Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge And its goodnight from me...

Well finally my America gave up the ghost. Of all the bikes I ever owned this has to have been the best bike ever. I have ridden all over the UK attending great allies meting great people and always folk asked about my America. I recently was run off the road and sustained some front end damage. The insurance company arranged for it to be repaired. I took it the day i got it back to my local mechanic who i trust implicitly to give the bike a once over his opinion was a good job well done ran the bike for 30 minutes with no knocks or bangs. I took the bike onto the motorway and got 7 miles from home when at 70MPH almighty bang and the back wheel locked up smoke, oil and horrendous noises the whole engine casing exploded around the drive train. I managed to keep the bike upright and get to the side of the road pulling the clutch in like a madman had no effect, eventually it started to freewheel so saved me sliding down to road....absolutely gutted repair is not possible as you can literally put your hand inside the engine ..a new engine will cost me almost as much as buying a second hand bike which has all the toys and farkles so looks like a bit of saving and another America will be on the cards.

My god Eric I'm glad your okay. That sounded like one hell of a pucker factor ride.

Holy hell man...that bike went out like an ex-wife!

Not sure about where you live but here a low milage engine can be had on Ebay for $1,000 give or take. Just watch the front engine mount as they tend to get damaged in wrecks, look the whole thing over of course. Be sure to flush any oil lines and the cooler if to be reused.

Holy crap man , glad you were not hurt ! I've seen that happen to a HD but that is a very rare sighting of a Triumph .

Christ man you were lucky there. Nae damage to you tho that's the main thing!

Ouch! It hurts just to look at those pictures.
That's what we call "CATASTROPHIC" engine failure.

Aye sounds good but being from Gods own Country (Scotland) the shipping costs not to mention the amount of duty those barstewards at Customs and excise would charge would make it prohibitive. A second hand engine over here runs about £1800 then a shipping charge so say nearly £2000. I can pick up a second hand bike for a wee bitty more so take the shiny Stainless stuff off the bike and part out the bike.

Glad you're ok and sorry about the bike.Any clues as to what happened? did it get knocked about in the previous smash?Always as I said glad you're ok.

I need to pull all the drive train apart to see what was the full cause. I suspect something was knocked out of line or a bearing was damaged but since it was not really visible and had not impacted the running of the engine under pressure i.e. up and down the gears and at speed then whatever internal damage was done would not have been visible suffice to say. Bikes can be replaced but damn I loved that bike ... as i said best bike i have ever owned or ridden.

those pictures look horribly familiar. a few ago when my left rod broke, the cases shattered like that, big holes.

when i got it torn down the damage inside was even more amazing.

Glad to hear you kept her upright, it certainly not the sort of riding you can plan for.