Triumph Heated Grips Issue

 My new Triumph arrived in the middle of a heat wave, as you can imagine there is no need for heated grips in July and August, other than pressing the button and seeing the little light come on on the dash I hadn't tried to see how hot they got. 

 It went for a service at 1000 miles in August and a new patch was added to the computer.

On my bike this patch has affected the heated grips. The dealer was made aware of the problem in September when I discovered it, they had the bike and couldn't fix the problem, they told me the grips were faulty so ordered a new set. 2 weeks later they fitted them and the new ones didn't work either. 

The symptom is, you press the button on the handle grip to switch them on, the light illuminates on the dash to say its working but the bike fails to send the power to the grips to make them go warm. 

The dealer says Triumph are aware of the problem and are working on a fix for this which should be available by end of October. At the end of October the fix was not included in their latest update so now its looking like the end of November 2022 and for me another month of cold hands.

At the moment these grips are a £200 option which is an OEM part. I did contact Triumph about this problem myself to see if they had an estimated time for this to be corrected, but unfortunately Triumph did not respond.  The dealer has been very helpful though so cant fault them.

I have posted this as I cant find any reference to it on the internet, and the dealer says other customers are also experiencing the same problem.

UPDATE!  

As its now early December 2022 I have contacted Triumph again about this issue and this is what I have been told:-

The Factory are aware of the concern and have been actively working on a software update to the instruments in order to reinstate the functionality of the heated grips.  The cause of the issue was more complex than we first realised which has resulted in the fix taking longer than we would have liked. 
 I am pleased to inform you that we have an expected release date of the 12th December when we aim to release the revised software to our dealer network for them to update their customers' bike that require it. This will of course be carried out free of charge under warranty.

Fingers crossed I will be riding with warm hands in the next few weeks..

Test Ride Triumph Street Triple RS

 While my Triumph Trident was away having its 1st service, I was given a loan bike to use, the Triumph Speed Triple RS.

 I was told to be careful as the power was much different to the Trident.....

The Speed Triple has a very similar ride position to the Trident which I liked, instantly you could feel the difference in the initial grunt from the 121bhp 765cc engine when pulling away. Its not a massive difference to be fare but it is noticeable compared to the 81bhp 660cc engine in the Trident.  On a ride you can leave it in the gears longer when accelerating and has a higher rev range which means you might get to 60mph in 2nd rather than 3rd on the Trident, and the sound it makes is very nice indeed. This bike had the quickshift fitted which felt smooth and gives that great sound as it changes gear. 

 The bike costs a lot more than the Trident starting from about £11,000 compared to the £7,400 for the Trident. This means you get some better equipment as standard, such as adjustable front forks and a bit of space under the back seat... I am sure there's other things too...you'll have to look for them.

Handling wise I thought it felt very similar to the Trident, both bikes score good points here, braking felt good going in and holding a line when cornering, the suspension definitely felt firmer than the Trident, if I liked that better though I am not sure?

The speedo has a lot of info on it, not over cluttered but lots on the screen at once, I didn't like it as much as the speedo on the trident though.

Now my personal view is it felt an awesome tool to ride, but its looks are of the type only a mother could love.  I struggled to find a good angle to get a photo of it, as you can see. The headlights are definitely the love or hate item of this bike, and as you might have guessed they don't look good to me.  The test bike I used was in black with green stickers here ant there, currently on the Triumph website you get the choice of just 1 colour which is black.  I do like the number plate position and the wheels though.  Infact if you could put the Speedo and head light from the Trident and smarten the plastic below the seat I might have gone for one of these next time, but never say never.

If you are interested in this type of bike, book a test ride, you wont be disappointed I am sure.

  

My Triumph Trident 660

   

As much as I like my Fireblade there comes a time where you want something easier to live with so with that in mind I have been looking at other styles of bike. After a while I've narrowed it down to the Honda CB650r or the Triumph Trident 660.  I love the look of this style of bike, always have since I first had a ride on a Suzuki bandit 600 back in the late 1990s and my very first bike was a Yamaha RD50 with a single round headlight.

  I took a test ride on the Triumph and loved it. I've always wanted to own a Triumph, so paid my deposit ordering a brand new one in white and added a few bits via the configurator, selecting the heated grips, the lower fairing, the quick shift and a couple of other bits that are cosmetic.  Also added a short screen above the headlight, swapped the mirrors for bar end ones and changed the brake levers for adjustable black ones.

