Tiger Tales - Dialling in the 800XC for the dirt

[bross]

Ready for a 4 day dual sport ride my wife and I are going on next week...

[AllOrds]

Yes he`s doing OK now.......but we have unfinished business

You will like the TKC on the front, (never had a rear) I think they work very well on the Tiger. My front has 11600kms on it to date and still looking good.
I nailed cattle grids, rocks and all other manner of crap at speed. No punctures or dented rims. Keep the tyre pressures up (32-35psi), unless your on the beach

[Marsh Tiger]

I'm looking for a good sand tire for up front. Is the TKC80 any good in sand? Anyone tried a MT21 on the tiger yet? It looks more knobby than a TKC more HWY than a Mefo MX master. I'm currently running a k60 "enduro" and while it tracks well going slow in sand, it tends to wash out in corners. I'm willing to give a little on the hwy for good control in sand.

[browneye]

Originally Posted by Marsh Tiger

I'm looking for a good sand tire for up front. Is the TKC80 any good in sand? Anyone tried a MT21 on the tiger yet? It looks more knobby than a TKC more HWY than a Mefo MX master. I'm currently running a k60 "enduro" and while it tracks well going slow in sand, it tends to wash out in corners. I'm willing to give a little on the hwy for good control in sand.

Pirelli Scorpion Rally.

3K miles on my Husky TE630, just a fantastic tire. Knobs are really rounded off and half height so will probably just install a new one.

It's really good on and off road. I use this bike for real dualsporting, the Tiger for smooth dirt roads and hiway touring. But I would run the rally before a Kenda BB, a TKC, MT21, or D606. It's a real knobby with great road manners. A favorite with 950/990 owners.

[the_babaji]

TCK 80's are awesome, great grip, they have even regained grip (many times)when front end started pushing and never skipped a beat. My 1st set lasted about 14,000 km. I ride a lot of sand over here and they ski nicely!

Just got a new Heidenau K60 Scout (rear) to replace the old one that lasted 25,000 km before hitting the wear indicators. Even to the last day they cornered very nicely. Never felt worn out or squared off.

[Marsh Tiger]

Originally Posted by browneye

Pirelli Scorpion Rally.

It's really good on and off road. I use this bike for real dualsporting, the Tiger for smooth dirt roads and hiway touring. But I would run the rally before a Kenda BB, a TKC, MT21, or D606. It's a real knobby with great road manners. A favorite with 950/990 owners.

I guess I should have qualified that I don't really dual-sport the Tiger the phrase loafering is a more accurate description. I'm just looking for something with a little more edge than the K60 front. South Carolina dirt roads vary from hard pack to deep sand. I would never call any of them "smooth"!

I looked at (and like) the Scorpion Rally though. A local rider has them on a DR and I got a chance to ride it. Great tires! I'll keep them in mind for the TAT!

Originally Posted by the_babaji

TCK 80's are awesome, great grip, they have even regained grip (many times)when front end started pushing and never skipped a beat. My 1st set lasted about 14,000 km. I ride a lot of sand over here and they ski nicely!

Just got a new Heidenau K60 Scout (rear) to replace the old one that lasted 25,000 km before hitting the wear indicators. Even to the last day they cornered very nicely. Never felt worn out or squared off.

I'm running a K60 rear as well. I'm wondering if I will have to shoot that thing to get rid of it... As for the K60 front, well I cant really say it has let me down. I'm just not fully impressed.

Thanks for your advice guys.

[Marsh Tiger]

Well I chose the TKC, the treads are deeper so I should see a improvement. We'll see. Now the question is fender clearance... I'd love to hear from those of you who have made your own fender risers. maybe even some pictures. Aluminum stock should work huh?

[markbvt]

Originally Posted by Marsh Tiger

Well I chose the TKC, the treads are deeper so I should see a improvement. We'll see. Now the question is fender clearance... I'd love to hear from those of you who have made your own fender risers. maybe even some pictures. Aluminum stock should work huh?

Whether the fender needs raising or not will depend on the conditions you'll be riding in. I recently rode the Trans-Labrador Highway (hundreds of miles of gravel) with an IRC TR8 front tire and saw no need to raise the fender. And yes, once or twice I heard a rock rattle through the fender and saw it go shooting out the front; no damage.

To be on the safe side, though, I did pull the brake lines out from the channels they're routed through from the factory, so that a large rock ripping off the fender would not result in the crossover brake line getting pulled down into the tire knobs a la the F800GS incident. You can see in this pic.



All that said, for conditions featuring sticky mud, I would raise the fender.

