EXTREME MAKEOVER........Steamer Edition

[MtheTiger]

Several forum members have done the Trophy (rear)wheel mod and got the wheels online at Ebay auctions for fair prices.
This mod sounds tempting and can be done for about the same cost as refurbishing and respoking the orig wheels. But.....
Is buying cast wheels unseen a safe deal?  What to look out for? Any advice for me? Appreciate it.

thx

Markus

[Mustang]

An honest seller is the best advice
the trophy wheels can bend and distort easily and most of the ebay ones are exactly that distorted and bent rims .
you will also need custom machined front wheel spacers and will have no working speedometer unless you have access to a metal lathe and can modify the trophy speedometer drive like I have done .

you also need the trophy rear rotor (the rear tiger rotor will not bolt to the trophy rim )as well as the front rotors from the trophy and again some custom machined front caliper brackets .

[Dr. Mordo]

Mustang, that bike is sinful.  I can't tell from the pics - is the new fender slotted so air can get to the radiator? I seem to remember reading that people have had problems with overheating if they installed a non-slotted high fender.

I have a feeling that fat front tire will be a liability on sand.  I think that instead of cutting a groove it will surf on top of it.  When I took my F650 to Big Bend Nat'l Park, I fought it thru the sand, while my buddy with a F650 Dakar had a much easier time.  I had a 19 front with a Tourance EXP (yes, it's not an ideal tire), while he had a 21 inch tire that was a little more aggressive (I think it was a Duro).  

So my suggestion is to be careful.  We need you here!

[Mustang]

I can't tell from the pics - is the new fender slotted so air can get to the radiator? I seem to remember reading that people have had problems with overheating if they installed a non-slotted high fender.

It's on my to do list ................
yep the temp runs higher with the fender in front of the radiator ,goes way up when sitting in traffic with no air moving
looking at one of these to replace with

[rf9rider]

Mr Mustang, Can you remember what (if any) the difference is in size between the front wheel spindle diameters?

[Mustang]

Mr Mustang, Can you remember what (if any) the difference is in size between the front wheel spindle diameters?

it's a huge difference .....I'll get dimensions tomorrow and post them ...........

[Mustang]

the trophy front axle (spindle) is 25mm and the tiger axle is 17 mm

[rf9rider]

8mm difference in diameter?  :shock:

Thought it might be a couple of mm, but that is a huge difference, Thanks for that.

[BruKen]

Now that does look the biz. Normally I am wary about converting from Factory. Keep us updated with her handling attributes please.  

[Mustang]

she handles like it is on rails !

I am going with a 120/70/17 front tire in a few days though because although I like the look of the high front fender it blocks too much air from getting to the radiator which is causing the old girl to run too warm for my liking .
So a smaller front tire will let me put the stock front fender (mud guard ) back on which will let the air flow to the radiator again . the stock front fender also works better in the rain  :D

but the 17 inch front and rear make it handle superbly.

[aeronca]

I can't tell from the pics - is the new fender slotted so air can get to the radiator? I seem to remember reading that people have had problems with overheating if they installed a non-slotted high fender.

It's on my to do list ................
yep the temp runs higher with the fender in front of the radiator ,goes way up when sitting in traffic with no air moving
looking at one of these to replace with

interesting, i haven't really noticed any real difference in the temp on my bike, but then I'm running an acerbics technic fender and it may allow a different airflow.

[Mudhen]

Same here.  I've been running a high fender for 30k miles and haven't noticed an issue yet.

Although a couple years ago I put some coolant in it and it burped it all out...so I haven't bothered  putting any more in.  No sense wasting it...

[Mustang]

This was a fender for a CRF450 onda and it seems as though the shape of the front of the fender tends to push the air out and away from the bike

looking at the bike head on I can't even see the radiator at all
with the fender off the bike runs considerably cooler on the temp gauge
with the high fender on........ the needle is usually just barely below the red mark and in traffic or stopped at traffic lights it is almost maxed out on the temp gauge

it's not really as hot as the gauge shows as the new sender I put on for the temp gauge has always read hotter then it should .it reads almost halfway up the temp gauge when everything is normal , which is where it runs with the high front fender off . put that high fender back on and the fans are running quite a bit of the time .

[ramseybella]

she handles like it is on rails !

I am going with a 120/70/17 front tire in a few days though because although I like the look of the high front fender it blocks too much air from getting to the radiator which is causing the old girl to run too warm for my liking .
So a smaller front tire will let me put the stock front fender (mud guard ) back on which will let the air flow to the radiator again . the stock front fender also works better in the rain  :D

but the 17 inch front and rear make it handle superbly.

Don't understand the high off road front fender on a Tiger, looks cool but at 500 Lbs not a true dirt bike, havent taken my tiger on a forest road yet with street tires, but I did take her for a 285 mile ride today up in the Jamez mountains after the valve shim job no issues so far.
 40 mpg at 75 to 80 Mph.

[Jaythro]

Man That Looks Excellent

I'd love a go at that


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