Featured 2018 Speed Triple Rs – Ownership Thread

Or at least after

 

Tankpadgate. It seems to be a widespread issue

As I said, it's almost certainly shonky fitting, not a faulty part.

 

I'm almost done with the running in - just about to hit 800 miles which will 'unlock' 8,000 RPM.

Bearing in mind that I've only done 200 miles since the oil service, I had an unexpected problem yesterday. After 80 'spirited' miles across country with plenty of clutch use (both manual and quickshifter), I stopped for petrol a few miles from home. As I pulled out of the forecourt and accelerated away, there were plenty of revs but hardly any power at all. I had trouble picking up speed, so limped home feeling pretty despondent.

As I neared home, I realised the clutch lever was sticking half way and not fully releasing - strange how it takes time to think logically when this sort of thing happens.

I removed the lever and found that the metal around the cable barrel slot had been rubbing against the body/bracket part - enough to remove black paint and expose shiny aluminium, creating dust that mixed with the grease, to bind up the mechanism completely.

I reckon this was caused by the pivot bolt being much too tight...or perhaps it's the design of the RS lever - either way it's something worth keeping an eye on

 

Welcome to the forum

Thanks, but I sorted it straight away - as soon as I'd removed the lever to check what was happening. A good clean, a spot of grease, nipped the bolt back in place and adjusted the tension leaving 2 to 3mm of gap when the lever is released. All good.

I spotted another service issue too - I thought I'd check the oil level (as I'd lost trust in the quality of the service checks) and noticed the O-ring hanging out around the oil cap. It had stretched and sheared as the cap had been tightened, and a trace of oil had worked its way out around the filler hole.

Simple things, bodged up in my opinion - not the quality of work that I'd expect from a dealer working on a new bike (or old one for that matter).

Bought a pack of 19mm ID x 3.0mm O-rings for simplicity, and that problem is solved too.

Hope you're enjoying yours!

 

What's not to love...and as you say, definitely something to be shared.

I don't do social media, but I'm a big fan of forums like this, as they're such a brilliant resource. Where else can you ask an obscure question and get an answer, often within minutes.

It would be great to hear your experiences too, so please do post...and remember that these threads are NOTHING without pictures

 

Well that's interesting - and I guess I should retract my comments about shoddy workmanship

The replacement rings I bought are much harder than the one that had failed, so that sounds exactly right. I've got nine spare - looks like there will be a market for them

 

What a lot of Speed Triple love!

I keep polishing mine (the bike) - something that gives me joy after the exit of Matt Graphite. After that I do some general staring - so I'm glad it's not just me

So I have a plan to remove the restrictive disc from each can, but leave the baffles in place (at least for now). I've just whipped an end can off, to see how the disc is attached and it's welded to the very end of the internal pipe...it's a concave end cap with a 5mm hole in it.

I've ordered a 150cm long tungsten carbide dome ended burr - like this:



I'm going to stick it down inside the can (other end to the baffle and carbon tip) and grind the edge away until it drops out. This is the plan at least.

If it goes well, I'll post details. If it doesn't, I may have to leave the forum.

 

I've attacked the baffle discs with these:




And this happened.

Standard tiny restrictive 5mm hole:



After 13mm drill:



After 32mm step drill:



I thought I could grind the rest away, but the stainless steel is hard (it killed the step drill bit by the time I completed the second can - and it's supposed to be a cobalt version suitable for the job).

Maybe I'll go further some other time, but as it now stands, the sound is much improved! The main baffle is still fixed in, but the underlying exhaust note has dropped to a deeper, hollow, sonorous rumble. Just need to ride over the weekend (or maybe this evening) and give it a proper test.

 

It's much better. Not especially loud, just a better, fuller, deeper, more rounded tone, with all of the rasp intact when you give it 8,000 RPM (current limit) of beans.

I'm now going to leave it alone