Suspension Preload Adjustment Fault

[fred_jb]

Just thought I would mention this here in case anybody else has seen similar symptoms.

I bought my Trophy SE last July when it was one year old.  I used it through the summer without any issue, mainly solo, but occasionally with my wife riding pillion, and on those occasions I had no problem changing the TES preload setting from one helmet to two helmets.  I have the one helmet setting in profile 1 and two helmets in profile 2, so generally change by loading the approriate profile.

More recently - maybe 2-3 months ago I had an issue when going out for a two-up ride as the suspension would not adjust to the two helmet setting using profile 2 and after some flickering as if it was adjusting, the suspension adjust light stayed on, and would only go off if I loaded profile 1.  I rode a little way down the road and stopped and tried again, at which point it worked.  I didn't see the issue again for some time and just thought it was a one-off, though in retrospect I guess it was because I didn't have occasion to increase the pre-load again for some time.

More recently it happened again so I drove it to the local dealer and showed them the error.  They said they would speak to Triumph Technical, and reported back to me that Triumph had said this would only happen if I had interrupted the self calibration routine.  I wasn't happy with this response because I am aware of the calibration routines and have not interrupted them.  I then started trying the adjustment every time the weather was good enough to take the bike out, which wasn't that often, and found that what I thought was an intermittent problem was now happening consistently, and the adjustment would only work successfully after a variable period of riding the bike.  The problem occurred regardless of whether I made the adjustment directly in the TES Loading menu, or by changing profiles.

I came to the conclusion that the preload adjuster was failing to work whenever the bike was started from fully cold when the ambient temperature was low.  The colder it was, the longer it seemed to take before the adjustment would start working again. Maybe there is something out of tolerance with the preload adjustment mechanism such that it gets too tight to operate when cold.   I took it in and left it with the dealer to investigate, and also wrote to Triumph after sales support to request that they support the dealer in fixing the problem under warranty.  I made the point that it was unacceptable, and possibly even dangerous, to have to start a two-up journey on the one helmet setting, and have to keep stopping and retrying the adjustment until it worked.

I had to chase both the dealer and Triumph but eventually spoke to the Triumph warranty people while at the dealers today, and they have agreed to replace the complete rear suspension unit under warranty, which I was very happy about - especially as I have now decided to sell the bike, and couldn't do so knowing that it had this issue.

I guess many people wouldn't see this problem, even if their bike is affected, if they don't ride two-up in cold temperatures, so it may not be unique to my bike - though I hope it is.

Fred

[Coconut]

Hi Fred,

Thanks for posting this information, I'm sure many Members will find it useful,
even if only as a reminder to check that their suspension is working properly
a little more often than they may do now !

Sorry to hear that you're selling, and the reasons for you having to do so.

( Cracking Photo in the For Sale Section !  )

Cheers 

[fred_jb]

Originally Posted by Coconut

Hi Fred,

Thanks for posting this information, I'm sure many Members will find it useful,
even if only as a reminder to check that their suspension is working properly
a little more often than they may do now !

Sorry to hear that you're selling, and the reasons for you having to do so.

( Cracking Photo in the For Sale Section !  )

Cheers 

Thanks Coconut. 

The suspension problem is a strange one, but I'm now pretty convinced that it is in some way temperature related.

I'm sorry to be selling the bike so soon, but hope I can find it a good home.  I think I would benefit from something a bit lighter, if I can find a significantly lighter bike that can still cope with a pillion and luggage.  I changed from my last bike to get something that would cope better heavily loaded, and the Trophy certainly does that, but it is probably 60 kg or so heavier than the last bike, which didn't seem to be a problem at the time. However, I'm now finding it a bit more of a challenge, even things like getting it on the centre stand, and more so when carrying luggage, so the general hauling around aspects do start to tell on me over a trip.

Fred

[eagle4]

Hi Fred & Coconut,
I had the same symptom a few weeks ago when it was dry and cold here in Paris. Could not adjust TES preload and got light on too. I rode to my work like that, and parked the bike underground my office. At the end of the day, when starting the bike to go back, TES adjustment went ok, light turned to off.
in the morning, temperature was around 0°C, in the evening and underground parking, temperature was 8°C.
maybe an issue with the damper oil viscosity ?

[fred_jb]

Originally Posted by eagle4

Hi Fred & Coconut,
I had the same symptom a few weeks ago when it was dry and cold here in Paris. Could not adjust TES preload and got light on too. I rode to my work like that, and parked the bike underground my office. At the end of the day, when starting the bike to go back, TES adjustment went ok, light turned to off.
in the morning, temperature was around 0°C, in the evening and underground parking, temperature was 8°C.
maybe an issue with the damper oil viscosity ?

That's interesting.  Sounds like the same issue, but maybe mine is a bit worse as it was still doing it with an indicated ambient temperature of 11 degrees, though I didn't have to ride it very far at that temperature before it started working again. On a previous occasion when the temp was only about 5 degrees I had to ride it for a few miles before it would work.  I guess the shock warms up as it gets worked, so I guess the colder it is to start with the longer that takes.

I don't think it will be anything to do with the oil in the damper itself, more likely the oil in the hydraulic preload adjuster, assuming that is how the one on the Trophy works.  If so there must be a motor to spin the adjuster which puts pressure on the hydraulic fluid, which in turn pushes out a piston which compresses the spring.  Maybe this piston sticks in its housing when it is cold, possibly because the manufacturing tolerances are out of spec, or maybe because the housing is made of a different material and contracts more in the cold than the piston, making it too tight a fit until everything warms up?

Alternatively perhaps the seal around the piston gets hard when the temperature is low and puts too high a load on the adjuster which is trying to move the piston.

Fred

[FirstCapitan]

I've had a similar problem. When I try to change the preload, the process abort and appears the message "Warning. Check Manually", and the suspensión light remains on. The bike is in the local dealer and the problem, according to Triumph, is that the engine thas moves the rear suspensión is fault. By the moment, 15 days in the dealer, and waiting for the solution.

[fred_jb]

Been looking into this, and while I can't find anything specific about the Trophy, it looks like some of the electronic adjusters are not hydraulic like the manual remote adjusters, but instead have what looks like a worm drive spinning a threaded collar so that it goes up or down the main body of the shock to adjust the compression of the spring.  I can see how the friction in that could get to much for the motor to turn it if the threaded collar contracts and gets too tight.

Fred

[fred_jb]

Originally Posted by FirstCapitan

I've had a similar problem. When I try to change the preload, the process abort and appears the message "Warning. Check Manually", and the suspensión light remains on. The bike is in the local dealer and the problem, according to Triumph, is that the engine thas moves the rear suspensión is fault. By the moment, 15 days in the dealer, and waiting for the solution.

I hope you get it repaired soon.  I'm still waiting to hear about any progress with the warranty repair that Triumph have authorised - the bike has been there for a week now.

Fred