Triumph Tiger 800

[fbj913]

Originally Posted by RichardU

Just changed my front tire and one of the spacers is grooved after 3,000 miles. New ones are $18 each from BikeBandit. Anyone thought about making some in stainless?

Spacers groove. How bad is it? Flip it if you can and keep running it. Problem I've always seen is that from the factory they don't grease them enough. Keep them greased and clean and you'll be gravy. I wouldn't make any out of harder material.

[internalcombust]

Originally Posted by RichardU

Just changed my front tire and one of the spacers is grooved after 3,000 miles. New ones are $18 each from BikeBandit. Anyone thought about making some in stainless?

I brought this up a while back and didn't get much response. I would buy some.

Originally Posted by ssevy

Would there be a danger that the stainless spacer would be harder than the wheel, and wear the spacer inset so that it eventually wobbles? Perhaps the spacers are engineered to be sacrificial, and some grooving is allowed (although only 3000 miles seems pretty early for much grooving to be taking place)?

The groove is being made by the seal lip and dirt. Once the groove gets big enough water and dirt both penetrate.

Originally Posted by fbj913

Spacers groove. How bad is it? Flip it if you can and keep running it. Problem I've always seen is that from the factory they don't grease them enough. Keep them greased and clean and you'll be gravy. I wouldn't make any out of harder material.

I am in the same boat as the other guy, I have flipped mine and now both sides are grooved pretty good. Mine are greased and clean and still develop grooves from a weekend of dirt riding. I am surprised you aren't seeing it on yours as you ride the dirt a fair amount. Making steel spacers is very common on many bikes to prevent exactly what we are experiencing. The GS 800s were having a similar problem leading to bearing failure, now a few companies make stainless ones. The xc bearings are sealed so it shouldn't be so drastic for us. Getting steel spacers is the obvious choice to take care of this problem, I am not sure why you recommend not changing them.

[swimmer]

If there was enough of a demand I could model the spacers and find out how much they would cost to get made out of 304SS from one of the local machine shops that I've dealt with. I am guessing pricing would be similar to the bike bandit price unless there were demand for more than say 50.

[Marsh Tiger]

Originally Posted by fbj913

Spacers groove... I wouldn't make any out of harder material.

That's my thought too. When you increase the hardness of the spacer, what becomes the sacrificial part? I've got 9k miles on mine and no problems with the minor grooving. We'll see, I plan to keep and eye on it.

[internalcombust]

Originally Posted by Marsh Tiger

That's my thought too. When you increase the hardness of the spacer, what becomes the sacrificial part? I've got 9k miles on mine and no problems with the minor grooving. We'll see, I plan to keep and eye on it.

The only thing causing the problem is the lip of the seal where it touches the spacer. I don't see what you are worrying about sacrificing? Either the seal and aluminum spacer wear, or just the seal wears in the case of using stainless. Am I missing something here?

[Marsh Tiger]

I could be the one missing something, but I'm definably not worried.

Like I said, I plan to keep an eye on it. After 9,000 miles though, it really doesn't seem to be anything to worry about.

[av_mech]

After 18,700 miles of riding, I finally had to do a trail side flat repair.





This worked awesome!!! I worked the tire away from the rim just a bit to that safety lock deal. Lean the bike over and the bead popped with out any issue. Super easy!





New tube installed and re-inflating.



52 minutes. Back on the road!



I'll be doing the tubeless mod this week when I pull the 21 in. tube out of the rear. This would have been an easy plug and go.

[levain]

Originally Posted by av_mech

I'll be doing the tubeless mod this week when I pull the 21 in. tube out of the rear. This would have been an easy plug and go.

Please keep us all updated on this.

Looks like a great mod. I just wonder how reliable it will prove to be!

[cyclingtom]

Originally Posted by levain

Please keep us all updated on this.

Looks like a great mod. I just wonder how reliable it will prove to be!

Some XC owners expressed concern about spoke repair after sealing the rear wheel for tubeless tires, so in the interest of testing the project I removed the rear tire and cut a 1" x 1" square out over one of the spoke nipples. I had purchased a small tube of the fast cure 5200 from my local marine supply store ($10- Cost almost as much as a large tube from HD!).

