Lost the downshifting

greenbaron

.060 Over
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
129
Location
Coastal NC
Ride
2005 Triumph Rocket III
I picked last thurs to do the 4.5 hour ride to the closest dealer to get a new rear tire put on (and, as it happened, a new batt- got 5yrs 24K+mi on the first one), knowing I'd have to get up early and go on Friday to get back home before the storm hit- coming in to the dealer, just once, I had a hard time downshifting to 2nd. Pressing on the shifter, no resistance and nothing happened. Never has happened before, so I wrote it off to numb cold foot. The next day, started up happening on the ride back. I had seriously cold feet on this trip, but clearly that was not what was going on. Started as just not being to get down to 2nd, progressively got worse, until I could only go from 5th to 4th. Just a couple of times (fortunately) I got stuck at a light and had to get underway in 3, one time in 4th gear. Anyway, almost home I think I figured it out, at least how to downshift. A long decline where I usually let the engine assist in slowing me down, so off the throttle, slow some, pull in clutch and downshift. No trouble whatsoever, all the way down to first. There was only 15 minutes left to the ride at this point, but I confirmed at the entrance to my drive, letting off the throttle and allowing the engine to pull a bit against my momentum, then shifting, worked normally. Typically I'm on the clutch as I'm coming off the throttle, and this approach resulted in what felt like a disconnected shifter pedal when trying to downshift, everytime. I did try tightening up the clutch cable at a mid-trip stop for gas, no effect. Does this make any sense to someone who knows how that system works in the RIII?
 
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First thing I looked at. [The one on my Legend did that to me a few times, so that it became a part of my preflight, but hasn't been an issue on RIII] It's inside I'm pretty sure. Something not engaging unless the engine's pulling just before the attempt to downshift, in which case it works apparently normally.
 
Me? Sure, I'm up for it! Sounds expensive.
I also have the paint can rattle when the engine is cold, this was looked at twice by Triumph dealers over the years and they said there was nothing wrong.
Spoke to Triumph myself and they said we don't warrant the timing chain, something to that effect.
Hard to argue with not being able to downshift though, but it's over 5 years out now. Over $500 just to get a new tire and battery... sigh...
 
I've been thru 3 already, this is the 4th. I'll trade it before I travel any farther for a dealer willing to work with Triumph. I've talked to Triumph in GA personally (about the paint can rattle issue), and they did not help me AT ALL.
 
Ship it to gus at Baxter's.(or drive, dont know how close you are to them...Marne,Iowa) It will be worth it and no hassle on the warranty. They take care of everything.

mutt
 
you are so right, it is stupid to travel that far for service on a motorcycle. i have always taken the Riii and the Legend for that matter to a Triumph dealer. And yes, that's currently the closest. just about every service has been an "adventure", but this one a particularly bad trip to make, the entire ride back i was focused about 89% on the pain in my freezing feet which is of course dangerous, and once underway, even though I started having the trouble with the downshifting, nothing was going to keep me from getting back home with the bike if at all possible, since we were going to get a couple feet of snow and I didn't want it to be stranded somewhere. pita which just underscores my growing frustration with the lack of service on this machine, even though i have enjoyed it immensely since i got it back in '04 it has cost me and i start to doubt it's worth the trouble at this point.
 
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