Hey All, I’m about to get a 2003 Triumph Speed 4 (custom), sale pending by this Friday! I fell in live with the vintage look and customized cafe racer style, supposedly loud & fast Very excited and a bit nervous, not too much experience with sports bikes, this one is customized and looks like a badass IMHO It’s about 15k miles but odo reads around 3k, when the current guy (owned for 8 years) changed to new odometer he couldn’t figure out how to keep orig miles so he says! Also have not performed any valve adjustments, and no oil change since about 2020! He used to work on the bike so the bike likely has not seen a trained technician (maybe ever). I’m hoping some of you pros can guide me through the owning and maintaining process! I can always go to local Triumph dealer/service, but it’s not the same hearing and learning from other experienced owners..hence Im here to learn and share!! Thank you and meep you all posted on my purchase very soon… - boooya
Hi and welcome to the forum, the Speed 4 is a stripped down version of the of the late TT600s, and headlights from early street triples, the engines are really easy to work on and access is easy, a lot of the parts are the same across those models, so parts are easy to obtain (apart from the plastics). If you intend to service and maintain the machine yourself then I would suggest buying the Dealer Tool, this sells for £60 in the UK, it can be posted to you in the USA, it works of a windows laptop and can perform most functions of what a dealer can. These are a reasonably high revving engine so use a good quality semi synthetic oil and OEM oil filter, change the plugs and air filter as a starting point, the cam covers are easy to get off for checking the valves, go over the machine thoroughly, start at the front, check brake pads and replace if needed, change the fork oil, strip the gear and brake linkages and re grease pivot points, strip down the rear suspension and inspect all components and re grease before reassembling, check the rear shock for signs of wear or just lacking feel, check the rear swing arm adjuster are free and working correctly, the machine is surprisingly quick and handles like it is on rails, so make sure you have good tyres, the Speed 4 is capable of 140 plus mph, although at higher speeds you do get buffeted about a bit, through the twisties it can still hols it's own with more modern machines and that's testament to the really good chassis/engine combination. Triumph dealers sold these off in the UK with a full colour coded body kit on the road for under £4K at the time as they were not that popular, personally I really like them and the TT600s, a lot of bike for the money. You can do the work a bit at a time, prioritise the major service items first and work from there. Good luck with your bike and keep the forum updated.
Greetings, and welcome to the forum, @Boooya4. I see that @Iceman has responded to your post. You are a lucky new member as that guy definitely knows his stuff and is most helpful. Good luck with the new-to-you bike.
Boooya4 Welcome to the family. Great intro and another black beastie. Here in the asylum black is favourite. And you have a great bike there. Joe
Quick update: I GOT THE BIKE! Riding almost an hour coming home after the purchase was quiet thrilling, some city roads, some highway!! Highway definitely awesome The guy I bought from had said it had hard time finding Neutral, which I experienced at first, he even lowered $250 from asking price but as I rode home it loosened up and improved significantly.. my guess is he hadn’t been riding much or just short distances to keep it warm the last couple of years and likely just needed that?? I may take it to a mechanic and get it checked out if the clutch wire needs a little loosening!!
Quick update: I GOT THE BIKE! Riding almost an hour coming home after the purchase was quiet thrilling, some city roads, some highway!! Highway definitely awesome The guy I bought from had said it had hard time finding Neutral, which I experienced at first, he even lowered $250 from asking price but as I rode home it loosened up and improved significantly.. my guess is he hadn’t been riding much or just short distances to keep it warm the last couple of years and likely just needed that?? I may take it to a mechanic and get it checked out if the clutch wire needs a little loosening!!