Quality going down?

[Papa Lazarou]

After my Thunderbird was parked on top of by a car back in July, many parts had to be replaced.

Unfortunately, some of these components-the stainless steel ones, just aren't up to scratch. For example, the bar end weight is now on its second replacement-the first one rusted in two weeks and the second one in 10 days.

My local motorcycle shop says that pre 2002 Triumphs are better finished than the modern ones. I'd go further and say that the pre 1998 oones are better made than 98-02.

Anybody else have this experience? I'm not saying the quality of modern Triumphs is bad-it's better than any German or Japanese make-but that it isn't what it was.

[sleazy rider]

I'm too poor to own a newer one.  Both mine have been 95-96 and fantastic other than the last set of coils.

[Papa Lazarou]

mine's a 97 and great too-except for coils.

[maddjack]

My 03 seems rock solid, I do however see a small difference in some of the components quality on the showroom models. Some parts are not as robust. I recently bought a set of replacement cables for the throttle , the new ones will never last as long as the old ones, they are visibly thinner and they modified the adjusters with a cheaper type with less adjustment available.

[Rincewind]

I have owned a 2002 885, 2007 1050, and now a 2010 675 model.  Fit and finish have been great on all of them.  No rust or thin paint.  However my later triumphs have had very little chrome and stainless so I don't know much on that.

My problems have been related to oil.  The 2002 would drip oil from a bad seal (replaced multiple times) via the airbox.  Ugly.  The 2007 didn't drip but it burnt oil excessively.  PITA.  My 2010 doesn't burn hardly any oil at all, I'm glad.

The engineering and ease of maintenance has gotten better over the years too.  Seems to me that quality has gone up.

[Croak]

After my Thunderbird was parked on top of by a car back in July, many parts had to be replaced.

Unfortunately, some of these components-the stainless steel ones, just aren't up to scratch. For example, the bar end weight is now on its second replacement-the first one rusted in two weeks and the second one in 10 days.

My local motorcycle shop says that pre 2002 Triumphs are better finished than the modern ones. I'd go further and say that the pre 1998 oones are better made than 98-02.

Anybody else have this experience? I'm not saying the quality of modern Triumphs is bad-it's better than any German or Japanese make-but that it isn't what it was.

Keep in mind that those replacement parts you're buying are probably every bit of ten years old, if not older.  Once they come out of the plastic, oxidation will hit fast, since the inhibitor that's supposed to slow/stop it has long since become chemically inert.

[Papa Lazarou]

Keep in mind that those replacement parts you're buying are probably every bit of ten years old, if not older.  Once they come out of the plastic, oxidation will hit fast, since the inhibitor that's supposed to slow/stop it has long since become chemically inert.

Strange-the old one is absolutely fine. And this is meant to be stainless.

[falconati]

My 2007 was excellent.

[BBB]

The finish on my '99 Sprint ST was very good, and at 5 years old and with 35000 miles on the clock it looked very good and did not show its age. I changed it for a '04 Sprint ST and the difference quickly became apparant. The fairing and side panel fit was not as good and within a year paint had flaked off a number of painted components. There was a lot of furring of the alloy on the engine block behind the fairing. The front wheel was a different shade of silver to the back wheel and the speedo overread by as much as 20%.

In short my new bike at one year old with 6000 miles on the clock looked worse than its predecessor did at 5 years old. Given that the new bike was garaged from new, whilst the old one lived in the street for the first two years of it life without a cover, it was a stark illustration of a deterioration of the factory build quality.

[Dan K]

My 2 '06's are great, but I have no other Sprint history to compare them with.  My dunny has a 72 Silver Jubilee Bonneville that I'm still hoping to ride...

 -Dan