Reference Materials

Triumph Triple Owners Survey Report

A 7,000,000 Mile Road Test

(Motorcycle Consumer News, March 2002. Page 26, 30)

If you take the percentage of Triumph’s market share in the USA, and multiply that by the number of MCN subscribers, you’d get a total of about 1000 people who should be both Triumph motorcycle owners and MCN readers. Of course, they wouldn’t all own triples. But going for a ballpark figure and knowing that surveys typically usually get a return rate of about 3% - 5%, we were worried that this survey might not give a high enough return rate to be statistically valid. But, our Owners’ Surveys often surprise us with a higher-than-expected response, so we decided to take a chance, hoping we would get at least get a 10% return, or about 100 completed survey forms. Imagine our surprise when over 500 surveys poured into the MCN offices. Either MCN rates very highly with Triumph owner, or the Triumph-riding readers we did have really wanted to be heard. Either way, we were very pleased.

And, speaking in averages again, we can usually expect that about 25% of the returned forms will be accompanied by pictures, and about a third of those will be of sufficient quality for printing. This time, more than half the submissions included photos, and about two-thirds of those were good enough to print. In other words, we had about 175 great photos to choose from for this article, so please don’t feel bad if you sent one in and it didn’t get printed. It doesn’t meant hat it wasn’t deemed to be good enough – we were just overwhelmed.

The second big surprise was the number of female owners / riders responding. We hadn’t asked a survey question regarding sex, but in reading through the forms it became obvious that we were getting a very high percentage of returns from the women. Out o curiosity, and with no other way to find out for sure, we finally did a hand count of the forms with either photos or names that identified the owner as female. The final tally was 127, or just about 25% of the survey total. That’s more than 10 times the national average for female motorcycle ownership, and we can’t help but wonder if Triumph’s marketing department is aware of their obviously tremendous appeal to female riders.

Bikes & Miles
The most popular Triumph triples reported on were the various Sprint models, at over 33% of the total. Thunderbirds and Speed Triples were pretty closely equal in second place, with about 14% each, followed by Tiger owners at 10.5% and Trophys at 9.2% Daytonas made up 8.5% and then there was a sharp drop-off to the Tridents (4.1%), Legends (3.9%) and Adventurers (3.3%). The model year best represented was 2000, but was nearly tied by 1999 models. 1995, ’96, ’98, and 2001 were almost equal at about 8% each of the total, but for some odd reason, 1997 was poorly represented, at less than 6%. The only year with fewer bikes in the survey was 2002 (since they had just come out), with only two bikes reported on. Of the total, 80% were purchased new by those responding to the survey, and 20% were bought used.

The average mileage on your bike was 14,500 miles – also borne out by the 10,000 to 15,000 mile box being the most often selected. Figuring conservatively, all of the survey forms added together reveal a grand total of just over 7,000,000 miles of real world experiences in the survey results.

Problem Areas
In general, it appears that most Triumph triple owners have had very few problems with their bikes. When asked how many times their bike had to go back to the dealer for repairs in the first year, 49.1% reported “None,” and another 29.9% reported only one such incidence. The number five, six, seven and eight or more were each recorded by less than 0.5% (one-half of one percent) of the owners.

One can’t help but draw comparisons to our recent “BMW Oilhead Owners’ Report” (MCN June 2001), where 43.5% of the owners reported no trips to the dealer in the first year, and 24.2% took their bikes in only once. Perhaps even more telling, 3% of the Beemer owners had taken their bikes back eight or more times, while only one-tenth as many Triumph owners reported the same. About the only thing that can be said in BMW’s defense is that their riders also racked up nearly double the average miles per year as the Triumph owners, which could account for some of the service discrepancy. Still, considering BMW’s reputation for reliability, it would seem that Triumph is doing exceptionally well in the quality control area.

When asked about problem areas that required repeated or extended work, it seems we missed the boat with the specific item we asked about, as the largest number came in the box checked “Other.” Of course, this required reading each individual comment and hand-tallying the results, but what we found was rather interesting. Three different items cropped up with noticeable regularity. In order of frequency, they were: 1) Clutch cable breakage, 2) fuel tank leaks, and 3) fuel gauge sending unit failure. The good news is that all of these problems, plus a few others that weren’t quite as frequently noted (oil leaks, frame cracks and steering head bearing problems), seem to be clustered around 1997 through 1999 models, with very few occurrences noted after 1999. This would seem to say that Triumph identified the problem, and took steps to cure them on later models.

