubles? I hope so. I bought the bike in Feb, it was supposed to be finished by end of May (held up by exhaust problems), finally got it in late August but have only ridden it for 35 miles. My 13th bike is definitely proving unlucky.
Maybe I need to look for bike #14?

Would love another decent stroker someday, so I'm still jealous (well sort of). Put 20k miles on my 350LC back in the eighties without too many issues. Had to split the cases on that to replace the crank, but that was my fault for lagging the radiator so it would warm up properly through town in winter, then forgetting all about it when heading on a run to Scarborough .

Apart from a leaking water pump, the only real issue the bike itself threw up (I.e. not caused by a incompetent teenage owner) was this:



For the benefit of anyone less aware of 2 stroke piston design, the ring ends have to be located by a peg to keep them away from the ports in the cylinder wall - the picture shows why you really don't want any of your piston ring retaining pegs to fall out . I actually ran my LC for a few hundred miles like that, eventually giving it a rebore and new pistons when I had the motor apart after (stupidly) blowing the crank. It was 100% reliable after that - I ran it for another 15k before buying the inevitable CBR600.

[Seeker]

I have asked Neil at Triplesworkshop if he will consider buying the bike back from me. I cannot make up my mind if I'm overreacting or maybe expecting too much. It's a 45 year old bike, I paid Triplesworkshop £8500 for a refurbished H1F. I thought I'd get a bike that I could ride but in 2 months I've only been able to ride it twice and each time with issues/defects requiring the ride to be cut short.
This one bike has leaked more than all my previous 12 bikes combined and I've never owned a bike that failed without actually being ridden (until now).
It may be a mental thing; it's my 13th bike and it seems jinxed although I'm not usually superstitious, I do have a tendency to let my problems roll down hill gathering momentum and significance beyond what is actually happening.


On delivery the rev counter had failed, the seat latch stay was missing, seat trim was missing and the fuel cap needed a "knack" to open it. Neil told me these issues up front, he also warned me that the bike needed some miles on it to iron out the issues. Even now it's only done 150 miles since its first rebuild and it's been stripped down with the cases apart to fit the new kickstart spring since then.

H1F -
1) wire fell off coil (refitted)
2) oil pump leaking. (hose reterminated)
3) battery overcharging (I replaced reg/rec - this is a known triple fault and I asked them to check it before delivery - apparently they didn't)
4) H1E service bulletin not correctly implemented (engine ground - I fixed it)
5) many oil leaks; oil pump, oil tank, crankcase valves
6) fuel tap leaking (required new tap)
7) fuel hoses leaking (I bought some hose and fixed that)
8 ) gear lever fouling alternator cover (I adjusted that)
9) kickstart spring failed (now replaced)
10) oil pump leaking again (it's now been replaced)
11) centre exhaust has split (but they're old/unavailable)
12) it's smoking heavily and I think the gearbox oil level has dropped (if true it's a sign of the right hand crank seal having failed) Neil says it's not smoking heavily and the pump was faulty so I'm uncertain about this. He went on to say that the middle cylinder was under-oiling, so I shudder to think how much smoke it'll make now. (Don't tell Greta Thurnberg).

I don't currently have the bike (again), Neil has offered to sell it for me and put it on his stand at Stafford but hasn't the funds to buy it back.

Am I overreacting; are these teething problems and they will be sorted or have I bought a boat anchor and I need to walk away?

[DarrenSV650S]

I can't believe you still have it. I would have returned it and asked for a refund after those first problems became apparent. Especially for that price!

[Sir Trev]

If you had agreed to buy a fully reconditioned bike then I would have rejected it by now. Getting your cash back from a reasonably small shop is another matter. If they sell it for you will the next owner chase you for it being faulty when they try to ride it? Stating it is sold as seen may lower any offer price you get, likewise being honest about the current issues. If you go down the Stafford stand route and don't get back what you paid you might suggest the shop makes up the difference if they cannot simply buy it from you now.

[Adam Ef]

Was it sold as working and rideable? If it was then it is "Not fit for purpose" and if it a professional business that sold it to you then they should take it back or fix it within the first six months. I went through this a while ago with a car that we got that had loads of problems. Ended up at small claims court to get back loads spent on a 2 year old car (second hand to us) that went wrong a lot within the first few months we had it.

[Seeker]

I feel the need to defend Neil and Triplesworkshop. I asked him about a warranty when I paid the deposit and he said no, but he would take care of any problem that occurred providing it wasn't caused by abuse or negligence. True to his word, at no point has he quibbled about any point I've raised. I decided to buy a triple from him because in the UK triple forums he is recommended without reservation.
Neil was concerned about the delays since the bike was supposed to be delivered in late May but he had a lot of problems with the exhausts and the chrome platers (who damaged the exhausts and have a 6 week lead time), I didn't put (much) pressure on him but obviously I was eager to get the bike and he stressed there would be minor problems because he hadn't had chance to run the bike as much as he normally would.
When the second batch of problems hit - centred around the kickstart he was just leaving for the US to see Rick Brett (RB used to run the triples museum in Nottingham till he married an American and moved to Michigan). Rick now runs a triple museum in the US and is the epicentre of second hand triple parts and complete bikes. My bike came via Rick. Neil's US visit caused a 10 day delay, he does have an assistant but I requested that Neil the owner does the work (there are two Neils).

Looking back at my post I think I was all bent out of shape because the summer's over and I still don't have the bike plus I'm inherently impatient. I spoke to Neil and I told him to keep the bike until he's confident it's rock solid, deliver it back to me and if I can ride it 3 times without any issues I'll keep it, otherwise we'll talk about selling it. It now has a bodged centre exhaust so the bike can be ridden but a better exhaust will be fitted once the container of parts arrive from the US. Assuming I keep the bike I've decided to go for Higgspeed expansion chambers anyway:


I still think it's a beautiful looking bike and I find it hard to be dispassionate about it. Incidentally, when I bored my friends at Willingham Woods, they all agreed with the sentiments here: I'm nuts and I should get rid of it. They (and you) are probably correct but I know if I do, I'll be hankering after another one next year; it's a curse caused by riding one of these things 40 years ago.