I'm no great engineer but I do most work on my bike myself. This is partly to save money (why pay someone to do what you can do yourself), partly to be sure the work is done and done properly (to a dealer it's just another bike), but mostly for the satisfaction of a job well done. The only significant thing I regularly go to any kind of bike specialists for is tyres.
The following is a list of small but worthwhile changes I've made. Feedback on these mods is most welcome and I will include them where appropriate (click the envelope on previous page).
The bike as standard has braided stainless front brake lines (but only plated fittings - doh!). The rear brake line is rubber. I've changed this for a Goodridge braided item (stainless fittings too!). It looks better but cannot honestly say it makes any great difference!
The clutch hose is a rubber one as standard and this has been changed for a braided stainless one too. I did this originally for cosmetic reasons but it has actually made a difference. The hose runs over the top of the engine and right up against the rear coolant hose. This means the clutch hose and fluid get quite warm, especially when riding in town. The old hose used to give a vague clutch action when the bike was hot and this caused me to almost drop the bike a couple of times. I assume this was because the hose could flex more when hot. The new hose does not have this problem anything like as much.
On a cautionary note be sure that your supplier knows the hose is for a Sprint Sport. The first one I was first supplied with was 3 inches too long and had straight fittings ('All Sprints are the same, mate!' - Wrong!).
I've just bought a set of hoses for my girlfriend's 600 Hornet. The Hornet is a riot to ride but the brakes leave something to be desired. For this I've discovered Goodridge BuildALine kits. These are braided hoses with clear plastic covers and swaged stainless unions on each end. Into the unions you screw the necessary stainless banjos with the correct angles for the lie of the hoses for the bike in question. They are supplied with stainless banjo bolts as well. By selling them in this modular fashion a relatively small number of prepacked retail bits can cover a huge range of bikes!
If you can find a stockist for them local to you then so much the better as the application lists (for the Hornet, at least) seem to vary depending where you read the specs. If you can take the hoses off and take them down then they can match the fittings as required. If you buy according to the specs then at least you can return the offending bits and get them changed. I bought the Hornet hoses at the January GMex show and I have suspicions the rear hose may have at least one wrong fitting. We shall see when I come to fit it! Having now found a local stockist at least I'll be able to quickly source replacements, even if we do have to pay for them!
One other point on the Goodridge hoses is they always seem to quote / recommend a 2 hose setup for the front - running 2 hoses from the master cylinder, one to each caliper. Sprints normally have a manifold on the bottom yoke to split a single hose from the master cylinder to a pair down to the calipers, making 3 hoses in all. I would imagine that they supply short enough hoses to replace this setup but it would almost certainly cost more and it must weigh more as well! Looks neater tho!
See also the Brakes section further down this page for more hydraulic discussions!
As the bike was supplied it had a 43 tooth rear sprocket. This is, from what I can find out, a bit on the small side for a UK bike. I found the bike would cruise quite nicely but was a bit of a pig round town because 30-40 m.p.h (50-60 k.p.h - I think) fell uncomfortably between 2nd and 3rd gear. Once there was enough slack in the chain (note the position of the adjuster in the above photo) I upped the rear sprocket to a 46 tooth (UK spec is normally 46). Vast improvement in town and the bike is now quicker off the mark everywhere. So I lose a few m.p.h. off the top end - I find the 140 I am left with is quite beyond adequate anyway!
Since the above single sprocket change I have had a complete chain & sprocket change as the chain had had it, graunchy in action, tight in some places and slack in others. It also got decidedly warm in use at the end. The rear sprock was not in too bad a state (unsurprisingly) but the front was showing signs of wear. Both were changed as a matter of course to standard UK spec (17 / 46 teeth with 112 link chain). By the way, the owners manual states that the bike has a 112 link chain, 17 tooth front and 43 rear sprocket. But I had to wait until the chain had stretched to fit the new sprocket! Hmmm! On counting the links in the chain (3 times, to be sure) I discovered the manual was wrong. My 'US' bike has a 110 link chain, not 112 as the manual states.
Changing the front sprocket is a pig of a job as the oil has to be drained to remove the gearbox cover.
The clutch cylinder wouldn't move so I had to remove the cover with it attached. I subsequently discovered the way to sort this is remove the clutch cylinder bolts and then carefully pull the clutch lever. This may (or may not) push the cylinder out from the gearbox cover. I have put copious amounts of copper grease between the cylinder and the cover when I put it back together.
The next issue for removing the front sprocket is the size of the nut that holds it - 36mm AF - it's huge. I had to go out and buy one as the largest I had was 32mm and even that that was for a car hub nut!
