[oneworden]

Hello all,

I am going to be taking a look at a 97 speed triple t509 today during lunch. i was wondering if there are any questions that i should ask as i am not that familiar with triumphs. i know the obvious questions like what major work, if it was wrecked, salvage title...but are there any valve adjustment questions, or special crankcase question.

also is there anything visible that will cause the bike to be a nogo?

its a pretty sweet deal:

1997 Triumph Speed Triple T509
- just under 20k miles
- owned by a fireman
- comes with firstgear soft bags
and he is looking to get $3000 for it.

 

[2smokeTyler]

owned by a fireman...what does that have to do with it? is that one of those middle school things where you have to figure out what detail of the word problem you DON'T need to solve the problem? HAHAHAHA, sounds like a good deal, but not like out of the ball park. its 11 years old...and he probably just wants to move on. anyway, good luck with the deal, sounds like a SWEET bike. i bet after riding it, you'll kick sand at your 750

 

[UngaWunga]

I have a 2000 Triumph Sprint RS and love it. 955cc, fuel injected triple. Great streetbike.

These motors have a very nice feature of shims on top of the buckets, which means you don't need to remove the cams in order to adjust the valves. But you do need a special tool in order to do it. They cost about $100, and hold the bucket down as you rotate the crank/cam to get the cam lobe off the bucket. Piece o cake.

But yeah, $3K does sound a little much for a 11 year old bike. Check out kbb.com to see what they say about prices.

 

[oneworden]

turns out that the think is a mess...

-fork seals blown
-fender eliminator has bare wires and a huge hole in the back
-seat has a tear
-lots of leaking oil
-there is about 3.5" of chain slack
-missing the tool kit
-dropped on left side and tweaked the clutch lever.
-bike is hard to start becasue of the clutch switch also being tweaked
-looks like hell and he knew that we were coming to look at it.

that was a waste of time.

 

[Judeyramone]

Too bad. I love my (new) Triumph, and covet all Speed Triples.

 

[Wanker]

The 97-99 Speed Triples were known to be kinda quirky do to the fuel injection. I don't relly know much more than that . I think the t-509 in 97 might of been a 885cc and not a 955 . I want to say 2000 was the first for 995ccs in the S3 . If anything I'd check for any electrical glitches and ask a bit about the FI . Other than that a solid bike . 3k$ is pretty fair for a 97 .
The " Owned by a Fireman " would worry me . The few friemds I have in the FDNY tend to be obsessed with speed , ride like twats and love to party and they wouldn't have it any other way .

 

[Wanker]

Oh , saw you already saw it . Thought the thing was probably ridden hard .

 

[oneworden]

well i think that the biggest think that turned me away is that there was oil spray all over the engine. in my mind if i was looking to sell my bike i would probably at least wipe down the engine. seeing that makes me think that the owner really doesn't care. don't get me wrong, my bikes have been pretty filthy before, but i wasn't trying to get a mint for them when they were dirty.

the other thing that i really didn't like was that he bought it from a local dealership that is known for crap bikes at high prices. they have over 150 bikes at any given time, but only about 2 that i would trust. it almost looks like a motorcycle grave yard with brighter lights.

i have a lead on an sv1000 and i think that he will get my money. the only reason being that he has all the service records, it includes the extra oil and filters that he hasn't used yet, and so on...

i don't know i just really got a bad feeling from the Triumph guy.

 

[2smokeTyler]

ditto on the firefighter thing. my buddy who is on the squad here totalled his vrod when he was giving a chick a ride while drunk...trying to impress her, curve came out of nowhere...she had to have knee surgery...dumbass. well, good luck with the sv, those are cool scooters!

 

[Wanker]

quote:Originally posted by oneworden

well i think that the biggest think that turned me away is that there was oil spray all over the engine. in my mind if i was looking to sell my bike i would probably at least wipe down the engine. seeing that makes me think that the owner really doesn't care. don't get me wrong, my bikes have been pretty filthy before, but i wasn't trying to get a mint for them when they were dirty.

the other thing that i really didn't like was that he bought it from a local dealership that is known for crap bikes at high prices. they have over 150 bikes at any given time, but only about 2 that i would trust. it almost looks like a motorcycle grave yard with brighter lights.

i have a lead on an sv1000 and i think that he will get my money. the only reason being that he has all the service records, it includes the extra oil and filters that he hasn't used yet, and so on...

i don't know i just really got a bad feeling from the Triumph guy.

The oil spray way probably detailer . No biggie . But the blown fork seals would say more . Abuse . Wheelies are all fine and dandy but but slamming that front end down just isn't cool. Might wanna check out older TL1000Rs and Ss . Or if they're your cup of tea the Kawi Z1000s . I'm always seeing good deals on them . A great bike that just didn't sell well.