Build quality

[mjf65]

Well after being really negligent with my cleaning regime since first ownership last July today looked like a crackeorifice a day for a very early spring cleaning! First thought are the quality of the finish on the wheels is poor, the alloy appears to be rough cast so holds onto the road grim and after 3.5k of road grime there was plenty on there but Heine G degreaser shifts it fairly easily, I think this will have to be done more frequently or they will corrode once the brake dust and grime starts to pit the alloy. The forks and callipers seem to be holding up very well as i had covered these in ACF50 but the plating on the fasteners and brake banjo bolts is really poor not a patch on Triumph quality I'm afraid. The Berg is an all year round bike not a plaything, come on Suzuki up the quality. On the plus side the panels and paintwork look fantastic now after a wash and polish with Mr Sheene, I guess all my good work will be undone on my Monday commute but it does feel good giving the old bus a good clean, she deserved it

[Ferret]

In general build quality on bikes it bad compared to cars when you consider the monies spent . With regards to triumph i will say that build quality has gone down in the last 4 years and KTM`s look awful with regards to build and finish .One company that has upped there game is moto guzzi but just a shame that group owners piaggio do not do this across all there brands .

[macamxthe1st]

Fully agree, motorcycle/scooter build quality even when compared to budget cars is an absolute disgrace. Suzuki is very patchy. Compared to my Burgman my Bonneville may be marginally better but it may well be that certain areas are just more accessible. Thank heavens for Acf 50.

Geoff.

[mjf65]

Aren't all the Bonevilles now made in Thailand? Shouldn't affect build quality tho. Most of the jurnos seem to rate Yamaha very highly wrt build quality.

[johnp]

The build quality of my Gilera Nexus was very good and the wheels did not pit for 4 years just as i was getting rid of it and it was ridden in all conditions all year round, shame the electrics let it down. My Burger 650 was great and i only had that for 18 months and everything was good with that as well.

[macamxthe1st]

Aren't all the Bonevilles now made in Thailand? Shouldn't affect build quality tho. Most of the jurnos seem to rate Yamaha very highly wrt build quality.

I have had several Bonnevilles since their introduction in I think 2001 covering Hinckley and Thailand build and have not seen any difference, probably best described as "not bad".

Geoff.

[Ferret]

I was involved with the triumph triple challenge for several years and must say we all noticed a big difference in parts and fastener quality . Things like oil coolers and rear sub frames clock mounting brackets were really rubbish in comparison to previous years touch them and they broke lol .My brother inlaw has a mt-09 yamaha which he is using all weathers and so far so good ,and yes it does look well finished . My m8 Tom has a 2010 kawasaki vn 900 custom which has held up really well and once cleaned looks like new and he only cleans it when the head light goes dim lol , true

[Data]

My two year old Burgman 400za abs come up like new when washed. Paintwork fine and glossy. Wheels fine with no corrosion. No sign of rust even though it's been left days at a time in the garage with loads of salt on it. But, I do use lots of Waxoyl and FS365 when I've done cleaning it in the winter. I use a good coat of Supaguard resin sealer on mostly everything too. The only thing I've noticed is the chrome caliper bolts at the rear are discolouring, but not rusting. I coat those bolts with Waxoyl but it allows the salt and brake/clutch dust to stick to it. If left for a few weeks the chemical action of the Waxoyl draws the corrosive elements of the brake dust onto the chrome finish and they turn a dark colour. That's the only part of the bike that has shown any signs of degradation. Under the bodywork there is not a sign of rust anywhere on the welds or frame tubes (all Waxoyl'ed by the way). So I guess that's cheating a bit! My GSX1400 and Vstrom 1000 were all used daily too in all weathers and never suffered either. This summer I'll probably renew some fasteners with stainless ones just to make myself feel better. Incidentally, Yamaha and Suzuki came joint 3rd in the JD Power Survey for reliability and quality in 2011 in the States. With Victory and HD 1st and 2nd respectively. Honda were 4th if I remember rightly.

[mjf65]

I have to say my 2011 Speeed Triple seems to have excellent build quality, way better than the 2005 Sprint 1050 I had. My previous Suzuki experience was with the X7 which would usually explode before corroding away, then I had a GSX 750ESD which was a solid bike, very well built never missed a beat in 3 years ownership.

[Bluebottle]

Car drivers definately wouldn't accept the amount of rot that a bike can develop in a single winter

On high end bikes I'd say it is less to with build quality/materials used though and more to do with coatings/finish being poor or non-existent (maybe that is the same as build quality?)

Your car undersides will be painted then sealed and probably galvanised or similar to begin with.
Your bike will have a microscopic layer of water based paint in some areas, the rest will be completely bare.

The metal is probably of the same quality, it is just more exposed.
When I was training and cheap cars rusted almost as fast as bikes do now I heard an anecdote that Ford were using higher quality steel than Rolls Royce but they didn't last as long because the Rolls had 12 layers of treatments and paint but the Ford only had 2 - I don't know if it was true but illustrated the point.

Not disagreeing, I just tend to think of it as a finish problem rather than build quality, hence Data's near pristine bike because he has addressed the lack of finish.