Triumph Tiger 800

Just got off the phone with my dealer. I can pick up my Black Road ABS on the 20th. Its been in 3 weeks already and triumph have called to find out why its not registered yet. (I was out of the country) Then 10 days to get a slot in the workshop for PDI and such.
FWIW I put down £100 in October as a deposit...which the dealers computer system counted as credit and used it to buy farkles for my Scram. Weird.

I had an opportunity to ride both back to back this past Saturday and that was my thought as well. On pavement the Tiger street was WAY nicer. Didn't get a test ride on the XC so no idea how that comparison would be in the dirt. I loved the Tiger street though and handed my keys over to the salesman to work up the numbers on my 1050 Tiger.

I have the noise but I quite like it sounds like my old MZ250 I had back in the day

Ha, okay, good to know.

As for the "dealer fees" how bad were they? I worked the dealer in Cali down a bunch since I was buying a good number of accessories... Hope I can do the same with this one.

Just picked up a white 800 XC Saturday. It was a demo bike with 14 miles on it; it had actually never been demo'd by a customer, only the dealer had ridden it. Anyway, here are my first impressions:

For me (5'5") the windscreen is adequate. Noise isn't too bad, but I'll have to ride in calm air to make a better assessment. This morning on the way to work (~60 mile commute each way) the wind was blowing pretty good, so it's hard to say if I'll replace the stock windscreen or not.

Love that engine! The exhaust note with the Arrow is beautiful music.

Thought I can't reach with both feet, the height of the XC vs. the F800GS is one of the reasons I chose the XC. I like the ergonomics better too. I feel like I'm sitting in the cockpit rather than atop a motorcycle.

I'm not sure if I like the bend of the handlebars or not. They seem a little too wide for me. Maybe it's because I'm accustomed to an Aprilia Futura...time will tell.

I fully understand now why folks call BattleWings "DeathWings." They are absolutely horrible on anything but hardpack dirt roads. They seem to be pretty good on the street, but when I took a telephone road they couldn't handle light gravel or sand. She took a dirt nap because of those @#$% BattleWings!

I was looking to trade in for an XC but decided not to. If I recall the fees

Freight 495
Prep 195
Dealer fee 200

When I bought my roadie up in Ringold the only fee I paid was a Doc fee for 80. Kinda pissed me off on the 495 for freight, the warehouse is in Marietta if I remember correctly. The next city south of Kennesaw. Hope this helps.

continuing...

I noticed some buffeting around 70mph+. The windscreen also shakes all over the place, weird...

The suspension seemed a little choppy on the broken pavement common in NEOhio, do you suppose it softens upo a bit with use?

This bike only had 13 miles on it when I rolled out, I suppose the transmission loosens up a bit with some miles as well. Seemed a bit stiff and notchy.

Here I am before I suited up...

Here is the oil leak

Here is the TDM looking over it's shoulder....

Im not sure if GooGone is available worldwide but nothing removes sticky crap like GG! http://www.magicamerican.com/googone/catalog/googonecleaners.aspx

For those interested, I just received the following email from Explorermoto.

"JC, Jesse has a Triumph 800 in the shop as I write this. I saw the mock up last Friday, & the bags look great. Jesse is looking to be in production in 3-4 weeks. We will start with the Odyssey II system, with the Safari's to follow at a later date. Jesse is running some numbers on a cost & will try to keep it in line with the BMW F800GS system at $1195.00. However, the Triumph's exhaust is on the right side which required some retooling & programing, so they might be a little higher in cost."

Test ride on the XC over the weekend. I LOVED it… dammit. Everything about it, and it fits me like a glove (6'-0" 33" inseam). Severely smitten here.

However, I don't require the XC features. Do I need bother to score a test ride on the standard 800 before placing my order (my dealer doesn't have one). In other words, I'm gonna love the roadie just as much, right?

Does Triumph offer a taller seat for both versions of the Tiger? If so, does it also have 2 height settings? Or are we talking aftermarket here?

You had better ride the standard 800 first. Make sure it works for you - they are two different bikes - The suspension makes a big difference. I found the standard less than satisfying compared to the XC ... I wouldn't have bought the standard. :eek1

Trail wings are referred to as Death Wings, not Battle Wings ...

Finaly at friday I got the message from my local dealer that there's a re-assembled venom yellow tiger standing at their parking lot.
Unfortunately they were not able to solve the problem
Today I went back to place an order for an ECU. Basicly everything else has been replaced from the fuel supply and it still doesn't run properly.

Not quite sure how long it's going to take to get a new ECU but hopefully it's going to fix the fuel supply problems assuming that the problem is at the fuel supply...

You aren't paying for it are you?

The seats fit either version of the bike. I haven't seen the taller seat but have to assume it is the same as the lower seat which means it would have the two height settings.

I've not yet been able to take a test ride on an 800 XC, which I'm looking pretty seriously at.

But for those of you who have settled into your bikes now, how do you find your XC on the freeway for longer rides? I know of the various responses about buffeting, but are you getting enough wind protection so that you don't feel that you have to strain to hold on, etc?

Does anybody with BMW R*GS experience have thoughts on how the Tiger compares with respect to the freeway drone capability? (The 1150GS Adv I had was surprisingly good at this, after replacing a seat and windscreen as you do on pretty much any bike you're eating miles with).

Thanks for your input!

I haven't bought a T800 (yet), but I have ridden various GS models for long distances and took an extensive test ride on a T800.

While I'm sure it will vary with each rider's priorities and preference, I think most would find a T800 considerably less capable in true long-distance "drone" mode vs. something like a GS. My impression of the Tiger on my hour+ test ride (with 30 min on the freeway) was of a very light and nimble bike that was a joy in the twisties, but also a bike that had very little wind protection, not a whole lot of high-gear cruising RPM power, a somewhat stiff and non-compliant suspension that didn't to very well on things like freeway expansion joints, and much less overall stability than a telelever BMW. And, of course, less "road hugging" weight.

The weather protection issue may be somewhat fixable by a bigger screen, but my experience is that big screens on small bikes without much fairing is that you end up with a lot more buffeting and less ability to deal with any kind of crosswind.

All bikes are tradeoffs and I loved the Tiger. But I don't think it is a great droner. YMMV.

- Mark

I wanted a hard case on my 800xc quickly for commuter duty. Since I already have several Givi cases around, I ended up pulling a Givi plate (part Z255) off my XR650L and bolting it directly on top of the stock plastic rear rack. I used two 45mm socket head bolts, two washers ground to fit the slot in the Givi plate, some 1/2" tall nylon spacers (which I nested inside each other to get the ID and OD I wanted), and four washers to sandwhich the spacers.

This was sturdy enough for commuting but I wouldn't want to really hammer this setup off road with something heavy in the case.