Alan Willson writes about his 1200 Daytona: Had to change my Chain & Sprockets as soon as I got the bike, from memory VW Beetle shops do a very useful 36mm socket and bar cast all in one, which you can fit a scaffold pole over if more torque is required. Beetles have their rear hub nuts done up to some ludicrous torque figure such as 270 ft lb and that's before they start rusting on!
The only issue you might get with this is if you want to torque up the new sprocket to the specified value.
The final problem this job threw up is the gasket for the side cover decided that one end wanted to stay attached to the cover and the other attached to the engine. One sheet of thin gasket paper later and careful application of knife and scissors and the problem is resolved.
One cautionary word here - the workshop manual states that the gearshift seal needs to be changed at the same time. I didn't do this and now have a leak - all over the exhaust. I've ordered a new seal and genuine gasket so when I next change the oil I'll replace both as well as change the gear lever bush and second linkage bearing (see below).
Finally the old chain has to be removed and replaced with the new one. I have put an EK X ring chain on this time. This came with both a spring link as well as a rivet one. This was extremely useful as I fitted the new chain with the spring link to ride the bike to the bike shop to have the rivet link fitted. It is not advised to use a spring link as a permanent connection for a chain. I was dubious about this advice up until I fitted this chain - what harm could it do, I thought, if fitted properly? I now believe it is virtually impossible to fit a spring link to an O or X ring chain properly as the spring is being permanently forced outwards by the rings. Riveted is undoubtedly best, for peace of mind. Additionally chain warranties are void if not riveted on big chains / bikes.
Tried one, didn't work, gave up - took it off! Waste of money, unless you know better! I'd recommend spending the money on a decent paddock stand. It makes lubing and adjusting the chain easy and can be used for doing many other jobs too.
I found after riding the bike in winter that the plated bolts in the engine cases were beginning to look a bit sad. I bought a replacement allen head bolt kit for the bike from Mr Fastener (see useful links page). Their web site is not the slickest but their service is excellent. I chose stainless steel for the replacement as it will stay looking good longest. The stainless allen heads nicely match the swingarm spindle cap bolts on the frame, presenting a more uniform look to the bike.
A few points to note here are that you should use copper grease (anti seize compound / brake grease) on the threads as this will help prevent any adverse reaction between the bolts and the alloy cases and because (I am told) stainless steel lacks the molybdenum that is present in normal steel bolts that acts as a thread lubricant. Be sure not to over-tighten the bolts as you will strip the threads out of the soft alloy cases.
On the rear swingarm there is a mudflap arrangement that protects the rear suspension unit. The steel bolts that hold this to the swingarm corroded as did the holes in the alloy of the swingarm. I have cleaned this and replaced the bolts with (surprise, surprise) stainless ones with stainless nyloc nuts and lots of copper grease to protect the alloy of the swingarm.
On a general note regarding stainless steel bolts you should be aware that they are not as strong as conventional high-tensile steel bolts the bike is built from. For this reason I do NOT use them in critical areas such as spindle pinch bolts or brake disc fixings. There are suitable stainless items produced for such areas but they are a LOT more expensive.
Early Sprint Sports have silver front brake disc carriers and centre section of rear disc but the later ones like mine are gold painted. I personally find this a little out of place; silver fine, black cool but gold? Last time the tyres got changed the discs were removed and the carriers painted silver. Heat dispersant paint was used on the rear solid disc because the gold paint had been discoloured by the heat of the disc. I was extremely careful to ensure the discs were replaced in exactly the same place as they were removed, even down to the cleaned and polished disk bolts going back in the same holes.
Hideously expensive but seriously pretty when compared with the aftermarket tubular steel competition. I got it because I find rucksacks a pain in the proverbial but wouldn't defile the lines of the bike with a tubular steel rack. It also helped I had a small cash windfall and a small (10%) discount.
It is also very useful as something to hold when lifting the bike on to the rear (Micron) paddock stand.
This is a simple plastic extension for the bottom end of the front mudguard. It is rather un-sexy (although I have got used to it) but I can put up with this more than I can put up with cleaning the downpipes and the front of the engine after getting caught out in the rain. It is also available in carbon fibre finish if that is more to your liking. My tips for fitting it are to remove the front wheel and mudguard, drill the holes for the screws and then use silicone sealant (I used some bathroom sealant I already had in the garage) between the mudguard and extender. This stops rather nasty looking water leaks from the join down the outside of the extension.
The Sprint headlights are pretty good - well I can see where I'm going once they are properly adjusted anyway. I have changed the bulbs for 'blue' ones to make the bike a bit more distinctive to oncoming traffic. When driving on the motorway I have noticed that the cars with these headlights stand out from the zillions of other headlights. My opinion is that if you can highlight the fact that you are a bike by the fact that there is a single pair of headlamps and no 'matching' pair where they would be on a car, then it can only make people more aware of you! The creamy coloured standard bulbs just blend it to the other lamps.