By model, the Tigers, Daytonas and Trophys spent the most time in the shop, while the Tridents, Legends and Adventurers spent the least.

Dealers and Parts
In terms of dealer satisfaction, 72% of our Triumph owners rated their dealers’ service as either “High” or “Very High.” That’s a pretty good rating, but it should be noted that a very large percentage of our respondents also added notes to the effect that although they felt their dealer was trying to help them out all they could, that the dealer wasn’t getting any support from the factory. Over and over we read the refrain that when something went wrong that required special warranty or parts, neither the dealer nor the customer could get any advice or assistance from their factory representatives. Nearly a dozen of those surveyed went so far as to sell their Triumphs out of sheer frustration, and bought another brand of bike. Not because they didn’t like their Triumphs, but because they felt the company–Triumph–just didn’t care about their customers.

This same attitude can be seen in the ratings given for parts and accessories availability. Nearly 50% of our triple owners rated parts availability in the “Neutral” to “Very Low” categories. That is the lowest rating in this category we’ve ever seen.
[Since publication in Motorcycle Consumer News–March 2002–Triumph supposedly opened a warehouse along the eastern seaboard and parts availability has improved dramatically – Canyon Chasers]

Aftermarket Accessories
The purchase of aftermarket accessories, to “customize” the bike to the owner’s riding style or purpose, can tell a lot about a specific model. For example, not one single legend or Daytona owner reported having purchased a replacement seat for their bike, yet 39% of all Trophy owners, and 24% of all Thunderbird owners surveyed had opted for the high-price modification. It tells you something about the difference in the seats, and at the same time makes you wonder—if Triumph can make a seat that is comfortable and satisfactory for all Daytona and Legend owners, why can’t they make one to do the same for Trophy owners?

Likewise, and almost in reverse order, 36% of Daytona owners have chosen to replace their handlebars (probably with bar risers), yet not one single Legend, Tiger or Trophy owner has felt a need to do the same. It would seem that if you sort out the ergonomics on one model, why not on the others you build?

Another telling statistic is always the frequency with which owners purchase aftermarket shocks for their bikes. Here, Triumph seems to have things sorted out pretty well. The largest purchasers of replacement shocks are Speed Triple owners, but even among them, only 5% felt the need. On all other models, it’s no more than 1% to 2%.

Of course, luggage is always a big seller, and ranks as the number-one accessory purchase among Tiger and Sprint owners. For Adventurer, Thunderbird and Legend owners, the first pick is a windshield.

Tire Preferences
The choice of what kind of rubber to put on you Triumph was very model-specific, so here’s the breakdown:

Adventurer
1. Avon (61.5%)
2. Michelin & Metzeler (tied at 15.5%)
3. Dunlop (7.7%)

Legend
1. Bridgestone (75.0%)
2. Dunlop (6.5%)
3. Michelin (6.2%)

Thunderbird
1. Michelin (34.4%)
2. Avon (24.6%)
3. Pirelli (16.4%)

Tiger
1. Metzeler (48.8%)
2. Michelin (39.5%)
3. Avon (4.7%)

Trophy
1. Bridgestone (53.7%)
2. Dunlop (29.9%)
3. Avon (4.9%)

Speed Triple
1. Bridgestone (49.1%)
2. Dunlop (21.8%)
3. Avon (9.1%)

Daytona
1. Bridgestone (37.8%)
2. Dunlop (32.4%)
3. Metzeler (8.1%)

Sprint
1. Bridgestone (45.8%)
2. Dunlop (25.7%)
3. Avon (9.0%)

Trident
1. Dunlop (42.1%)
2. Pirelli (31.6%)
3. Bridgestone (15.8%)

What Made You But It?
Triumph should be proud of its demo ride program, as it was listed and the number-one influence on the final buying decision by our survey respondents (26.2%). However, bring up a close second overall, and scoring as the number-one reason among Trident and Thunderbird owners, was “Style & Looks,” at 24.9% overall. And, of course, the old brand loyalty never hurts, and still exists even for a name as long out of the game as Triumph was. A little over 20% of those surveyed admitted they’d owned a previous generation Triumph, and that was the main reason they bought a new one.

