Ayup everyone.
Well this started as a story about 1 guy and 1 bike, but it became 2, then more, very quickly. So it will now be a series of videos and I just wanted to get this part out to start things off.
The initial story was about a 2022 Triumph Speed Triple RS, and to be fair, this bike didn’t have one problem, it had problem after problem after problem until a catalogue of failures was sent to me.
Then the guy concerned was left in limbo, and only now it comes to light that at least part of the reason is that the Triumph distributor for Australia has gone bust.
So any Triumph owners in Australia are potentially in a bit of a mess right now. That is something else I will try and come back to when I have more info.
What it revealed was that there is a serious problem going on at Triumph, this time, not financially as far as I am aware, but it is just as serious.
The comment that started it was
“I remember emailing Triumph about this issue early last year, they stated they had done FEA analysis on this component and it passed. I did a CAD model myself and also did FEA analysis. My software, Autodesk, showed a major stress concentration at that circlip groove, it was bright red, that’s bad. More than a year later, they’re still failing. Notice this one is black, mine silver, manufactured 3 years apart, nice to see they addressed the issue”
“This was mine that broke last year at approx 17,000km, I’ve seen a number of Failed Gear Shift input shafts now on Speed Triple1200RS. Extending a highly stressed shaft out more than 8 x times its diameter….nice.“
Before I go on, I have to say a quick thank-you for all the support, and especially to the BareBonesMC family on the Ko-Fi page.
You can find more videos there, and on the Rumble channel, as well as the back up channel here on youtube, but for now, grab a cuppa and settle in for some home truth’s you won’t hear about elsewhere.
If you are watching on a mobile, please try and give the video as many HYPE points as you can, as youtubes latest addition to its algorithm is now taking centre stage on importance, even though it is only available on mobile so far.
So, beyond the reason I began looking into this, which was what appear to be similar problems with engines eating camshafts that KTM had with the LC8C engined bikes. I had to look at the selector shaft and Quickshifter problem.
I will go on to talk about the cams in a future video, because actually, the Triumph Quickshifter seems to be a bigger problem for now.
Without even trying I found 9 people who responded to one guys recent post about his problems and as I continued, it seemed like every Triumph forum I searched had more.
Now I am a long term, long suffering Triumph owner and I do love the bikes, but as I have said before, I am far from keen on the way the company operates.
From the sprag clutch issues and refusal to look at the Triumph Tiger 800 rear foot-peg hanger design despite hundreds of written off bikes, and the often patchy and expensive parts supply, Triumph have form when it comes to customer dissatisfaction, but these problems were getting life ending for the bikes at times and potentially dangerous for riders too.
Now this is a problem I was first made aware of on the Speed Triple RS, it seems to affect all the bikes that have or have been fitted with a Triumph Quickshifter to a lesser or greater extent, but it is the big Speed Triple RS that seems to have the most trouble.
Its not just one problem either, but the main issue is such a basic design flaw that yet again I bow my head in disbelief at the ineptitude of the so called designer who threw it together.
On the gearbox selector shaft, a circlip holds the selector shaft in place. The selector shaft actually protrudes a long way outside the gearbox housing to the drop arm for the Quickshifter as you can see in the pictures here. Basic physics tells you that this increases the bending force between the drop arm and the anchor point in the gearbox housing.
It is at this point where the linear movement of the Quickshifter is converted to rotational movement inside the gearbox. Where the circlip is mounted, the shaft is narrower to allow the circlip to sit in its groove on the shaft and the abrupt motion of the Quickshifter on the drop arm puts both vertical and rotational stresses on the selector shaft at the same time.
The problem is, that shaft is quite thin and sticks out too far without any support. That means the forces at the gearbox casing are very high, and the shear strength of the selector shaft is compromised by the groove for the circlip.
If the shaft was over engineered to start with, then that would not be an issue. However, because the shaft itself has been made from a relatively thin rod, the shear strength of that joint is barely strong enough.
Triumph have fixed some under warranty, but seem happy in general to just keep charging people to “fix” the breakage which to be fair, isn’t a massively expensive job, but they FIX it with the same part that failed in the first place.
And it can leave people stuck in a position where they cant get home or worse.
It is an accident waiting to happen.
One key thing here, is that although it is a known issue, and SOME cases have been repaired under warranty in some countries, it has not been listed as a recall, and so replacement and refitting remains at the dealers and Triumphs discretion and as I have said, the repair is simply a replacement of the known defective part.
And we know that not all dealers are as helpful or willing as others.
As you will hear, some riders have replaced the unit with aftermarket options, and there is also mention of a support mechanism to minimise the stress on the selector shaft. Now in some ways I would say that is a bit of a bodge job to get around a poor design, but that is just me I guess.
It seems many people are happy to just accept the fact they run the chance of a breakdown and try to mitigate the problem, or fix it with aftermarket parts themselves.
Should we as riders accept that sort of treatment?
Is that OK for a “High end” brand to do?
In just one post, Deejay Ireson said
“Hi guys just bought myself a 1200rs
First problem has arisen,
I’m having trouble with the Quickshifter.
I have a transmission fault on the dash (not yet been plugged in to read it) I’m being told by multiple sources that the triumph Quickshifters aren’t very good and best off fitting a Translogic ?