 We have completed over 1500 miles together which means its fully run in, and now its time to share some of my thoughts and findings.  I do like sports style bikes, its all I have ever owned for the last 25 years so can only compare it to those when ridden on the roads.

Coming from a 1000cc bike with 145bhp to a bike with 660cc and 81bhp was a bit risky as I didn't know if it would be powerful enough to be interesting. So lets deal with that first.  The Trident is definitely no slouch, from 0 - 60mph is plenty fast enough, the figures say its about 4 seconds, following Col he is a fraction quicker up to road speeds and beyond but its not massively different if you want to keep your licence. It runs out of revs through the gears quicker than I am used to when getting up to 60 but the quickshift helps out in that area. The Trident comes with traction control and 2 modes, 1 for rain and one for.... when its not raining...

The handling however, I do prefer over the Fireblade's, the Trident feels so easy to ride, you can change your line around a corner, lean it in more and the power delivery works with the handling, Triumph really have got the mix of power and handling balanced perfectly. 

 The bikes built to a price, so no adjustable front forks which is a shame, but the ones fitted do work fine, and the brakes have plenty of stopping power, even ABS is included.  The rear shock is adjustable in case you are heavier or have a passenger. 

Mine has quick shift, it does make the bike for me, you only need the clutch when you pull away or stop, it will change up the box under power and down when you are off the power, just by pressing your foot up or down. It just keeps the power to the wheel when accelerating, no drop of power between the gears. 

Mine is showing an average MPG of 66.9 I cant quite get it to 67, but this is riding the same as I would ride the Fireblade, not taking it easy. When I fill up Col tends to put about 4 pounds more than me for each tank full for the same journey, so owning this bike is saving me a little money in fuel. 

The TFT is very easy to read and use, it has a number of "trays" Triumphs word for screens and you can set these up how you want them. It always shows which gear is selected which I find quite useful. When you get it you can enter your name, theres a big section on how to do it in the manual, but after the update it cant do it, the dealer couldnt explain it either, but that is not really a concern at all.

The seat is softer than the race bikes I have owned and the handle bars higher, this makes long rides so much more comfortable. I don't suffer with any of the complaints that I have done over the last 10 years, such as knee and leg ache, neck ache, wrist ache and hand ache, infact when Col has had enough I could do the same ride again.  Its rekindled my love for biking it really has.  

The lights are all Led and give a nice bright light, there is also self cancelling indicators, how I have longed for such a thing. There is 1 missing button, the flash button, you have to press the main beam button twice to flash, but that's nothing major.

Not everything is perfect, the throttle is fly by wire and has a small amount of lag when you first pull away, it makes me think of an automatic scooter I once road. There is no storage space under the seat, it would have been nice to get enough room for a disk lock, I have managed to get a smaller disk lock which will just fit on top of the battery. And the bit where the number plate lives is a love it or loath it part. It seems a lot of brands are building new bikes with a similar feature, I do quite like it but I can see it might look better with the number plate fitted under the seat, however, for now its staying as is. One thing that has improved it is to paint the back of the number plate black as it doesn't stand out so much.

It had heated grips as one of the options I ticked. They didn't work for 6 months, even though the light came on to say they were working. However, It was Triumphs fault, to do with a problematic update. Its fixed now.  The grips get luke warm at best. Compared to the Oxford ones on the Fireblade, they are about like 50% so the faster you go the more useless they become.  If I had of known I would have had Oxford ones and not worried about having the light on the dash. 

The sound from the 3 cylinder engine is nice, and the exhaust is not loud at all when you are riding it.  I do think about changing that but having seen the alternatives so far, they dont sound that great. If they could make it sound more like the street triple rs it would be more my thing.

 Overall if you are after this style and size of bike, I would recommend you take one for a test ride. I enjoy mine and it makes me smile when I see it. Its more fun and comfortable than the bikes I have been used too and costs less to maintain too.

2022 and it's "Everyday Street Bikes?"

Triumph Trident

 When you get in your 50's you're not as nimble as you once were, and riding motorbikes seems to get more uncomfortable when you have been on them for a few hours.

