Used 09 Street Triple - good buy?

[loyojl9]

Hi everyone, new to the forum and very likely a new member of the Triumph owner community. I’ve had other bikes before but never a Triumph, so know very little about the brand (though I’ve wanted a Street Triple for a loong time!).
I’m looking at a good price 09 Street Triple (I’m in Singapore so saying it’s about 5k usd doesn’t mean much, but trust me that’s a cheap bike - happy to explain why after the technical question is resolved). Main point is the price is really good and likely to go fast (plus I get a decent trade in price for my current bike).
Thing is, the bike has been crashed but probably low speed (has a approx 2-3mm of the brake pedal ground down) and has been repainted. I inspected the frame and it seems original paint and not cracked or repaired.
It does have the infamous engine paint bubbling, which doesn’t bother me if it’s cosmetic. I did a couple of test rides and the engine runs smoothly, starts right away, bike tracks straight as far as I can tell, engine fan starts when engine gets hot, no debris in oil (but probably new oil so it doesn’t mean much). Bike has 80k kilometres (about 50k miles in freedom units). The valve clearance has been done recently, and it has new battery, new tires, new pads but slightly worn discs, suspension seems fine, chain and sprocket seem well taken care of, very little wear. Shocks don’t leak but the outer seal rubber is a bit hard, which is probably to be expected of a 15 year old bike and the service isn’t too expensive to service with the shop that sells it. The shocks are not pitted or scratched. The shop will give me a 2 month engine + electrical warranty.

What does give me a bit of doubt are a couple of things:

1. The engine head cover and the oil pan have newer paint than the block and the head (apologies if I'm getting the terminology wrong - mechanic knowledge a bit rusty but se pics) - this to me suggests a rebuild at some point. The current owner (at least 2nd) claims no knowledge of prior work done, and there aren’t any service records.
2. There is a weird bolt + nut coming out of the engine head, and the shop mechanic (not Triumph, just a generic shop that sells it), tells me it's a mod to adjust timing belt tensioning. I have no idea if that is a thing.
3. Bike has been tracked. Not necessarily bad if it's been taken care of. Not looking to track it, just to commute and have some fun on the weekends.
4. Dash doesn't seem to match the model year of the bike from what I've seen online.

So my question is - how big of a risk am I taking by buying this machine? She’s beautiful and I really like it - don’t mind spending say a couple grand in the next 2 years or in maintenance so and plan on keeping it for about 3-5 years.

[Hubaxe]

not sure I would take the risk. But if those are rare in Singapour, it must be weight in the balance.

[Wessa]

Agree @Hubaxe , as you say local knowledge is essential in making the decision.

[AdieP]

Hello loyojl9. I’m going to start by saying this message will likely not be easy for either of us! I get the sense from your message that you are very keen on the Street Triple that you’ve seen - and pictured for us - and that, while seeking some opinion, you are also, to some degree, almost looking for some ‘approval’ from someone on here to confirm that it’s worth buying. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course, and it’s a very sensible approach, especially if you’re not very familiar with the model, but it also carries a risk for you and for any commentator. Regardless of that risk I’m going to try to give you my PERSONAL opinion and hope that you take it in the spirit of friendly advice from an experienced but non expert owner.

I will start with a summary and that might save you from reading the remainder of the message if you aren’t in agreement with what I might be suggesting.

That suggestion would be to walk away VERY quickly from the Street Triple which you’ve pictured for us. I realise that our two countries will have very different market place and social environments but, I have to tell you, that I can’t recall ever having seen anything quite as bad as that example and certainly not one for sale for anything other than spare parts. Harsh, I know, as our expectations will differ hugely, but I can’t help but feel sure that you could find something MUCH better than that for the money.

Apart from the awful finish on the engine - it looks like somebody has tried to apply paint over the original engine finish (which, I seem to recall, is a special heat proof “powder coat” type process) and the paint used has reacted with the factory applied finish to cause that awful bubbling and wrinkling - there are other signs of corrosion and neglect.

The bolt that you mention on the rear of the cylinder block is, in itself, (to me) a HUGE warning sign! That bolt has, for some unknown reason, been used to replace the automatic camchain tensioner - the ST doesn’t have a “timing belt” as the mechanic is suggesting, though that could just be a language difference thing. I’m speculating here, but the factory fitted automatic tensioner may have been removed to prevent potential problems when the bike has been used hard on the racetrack? And, following on from that, the replacement of the clocks/dash, might suggest that perhaps the bike has, at some point, been crashed and/or front end damaged badly enough to need replacement of the clocks/dash? That’s not damage I’d want to have any of my bikes suffer.

loyojl9 I realise that this might sound harsh and be disappointing but I really do think that you would be even more disappointed some time in the near future if you did buy that bike and subsequently discovered its history has been rather less benign than is being presented to you.

I am currently selling (on my wife’s behalf) a 2009 Street Triple - see the FOR SALE section on this forum - that, by comparison to the one you’ve pictured, would appear to be showroom fresh! I have NO idea of the exchange rates but USD 5,000 is almost the same price as the bike I’m selling at 3,900GBP but the difference in value (and mileage) is enormous. It might even be worth you looking seriously into the possibility of buying and shipping a motorcycle from the UK (or Australia?) and importing it to your country.

I wish you luck with your search and your purchase but have to say that I think you should be able to find a better example than the one you’ve pictured.