--mark

[Marsh Tiger]

Thanks Mark, I saw you RR. It looked beautiful and that trip is now on my bucket list. I like the idea of Re-routing the brake lines, I may do that too.

I would still like to have some comments form anyone who had made their fender riser. I think Al stock would work fine. I'm curious what materials have been used by others.

[bross]

As this is about getting the XC ready for dirt rides I have to comment on Triumph and their parts availability. Having just completed the BC Big Trailie ride a few things have come to light.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=747592

This was a 4 day fairly dusty ride through the mountains of British Columbia. I knew about the stepper motor actuator arm getting gummed up and sure enough at the end of day 2 we stopped to pick up some supplies before heading to the hotel and my bike wouldn't start/idle. I got it running but couldn't let the revs drop below 2000 or it would just quit. Got to the hotel and hopped on my wife's bike to try to find some WD40. Finally found some in this small town at the last convenience store in town, none of the gas stations even had any. I just sprayed down the throttle body good where I knew the arm was and the bike fired right up and ran fine for the rest of the weekend. I was going to clean and lube that arm properly when I changed the air filter but didn't get that far.

My bike also started to over heat on day 1. Heading down a steep set of switch backs, the temp gauge started flashing so I pulled over and let the bike cool down for about 15 minutes. Coasted the couple miles down to the road and the bike ran fine at 5 bars on the highway, till we pulled off onto another fire road and started riding slower again. Gauge started climbing so I found some shade and started checking things. Fan fuse was fine so I checked the fan and sure enough the blades were stuck. I figured the motor was seized but after fiddling with the blades they all of a sudden spun free, for 3/4 of a revolution. Then they stuck on the rad again. The whole fan assembly was warped enough to hit the rad. As long as I made sure the fan was in the "free" position it had enough power to spin up and keep running. A few times I'd see the temp gauge go to the 6th bar so I'd reach down and spin the fan to get it going again. Didn't have ay more issues once I figured that out.

Now my concern with parts. My closest dealer is 2 hours away so it's not real convenient to ride/haul the bike in for them to look at, then order parts. I called and described the situation and they said they could pre-order the fan assembly but it would be 10 working days to get it from the UK. 10 days??? My dealer said all they stock is common maintenance items like oil and air filters and spark plugs, everything else they have to order from the UK.

We had to go to Vancouver on business so I went to the Triumph dealer there to see if they had the fan assembly in stock and was told the same thing, nope 10 days from the UK. I bought an air filter because I knew I needed to change mine after 4 dusty days and they did have ONE in stock. I wanted to buy two so I'd have a spare at home because I'm not close to a dealer but nope, I got the last one. Order and wait 10 days.

What if I was on the road and my fan motor had seized and not just warped. I guess Triumph expects me to wait around for 10 days for their parts to arrive. This was a bit of a surprise to me, that they don't stock ANYTHING in North America. This was a wake up call for me and my next dirt trip will be on my DR650.

If I was riding a Ducati or a Moto Guzzi I might expect limited parts availability but not stocking anything here is just crazy. I'm all for being prepared and having my own spare parts laying around, you learn when you live remote to maintain your own stock of regularly needed parts, bearings etc. But the fan was the last thing I expected to have any trouble with on the Tiger. It's tucked up behind the rad with really no way to damage it. It's not like the Super Tenere fan on the side that can get bent on a drop.

I really wanted my Tiger to be my single goto bike, but I have reservations about heading into parts unknown now.

Signed,

disappointed

[eakins]

i've been using that TR8 21" front on my DR and love that tire.
cheaper than TCK, does better in the dirt (more open space between blocks) and does just as well on the pavement. It's a sleeper tire that get's overlooked. Extremely well built in Japan.
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ront-Tire.aspx

Originally Posted by markbvt

Whether the fender needs raising or not will depend on the conditions you'll be riding in. I recently rode the Trans-Labrador Highway (hundreds of miles of gravel) with an IRC TR8 front tire and saw no need to raise the fender. And yes, once or twice I heard a rock rattle through the fender and saw it go shooting out the front; no damage.

To be on the safe side, though, I did pull the brake lines out from the channels they're routed through from the factory, so that a large rock ripping off the fender would not result in the crossover brake line getting pulled down into the tire knobs a la the F800GS incident. You can see in this pic.



All that said, for conditions featuring sticky mud, I would raise the fender.

--mark

[Jeroen!]