Anyone else had any issues with the Quickshifter in which its thrown a transmission code ?
Thank in advance.”
So this wasn’t a breakage, but a conscious owner trying to find out what to do.
The replies showed how big this problem is.
John Allan said, “Yes mine has transmission fault when you turn shift assist on. Triumph told me it was dead. Bike had 1500 miles on”
Marc Charley said, “Could also be your servo eliminator I had the same problem put a new oe trans logic on and same problem changed the eliminator no problem”
Adam Wilson said, “As you’ve been told, known problem, translogic is cheaper than a triumph replacement anyhow so makes financial sense to go translogic 
“
Tseng Chung-Kai said, “+1 Quickshifter dead at 400km, already buy a translogic for instead”
Jordan Cavazos said, “I had a transmission fault at 300 miles on my 23. Had it replaced under warranty. Yesterday it happened again.”
John Quinn said, “Mine went after 12 months, Triumph replaced it under warranty, Isn’t yours under warranty?”
Stuart Robinson said, “Got rid of mine with 1000 miles on it after it blew blue smoke out of its back end at 800 miles. Dealer pretty much ignored me. Never buying one of those Thai bikes again. Cheaply made for way too much money.”
Derek Blades said, “It’s a common fault mines being replaced by triumph under warranty”
Stewart Kammy Mccann said, “I watched a video that the harness for the Quickshifter is too close to the engine and it needs routed away”
The, in a different post by Romen Tieleman about a speed triple 1200RS. He said, “I have a broken gear shaft….. what can i do? Any idea if its doable to fix it myself or in case dealer is necessary what would be the approx. Cost?.”
The replies came thick and fast.
Will Miner said, “Same thing happened on my 955 and you have to pull all the right side cases and clutch basket to get the end of the shaft out. Not horrible but definitely involved.”
Alan Sharp said, “I fitted a racetorx support. Well worth fitting”
Romen Tieleman commented here too. He said, “I had the same issue on my 2018 RS… seems a common issue… cost me 3days on track in Spain. Relatively easy fix but you need to be confident and aligning the clutch basket and gears is the hardest part.”
André Gasser said, “Had the same on a 2022 Speed Triple 1200 RS. Warranty.”
Gianluca Bombaci said, “I broke mine too. 200€ of spare parts, access behind clutch”.
Giuseppe Lorusso said, “Had same problem on my 2021 RS. If you have a good experience you can fix by youself. Have to work on the right side and dismount the entire clutch. It could take 4 ours but you need to order pieces and at least a tool.”
Colin Lyders said, “It’s a reasonably common failure due to the length of unsupported shaft & the circlip groove creating a weak point. If you talk to your dealer they might replace it as a goodwill repair. If you search this group I think there is a post somewhere outlining the procedure for doing the replacement job. Once you get it replaced put a Racetorx support on it.”
Simon Cooper said, “Just completed this for a customer. The bill was £380 total with all new original parts.”
Andy Harrison said, “the dealership can look at the warranty system which will give them guidance as to how long the job will take, IMO you’ll probably need to take off the clutch cover, probably the clutch basket and you’ll then see the end of the selector drum and the shift forks either side of it, the selector shaft should just pull out once you’ve disengaged the forks from the drum and another shaft can be inserted, the biggest problem will be removing the clutch, locking it and a big enough socket are the issues”
Afc Steve said, “Dealer job or a qualified mechanic”
Jared Harper said, “Put a racetorc gear selector support on it if the do one for this model. Stops end float in the shaft.”
And Barend Olivier said, “I had exactly the same on my 23, I’m in South Africa and the dealership fixed it.”
So you can see this is a well documented issue, and yet another issue that Triumph haven’t issued a recall on, even though they know now it is an issue.
Why is that OK?
Why is it people have to break down and get left stranded before anything is done?
The simple answer yet again is cost.
Triumph don’t care if you breakdown in the middle of nowhere and are left stranded with no transport.
They might fix it for free if you can get it to them and they are feeling generous. But more often than not if it is not within warranty you will be left to foot the bill yourself.
They obviously crunched the numbers and it was more expensive to do a proper fix when most bikes would make it past the point where the warranty expires.
I have spoken to someone who stated they have now updated the part, but I haven’t found the details yet, and I’m still not sure if the new part can be retrofitted to older bikes.
More importantly, Triumph have still not formally acknowledged it as a fault, or issued a recall to fix the problem.
In a deep dive I will be doing soon I will include some major testing and CAD analysis of the part, and I hope I will have much more information then.
But this is a significant number of people affected, and far more than a few anomalies.
It is a genuine failure point.
The other problem I want to talk about is the camshaft problem. I will be looking at a particular case in a future video, but I would love to hear from more people who have had issues, either with the Quickshifter or the cam wear problems.
I am putting a file of evidence together to approach Triumph with to try and attempt to see if we can get them to acknowledge what is a more common problem than they would like everyone to know.
As you can see in the slides here, this camshaft is toast, and led to a complete engine stripdown.
What is interesting though is that as you can see, it is only really one cam lobe that has suffered. However, it suffered so catastrophically in what is a relatively short time, it shows that there is some major problem that is likely to be related either to lubrication or hardness of the cam lobe.
So here we go again with more chocolate camshaft issues.
But that, as they say, is a story for another day.