What the heck, they look cool as well!
Has anybody else noticed that the gear linkage is not the precision instrument one would hope, and that it deteriorates quite quickly? Maybe the deterioration is down to my heavy hoofed action with the left foot. Anyway, the angled ball joints that are at each end of the linkage are riveted to the levers. I found that after 2 years & 10000 miles the riveting of the joint at the footrest lever end was loose giving about 3/4 inch (19mm) freeplay at the toe, making false neutrals an annoyingly regular occurrence. I have drilled out the old joint and replaced it with a 6mm spherical rod end bearing.
It needs to be fitted offset from the lever to clear the sidestand mounting but this is easily accomplished with an additional 6mm (10mm AF) nut on the bolt to act as a spacer. This is done up tightly against the spherical bearing and the retaining nut is then tightened against the spacer with the (6mm) hole in the lever in between (see diagram). For security/safety the retaining nut is a 'nyloc' self locking nut.
The result is a huge reduction in the freeplay in the gearlever which has given a much improved action when changing gear. The gearbox end of the linkage is in better condition than the one I have replaced so I have left that one alone. Note that if this one needs to be replaced it has a left hand M6 thread.
A better solution would be to use a new angled ball joint but I couldn't get hold of one when I needed it. The above solution seems to be working fine.
UPDATE 1: I was cleaning and lubing the bike today after a ride and I've noticed that the gear linkage is becoming a bit sloppy again. This time it is play in the lever pivot as the bush seems to be wearing.
I have heard from other people who have carried out this same 'upgrade' to the linkage, and have replaced the lever bush as well. This bush can be obtained as a spare part from Triumph dealers. This is actually quite easy to fit using a bench vice, a suitably sized socket and pushing the old bush out as the new one is inserted, with the old bush ending up inside the socket.
UPDATE 2: The same play as in the foot lever end of the linkage has happenned to the gearbox end. The same solution has been adopted with 2 variations: the new joint needs to have a left hand M6 thread and the nut used as a spacer needs to be slightly wider for the linkage to clear the sidestand bracket. A nyloc works well for this!
Finally you may find the threaded linkage rod is now too long to fit back on as the threaded ends of the rod end bearings are longer than the standard joints. Either shorten the rod by taking a bit off each end, or make a new one. I did the latter, making it out of stainless steel rod (of course!).
I have fitted a K&N air filter. Several suppliers I have tried to get this through say it is no longer available from K&N. This is not true (as at December 2001). The filter has had its order number changed to TB-9091 but this seems not to be realised by various suppliers. If you are in difficulty and in the UK then I suggest contacting PDQ motorcycle developments who are the importer, I think. They supplied me with one from stock for about forty pounds including delivery. Their service is very quick too! They can be located at www.pdq1.com . The major advantages of the K&N are: improved air flow so (allegedly) a bit more power; it never needs replacing, just cleaning, so saves money if you are considering keeping the bike long term; the service interval, under normal circumstances, is twice that of the standard filter (50,000 as opposed to 25,000 miles).
One cautionary note is that the filter only allows for a single hole fixing at each end of the airbox. My airbox had 2 each end so I had to do a little surgery on the ends of the filter. This is easy but requires a VERY sharp knife to do it properly.
For more on carbs and tuning see the tuning page.
Having ridden the bike during the winter (occasionally) I have managed to get the rear brake nicely corroded and seized, binding on the disc. It's simply a case of removing the caliper and stripping it, cleaning all the muck out as you go. Fortunately Triumph supply the pad pins for the rear caliper as one of mine was damaged getting it out. They are about £6 a pair (ouch). When I put the assembly back together I carefully used quite a bit of copper grease to prevent problems in the future. If anyone is interested I cleaned the brake caliper body in the kitchen sink with lots of Fairy liquid and an old toothbrush (I live alone!) and the pistons with Solvo Autosol which removed the rust and crud without marking the surfaces. Every part was then cleaned and dried with compressed air.
It should be noted that there is no protection for the pistons. The normal action of the caliper and the wear of the pads causes the chrome plated steel pistons to be exposed to the elements, rust being the predictable result. The only way I can see to avoid problems in the future is regular disassembly, cleaning and greasing. If car brakes were so unprotected they would only last one winter in the UK. Why don't bike calipers have a proper protective boot rather than the frankly inadequate dust seal in the cylinder?
Once the brake was re-assembled and I went for a blast I locked up the back end quite spectacularly just down the road from home. The brake appears to be working now!
