Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums The Vault Known Problems/fixes

This thread will be a listing of known issues with the bike (like the speedo cable loop) and fixes people have done for them. PM me or any mod with either an idea for a listing, or a fix to one of the listings.

Thanks so far to Frank, JJ, SalMaglie, Dinqua, Jaeger

Many, if not all of use have had a broken speedo cable loop. There are a couple available in the aftermaket (newspeedmaster for one) but some have made their own.

I used an eye bolt cut off to length. I then used a rubber sealing washer to protect the fender and a thin nut on the back to hold it in place. It now resides on Mark's bike.

Another cheap fix is to cut the original loop part off so that only the tall stub remains. Then drill a small hole in it and insert a black zip-tie through the hole, around the speedo cable and cut the zip tie off with some side cutters.

Speedo loop fix - overlap two broken rubber ends - ziptie. It has held for 6000 miles so far.......

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Many have broken or bent their shifter linkage from dropping the bike or stepping on it. There are some available from newspeedmaster, and some have fabbed their own.

Here's one from ssjones:

Quote:

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I just bought a 3', hollow, stainless rod from McMaster-Carr. Cut to length with a hacksaw, filed the sharp edges off, and polished on a bench-buffer. Slipped over the stock rod, shiny and much stronger, no more bending. Think the hollow rod piece was $20, which made three rod covers (sold to other America owners). Graingers would have the rod in stock. Here's the spec on the rod I bought:
Type 304 Stainless Steel Seamless Tubing 3/8" OD, .319" ID, .028" Wall, 3' Length
I think the 3' length was the smallest they had, only need about 18" or so. The 304 stainless is the best, shines like chrome and holds the finish.

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Al

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Be sure to check for pinched wires at the sprocket cover. This is a common issue with older models and especially after changing the front sprockets.

1. Bikes cutting out in rain - Dielectric grease in all connectors
2. Bikes cutting out in dry conditions - check battery terminals, pinched gas tank vent line, kickstand switch
3. Bike won't start - sidestand switch, fuse, chafed wire in headlight bucket
4. Bike runs for a few minutes and dies. Loosening cap resolves problem. - Problem is pinched tank vent usually after something was done requiring tank removal/install.
5. Loss of spark - CDI, pickup coil, or ignition coil(s) see note below

Here's a sort of extension to #4:

Quote:

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From: Reido113

here is the post.
http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...p;page=0#121342

I'm sure you remember my recent run in with the bike dying in the rain problem, 1300 miles away from home. Anyhow, it for sure was water from the road clogging the fuel vent line. When it happened to me again, I was waiting for it, I loosened the cap and yep, that was it. It started running just fine again. I pulled over and cut the Vent hose at a long angle about 2 1/2" up the line (with the angle and opening facing the rear) and no more problem. I have since thought of a new solution too, Brents vented fuel cap would fix this issue also. As I'm sure you know, you would still need the vent line for overflow purposes.

I hope this saves some others all the headache I had figuring this out.

Reid

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#5 Notes: Loss of spark usually is a symptom of a CDI going bad. However, a bad coil may cause the same. Experiance has shown that when a coil is defective, the symtoms usually show up when the coil heats up. Seems the loss of spark is intementant and almost resembles a fuel issue. Spark plug wires age and gain resistance. Spark plugs go bad. The CDI goes bad. Symptom of which are loss of spark on one plug. The Hals effect sensor located under the right engine cover does go bad as well. Member Mike from Minnesota had a spark problem. His was unique in that he lost spark on both plugs simultaneously. Mike diagnosed a defective pick up sensor. Here is his thread and his diagnostic procedure: no spark - what I've found

Front end squeak - reposition fork shoruds and/or spray with silicone lubricant


Brake squeak - Grease brake caliper pistons and back of pads where it contacts pistions, and the pins that are inserted through brake pads.

See Dinqua's post above for neutral light!

This is apparent when you turn the bars all the way to one side and the idle raises, you know it is pulling on the cables.

The fix is to undo the cables from one end or the other and re-route them to the right side of the frame. It requires removal of the tank to access them.