In addition, magazine reviews are still pretty influential, resulting in about 11% of the overall sales, and scoring over 20% as primary influences among Sprint owners.

Previous and Current Bikes
Among those responding, 63% had never owned a Triumph before, so the company is obviously making very good progress in luring new customers. Nearly half of our Triumph owners had more than one bike in the family garage, and among those, brand popularity went as follows:

1. Honda (36.6%)
2. BMW (27.9%)
3. Yamaha (22.3%)
4. Harley (20.3%)
5. Kawasaki (18.6%)
6. Suzuki (17.7%)
7. Ducati (13.5%)
8. Moto Guzzi (5.6%)
9. All others were under 2% each

We asked, “Do you consider yourself and Anglophile?” just to see how many of your Triumph owners would admit to just plain loving anything British. To our surprise, 22.5% of those surveyed readily admitted to it. Perhaps we should have asked for the Germanophiles in our BMW survey?

Owner Satisfaction
Overall satisfaction with the bikes themselves seemed to run very high, with 94.2% of all triple owners rating their satisfaction as “High” or “Very High.” Only 1.1% gave a “Low” rating to their bikes, and less than 0.6% gave a “Very Low.” This sets a new MCN record for customer satisfaction, beating out the former championship rating of 90.4% recorded by our Honda ST1100 owners back in 1994.

Of course, you could argue that the ST is a single model, and we were surveying a whole range of bikes here, so we went to the trouble of breaking the figures down by specific model, and all but one—The Adventurer—still broke the ST’s record. For those of you looking for bragging rights, here’s how it broke out:

1. Trident, at 99.0%
2. Speed Triple, at 98.4%
3. Thunderbird, at 95.5%
4. Legend, at 94.5%
5. Sprint, at 93.4%
6. Trophy, at 92.9%
7. Daytona, at 92.3%
8. Tiger, at 91.7%
9. Adventurer, at 86.6%

Those are some awesomely impressive numbers, and something Triumph should be very proud of. But from what we also see in this survey, they’d better get some serious work done on their customer/dealer backup if they expect to keep those number. Building a great bike is only half the job—you’ve got to provide a positive experience after the sale to keep customers.

As things stand right now, Triumph is riding a fairly strong wave of brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, as is evidenced by the reaction to Question #16: “Being brutally honest, if you had it all to do over again, would you still buy this bike?” Of our 500-plus triple owners, 86.2% responded “Yes.” By comparison, that’s 1.2% higher than BMW owners reported in our latest poll, and the Beemerphiles are famous for their fanatical support of the German marque.

Broken down by model, the Trident, Legend and Speed Triple owners were the ones most inclined to buy the same bike all over again, given the chance. Those with the worst case of “buyer’s remorse”—who’d buy something different if they had it all to do over again—were the Adventurer and Daytona owners.

Bottom Line
We hardly need to sum it up for you. This is probably the most black-and-white survey result we’ve ever seen. The conclusions are clear. Triumph has managed, in just a decade, to make a remarkable comeback—at least as far as their product is concerned. Their bikes are, for the most part, innovative, distinctive, highly functional and well-built. Performance is on a par with the best in the market, and product development and design-flaw correction has been good. Overwhelmingly, Triumph owners love their machines. But it becomes a love/hate relationship when you factor in the factory’s technical and parts support to its dealers after the sale. Obviously, there is a big problem to be solved. Of our survey respondents who said they either intend to sell their bike, or would never buy another Triumph, over 90% gave their reason as dissatisfaction with customer service after the sale.

Word of mouth goes a long, long way in the motorcycling community. One happy Triumph owner can, in the course of a year, easily bring two or three more buyers into his local dealership. But in the reverse situation, one really pissed-off Triumph owner, who couldn’t ride his bike for six months because he had to wait for a $10 part to be delivered, can and will tell his story loud and long to anyone who’ll listen.

We at MCN have truly enjoyed the Triumph triples we’ve had the pleasure of testing, and more than one of us has seriously considered buying a new Triumph. But, what we’ve learned would have to give us pause about such a decision. It is our fervent hope that Triumph will take our survey results to heart and make a serious effort to address their customer service problems—because they really do make great motorcycles.

