Triumph Tiger 800

[av_mech]

Originally Posted by rubRsidedown

That FUEL exhaust looks VERY nice.
I'd like to hear it over a stock unit.

A little before and after YouTube action, no?

I'll take a video and post it. Gimme a day or so. Another nice thing about the Fuel is that is has a removable baffle. The baffle can also be cut to let more sound out with our removing it fully. I haven't cut mine yet. It's pretty good with the full baffle in. Way better sound than the Stocker. Not to mention A LOT lighter and smaller. I was dumbfounded when I felt how much that stock exhaust weighs. I can't remember when exactly I put it on, but I'm pretty sure I have about 16,000 miles with the exhaust. Love it. No problems at all.

[av_mech]

A couple of parts/maintenance questions for you guys. I've got 18272 miles on Hobbes now. And not a single one commuting, I might add.

I'm due for new brake pads on the rear. Anybody got a recommendation for an aftermarket that might be a bit cheaper than Triumph? We finally got our dealership back in the Boise area and they still don't have their parts computer up yet, so I haven't priced them from Triumph. Just want to evaluate options.

Also checked the chain stretch and did a good inspection of the stock sprockets. The rear sprocket still looks great after 18.000 miles of sand, mud, dirt, and highway. The front sprocket is due. The chain stretch is just past it's limit of 12.56 in for 20 links. I think 18,000 miles is great to get out of a set of sprockets and chain. But, is there something better? I'll probably go with the Triumph again cause of the great mileage I've gotten. Unless you guys got something better.

[rubRsidedown]

Originally Posted by av_mech

I'll take a video and post it. Gimme a day or so. Another nice thing about the Fuel is that is has a removable baffle. The baffle can also be cut to let more sound out with our removing it fully. I haven't cut mine yet. It's pretty good with the full baffle in. Way better sound than the Stocker. Not to mention A LOT lighter and smaller. I was dumbfounded when I felt how much that stock exhaust weighs. I can't remember when exactly I put it on, but I'm pretty sure I have about 16,000 miles with the exhaust. Love it. No problems at all.

Yes the aftermarket exhausts are certainly lighter and usually run cooler.
I know my HMFs on my 950 ADVenture are MUCH cooler to temp over the stock boat anchor cans that came on it. Certainly a much deeper note over stock too with the quiet inserts and without them it's totally NASCAR/Lucifer sounding. Gotta love the tone when down shifting and or getting off throttle coming down from speed.

Why am I reading the Triumph site so much some may ask....
Well my Wife will be up for a new bike within a year or so and I REALLY think the Triumph or BMW 800 would be a GREAT bike for her. Yeah, I MIGHT just have to ride it too from time to time.

[E-town dirt dude]

Originally Posted by xcountry41

Hey E-town Just a quick Hi , proud new owner of a 2012 orange XC out in Ft. Saskatchewan. Thought it would be good to touch base as you apparantly are researching improvements etc.
Just in the process of setting mine up . Going to go with the stock exhaust for now. Shooting to install my SW Motech crash bars, top rack, and GIVI trekker top box this weekend I hope (yard work ). Going with triumph skid plate, heated grips and fog lights. Ordered a Giant loop great basin soft luggage system to try in front of the Givi instead of side cases for now. 800km service tomorrow . Man I'm loving this bike! Hoping to head to the Kootenays over Gray creek pass with it in a couple weeks.
Cheers, Gary

Hi Gary,
I'll PM you my contact info. Would be good to hook up for a ride.

Cheers

Mark

[cug]

Originally Posted by av_mech

Look into FUEL EXHAUST from the UK. It arrived in five days, was about $200, fit and finish was awesome, and it sounds great!

Do you have a photo straight from the rear and maybe even one straight from above to gauge how wide that exhaust is?

[bross]

Originally Posted by rubRsidedown

Yes the aftermarket exhausts are certainly lighter and usually run cooler.
I know my HMFs on my 950 ADVenture are MUCH cooler to temp over the stock boat anchor cans that came on it. Certainly a much deeper note over stock too with the quiet inserts and without them it's totally NASCAR/Lucifer sounding. Gotta love the tone when down shifting and or getting off throttle coming down from speed.

Why am I reading the Triumph site so much some may ask....
Well my Wife will be up for a new bike within a year or so and I REALLY think the Triumph or BMW 800 would be a GREAT bike for her. Yeah, I MIGHT just have to ride it too from time to time.

Since buying my Tiger, my wife said she wants to go demo a Roadie. Don't think she'll ever get ride of her Street Triple R, but it sure would be nice to have two Tigers for exploring. She loves her DR200 but it sucks on the highway.

[cug]

Originally Posted by cug

So, last weekend I got my center stand installed - best farkle on the bike so far ...

And today the 15mm raising links arrived and I got them installed:

Had a chance for a little bit longer test ride during lunch time today.