The square required a bit of effort to remove but came away cleanly. I applied the fast cure 5200 to the void and waited 2 1/2 hrs.. This stuff sets way faster than the regular.

Installed tire, filled bathtub up 8" and bubble tested tire (if you are married and care about that relationship, wait til your wife goes shopping for a couple of hours). Good. Road test tire-All good.

I have yet to take a ride over 100 miles non-stop with the spokes sealed so I can't speak to that aspect of endurance-yet. So maybe if one of you guys wants to do an Iron Butt run.....

I'll keep you updated.

[cyclingtom]

Originally Posted by Marsh Tiger

That's my thought too. When you increase the hardness of the spacer, what becomes the sacrificial part? I've got 9k miles on mine and no problems with the minor grooving. We'll see, I plan to keep and eye on it.

Hey Marsh,

Can I get a closeup of your GPS mount attachment (over instrument cluster) from the back/windscreen side?

Thanks,
Tom

[fbj913]

Originally Posted by internalcombust

I brought this up a while back and didn't get much response. I would buy some.


The groove is being made by the seal lip and dirt. Once the groove gets big enough water and dirt both penetrate.


I am in the same boat as the other guy, I have flipped mine and now both sides are grooved pretty good. Mine are greased and clean and still develop grooves from a weekend of dirt riding. I am surprised you aren't seeing it on yours as you ride the dirt a fair amount. Making steel spacers is very common on many bikes to prevent exactly what we are experiencing. The GS 800s were having a similar problem leading to bearing failure, now a few companies make stainless ones. The xc bearings are sealed so it shouldn't be so drastic for us. Getting steel spacers is the obvious choice to take care of this problem, I am not sure why you recommend not changing them.

I didn't necessarily say don't change them. I just can't imagine them being that bad after 3,000 miles. You can always flip the one side on the back and get more use. All in all do what you want. If you don't feel comfortable with how bad they are then I would replace them. Maybe a pic of the groove would help...

Mine are not very grooved and I have 13k on my Tiger. Don't know why. I always use good grease and use it generously when reinstalling. I also get them very clean before remounting.

[Flying Dave]

Originally Posted by Marsh Tiger

Those look good... When My K60's wear out, that my be my next tire.

What sort of pressures are you running with the K60's? I am headed to Yellowstone and back in just over 3 weeks.



AvMech, I salute you. I don't have any experience with these size tires/wheels but I do my own changes with a no mar on my street bikes. The Tiger is my first bike with tubes.

I am planning a trip to Yellowstone with a bud next month and thought mounting up the E07's I bought would be good practice so I tried to do them both with spoons. The front was not too bad but the rear kicked my ass. I gave up and finished it on the no mar.

[Marsh Tiger]

Originally Posted by cyclingtom

Hey Marsh,

Can I get a closeup of your GPS mount attachment (over instrument cluster) from the back/windscreen side?

Thanks,
Tom

sure thing!

[Marsh Tiger]

Originally Posted by Flying Dave

What sort of pressures are you running with the K60's? I am headed to Yellowstone and back in just over 3 weeks.

32/36 At these pressures I get modest heating and pressure increases on the highway. They still look new at 1500 miles. I drop into the mid 20's for extended dirt, but short runs at HWY pressure have been fine.

[RichardU]

Originally Posted by swimmer

If there was enough of a demand I could model the spacers and find out how much they would cost to get made out of 304SS from one of the local machine shops that I've dealt with. I am guessing pricing would be similar to the bike bandit price unless there were demand for more than say 50.

Similar prices would be fine for something I would only need to buy once. I would really appreciate if you do this.

Originally Posted by internalcombust

The only thing causing the problem is the lip of the seal where it touches the spacer. I don't see what you are worrying about sacrificing? Either the seal and aluminum spacer wear, or just the seal wears in the case of using stainless. Am I missing something here?

I don't think you are missing anything. As noted, lots of other bikers replace stock aluminum spacers with stainless. I have never heard of anyone having a problem as a result. I did that on my DRZ and have put 20,000 miles on since. It's nice to have one less thing of concern.