SIDEBAR

Talking Back to Triumph
We’ve never encountered a group of motorcycle owners with so much to say before. Not only did over 95% of those surveyed fill out the four-line “message to Triumph” section (our highest response to this type of question ever), but nearly a third (173) attached extra pages of comments to the questionnaire. In general, the comments fell into two separate categories: Those regarding the bikes themselves, and comments regarding the company in general. Often, the forms included two sets of comments, one on each subject, so we’ll address the two categories separately. The notation in parentheses after primary comments are an approximate indication of the number of times this statement was repeated, either verbatim, or nearly so, by other respondents.

Comments About the Bikes

“Keep the Triumph unique. Don’t try to be Japanese” (X75)

“…the triple is your strong suit.”
“…nothing sounds like a Triumph triple.”
“…a distinctive bike in a me-too world.”

“Put a shaft drive on the Trophy” (X50)

“…your larger touring models would be perfect with a shaft drive.”
“…the chain is old-hat for sport-touring. Give us a shaft or a belt.”

“Great bike, but difficult to work on.” (X20)

“…difficult to replace tires or spark plugs.”
“…too hard to adjust the chain or perform other standard maintenance.”

“Needs more aggressive, distinctive styling” (X10)

“…the Daytona looks too Japanese.”
“…go your own way. Stop trying to look like a Kawasaki.”

Comments About the Company

“Parts availability suck.” (X250)

“…a four-month wait for a headlight!”
“…a turn signal mounting bracket was back-ordered for six months.”
“…there is something very wrong with your parts-ordering process.”
“…five months waiting for parts? I sold my Triumph and bought a Honda.”

“Dealer support is non-existent.” (X200)

“…technical support is a term Triumph execs would need a Webster’s to define.”
“…the bike is great, but Triumph has no concept of customer service.”
“…please improve relationships with your dealers. They get no support at all.”
“…you make a great bike, but your factory/dealer/customer relations is going to kill you.”

“Where’s the marketing?” (X25)

“…no one seems to know Triumph is back in business.”
“…sure wish you’d go racing again, so people would know Triumph is back.”

Photo Captions:

Craig [Last names omitted] of Miami Beach, Florida, says he’s a, “corporate jet pilot who likes speed and handling on the ground, too.” He’s 64 years old, and bought his first Triumph in 1951. As for his current ride, a 1999 Speed Triple, he loves the bike, but says dealer support is lacking.

Ken and Marcia of Carboro, North Carolina, with his 2000 Sprint and her 1999 Legend. Marcia says she’s added a Works shocks and Race Tech springs for better road-holding.

Leslie of San Luis Obispo, California, and her 1998 Daytona. This is her first Triumph, and she loves the styling, but says she has to travel 225 miles one-way for service.

Paul of Sierra Vista, Arizona, and his 1995 Tiger. Like so many Triumph owners, Paul says he loves his bike, but rates customer service from Triumph as “Very Low.”

Paul and his wife, and their five (count ‘em) Triumphs. Paul restores classic British cars for a living in Lakeland, Florida. He says he’s demo’ed a lot of bikes, but nothing satisfies his motorcycling enjoyment like a Triumph.

John of Portland, Texas, with his 200 Daytona and his 1997 T-Bird in Watsonian Jubillee Sidhack. Like most Daytona owners, he’s added Heli bars to the 955, but basically he’s very happy with his Triumph except for (here we go again) parts availability problems.

Frances of Winona, Texas, and her 1996 Thunderbird, She says she loves the way it looks, but she’s had to buy and aftermarket seat, and wishes Triumph could make the bike a bit lower.

Have you hugged your Triumph lately? Brad of Guilderland, New York, says he thinks Triumph has lost their styling direction since building his 1995 Daytona Super III.

Tom of St. Louis, Missouri, on his 1997 T595 Daytona at the California Superbike School. Tom says his Daytona made him understand the meaning of “character” in a bike, but not until after a lot of early mechanical problems were sorted out.

NOTE: This text was taken directly from the March 2002 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News. Motorcycle Consumer News does not accept any advertising and is supported purely by subscritions so they can provide unbiased information about motorcycling. This is one of the best motorcycle magazines available and we strongly encourage all motorcyclists to subscribe to this great magazine!

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