T120 Loud Noise Under Braking

Good tip, many thanks.

 

Hey guys. I was wondering if you have been able to find a solution for the noise yet. I'm considering buying a T120 but I heared stories of people selling their bike because of the braking noise. Do all T120s have this problem or is it just a certain batch/production lot?

 

As far as I can tell not everyone has this problem, and to be honest I still haven't changed my pads to EBC as the problem has not really reoccurred to any extent since I rubbed my discs down with 'wet or dry' paper (the noise returns occasionally, but not as loud and constantly as before). I replied to a Triumph survey a couple of weeks ago asking me how satisfied I was with my T120 & I made it quite clear that I was unhappy with the brake noise situation. I will update if they reply to me, but suspect I won't hear anything from them.

 

Ok. Thanks for your reply Leo! I just got a phone call from the dealer yesterday to tell me the demo ride has arrived. I'll be testriding the T120 soon. I'll probably end up buying one . First I wanted the Thruxton more because of its look, but somehow I just know I'll be better off with the T120. It suits my riding style better and, let's face, it's a beauty also

 

King, the T120 Black I own now is the 4th Bonneville I've owned since my first one in 1982 (prior to that I owned a Honda XL125S from 1976-78, and a Honda CB400T from 1978-82). It is a fantastic bike to ride in terms of a great riding position, very comfortable seat, and heated grips for autumn/winter, as well as immense power; the acceleration is tremendous! The bike also looks great in all black, just wish the rear shocks were black as well! The ride by wire throttle control is much smoother then my previous 2014 model, and the clutch is incredibly light. All in all a great bike apart from the aforementioned brake noise!

 

Yeah, the all black looks fabulous. Btw, there's someone on the TriumphRat forum who found a solution for the braking problem. Here's the link (I hope it is allowed to link to another forum. If not, please just delete my post mr. moderator).

http://www.triumphrat.net/water-coo...-installing-floating-brake-discs-on-t120.html

 

King, the T120 Black I own now is the 4th Bonneville I've owned since my first one in 1982 (prior to that I owned a Honda XL125S from 1976-78, and a Honda CB400T from 1978-82). It is a fantastic bike to ride in terms of a great riding position, very comfortable seat, and heated grips for autumn/winter, as well as immense power; the acceleration is tremendous! The bike also looks great in all black, just wish the rear shocks were black as well! The ride by wire throttle control is much smoother then my previous 2014 model, and the clutch is incredibly light. All in all a great bike apart from the aforementioned brake noise!

King, the link works fine, many thanks, & a very interesting modification. I'm still going to wait to see if Triumph reply to my e-mail before making any changes myself as I feel it should be down to Triumph to make the changes under warranty. Also, if you make a major mod like this it may invalidate the 3 year warranty itself. Hopefully if this mod does work Triumph will approve the change & carry out the work at the dealerships, as I'm sure they'll be monitoring all these online conversations on the various forums. Again, thanks for the info.

 

I am picking up my new T120 next week. I've studied this and a number of other posts with interest, so firstly thanks to everyone for all the advice that has helped me to ask some sensible questions. I asked my dealer about the brake noise and was shown that later bikes have a kind of damper fitted to the inner rim of the front discs that is reckoned to prevent the disc vibrating and making a noise. I tested one with this fitted and despite my best efforts couldn't get any sound from it when moving slowly or at speed so maybe this is the fix? I really hope that Triumph do the honourable thing and make it a FOC retro fit for anyone still suffering.

 

Thanks for this info. I'll get onto my dealer and ask if they know anything about this mod. Unfortunately it looks as if Triumph are prepared to ignore purchasers of earlier models otherwise they would have had a recall by now.

 

Update here....advised my dealer in KC of the noise and didnt get much feedback. Out of the blue a month or so later the dealer calls and says Triumph has agreed to replace not only the brake rotors and pads, but also the wheel! Now just waiting for parts. If that doesnt eliminate the groaning/squealing, I wont know what else to try....

 

Had my front wheel replaced with the modified wheel/discs today. Rode over to the dealer (wet weather) and brakes squealed at nearly every set of red lights despite my last attempt to clean discs with wet/dry paper. The ride home was a real pleasure with no noise from the front discs at all! Fingers crossed that the problem is now cured.

 

Great stuff, I hope everyone else gets theirs sorted too. Result!

 

Not sure if mine has been modified. Not done that many miles ( < 500) but my T120 makes no noise at all when braking. Perhaps I'm just lucky or it hasn't developed yet

 

All the new bikes are fitted with the mod, so I assume yours is one of those if you purchased it recently?

 

I.e we know what the problem is but we're not going to change every T120 brake pads under warranty, coz we don't need to coz it's a wear & tear friction lining problem. Total B****cks! Come on Triumph get a grip.

 

Ken, too true, they know it's a problem, and they have to change the wheel with new modified discs fitted, which obviously is expensive. If it was just a brake pad problem they would have done a recall, which would have been a whole lot cheaper. Hopefully mine is cured now. By the way, it takes about 2 hours for the changeover if anybody else plans to get theirs done. Must log off now as I've got a film to watch and several cold beers to drink!

 

Enjoy!

 

Gentlemen
I realise this is a late reply from me as a newbie but you may like to look at
this.. Basically a guy in the US and me in NZ have had burnt up back brakes on new T120s, and both have had bad responses from the agents

Search 2018 T120 Brake Problem on the forum at triumphrat.net

I am of the opinion that the return spring is not man enough for the job and the brake lever keeps the brake a little on all of the time

The constant small amount of breaking would explain the pads wearing out at 6K mileage and why everything is dry in the calliper

Will upload photos asap