Triumph Tiger 800

Geez! I totally misread Mercury's post. Left the pictures, anyway.

Here's an overall shot.


A shot with exhaust guards.

I've got the Altrider skidplate. Haven't hit it on anything yet, but it seems very well made, and it seems like it'd protect things very well.

On another note, I passed 800 miles today. I'm sticking to the recommended break-in schedule, so now I can hit 8000 rpm!

So how are you liking the lil' Tigger? Miss your Stelvio yet?

-SM

I saw these over on the DRZ400 side and decided to give them a try.

The Barkbusters even with the added lip on top were not made for cold bitter wind. Even with the heated grips, my hands (mainly my thumb) were still out in the cold.

Now when I post the pictures don't be too harsh, I just hate wearing bulky winter gloves.

Once the temps rise back to a comfortable range I can just snip a tie wrap and undo the Velcro strap.

On the right side you can't compress the Velcro strap as much as the left. It has to go over the master cylinder and brake switch.

Now I just need some studded tires and I'll be ready for some Ice Racing!

Unfortunate that the only picture they show is of a BWM F800! :huh Idiots.

Nothing wrong with rivets. All sorts of things are riveted including steam boilers and large ships.
The difference between riveted and welded is that you can take the riveted one apart and repair then re-rivet. The welded one you have to attack it with a large hammer and have little chance of it ever being the same shape again.

The Altrider one doesn't look like it covers the oil filter.

I understand some folks want to protect their oil filter. That's easy to do with a quick steel cover that runs $30. I don't care if my filter gets a dent or two; it's only on the bike temporarily anyway. I would very much care if it got a puncture, though.

However, with even the Triumph aluminum sump guard, the oil filter is protected from debris being flung up from the front tire. Any foreign object would have to come at the filter from an unexpected angle to contact it. The Triumph sump guard also allows access to the oil filter for maintenance purposes, without having to remove the sump guard.

All things considered, those don't look half bad. I wish they didn't have the huge logo, but besides that... Got a link?

I got them from BikeBandit.com - $24.95.

Or you could go to Motorcycle Superstore.com
and get some Moose utility hand guards for the same price.


OR make your Triumph disappear with the Mossy Oak Moose guards.
For some reason these are $23.95.


The rubber/vinyl patch is sew on. If you're careful you could cut the thread (seam ripper / exacto knife) and remove the patch. Hopefully they didn't glue it also.
Or mask it off and lightly spray paint and subdue it. And there is always duct tape but that just gets nasty.

I do miss the Stelvio, but for one reason or another I miss all the bikes I've owned. Same thing with the cars & trucks I've had. But I also know that I'm a sampler...I have no brand loyalty at all when it comes to vehicles, and I buy for what I'm doing at the moment and for what I think I'll be doing in the future, oftentimes with a healthy dose of what's speaking to me at the moment thrown into the mix. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm not, but I can always appreciate a vehicle for what it is.

The Tiger and the Stelvio are very, very different bikes with very different characters, that seemed to arrive in the ADV arena by completely different routes.

The Stelvio always came across to me like the Italians borrowed ingredients and spices from Ducati, Harley, BMW, and NASCAR to brew up a passionate and full-flavored road-biased ADV bike...heavy, comfortable, capable, loaded with character, and with strikingly beautiful details that were sweated to produce form and function. One example: the little chrome Guzzi eagle tucked up between the forks behind the headlights...it's part of the fork brace and only visible if you're looking for it, but when you find it, it's a beautiful detail. I loved that engine...torque anywhere on the tach, with a sound that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The Triumph comes across more like the love-child of a Street Triple and a KLR...light, flickable, functional, eager, and up for whatever the rider throws at it. It's like a 3-year old Golden Retriever...old enough to be well behaved, and perpetually happy whether you're walking home from the groomer or jumping into a muddy river. It excels at nothing, but does a lot of things well, and it has a playful demeanor that I like.

Neither is perfect, each resides at different points in the ADV spectrum somewhere between a Multistrada and a KLR, and I like both.

"The Triumph comes across more like the love-child of a Street Triple and a KLR...light, flickable, functional, eager, and up for whatever the rider throws at it. It's like a 3-year old Golden Retriever...old enough to be well behaved, and perpetually happy whether you're walking home from the groomer or jumping into a muddy river. It excels at nothing, but does a lot of things well, and it has a playful demeanor that I like."


Well put.

Totally agree, best description of the Tiger I've ever heard.

there is an entire thread on accessories now. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=840096

Your right unless you plan on exposing the rivet parts to physical abuse, i.e. bash plates. :huh
Rivets can stretch and pop off. You gonna carry rivets and a rivet tool with you everywhere? A fully welded assembly is much more fit for the task. Read up on Burren Riders posts about the riveted bash plate.

I think I'm gonna have mine welded.

I sat on all of the Tiger models at the NYC show yesterday, and really liked the new green XC. The Explorer felt big and looked big and heavy, but I read that the weight disappears once you are rolling. Out of curiousity, I also sat on the Multistrada, and I must say that for me personally, it fit much better than any of the tigers. The price was on the other side of scary, but the dealer who was helping man the booth sells both Triumph and Ducati, and said having ridden all of them in length, he really likes the Ducati the best. When spring rolls around, I'll have to go test ride all of them at his shop and see how they feel to me. I really, really want to try the new Tiger Sport 1050, but the guys at the Triumph booth said no way is that bike coming stateside. The quote was "they don't want to dilute the pool of potential Tiger owners with too many choices". By the way, the new Trophy ergonomics were very comfortable, and it doesn't seem that big in real life. I think they will sell as many as they can bring in once some test rides are available.

I've ridden both too. The XC and Multi are two totally different bikes. In my opinion not comparable. Different capabilities, different riding styles, etc. The rodie and the multi would be similar I suppose. In that case I would probably chose the multi. But the prices are way far apart. The Explorer XC will be sweet! I may jump ship to one of those when they are out for a year or so.

I am not the most mechanical person (by a long shot!) but I am wanting to learn a bit about my bike. I own a Tiger 800XC and live in North San Diego county.

Any suggestions on how to learn some basic motorcycle maintenance skills would be appreciated. I am hopeful that I can learn how to do oil changes, and how to change a tube, since the 800XC has tubed tires. As I get more comfortable with maintenance, I would like to learn more too. Any suggestions for books, manuals, videos, etc would be appreciated!

Well after mostly lurking on here for the last few years and following this thread since page one I finally brought mine home Friday. The weather worked out Saturday and was able to put about 50 miles on it. I have to say I'm really gonna like this bike. I was really on the fence about whether to get the XC or roadie. Since 90% of my riding will be on pavement I went with the roadie. This also gives me and excuse to get a real dual sport bike for more serious off road adventures. I test rode the XC and really liked the suspension much better but didn't care for having the off road biased wheels on a bike I will mostly use for touring and commuting. I did get it dirty on my first ride trying it out on hard packed dirt roads and it handles just fine. Amazing how light and flickable the bike is. It was very difficult keeping the revs down, I can't wait until the break in period is over!