Moe's NOTE: Benny's fix assumes one has effectively shortening the throttle cables, usually when one changes out the handlebars and/or risers. Moving the throttle cables to the right side of the frame will in effect lengthen them again. Throttle cables that bind at full lock on a stock motorsickle, may have been twisted when serviced. In this case, simply untwisting the throttle cables will cure the problem. Throttle cable binding caused by cable twisting is one of the more common problems associated with removing and re-installing the carbs or replacing/upgrading the throttle cables.

From: dazco

According to greybeard and to what i experienced the problem was probably caused by fuel in the cannisters from filling the tank too much and it overflows. I DID in fact sit on the bike while re-fueling for the first time ever in order to get more fuel into it. the fix for me was to pull the hose off the T fitting on the float bowl vent tube between the carbs. I ran it like that for 70 miles and then it began to hesitate and cut out and run lean. At that point i put the hose back on, and since then 130 miles later it's still running perfect with the plugs looking just right.

Pulling the hose did 2 things....vented the float bowls which were probably not being vented enough due to the cannister being full and thereby flooding the float bowls, and it allowed the bike to purge the excess fuel from the cannister more quickly (70 miles of riding) probably into the atmosphere. The cannister seems to have no way to empty it, but if you remove it i think you could simply by tipping it.

This was an issue with the earlier steeds.

The rear brake reservoir used to be mounted lower than those you see on the later models. A recall was effected that repositioned the reservoir higher on the frame. The problem reared its head if your beloved motorsickle found itself mashing ants with its left pegs...

Edit:
This is bennybmn's home-brew relocation kit.

The rear wheel uses a sprocket carrier mated to the hub. Between the carrier and the hub a series of rubber blocks resides. The so called Cush Drive. The slop refers to the clearance between the blocks of rubber and each of either the sprocket carrier or/and the rear hub.

Grasping the rear sprocket and trying to rotate it forward or aft, will give you an idea of the clearance.


Various factors* may cause this, but the overriding cause seems to be the cush drive rubbers. The OEM ones are ever so slightly too small. Members have found that by ordering and installing the Thunderbird cush drive rubbers the issue goes away. The Tbird part # is T2012211.

*Other causes are loose chains, worn out chains/sprockets.

Front end wobble.

This problem is part of the Colonial Cruiser and Speedmaster lore.

Check list:
1) Is the front tire properly inflated? Member shagga wrote "My TBA (fitted with Bridgestones) does that sort of stuff when the front tyre pressure gets below 30psi. When I put in 32psi or above it handles perfectly. Check the easy things first."
2) Cupped front tire.
3) Wheel balance
4) Rim truing
5) Steering head adjustment/lube/bearings
6) Rear tire alignment

Kudos to Max Kirby

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Thought members might like to know what has happened with my bike after the starter spindle broke its housing collars on both crank case and clutch cover.
I took the cover to show my local Triumph dealer who were familiar with the problem. They had recently repaired a Speedmaster for $1800 in labor, Triumph paid for the parts. I talked to Triumph about goodwill help given this is a design problem, their response was that as I was the 3rd owner, had no maintenance records and it's 5 years old any help was unlikely but didn't rule it out. A new crank case was going to be $3400.
I removed the starter, gear and spindle, found the broken parts in the sump and thought about what could be done. The aluminum seemed too thin and porous to weld but I noticed the spindle was hollow - 15/64" according to my mic....so why not try and pin the spindle in place? I took the bike to a machinist, had them bore a hole in the crankcase and the new cover ($330 for a cover I was told had been beefed up as a result of these problems but wasn't any different to the original one, slightly smaller than the new pin. The pin is a turned down grade 8 hardened steel bolt that fits the spindle exactly and had to be lightly tapped in place. Anyway, after getting everything back in place, new gaskets, oil etc., pressed the starter buttom and she fired up as she's supposed to. Road her around a while see if there were any leaks, stopped and started a number of time see if all was good....and fingers crossed she seems to be holding up. Time will tell if this is a permanent fix.

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image source
Labels by Max.

The Triumph Starter5


Spindle


Spindle2


The Spindle