Another legal question

Problem with my speedo sticking on the Thunderbird ( has happened to
quite a few t/birds ) and we are all waiting for Triumph to fix the
bloody problem.



A few people say that if you get pulled over for speeding tell the
officer your speedo has stuffed up and show him the speedo which will
quite often display a speed even through totally stopped ... today it
showed I was doing 140 and when I stopped it showed 60. Also they reckon
I should get Triumph or the bike dealership to pay the fine


My opinion is that it would be a waste of time showing the copper as
they would say well you shouldnt be riding the bike and then most
probably put a defect sticker on it


And I doubt Triumph would pay the fine but then again they have known
for a while about the problem and haven't fixed it .. thoughts

 

I know this sucks

but its your responsibility to maintain your bike in an road worthy
condition, no one else's

$29 will buy a a bicycle computer until Triumph comes to the party


I am not staying it is right, but standing up in court saying you knew
it didn't work and blaming it on someone else probably will get you a
mouthful

just my 2 cents

mh

 

It's your responsibility to be traveling according to the speed limit.
This applies no matter what, so a dodgy speedo is no defence if the
judge is feeling disinclined to listen to your story.
If the copper's 'instrument of deterrence is wrong, then it's your
responsibility to prove it, impossible though that may be.
Speeding laws are an ass, but a lot of expensive disputes have done
little but have cost the appellant/s heaps.
Get a bike speedo, use a GPS, or park the bike up until it has a
properly functioning speedo.

 

2 changes of returning the bike and waiting and thats buckleys and none

 

my exact opinion

as for the speedo .... its an intermittent fault and could be related
to the heat / sun as riding when cool ( early morning ) it works
perfectly and after riding for about 10 to 15 minutes after its been
sitting in the sun it behaves

also have been told to pull over use the kill switch and try again


actually am considering getting a motorcycle GPS and then annoying
Triumph by asking them to pay for it

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:27:02 -0800 (PST)

Find out just what the requirements are.

Are you absolutely sure a working speedo is required for a vehicle to
be roadworthy?

You are required to keep at or under the limit. How you do that is
your problem.


Zebee

 

While Nev and I tend to disagree on most things
I totally agree with him here
Tell your Triumph dealer to fix it or complain to the ombudsman.

O.T. I had problems with the Triumph with a dodgy speedo, same sort of
problem and it turned out to be misguidance of the speedo cabling through to
the speedo
A shuffle around of the cabling, sorted it out

 

You do not require to have a working speedometer to have the vehicle
roadworthy
You do not have to have working headlights to have the vehicle roadworthy
as long as you only drive that vehicle during daylight hours

 

Going on memory (I don't have the ADRs on hand at this time), any
road-going vehicle that is capable of greater than 40Km/h must have a
speedo. The ADRs also specify an accuracy specification for the speedo
(that as it turns out is quite 'loose") but not loose enough to allow it
to read 140K at standstill.
Since this is in the ADRs, it's the responsibility of the manufacturer
to *supply* a speedo, though, ultimately, it's up to the the end user to
keep it going.

If you get pulled over for speeding, quoting that your speedo said it
was ok doesn't make it ok.

I do not recall any requirement however, for the end user to actually
pay attention to manufacturer-supplied speedo. You can install your own
if you like. And if your own is super-accurate and more reliable than
the built-in unit, then great, if it isn't, then it's the same case as
above, you still get pinged.

In the case of this thread, you have right (I presume under warranty)
to have the built-in speedo fixed to operate within specification, but
like I said above, it's quite loose. And the trouble and stress might
not be worth it.
As already suggested, a bicycle computer (make sure it uses a
hall-effect sensor, not reed!) will give you a more reliable and
accurate reading than many manufacturer supplied units.

This is a more recent change, but correct for now. (in NSW at least
anyway, I haven't kept up to date in other states).

 

It's worse than that. You don't have to *know* your speedo is
inaccurate to get pinged. It could have drifted and become faulty
without your knowing, and still not make any difference as far as fines go.

Basically, your speedo is immaterial to your legally measured speed,
and applicable fines. So, it's in your best interest to have a usable
speedo on board, even if it's not from the manufacturer.

Bashing your head against the wall to get an existing speedo fixed is
stress enough, but the law doesn't care about that.

 

I wouldnt have taken the bike off the showroom floor with a known
issue like this...

Why not... or if you value your license, buy one yourself. I use one
in both cars these days.. amazing how far out the factory speedos are.

 

They would indeed.

The speedo is a safety related issue and to have it not functioning
correctly within the bike's warranty period is something the manufacturer
must address. If Triumph will not repair it then you should be able to
force the issue through the small claims tribunal or whatever the equivalent
organisation is where you live. Having said that riding it knowing of the
issue makes you liable for the consequences.

 

I thought it was law that motorcycles had to have their lights on in the
day or is it just a recommendation to bike manufacturers ?

 

its mentioned quite a few times in the Triumph forums

The dealer has advised me that Triumph should have a replacement in a
few weeks

Now the speedo has worked most of the time and its not hard to figure
out when its goes crazy and the suggested fix ie pull over , turn off
kill switch and turn back on......have tried this the last time it
happened and it worked

 

I will take it on the chin but will enjoy serving it up to Triumph and
its dealer

 

I wonder how liable Triumph would be because they have known about this
problem for a while and my bike build was 10/10 yet they still put a
part on that was faulty

 

That came in a few years ago and all bikes from a certain date, were
required to have the lights hard wired to the ignition.
But I guess that was overturned later.
Personally, I would like to see lights on all the time as it creates a
larger image to the already blind car driver

 

Geezus fuxcking christ Nev, you fucking well amaze me
first you say :
""You should return the bike to the dealer and not ride it again until
the issue is fixed.""
now you say that's not true.
Is this only because I agreed with you and of coarse, anything I say, you
must instantly disagree with?

 

Check the manufacturer code on the speedo. Sounds like it was made by
Microsoft.

Theo

 

Around 1991 and around 1998.

I think lights on creates a worse image for the motorist. All the motorist
can see is the light, not the bike, so they have very poor judgement of your
size, speed and distance. On bikes with a single headlight or two
combination hi-lo beams it also pretty much removes the usefulness of the
headlight flasher.

I would turn the lights off on my bike if it was an easy thing to do, even
though my bike has separate high and low beam lights (two high and two low
beam).

Theo