Buying a Steamer - again?

[threepot]

Well,I've had my steamer for 4yrs now,and its been a great bike. Taken me to France,Scotland, Northumberland,around Wales a few times,Devon a couple of times,and I use it every weekend.. Just an issue with coils,which I sorted quite cheaply. I've serviced the carbs once,and cam chain,and 2 shims. New rear shock,which has transformed the bike. The engine feels like it will go on forever? Maybe I'm lucky,or who knows whats in store? I don't think I have the 'soft valve' issue on mine,but I have on my Daytona. Mikuni carbs are OK,if you use the bike regularly? I've often thought about upgrading to a 1050? And I've ridden all of the new generation bikes..good as they are,they're not several thousands of pounds better than my 'steamer'!
Yes,I have a few paint bubbles,and my tank expanded,but seems to have gone back to original size,as I can now use the original fastening points at the back! And I think most plastic tanks suffer too? My friend paid about £300 to have his Guzzi tank resprayed,and it's started to bubble again!

[Sin_Tiger]

Personally I would go for anything after 94, if you need to do a sprag on the earlier ones with the hatch you'd have to hope you cab get away with just replacing the spring. If you need to replace the whole sprag clutch, not sure if the earlier versions are still available, you'd need to have the casing machined for the extra clearance required for the upgraded unit. Major parts like casings, should you be unfortunate enough ever to need them, might be harder to find.

I have a feeling it was around 96 when the drainless fork legs cane in but you have to ask yourself is it really so much extra work to pull the fork legs and make sure you get everything nice and clean. Personally I prefer to change the seals when it gets fresh oil as I hate doing a job twice.

I wouldn't worry too much about the valve issue as its rarely the seats but the actual inlet valves and they're still readily available, common to most if not all the T300 engines, and generally go for well over 50k miles.

As for carbs, I can't comment as all mine are Mikis, Mustang is the best man to answer that one.

[Nick Calne]

Well like you suggest, these things are the reality of steamer ownership. I guess if you are returning to the fold then you need to accept it. I don't know of any method of dodging these bullets.

You could buy two (or more) and combine them into one good one and sell the remaining bits.

[Bixxer Bob]

I know exactly what you mean. None of the newer tigers quite has the same qualities.

  You've not listened to an Explorer then 

To quote Black Tiger on Sunday, "Triumph have re-introduced some of the old 'character' in the Explorer range, in that they sound a lot like a Steamer".....

[Nick Calne]

Ah that "bag of spanners falling down a staircase into a skip" steamer sound...

[Bixxer Bob]

That's the one....

[threepot]

Yeah,but when it gets to 3k revs,there's not much better IMHO! I've just done a 200 mile ride around mid Wales today,and I don't think I would have had a more pleasurable ride on anything else? Considering the money I paid,and the mileage!

[Beernard]

Hi All,
I'll jump in here, as I think you are looking at the whole show like I do. I rode a 92 T300 Trophy for about 100,000k. Touring Oz, smashing (in my mind!) the Oxley Highway, 10 on-the-rev-limiter track days (poor thing), regular maintenance and plenty of two-up. I now have a 93 Steamer for the ergo's, because i am not so young. My Trophy days has led me to carry 1 spark plug, 1 coil, a crank sensor and an ignition ignitor. Bugger all. Nice things to have. Personally, I think there is a great reliability in carbs (they don't all shit themselves at the same time), electronic ignition and limited bloody "sensors". All my bikes are thus configured.I reckon most of us can fix things to get home with this configuration, unless we encounter something catastrophic.So Steamer, R65 and a bunch of others fit in this category. Yippee.
All the best.