Originally Posted by bross

As this is about getting the XC ready for dirt rides I have to comment on Triumph and their parts availability. Having just completed the BC Big Trailie ride a few things have come to light.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=747592

This was a 4 day fairly dusty ride through the mountains of British Columbia. I knew about the stepper motor actuator arm getting gummed up and sure enough at the end of day 2 we stopped to pick up some supplies before heading to the hotel and my bike wouldn't start/idle. I got it running but couldn't let the revs drop below 2000 or it would just quit. Got to the hotel and hopped on my wife's bike to try to find some WD40. Finally found some in this small town at the last convenience store in town, none of the gas stations even had any. I just sprayed down the throttle body good where I knew the arm was and the bike fired right up and ran fine for the rest of the weekend. I was going to clean and lube that arm properly when I changed the air filter but didn't get that far.

My bike also started to over heat on day 1. Heading down a steep set of switch backs, the temp gauge started flashing so I pulled over and let the bike cool down for about 15 minutes. Coasted the couple miles down to the road and the bike ran fine at 5 bars on the highway, till we pulled off onto another fire road and started riding slower again. Gauge started climbing so I found some shade and started checking things. Fan fuse was fine so I checked the fan and sure enough the blades were stuck. I figured the motor was seized but after fiddling with the blades they all of a sudden spun free, for 3/4 of a revolution. Then they stuck on the rad again. The whole fan assembly was warped enough to hit the rad. As long as I made sure the fan was in the "free" position it had enough power to spin up and keep running. A few times I'd see the temp gauge go to the 6th bar so I'd reach down and spin the fan to get it going again. Didn't have ay more issues once I figured that out.

Now my concern with parts. My closest dealer is 2 hours away so it's not real convenient to ride/haul the bike in for them to look at, then order parts. I called and described the situation and they said they could pre-order the fan assembly but it would be 10 working days to get it from the UK. 10 days??? My dealer said all they stock is common maintenance items like oil and air filters and spark plugs, everything else they have to order from the UK.

We had to go to Vancouver on business so I went to the Triumph dealer there to see if they had the fan assembly in stock and was told the same thing, nope 10 days from the UK. I bought an air filter because I knew I needed to change mine after 4 dusty days and they did have ONE in stock. I wanted to buy two so I'd have a spare at home because I'm not close to a dealer but nope, I got the last one. Order and wait 10 days.

What if I was on the road and my fan motor had seized and not just warped. I guess Triumph expects me to wait around for 10 days for their parts to arrive. This was a bit of a surprise to me, that they don't stock ANYTHING in North America. This was a wake up call for me and my next dirt trip will be on my DR650.

If I was riding a Ducati or a Moto Guzzi I might expect limited parts availability but not stocking anything here is just crazy. I'm all for being prepared and having my own spare parts laying around, you learn when you live remote to maintain your own stock of regularly needed parts, bearings etc. But the fan was the last thing I expected to have any trouble with on the Tiger. It's tucked up behind the rad with really no way to damage it. It's not like the Super Tenere fan on the side that can get bent on a drop.

I really wanted my Tiger to be my single goto bike, but I have reservations about heading into parts unknown now.

Signed,

disappointed

Isn't this more an issue with your importer, and not with triumph ? I'm sure they could take a bigger stock if they wanted too, no ?

[bross]

Originally Posted by Jeroen!

Isn't this more an issue with your importer, and not with triumph ? I'm sure they could take a bigger stock if they wanted too, no ?

Could be Triumph Canada's policy. I'm going to call them and Triumph USA to see if that's their policy as well. I live right on the border and if I can parts from the US, it's actually closer to go than any of my Canadian dealers.

[browneye]

AFAIK every importer of euro bikes in the US has a warehouse of parts state-side. Are you guys saying there is no parts depot for Triumph in the US? I find that hard to believe, but I suppose it's possible. Seems to me there's some kind of US law about having spares for things like cars and bikes if you sell them here, I dunno.

This is why I shy from Beta. I'm sure they're great bikes but so obscure. Motoguzzi as well. Maybe even Ducati. The latter and brands like them and BMW just seem like the dealer is ready to rape anyone that needs out of warranty service. I guess that's why I do all my own work.

Husqvarna had the same problem till BMW bought them. I dunno if it's gotten better. Was a real problem with GasGas when they were more well known, when I had mine some years ago.

When I bought my Tiger I added a sump guard, engine guards, and center stand. The engine guards took 6 weeks. WTF????

Awaiting some feedback on the Tiger parts situation.

[swimmer]

Originally Posted by browneye

AFAIK every importer of euro bikes in the US has a warehouse of parts state-side. Are you guys saying there is no parts depot for Triumph in the US? .

The warehouse is/was in Atlanta. It may have been moved to Louisville. Either way its been mentioned many times that the stock kept in the US is minimal and many semi-non-normal parts take forever to get. Triumph is selling more and more bikes here, it's time for them to step up on the parts supply front.