I don't think there is a difference in the way the bike goes into corners, doesn't feel sharper or quicker in that regard. If there is a difference, without an A to B comparison with an unmodified Tiger I would say everything I might "feel" could be imagination.

What I do feel and where I'm certain it's not just imagination is that it does have a less pronounced tendency to go wide in curves. The Roadie always gave me the feeling that I had to push it a bit more, correct a the line slightly, when going through longer curves where you are leaned over for a longer time. This seems to be much less pronounced for me. Very happy with that.

Also, when I was out today I did not scratch the pegs in the corners I typically touched down before. Probably just a matter of time to get there again, but the added clearance certainly helps feeling a bit better about it.

So, overall money well spent (roughly $100).

Unfortunately the ride today showed me even more that I need to get something done to the front suspension ...

[Snapper]

^^ Thanks Cug, can't wait for my risers to come in. Dragging pegs again yesterday, too old and knees hurt too much to get of the seat for every corner, 10 corners per mile. My previous Harley had better clearance, and unfortunately, I'm serious.

[cug]

I'm normally not that fast or lean that much over - I move my upper body into a corner, but don't shift on the seat. That's only an indicator to the cops that you're going way too fast and they pull you out sometimes based on that impression. Nevertheless, at some point in time I scraped with the V-Strom, the F800GS, even the R1200GS, but the Tiger takes the candle - touches down the earliest of these bikes.

What version did you go with? +15mm?

Update: did a little bit of math and some guesstimates regarding the bike (can't measure right now), but I don't think the lean angle improves that much with that mod either, I ended up estimating something around 3 degrees. Better than nothing though.

[Snapper]

I got the 15mm... if you calculate 3 degrees, that should be around an 8% improvement as I think this bike has ~ 38-39 degree lean angle (just comparing to my previous Harley which had a 39-40 degree angle). That might just be enough for me, and I have a 30" inseam and like the low seat height.

Interesting about moving upper body vs lower body - I'm the opposite. I prefer getting my butt off the seat, but keeping my head and upper body a little more centered as I feel it looks much less "racy" to LEOs and other traffic approaching from the other direction. This is just based on what I see when a bike is approaching me - I can easily see what their upper body is doing, but less on their lower body position.

[cug]

I will do some measuring and calculate later tonight with me being on the bike and an actual measurement instead of my big thumb estimate. I'll get back on that.

Regarding moving upper vs. lower body, you are probably right - I don't move too much, first of all I sit very upright with the Rox risers on the Tiger, so when I'm going fast I lean slightly forward and then it's just a "kiss the mirror" type of move to bring a bit more weight to the inside of the corner. If I touch down with that - too bad, I'll just ride slower then ...

[littlelionmonster]

thanks for the exhaust suggestions! Couple better options that what I was finding on ebay.

Don't think I'm going to be able to pick up the Tiger until next Friday, then I have to travel for work the next week. My dad will have it all broke in by the time I get home.

(I am now stopped my foot, throwing a fit like my 2 year old)

[cug]

Originally Posted by cug

I will do some measuring and calculate later tonight

From what I measured and calculated I won't get much more than 2 degrees more lean angle. That's roughly 5%. Still something. I might be off because there are a few things to consider that I didn't all bother calculating ... (width of tire, rolling onto the side of the tire while leaning, ...)

Still, overall I'm very happy with the purchase.

[Rich B]

I had asked some questions a while back about a Tiger 800XC for 2 up, already had made my mind up I liked the bike....

Well add me to the list of Tiger 800 owners Drug home a 2011 800XC with ABS last weekend with 754 miles on it. Wife LOVES the pillion perch! And pegs.

Me - this is the new bike I have waited for 30 years for. I have tried a lot of bikes in that time, none really did it for me..so my trusty 68 BSA Lightning remained the ride of choice for a long time, since new bikes just didn't excite me. Well, hope the BSA isn't jealous now that I have a new favorite ride! Gawd I love this bike

[av_mech]

The best mod I have done to my bike. Getting the suspension reworked by Sasquatch.

As of right now, I don't know of anybody else that has made the upgrades that I have done. Not to say that somebody hasn't done it, cause I'm pretty sure the chances are good that somebody has, I just don't know who. I haven't read anything yet.

And when I say "I", I really mean Jay over at Sasquatch Suspensions in Boise, ID. I helped a bit, but it was his expertise that transformed this bike.

I put about 15,000 glorious miles on "Hobbes" before I had the suspension done. I thought the suspension was fantastic out of the box, but I knew it could be better. I bottomed it out a fair amount and I could tell that even with preload, the rear was soft.

I contacted Jay and he was excited to work on a new platform and add it to his repertoires.

I met up with him in early April 2012 to talk about how the bike handled and so he could get a first hand look at it.

