Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Bonneville Spoke Problem

This artical was taken from a UK based motorcycle mag called Motorcycle News........

SCANNED COPY HERE

TRIUMPH has ordered dealers to inspect all Bonneville Wheels
after reports of a catastrophic fault which an MCN reader
says could have killed him. Alastair Sutcliffe had just stopped at a motorway service station when his Bonneville suffered a blow-out as a result of a broken spoke puncturing the inner tube. Sutcliffe, a 57-year-old
retired motor engineer from Prescot, Merseyside, said: “My wife and I could well have been killed if we had not
pulled off the motorway at that point.” Mark Swepson of Triumph’s warranty department confirmed to MCN last week that reports had been received of snapping spokes on the ’s worldwide best-selling model, and that a “reminder” had been issued to all dealers to check condition and
tightness during servicing. He denied there was a fault and claimed it was “a wear and tear issue”. But Howard Bartle, a wheel builder of 40 years who has had to replace broken spokes on three Bonnevilles, said there could be a problem arising from the model’s wheel construction.
He said: “All the heads of the spokes face outwards where they join the hub. On a traditional, standard-built wheel
they are alternate.” Bartle said the design “could develop
a problem” because it places extra stress on spokes at the points where they cross one another. The design is
necessary due to the Bonneville’s wide wheel hubs, according to Bartle, but the problem could be addressed with
stronger spokes. He said: “They are stainless steel. Stainless steel is a more brittle material. It can get work-
hardened and fracture.” He added that Harley-Davidsons
also have wide wheel hubs, but get round the problem by using thicker spokes. He said: “You could uprate the
Bonneville spokes by fitting heavier ones and I’m sure it would be quite successful.” Sutcliffe said: “Triumph's warranty department said they could solve the problem by fitting mild steel spokes, but that would result in rusting”. He added: “I would suggest a recall on all Bonnevilles, particularly as some will not be serviced by main agents. People could be Out there riding death traps. It is not sufficient to just recommend that agents check
tightness when servicing.” Triumph refused to disclose the
number of reports of broken spokes or give an official explanation for the notice to dealers last week. Swepson
claimed it was “probably because spokes were found to be loose or not tightened properly”.

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I'm not surprised at this article. We've been hearing reports on the broken spoke problem for over a year now. I would suggest that everyone check their spokes with a spoke wrench and make sure they're tightened properly. I bought a spoke wrench several weeks ago and found that at least 4 spokes on my front wheel were loose and 2 on the rear.

Is this problem primarily with just Bonneville's or BA/TAs as well? I guess I better get a spoke wrench and check them.

Post deleted by Grump

This year I stuck around when I dropped my wheels off at the local shop for new tires. I asked him about checking the spokes and he said he "rings them" with a wrench. So simple.

Post deleted by Grump

Yeah, like a tuning fork.

Could this be the reason Triumph has gone to cast wheels on the 2007 America ?

Nah, it would've made more sense for Triumph to go to the cast wheels on the regular Bonnevilles since those bikes seem to a problem. I can't recall any broken spokes on the Americas in almost 3 1/2 years on this forum.

For what it's worth.... I had my front rim replaced under warranty due to broken spokes. Had one shear off flush with the rim then when they took the wheel off to make a repair three more let loose. I never saw the inside of the rim but according to them the cause of the broken spokes was rust. Have a hard time believing that as the bike wasn't even two years old. In almost 30 years I've only owned one bike that didn't have spoked rims and even though I noticed a tad bit of rust inside the rims when changing tires not once was one ever so bad as to be eating the ends off of spokes.

Steve

I could see that. Both times I had my front taken apart for tires the center well was very rusted. If I hadn't had to do tire changes (just about at the year mark, twice) the rust could well had been bad enough to do damage. The rear was not so bad, which is apparently the primary problem on the standards.

When I changed my tires there was rust on the inside of both rims. The front was much worse than the rear. The rust was wire brushed off and then I sprayed the inside of the rims with Amsoil Heavy Duty Metal Protector (my chain lube), which was originally developed as a undercoating. I made sure the area where the tire seats to the rim was clean and dry. Installed a new rubber rib, then tire and inner tube. Hopefully this will stop any further rusting. The next time I change tires will warrant a more detailed inspection.

Tom

Was the rust confined to the area around the spoke retainer, like from dissimiliar metals (galvanic battery action) or was the rust uniform across the inside the rim?

Well, I didn't get any stealership satisfaction when my rear wheel's nipple broke. (I might have told them about it.) I had to take a nipple off a spare front wheel and fix it myself. The spoke was fine, the nipple simple broke off flush with the wheel. Broke the bead, replaced nipple, tuned it then after 4 hours getting that issue fixed, and having another 3 hours pass, I was off to the '06 Nor'East Rally! With all my spokes!

So I have one documented case of a yota'ish nipple fatigue failure.

PS: The spokes and nipples are sold individually. Whew.

After reading this thread, I decided to check all my spokes. The "ping" method didn't work too well as they varied in pitch even if tight, so I took a wrench and checked all of them on my lift. I found at least 3 per wheel that needed to be slightly torqued to match the rest. I would think it's something that everyone should do maybe once a year to be safe. It might add 10 minutes to your yearly check list and I wouldn't count on a service dealer doing it on a yearly service.