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Possible Recall to be Issued

12763 Views 33 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  Ethariel
Associated with the wanky fuel gauge problems where the range-left indicator (ref: 1st Bobber Problem) and the fuel level bars are not functioning properly.

A major Triumph dealership has acknowledged to me that every one of the Bobbers they have seen and sold have had these two fuel gauge problems.
To paraphrase, he said, "he wouldn't be surprised if Triumph issued a Recall at a future date. As Triumph is very serious about resolving any problems reported".

In the mean time, they continue to try to find the answer to this problem.
I have agreed to leave my Bobber with them as a test bike (they don't want to run up miles on showroom bikes).

So this begs the question.. are any Bobber owners not having this issue?
(i.e. specifically seeing range-left in full tank at approx. 125 miles)
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Can't really answer the question because I still don't get what your issue is ?

Can you spell it out?

Cheers!


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I think what is being said is the miles to empty and the average miles per gallon is out of whack. Until I get over 1000 miles I am not paying much attention. It will use more fuel during break in. We will see how this plays out but naot a big concern for me at this time. If it is going to be put on the bike it should be pretty darn accurate in my opininon and I think Triumph would agree.
From the other thread it sounds like he thinks there is an issue with the range indicator showing 80 when he thinks it should 120 or something.

There was a reference to 126mpg but think that was a typo.

Kinda hard to help though when nobody except him seems to be clear on the issue.

From my reading of it it sounds like it's working as expected tbh but who knows.




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Even if it's not affecting every Bobber, if a Triumph dealership acknowledges the problem then it could be a problem with a large portion of bikes sold. Could be a faulty batch.
The trouble with forums is you can modify a post (except for within a few minutes) to add info (you can't even delete a post)

I was trying to avoid having to re-state the problem by referring to its post elsewhere in this forum. Namely "!st Bobber Problem"

Here is the link..
http://www.triumphbobberforum.com/forum/625-triumph-bobber-issues-problems/1281-1st-bobber-problem.html

Note: Triumph Technical Service acknowledges its a problem with the Bobbers.
A major area dealer says "All the Bobbers he has seen or sold have this defect"

In the grand scheme of things this isn't a big problem. If I had no gauge at all I'd still ride and love the Bobber.

If you are thinking, 'well, then why mention it?'.. fair enough.. Believe me I won't do it again.
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Sounds like the dealer doesn't understand how the Bobber tank sensor works tbh. My bobber showed a range of 68 miles on a full tank yesterday and only started going down after I'd done 40 miles. So on course for about 100 miles and behaving exactly as triumph told me it would .

If that's what yours is doing it's not broken.

If yours is doing something differently then it might be broken. Still can't figure out from your posts what's actually going on.

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My Bobber showed me today remaining of 161 km (100miles) after 70km (appr. 43 miles) of riding...
definitely feel like my fuel gauge/range has never worked properly.
I disagree and think it works 100%. Went to fill mine up the other day which only had 1 L of fuel left in the tank. Range indicator showed I had 20 km left until empty. When I calculated the fuel consumption manually, I was getting 24 km per litre. Meaning I literally had 24km left in the tank. To me that works perfectly.


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Mine still doesn't work properly! 4 fillups so far. Miles to empty never have gone over 82 on fill up. After about 40 miles it finally starts to count down properly. I'm absolutely sure Triumph did NOT design it to work that way! Fuel gauge works fine. It should show about 120MTE at fill up.
Mine still doesn't work properly! 4 fillups so far. Miles to empty never have gone over 82 on fill up. After about 40 miles it finally starts to count down properly. I'm absolutely sure Triumph did NOT design it to work that way! Fuel gauge works fine. It should show about 120MTE at fill up.


I spoke directly to triumph and they said that's exactly how it will work due to the shape of the tank and the sensor etc.

They really should put it in the manual to stop so many folk thinking it's broken.


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Within the constraints of engineering I believe mine works properly. Very conservative when full, accurate at 3/4, very accurate from 1/2 down to empty!
Within the constraints of engineering I believe mine works properly. Very conservative when full, accurate at 3/4, very accurate from 1/2 down to empty!

If you filled up in Death Valley and your "computer" said 120 miles till empty, and 30 miles later the sign says last gas for 80 miles, would you gassup? Of course if you didn't and hit a headwind or some other constraint you might die!!
Triumphs lawyers made sure the lesser intelligent among us won't see that temptation!
Anyone who thinks there is a "right" answer to how many miles are left in the tank will never think it works correctly!
Then please explain why the fuel gauge works accurately? Same sensor, same tank.
When I asked Triumph about this, they said all technical questions must be answered by the dealer!
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Triumph have confirmed it's normal behaviour. Looks like all the Bobbers are acting this way too. Don't know why that's so hard to understand.

One last attempt to summarise & explain: Due to the shape of the tank, 3/4 -> Full is a calculated estimate for the gauge and the range and 3/4 -> empty is measured by the sensor.

I'm giving up trying to explain this one now though as some people seem determined to believe it's a fault regardless of responses. I'll stick to looking at the road not the gauge personally.
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Then please explain why the fuel gauge works accurately? Same sensor, same tank.
When I asked Triumph about this, they said all technical questions must be answered by the dealer!
The fuel gage is much simpler, the miles to has to do computations and go thru an algorithm.
So the same company that gave our Bobbers
- riding modes
- traction control technology
- anti-lock braking
- immobilizer locking
and the rest...
can't determine how much gas is left in the tank, because it has an odd shape? Really?

(of course, Triumph may have merely purchased and bolted on those technologies and was left with figuring the gas level themselves..)

In this day of alternative facts, confirmation bias, a willingness to accept lies as facts and a growing disregard for science.
lets not take the simply answer of "it's suppose to work that way".
we're smarter than that.

if your odometer measured miles as poorly, or the rpm indicator was all over the place would you accept Triumph's answer
that it's suppose to work that way? I think not.

The message I got from Triumph Tech (not just the dealer) was "Oops.. it doesn't work. It doesn't work on any Bobber. Sorry about that! We f_cked Up. And we are working to fix the problem".
They tried re-mapping my gauge. Even changing it to imperial gals at one point. But ultimately (after 4 days) I took it home to wait for a repair (that may never come).

If this forum of Bobber owners adapts the attitude that the Range-Left indicator malfunction is "O.K." or "Normal"... then
Triumph may gladly accept that as the solution and go on with other work. Saving themselves a small fortune.
(After all they can look across the pond these days and have a reasonable hope that the Yanks will take that as an answer.)

Let's not do that to each other.

As I've said before, you could put a paper sack over my Bobber gauges and I'd still happily ride it.

But I won't pretend this isn't a defect and you shouldn't either.
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I had a Mercedes car that ran out of fuel once when the range on the dash said 40 miles.

Estimated range is always a calculation and it's perfectly reasonable to assume that a tank shape designed for style causes some issues in that regard. Totally different to a speedo or rev counter not working.

The same 'feature' isn't unique to the bobber in the triumph range either.

If I was at triumph I'd be updating the software so that range no longer shows. Problem solved!


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