The other worthwhile brake maintenance is to change the brake fluid in the front brakes. I had never really included this in my maintenance schedules - I don't like working with brake fluid when it seemed so unnecessary. I did it recently as an experiment because the brakes didn't seem to be as good as they once were. They were transformed - I hadn't realised how much they had gone off. There is a sting in the tail of this though. I managed to lock up the front end and ended up in a hedge as I was not used to their new found efficiency. I will be more careful in getting used to any further such improvements in the future.
My technique for changing the fluid is to just bleed the brakes in the normal way and keep topping up the master cylinder. The old fluid is darker than the new so when the fluid runs clearer out of the caliper bleed nipple I take it to be that the fluid has been changed. I do this twice, about a week apart, just to make sure as much of the old fluid is removed as possible.
I use this method because I have had problems in the past when trying to put fluid into a completely drained system as the master cylinder would not 'prime'; I was just repeatedly compressing air in the cylinder that just expanded again when the lever was released. I believe they get around the problem in vehicle factories and workshops by back-filling from the calipers up using a pump or compressor.
The side stand bracket is not really as strong as it should be. I have had to replace mine (£50 - ouch!) as it had bent so badly the bike was in danger of falling over and the clutch fluid was leaking from the master cylinder. I have heard of other people having this problem as well, with Sprints and Daytonas. It is, of course, made worse by the fact that unlike many other early Triumphs this model does not have a centre stand to resort to!
Whilst on the subject of the side stand, Nick Hill has comments about the cutout switch: I'm firing up the Sprint to head off to work. When I put it into gear the engine dies. Then it happens again. I guess its the side stand cut-out switch and flip the stand up and down a couple of times and all is well. Same thing happens when its time to come home.
At Ongar Motorcycles I lash out nearly twenty three quid on the new switch.
Removal of the switch itself from the side stand bracket is easy and I'd already replaced the torx bolts with a couple of stainless button head allen screws. The old switch is corroded such that it doesn't spring out fully but I suppose at nearly four years old and 35k that's not too bad - a similar looking job on a KLR I had about 15 years ago lasted about ten months. It takes a while to trace the electrical socket under the airbox but eventually its located and unplugged. Now the fun starts. Strangely the switch has three wires and the plug is quite large. After removal of the hose cover (an aftermarket carbon fibre item on mine) I'm not entirely surprised to see that it will be quite a job to thread it between the mass of plumbing and the alternator. However it then strikes me that in order to use the same cable run I will not only have to remove the alternator but also the water pump. The switch wire goes between the crankcase and right hand retaining screw of the water pump.
Luckily the cable on the switch is quite long and there's enough slack to route it behind the metal water pipe on the left of the pump then up under the hose cover and over the alternator to the plug under the airbox. The fun's not over yet though because when I try to screw the switch in place I find that there are no threads cut in the holes. Bizarre - same markings and came in the proper Triumph wrapper and everything. Anyway, five minutes with an M6 x 1.0 tap and I'm in business.
I have come up with a final solution to the side stand problem - I've fitted a centre stand. The good people at Triumph-Ant (see links page) supplied me with a second hand one. One suggestion for anybody else considering this upgrade: buy new springs from Triumph. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the ones that came with the stand, but having seen some use and then been yanked to get them off the previous bike I thought it safer to fit new ones. They are less than 5 pounds (about $8 US) and what price peace of mind? You don't want a centre stand dropping unexpectedly while on the move do you?
By the way, the Sprint Sport (like the old Daytona) has no stop for the centre stand as standard so it either hits the exhaust or the suspension linkage when it comes up. I'm OK with the Laser pipes I have on as they have a stop built on to the left hand exhaust pipe and it was easy to make an extension to that to protect the pipes. With standard pipes you may need to utilise some ingenuity to prevent them getting dented over time.
I've had to replace the oil pressure switch because it failed. Twice.
The first time it was supplied under warranty by my dealer who would have fitted it if I'd taken the bike in. As I was passing in the car I just collected the new one and dropped off the old one. It's easy to fit on later 900s as it's on the top of the crankcases. Early ones are right round the back of the engine and require draining the oil.
Three years later the replacement failed too! It seems that this is a foible of the bike. I have heard that some Ducatis suffer from this as well.
The Haynes manual for the early Triumphs is quite good and I'd recommend it to anybody doing their own tinkering. Make sure you get the one that goes up to 1999 as this includes details for the Sprint Sport. The only error I have found is the spark plug listed is wrong (DPR9EA-9). The ones in my bike from the factory and in the owners manual are DPR8EA-9 - slightly warmer. It does occur to me that this might be because of the US connection...hmmm!
If you happen to have a horizontal experience make sure any new indicators are the correct length. One of mine was replaced and is slightly shorter. I didn't notice until I had thrown away the old one with the stalk still intact and reusable - doh!. On a general note the bike seems to survive minor spills quite well. See the engine photo above - note the minor scrape on the clutch cover.
