2003-04 spoked wheels on an '05 or '06?

[eurobykz]

So I have my excellent 04 tigger with soooo many upgrades - touratech panniers, custom belly pan, wilbers completely-adjustable suspension etc etc etc.   And I had woody's wheel works down in the US build me new tubeless spoked wheels. 

My buddy and I are planning a trip  - (10 thousand km return) from home in Saskatoon up to the Yukon and then the 850 km gravel Dempster Highway all the way to the arctic ocean at Tuktoyaktuk NWT!   With multiple dirt road adventures such as the Canol Road.   

So I am ready to go, bike-wise, but my buddy needs a better bike - and there are advantages of being on the same bike in terms of tools and spares.  And he's ridden my tigger a couple of times and loves it.  So he's been looking for an '03 or '04 tigger (the best years imho).  Turns out they're really hard to find here in Canada - I suppose people like them and keep them.  By contrast, there seems to be lots of '05's and '06's for sale all across the country. 

But...   they have cast wheels.  I really wouldn't want to do this trip with cast wheels - many might, but I'm starting from the premise that spoked wheels would be preferable.  I still have my old rims and our local triumph dealer tells me that one can still source the '04 hubs from triumph (in case ebay or kijiji don't come through...).   

So...    would '04 spoked wheels fit on an '05 or '06?    In don't know anyone with an 05-06 cast wheel model around here...     Does anyone on this forum know the answer to this question?  Other than the cast wheels, what else changed between 04 and 05?

Ian Fleming

[Timbox2]

Pretty sure this has come up before and I think the answer is pretty much yes, with certain conditions.  You'll need discs for the wheels as they arent interchangeable and from memory although the front should go straight in (uses the same spacers), the rear may need a bit of playing with the spacers and axle.

Apart from that and the slight change in geometry and shock travel not much else changed really, later cast wheel bikes went from a 2 line Fuel delivery/return to single line which meant no more problems with cracked fuel fittings but thats about all I can think of. Over the years there has been all manner of FrankenTigers turn up with early frames,  late wheels, even 885i engines installed.

[Chris Canning]

As Tim said the front fitting is a cert the rear is an odd one,some years ago I saw an 885i with the back end of a mag wheel tiger and always believed to do so needed the whole rear end to end to do it but i'm Sure on here is a post by someone who put the mag wheel in the back of a spoked Tiger but certainly cannot remember any of the details.

The most important thing to remember a mag wheeled Tiger with wire wheels still won't be the same as the earlier version as it has a steeper head angle which on tarmac is a plus for endless gravel roads then maybe not so.

[Timbox2]

Have a look at this one for a bitsa, all 3 generations in there somewhere
Not even sure its a Tiger Engine
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Tiger-955i/222885341636?hash=item33e50069c4:g:svkAAOSwdBlaq6Go

[eurobykz]

ok thanks folks, so maybe it's not quite as easy as one would wish.  The only 04's for sale in all of Canada right now (as far as I can find searching the interweb) are way east in Quebec (4000 km east of me) and both have really high kms.   There are a bunch of cast-wheel '05 and '06 tiggers for sale here in sask and next door in Alberta.     aaargh.    There's at least one '04 reasonably close in the USA but I have absolutely no idea how much hassle it would be to bring one across the 49th parallel.   Seems like a bunch of federal BS paperwork followed by a mandatory provincial inspection.   

The altered steering geometry might worry me for the intended use (thousands of km of dirt and gravel all the way to Tuktoyaktuk).  After I put in a decent suspension, my '04 is pretty good offroad.  Not as good offroad as a ktm 640Adv (I used to have one) but way more comfortable - and as good as a comparably-old beemer GS imho. 

thanks for the help. 

[John Stenhouse]

I took an 05 Cast wheel Girly up the Dempster, it's not as bad as you think.

I would say a decent off road tyre was more important than the geometry of the bike