I showed up with zero miles remaining on the fuel counter. We took the sag measurements with ZERO fuel, no safety gear, and just me. I'm 5'10 and 180 lbs at the time. I'm less now. Been working out.

The sags were blown out with no weight on the bike! And even before that, Jay could tell that the front fork springs were weak from where they were riding on the exposed piston.

The measurements we took are as follows.

The front measured at 3.25" with a target of 2.85". The rear measured 3.6" with a target of 2.96". The rear was measured with zero preload cranked on. When we cranked on full preload, we were able to hit the target at 2.9". Please keep in mind that these measurements were taken with no fuel, safety gear, or luggage/camping gear. Once I added all that stuff, the numbers would be far worse.

Just an FYI, we calculated the target sag as 30-35% of the full suspension travel. Measurements were taken from the axle to a known point on the bodywork.

So, there was work to be done on my bike. And, I know yours as well.

We got together again on 4-15-12 after I returned from a 1000 mile trip to Seattle and back.


We dropped the forks and shock in no time. Jay was quick to have the disassembly done. This guy really knows what he's doing.

We took a ton of measurements and calculated spring rates. Then, we talked about how I wanted the bike to perform.

I told him that with full fuel, full safety gear, full backpack with 100oz of water, and 30lbs of camping gear in my tail bag, I wanted ZERO preload set. Yes, for a day ride with out the camping gear on, it will be a bit stiff. But, the only time I want to crank on the preload is when I have a passenger, or I actually put my aluminum Happy Trails panniers on.

Done. We had to have custom springs made since he couldn't find a pre-made part number to get what I wanted. Getting a custom spring is very little price difference from a pre-made one. We just couldn't find what we were looking for in a pre-made size and rate.

Then, we went into some detailed questions about how I wanted the valving done. He asked if it felt like the brakes when on when I hit washboard. Yes. He asked if the front drifted around a corner in washboard. Yes. Do you jump the bike? Yes, I have been known to get air from time to time.

I was really surprised when he asked me all these detailed questions about how the bike handled, it turns out that it really doesn't handle all that well. The ride is great, but it has some areas that need some real improvement.

After a few days, the springs returned for manufacturer and I was back at his shop for reassembly. The bike went back together just as easy as it came apart.

I sat on the bike for the first time with the mods and I could immateriality tell that it sat higher when I got on it. I thanked Jay for all his hard work, but I had to run! I don't take weekends off from riding that often and it was time to go!

But first, we had to grab the "after" sag numbers. This time I had about half a tank of fuel and I still left all the safety gear off to keep the numbers as honest as possible.

The front measured at 2.75" with the same target of 2.85". A drastic improvement over the 3.25". And now I had 15-20 lbs of fuel in the tank that I didn't have before.

The rear measured at 2.85" with a target of 2.96" with zero pre-load. Once again, a drastic improvement over the 3.6" before the mods.

Then, I got to ride it. WOW! Let me just say, "WOW!" Here's where the bike improved; EVERYWHERE! When hitting washboard, the bike no longer slows down. I noticed immediately that the front tracks way better through corners. Both on dirt and pavement. The front end dives much less when braking. The back just feels "planted" when accelerating on pavement. Cornering feels much better with less "bounce" when encountering bumps in a corner.

I still felt some pretty hard bottoms in the front end when hitting water bars on FR275 North of Boise. The bottom outs on the back are gone. Period. Haven't bottomed the back since I had the work done.

So, I called Jay to tell him the great news about the majority about the mods and the bad news about two parts. I wanted the second stage of the front shim stack to have some more resistance to the hard hits. Have I mentioned that I ride this bike hard yet? And, one of my fork seals was leaking. It happens to the best of us. Jay got me in that day to fix the seal and make the change to the valve stacks in the front. His work carries a 1 year, unlimited mileage warranty for any valving changes that you want made. 60 days for the seals. No problems fixing it.

The change we made was just the ticket. I still bottom the front end every now and then, but nothing like before we made the change. And not even in the same ballpark as to how much I bottomed it before we made the spring and shim changes the first time. Every bike will bottom out every now and then. Hell, I bottom out my dirt bike.

The process is simple. Drop your shock and forks and put them in the mail. He shoots for a five day turn around. Get your stuff back modified, reinstall, and prepare to be amazed with how well this bike performs once the suspension is given a little love.

I've ridden over 4000 miles on these mods now and I am totally stoked. It is amazing what he has done to improve the ride of the Tiger. I would highly recommend at least giving him a call to talk about what he can do for you. He's seen the insides and knows the changes to make. To my knowledge, nobody else has done this R&D yet. This is the best mod I have made on my bike. Period. Call Jay at Sasquatch Suspensions. Go to his website HERE.

Pricing info. Off the bike, parts shipped in. Shock: $450, Forks $350. Plus return shipping.

Here's Jay saying hello.