Featured Speed Triple 1050rs 12000 Miles Service

I've just completed the dreaded 12000 miles service. The following may be useful for anyone else contemplating doing their own service:

• Greased the rear wheel needle roller bearing. It was not dry but ready for some new grease. Once the wheel, stake nut & brake caliper are removed the axle normally pulls out quite easily with maybe a light tap, but not this time. It took a lot of effort to knock it out & it seems that the axle had bonded to the ball bearing race in the hub. There were signs of something like bearing fit having been used which I cleaned off before reassembly and the axle went back in easily and there is no play at all in the bearings so all good.
• Greased the rear suspension linkage bearings. Not dry but ready for some new grease.
• Greased the steering head bearings without issue. Again not dry & would probably have been ok until the next service.
• Checked the valve clearances. The service manual states to remove the cam cover by moving it to the right then rotating it anti-clockwise before pulling it out to the rear between the frame rails (after first having removed the frame infill panels & throttle bodies). I found it easier to remove it sideways to the right which is possible if the secondary air injection reed valve covers are removed first. Valve clearances were all found to be within tolerance although close to or at their upper limit.
• Balanced the throttle bodies. They were still in balance (used Dealertool) so did not need adjustment.
• Everything else was straighforward.

 

Cost me around £150 for parts etc. My labour was free
Be interested to compare valve clearances (see mine attached).

 

It's reassuring to see that we have both got very similar measurements and all opening up which is better than gaps closing. I suspect the next check at 24000 miles will show the gaps starting to close, but still within tolerance, as the initial wear on the cams and buckets settles down and the valves start to recess into the valve seats?

 

If any had been outside of tolerance I would have removed the camshafts and measured all of the shims so that they could be swapped around or replaced as necessary so that they were close to mid tolerance as you suggest. However it seemed unnecessary to remove the cams in this instance as the gaps were all on the wider side but within tolerance which causes no damage to the engine and has negligible effect on performance. Had the gaps been on the lower limit (i.e. closing up) I would have made some adjustment for peace of mind to avoid possible issues should they close completely. What usually happens is that the gaps initially increase before decreasing and eventually close completely on high mileage engines if the valve check is ignored. Out of interest is there any reason why yours were done at 10161 miles rather than 12000?

 

I used a sharp nail hammered into the non existent gap to de-stake the nut. I was going to re-use the nut but decided to replace it as per the manual but only lightly staked it to make it easier to remove next time (there is no way the nut will work loose if properly torqued to 146Nm against the belleville washer). This is the fifth Speed Triple I've owned and all have had the rear wheel bearing re-greased by me but this is the first time removing the axle has been an issue. It normally can be removed with a light tap from a mallet but this time it was stuck fast and took some force to shift it. When it finally came free the axle was clean with no corrosion but the ball bearing on the sprocket side of the eccentric hub had a black film on the contact surface with the axle which had bonded the axle to the bearing? It was easily cleaned up with WD40 and on reassembly the axle slid in nicely with no apparent play so all is good now. The eccentric hub was not seized and moved easily to adjust the chain. Hope you find this info useful.

 

Let us know how you get on. It will be interesting to see if you encounter similar problems.