Speed Twin - Has Anyone Sorted The Squeaky Brakes?

Discussion in 'Bonneville' started by Jet City, Mar 1, 2020.

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  1. Jet City

    Jet City Noble Member

    Sep 24, 2018
    522
    343
    Seattle, Washington USA

    The Speed Twin is indeed a brilliant motorcycle. Thruxton R is a pretty good consolation prize tho :cool:
     
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  2. Mach1

    Mach1 Member

    May 10, 2015
    37
    18
    London
    Nothing constructive to add apart from I got so fed up with the brake squeal that I’ve chopped the Speed Twin in for a Speed Triple. Such a shame because I love the way the bike looks & rides, just couldn’t live with the noise & judder.

    Hopefully they’ll fix it with the R version......
     
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  3. Fatsonion

    Fatsonion New Member

    Aug 21, 2019
    18
    3
    St. Petersburg fl.
    I have the same problem with my speedtwin. Triumph replaced the pads twice and the rotors once. I have complained to everyone in the triumph organization. The go between for dealers and customers at Triumph told me there isn’t any fix for my brakes. Like many of you, this noise ruins what should be a fun bike.
     
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  4. Fatsonion

    Fatsonion New Member

    Aug 21, 2019
    18
    3
    St. Petersburg fl.
    Also, this noise has cost triumph at least 4 buyers. They loved the Speedtwin. But after riding the bike, hearing the noise and hearing my whining, they said no way they would by a Triumph . They ended up buying either the Z900rs or the retro bmw.
     
  5. bernard j czech

    Jan 17, 2020
    70
    18
    coal township Pa
    my 18 T120 has a "rubber" backer behind the disc to quiet them, others used the thinner T100 discs, i opted for EBC standard thickness floating rotors + will see what happens as my Alpina wheels will be arriving this week!!
     
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  6. SpiceWeasel

    SpiceWeasel New Member

    Jan 28, 2020
    10
    3
    Melbourne
    Interesting.
    I just bought a 2016 Tiger 800 XCA, and while there was no issue on the test ride, when I picked it up (after the dealer had given it a once over and serviced it etc), it squeaks/whines like you describe - only on gentle braking. You clutch in and come to slow stop at the lights for example and yo get that whining sound of metal rubbing ..something.
    I've had it back to the dealer twice and they say they've sorted it (after cleaning it or rubbing the disc with steel wool) and (while it goes for a little while - 45mins maybe) it returns again. The fact that they can do something to make it go away - even temporarily - makes me think a fix is possible.
    Going back in again on Friday.

    The mechanic was saying to me that he thought it was a probably a result of a junior guy putting a new front disc on and not giving it a clean first to remove the factory coating - which has then gotten on to the pads and is causing the noise.

    Should get better over time if that was the case (it hasn't) also, I noticed that I could make the noise (after a ride when everything is warmed up) by just rolling the bike forwards with no brakes, and previously once by turning the handlebars right to full lock and rolling (applying no brakes at all).

    If anyone else has any ideas about it I'd love to get to the bottom of it too.
     
  7. Vanguard

    Vanguard Member

    Aug 1, 2019
    8
    8
    UK
    If enough of us got together and appointed a lawyer to take Triumph to task I'm pretty sure they'd come up with a fix, as has been said it really spoils what is a nearly perfect bike otherwise. Plus getting MCN to cover the story would probably create enough bad press they'd sort it.
     
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  8. Wessa

    Wessa Cruising

    Apr 27, 2016
    11,640
    1,000
    North West England
    Good luck with that mate.....
     
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  9. Timothy Peters

    Timothy Peters Senior Member

    Nov 3, 2019
    316
    113
    Palatine, IL USA
    I just drag my rear brake once speeds get really low. This changes the harmonics enough on my bike the squeal goes away. I do apply brake grease every 3 months or so and that greatly helps.

    Definitely a harmonics issue. Not sure why they went with a 4 pad instead of 2 pad per caliper design on the brakes. Just more things to move around.
     