My reactions arn't what they used to be, and after recently damaging my arm thanks to the Fireblade my biking has been less enthusiastic. Myself and Col often discus the hand gripping the bars problem that many Sports bike riders get, its caused from your hands having to support your upper body weight the position also makes your shoulders and neck ache, then there's the legs, because of the tight angle your legs are in, after a while it seems hard work moving your feet off the pegs when you have to stop, and again from a previous injury my hip hurts after a few hours.

With that in mind I decided its time to try a different style. 

I wanted something that is different, not a superbike wanna-be, but something that arcs back to the Suzuki Bandit I once lusted after in the late 90s.  I read a few reviews and found myself in the Triumph dealer in Plymouth. They had the new Triumph Trident on display a rarity at the time as it was sold out everywhere.

I sat on it and instantly took a liking to its comfy seat and upright seating position. 

 When at the 2021 Bike show in Birmingham I put my name down for a test ride and it took until April 2022 for that to happen.

However I managed to get a ride on one. Thanks to the guys at Streetbike Halesowen for letting me have the ride. I rode the Fireblade to the shop so this test ride was back to back with the bike I am used to. 

I was shown the controls and off I went.

 The first thing I noticed was how thin it felt around the tank where your knees go compared to the fireblade. The mirrors are in a different place to what I am used too they seemed very close but the views behind are unobstructed and i quickly got used to them. 

  It picked up quickly from a twist of the throttle and for the first 10 minutes the ride was limited to just 30 mph as I headed up to Romsley. The clutch feels light and steering quick with a reasonable turning circle, better than a sports bike anyway.   While going along this stretch of road it gave me chance to think about how I felt on it - hmm! Comfortable. Arms felt in a natural position and legs with not a to sharp an angle, but feet were definately lower than that of the Fireblade and the hand controls all in the right place,   ohh and the seat, yes its almost sofa like compared to the fireblade.

 Out of Romsley the speed limit changes and you can get up to 60mph, the Trident was in 6th and pulled upto the speed limit with no problem and quite briskly, maybe dare I say as good as if not better than my fireblade if it was in 6th.

 The seat was soft and I felt myself slide back to the hump about half way along. A couple of twisty corners which it handled well around bring you to the end of the road and the first real use of the brakes.  The front dipped and the brakes gripped nicely.  The front suspension definitely travelled more than on a sports bike.  

 I pulled out onto the next road, nothing around so I tried a quick acceleration test - Quick!  OK its not Fireblade quick but I would say upto 70 you would not see a bunch of dots in the distance as your mates disappear on their sports bikes on the roads.

 After half an hour of riding I pulled into a layby to check it over and get a proper look at what I was riding.  It looks nice, if you like that type of thing. Bit of a strange rear number plate holder -  but you can get an after market kit to move it up higher if you dont like it.  I do like the short tail end and how the exhaust comes out infront of the rear wheel. It sounds different to what I am used to but it has 3 cylinders, its not unpleasant sounding.

  It has loads of features, such as ABS, Traction Control, Slipper Clutch, 3 cylinders, Nissin calipers, Showa 41mm upside down separate function forks (SFF)  unfortunately you cant adjust them.

 There is a fuel guage, it tells you your average mpg which told me 55mpg, it has 2 riding modes, 1 for rain and one for..... when its not raining. 

The engine is 80BHP but Triumph have made it so the power is delivered at the lower end of the rev range giving it pleanty of power from the get go which  dies off towards higher revs.  The front tyre width was 120 and rear 180 similar to the fireblades. Its bound to have other goodies I havent mentioned.

I rode it back to the shop not an ache or pain after an hour on it.  I stepped off with a smile under my crash helmet and gave it another quick look over. 

Some of the things I took away from this experience were it was nice to see over the car infront, and over hedges so the view is better, you can cruise comfortably, its fast up to the speed limit, has loads of infomation on the tft speedometer, it felt so easy to ride and looks great.

  You do feel the wind more than on my fireblade as theres no protection and the suspension seemed to travel more than what i was used to.  

  Theres some nice after market parts and on the triumph website you can build it how you want it which is always fun to see what it would look like with the added extras they sell.

The last ride Col and I went on we both commented about new speed limits cropping up on some favourite roads of ours, maybe a more easy going style of bike would make the ride more fun again?

What I do know is I like the Trident, I like it so much I am very tempted to buy one - watch this space! 

BUT I want to keep the Fireblade a bit longer yet.