Talk me into/or out of buying a Triumph Tiger

[rphillips]

That video would have talked me out of it immediately. Under bucket shims are probably the most bullet proof valve train, but for me as rare as valve train problems are with over bucket shims and screw adjusters, for me not worth the extra aggravation. Rich, looking back, I'd bet you'd think well worth the extra aggravation, and that'd be completely understandable. Good luck tomorrow, Hoping rain stays east of you.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Forecast is Mostly dry for the ride home from the dealership tomorrow. I ain’t skert.

[rphillips]

There you go stirr'in that spelling stuff again.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I know my audience.

[Grimly]

That video would have talked me out of it immediately. Under bucket shims are probably the most bullet proof valve train, but for me as rare as valve train problems are with over bucket shims and screw adjusters, for me not worth the extra aggravation.

Ditto that, for me.
I find shim-over-buckets enough of a pain, but at least the cams stay where they are.
Locknut adjusters are heavenly compared to even them.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I’m home with my new-to-me Tiger. And I couldn’t be more happy with my choice.

It’s definitely tall and top heavy. No surprise. A core-targeting workout regimen may be in my immediate future.
The seat was not in the lowest position (despite what the sales guy told me). So I should be able to get both feet better planted at stops now that I’ve fixed that.

Windscreen wasn’t all the way up on the ride home. Got some helmet buffeting. I’ll see if that improved with screen all the way up.

Such a smooth, pleasant, comfortable 2 hour ride home. I could have gone on for hours. But had to get home and mow the lawn.
Silky smooth up and down shifts. Excellent handling. Gobs of power. This trip has a few straight mountain inclines with passing zones. Had a bit of fun on a few of those. May have broken the speed limit once or twice. Too bad there were no HDs riding with me this time. I would have…….. ah, never mind. I’ve gotta learn to let that go.

Took the cases off just to see what it looks like without them. Looks good in my garage. My GS is sad, but she’ll be back.




Found a shiny chrome Delkevic exhaust. Not sure if aftermarket or not. Sounds good.


Also discovered, in addition to heated grips, a heated seat.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Seat in the lower position almost lets me flat foot both sides at a stop. Nice.

The windscreen all the way up put the top of it right at eye level. That was awful. Sweet spot seems to be all the way down.

Self-canceling turn signals are my new favorite thing. Worked flawlessly in every situation today.

One oddity/minor concern. I bought a usb/usb-c/LED volt meter plug to power my phone to go in the din port in front of the fuel tank. I popped that in before I left the dealership and noticed the LED was on and power to the phone. Sales Guy assured me that this would power off after a certain amount of time after turning off the key. We already know he wasn’t knowledgeable about some of the other things. That din didn’t power down. After half an hour or so it was still on. The owners manual doesn’t mention if this port is always on or switched with the ignition. I may have to find another way to hook up a switched port to pier my phone or other future accessories. I just find it off that this accessory port is always on.

Or, what if I get a din plug that just had the USB ports but no LED volt readout, Then as long as I don’t leave my phone plugged in, it won’t drain the battery, right?

[Rob S.]

Or, what if I get a din plug that just had the USB ports but no LED volt readout, Then as long as I don’t leave my phone plugged in, it won’t drain the battery, right?

That sounds like the way to go.

On my '68 Camaro, I powered the stereo straight from the battery. On a few occasions stuck in traffic on a down slope, I would turn off the key. Without power steering or brakes, it made no sense to run the engine.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Think I’ll get this plug with a power on/off switch. I’ll just have to remember to turn it off when I get off the bike. It is bright and hard to ignore, and I’ll just have to make it part of the process of unplugging the phone. It’s probably not needed, but having a GS has made me appreciate always knowing the bike’s current state of charge.

https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Power-Adapter-Off-Accessories/dp/B09Y18N1M6/ref=asc_df_B09Y18N1M6/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=647248215526&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1705993425400310672&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9006868&hvtargid=pla-1661341355906&gclid=CjwKCAjwseSoBhBXEiwA9iZtxjnh9fyWcDjDXeO7Q6oeiyblHndjR0l7jMgftk-rUTyb6RpXJTYlMxoC6DYQAvD_BwE&th=1

[LAB3]

Locknut adjusters are heavenly compared to even them.

Maybe it's just me but I've never been able to get locknut adjusters to come out with the same clearance I had prior to tightening them down. Shims are a pain but there's no denying you're going to have a spot on adjustment the first time when you're done.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I think I know a local guy/shop who may do the valve job on the Tiger when the time comes, probably for about half the price that the Triumph dealer wants for it. He has a Triumph triple himself, so is probably familiar with the shim under bucket process. After watching the video I posted, I'm sure I could muddle through the job. But I'm not sure I want to.

[bwringer]

Or, what if I get a din plug that just had the USB ports but no LED volt readout, Then as long as I don’t leave my phone plugged in, it won’t drain the battery, right?

Even without being plugged in to a phone, the charger's electronics usually draw some small amount of power and will drain the battery. Check the current draw with a meter to quantify this; maybe it's a few milliamps and you can proceed to not really worry about it as long as you ride every week or two. Or maybe it's significant enough to worry about. The bike itself draws a small amount of power as well for the clock and perhaps the anti-theft stuff.

One thing I've heard many times with Triumphs, and helped deal with, is issues with the anti-theft and alarm systems. Make sure you understand how these work (and don't work) on this bike, and what to do if the system fails or activates when it's not supposed to, or if you need a key duplicated.

And as you're finding, never believe anything a sales droid tells you about a motorcycle... they don't know anything about the bikes they're selling. That's fine -- you can't know everything, and their job is just to fill out the paperwork and get out of the way -- but for some reason they cannot bring themselves to say "I don't know" and try to just tell you what they think you want to hear.

No matter. It's in your garage now.

[Grimly]

Maybe it's just me but I've never been able to get locknut adjusters to come out with the same clearance I had prior to tightening them down. Shims are a pain but there's no denying you're going to have a spot on adjustment the first time when you're done.

The CBX750 had hydraulic tappets. I was seriously thinking of buying one after I saw one give at least 100K in courier use.
Engine servicing consisted of changing the oil and filter. No farfing around on the top end.

[Rob S.]

...issues with the anti-theft and alarm systems.

Those anti-theft systems can be real battery drainers. I've heard that even the keyless fobs put a constant drain on the battery.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

No keyless fob, but there is an immobilizer defeater device of some sort built in to the key. There is a clock, and there is an anti-theft system. Have to read up on how that works. I’m getting the USB/ din plug with the on/off switch. Will keep an eye on voltage overnight, and over several days, just to see what’s normal. I have a battery lead for a quick connect to my BatteryTender Junior, just haven’t put it on yet. When I’m not going to ride for days or weeks at a time I plan to plug it in.