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  10. Tallpaul

    Tallpaul Noble Member

    Apr 7, 2019
    607
    393
    Kidderminster
    Streetbike have had my Speed Twin back twice for this issue. First time it was squealing and then groaning to a halt. they cleaned the discs and pads, fixed it until I got to the second traffic island and it was back again. I put up with it for a few hundred miles and then the front end started to vibrate so badly, it felt like the ABS was cutting in. back to Streetbike and they fitted new discs, new pads and new wheel. Fixed the vibration, but now I'm still getting a light squeal. The workshop manager tells me that Triumph are working on a fix for this.
     
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  11. Vanguard

    Vanguard Member

    Aug 1, 2019
    8
    8
    UK

    Translates to Triumph are waiting for the warranty period to expire so they can wash their hands of it
     
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  12. Tallpaul

    Tallpaul Noble Member

    Apr 7, 2019
    607
    393
    Kidderminster
    A rather withering view, but I understand the sentiment.
     
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  13. Kenbro

    Kenbro Noble Member

    Jul 9, 2019
    830
    443
    Manchester, UK
    Anybody just got a brand spanking new Speed Twin that does this?
    Ken.
     
  14. Jet City

    Jet City Noble Member

    Sep 24, 2018
    522
    343
    Seattle, Washington USA
    “...The workshop manager tells me that Triumph are working on a fix for this.” —Tallpaul




    I hope that Triumph is working on this issue. I’d pay my dealer to fix it, if only they knew how.

    Motorcycles like the ones we on this Forum love are very complicated, low volume production machines. It’s amazing how few issues they tend to have. Remember how finicky Ducatis used to be? My first street bike in 1983 (a Suzuki) had about a 10,000 mile lifespan before parts started to fail all over it.

    I’m not hacked off at Triumph; this brake issue is the sort of thing that shows up when you buy the first model year of pretty much anything.

    And I don’t regret owning a Speed Twin. It’s brilliant. I simply want to fix the front brakes.
     
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  15. Wessa

    Wessa Cruising

    Apr 27, 2016
    11,640
    1,000
    North West England
    I got fed up with Triumph with my speed twin. Last year they told me the squealing brakes were a feature of the bike and that NO fix is available.. Things might have changed, but I have my doubts.
     
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  16. bernard j czech

    Jan 17, 2020
    70
    18
    coal township Pa
    hardly used the curvy discs a long time without noise but poor braking, + surely surprising the speed twin does that which makes me think the parts supplied by the typical lowest bidder to triumph specs are just POOR or could be an actual poor spec. design as well as metallurgy goes into everything so its prolly one or the other!
     
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  17. Schuey

    Schuey Senior Member

    Mar 3, 2020
    491
    113
    Midlands
    Is this issue just across the Speed Twin? As I'm about to take delivery of a brand new 2020 T100 next week, and wondering if I should be expecting my new bike to have this problem :rolleyes:
     
  18. Wessa

    Wessa Cruising

    Apr 27, 2016
    11,640
    1,000
    North West England
    I’ve not heard anybody complaining about their brakes on a T100..
     
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  19. Schuey

    Schuey Senior Member

    Mar 3, 2020
    491
    113
    Midlands
    Ok thank you, fingers crossed :)
     
  20. Acadena

    Acadena Member

    Mar 21, 2020
    46
    18
    Rio de Janeiro-Brazil
    Hello everyone. I am new in this forum and am very glad to get knowledge from your experiences. I live in Brazil and this is the first time I have a non-Japanese bike and never had such problems with other NISSIN, BREMBO or other brakes in my riding life since my 18 years old (I am currently 59). So, my Speed Twin is just 15 days old (2019/2020 model) and only 500 km. I thought at the beginning this problem would be related with soaked pads with brake oil (that is exactly the same sound and symptoms). Said that, I am very sad to hear this is happening everywhere and that Triumph did not solve it. I should have read comments about the bike before. I am still not giving up because I just loved the bike, but it is really sad. So, as soon as there is a window on the COVID-19´s quarantine I will engage the warranty service to find a solution or a workaround on this. Nice to be part of this forum folks.
     
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