5-speed Tiger??

[Mart]

Although I bought my Steamers a few weeks ago, I've been busy fettling it, rather than riding.
This morning for the first time, I rode to work - 20 or so miles of A roads, and dual carriageway.

Thing is, it's only got 5-speeds in the gearbox...

Am I right in thinking there was a 900cc early Triumph engine sold with a 5-speed box?

Any idea how to visually tell the difference between a 5 and 6 speed unit?

It works absolutely fine - just has only got 5 speeds

Puzzled......

[Geoff W]

According to my Haynes manual, all the bikes of this era have a 6 speed box, apart from early models of the Speed Triple and Thunderbird which have a 5 speed box. So looks like a swapped box at some stage in its life.

[Mart]

Thanks Geoff,

Given that everything seems to be fine with the box, I think I'll leave it as it is.

It's showing about 6000 rpm at 80 mph, so maybe I'll go down a couple of teeth on the rear sprocket, just to make it slightly more relaxed.

[Timbox2]

As Geoff says, from memory only early Speed Triples and then the Thunderbird 900's got the 5 speeder. Maybe youve got a Speed Tiger

[Mart]

Very good!

Certainly pulls well...

[Beernard]

Very interesting. Given the brief, maybe all the steamers could have got a 5-speeder. Let us know what the pros and cons are.
Regards, Bern.

[Mart]

It may have a 5-speed box from an early Speed Triple or Thunderbird, but it's definitely got Steamer sprocket sizes.

Consequently, it pulls really well. but at an indicated 80 mph, it's showing about 6000 rpm.  Just a little too much for my taste, so I'm fitting a 46 tooth rear sprocket this weekend.

I'll let you know how that works out!

[98TIGA]

Don't they have an 11-12,000 RPM redline? 6k's hardly breaking a sweat!

[ssevy]

I think we are all conditioned to modern cars and trucks with overdrive trannies that yield 2-3k at cruising speeds. Makes our bikes feel "busy" by comparison?

[Mart]

I think the red line is set at 8500 rpm, but the engine starts to get a little vibey at about 6500.
After some experimentation, I settled for 1 tooth up on the gearbox sprocket, and the original 48 on the rear.
This gives the same final ratio as the Speed Triple, and seems an acceptable compromise - about 5500 rpm at an indicated 80 mph.
Still accelerates well from this speed in top (on private roads obviously)...

[threepot]

I went up a tooth on the front. Shortly after i experienced clutch slip,but only when riding hard. I put it down to milage..80k? I replaced the plates,but noticed there was no difference in thickness between new and old. I did run the bike recently using fully synth oil,so maybe?? Bike does seem to pull stronger now though.

[Mart]

I've had several Vmax's over the years. Soon learnt that using fully synthetic oil caused clutch slip.

[98TIGA]

That's interesting! I'm running full synthetic 4T in mine and haven't noticed any issues. I'm no speed demon though.

[Mustang]

Triumph recommends 4t synthetic
...

So if your clutch is slipping , something ain't right