My neighbour has a Hinckley T120 and it appears the heat from the headlight bulb has melted the inside of the glass-I say glass but it appears to be clear plastic. He's emailed Triumph but they don't seem to want to know so he's wondering if anyone else has anyone else had this issue? More importantly can it be cured? Personally I'd just go for a different headlight but he wants to keep his bike as original as possible.
It will be polycarbonate but should not have melted unless the original bulb has been changed to something more powerful. Probably needs a new unit which is going to be expensive if original equipment is used. How bad is the damage?
The bike has just passed the MOT so it's not bad enough to really affect the headlight's performance but it is very noticable when you look at it. My neighbour is away at the moment but I'll get a photo when he returns. I'll ask him if he's changed the bulb although I know that generally he doesn't do much beyond checking the fluids, tyre and chain but he does keep his bikes meticulously clean.
Yes I have had this happen before. Just to find some Walley had fitted a 100wat bulb there and all it does is melt the lens since then I stay sensible and fit a 70 cool or led. Joe
Another possible cause is if a towel or blanket lays on the light lens for even a short amount of time when the light is on. Apparently it takes a surprisingly short amount of time for the heat to build up enough to melt the lens.
I left my 765 on tickover in the garage doing a reset, no throttle. When I came back, the lack of airflow had left a very slight misting of the headlight lens from the heat. Is this really a lasting impression of quality, Mr Triumph? I have owned my bike from 272 miles and it's on its original bulb as far as I'm aware.
@Eldon I need help translating what was going on...don't know if it is my lack of bike mechanics knowledge (if I said it was rudimentary that might be overreaching) or if it's an American vs British terms issue. What's tickover? Is it idling? Reset? Is that a computer reset? And what caused the lack of airflow? Just not having the garage door open with the bike running for a while? And definitely the change from glass to polycarbonate doesn't underscore an impression of quality from Triumph. And I read an old post on TTF about someone laying their jacket across their handlebars that resulted in their melted headlight. So it would seem Triumph should be well aware of this issue since it doesn't seem to be a rare occurrence. Which reminded me of another incident: Some time ago when we were out riding non-Triumphs, my handsome husband was supposed to be catching up to us from the campground. I felt he was taking a bit long so I rode back to check on him. When I pulled up to our RV I saw his jacket was laying across the seat of his bike and it was smoking pretty good. He was in the RV closing up things while his bike warmed up and in the meantime his jacket had slid down and contacted the exhaust and was burning, with his wallet in the chest pocket. Lucky I pulled up when I did or it could have been a lot worse than a burned jacket. That was at the beginning of an 8-week, 8500-mile trip. He bought a new jacket at the next stop and managed to save most of his wallet contents. But that issue had nothing to do with a quality issue...but a little bit of carelessness.
Yes @Martine your understanding is correct. You can do whats called an "adaptation reset of the ecu". You start it up with no throttle ( the tps, throttle position sensor needs to remain on the idle setting). Tickover is just another term for idling and needs to continue for around 12 minutes, apparently. The lack of airflow I mentioned is due to being stood inside a warm garage and not travelling i.e. static, so not creating a natural and inevitable cooling breeze. I should have of course turned the main headlight off, onto drl only, but as I always ride with the main headlight lit then that escaped my mind.
I can imagine if the bike is left stood still with the headlamp on for a longer period and not getting cooler airflow over it it could mayber cause this sort of damage....just a guess. But yes I would ask....has he fitted a more powerful bulb.....would be no need as std are plenty bright enough at night.....but people still do for some odd reason.
