21 inches of joy

[Rocinante]

Finally, after no less than 11-12 weeks waiting for the 21 inch rim and spokes to arrive, I got it on wednesday. Now Rocinante has a proper offroad size front wheel.





I'm proud to say I did the lacing and truing myself. Proud because in my earlier life I would have used a sledge hammer and destroyed the thing in the process. It's all about patience and small steps, which is new to me...

It would not be true enough for a road racing machine, but for riding in winter and dirt roads, it's perfectly fine. When summer comes I'll see how it behaves on tarmac.

I did a test ride today and noticed several improvements. First, the directional stability has improved a lot, as expected. But even so the improvement surprised and thrilled me. This makes all the difference in snow.

Secondly, the tyre change from  TKC-80 with spikes to a Trelleborg Army Special Winter with spikes makes a big difference in grip.

In total, awsome!  :D

Anyone want to comment on what difference switching to 18 inches rear wheel would do? Mudhen?

PS: Check out the gps mount. Incredible what lies around in the garage.

[Mustang]

Looking good Dag

I notice you have a bright gold shock reservoir , ohlins I presume
My favorite tigger #2 has an Ohlins and I love the way it handles anything you ride on for surface .

[Rocinante]

I notice you have a bright gold shock reservoir , ohlins I presume
My favorite tigger #2 has an Ohlins and I love the way it handles anything you ride on for surface .

Right on. The original shock blew in Costa Rica some eight years ago. The Öhlins' been doing a great job over 60-70 Kkm.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but what is your excuse/reason for owning three black Tigers? Are your raising them? :)

I ask because I am thinking about buying a second one myself some day, since Rocinante is so much different than the original now.

Dag

[ArcticTiger]

Shame on you Dag, that was an inapropriate question :shock: !
You dont need an excuse for owning 3 Tigers. Its just common sense.
You never get enough of a good thing.

Nice wheel you made up!
Its been lots of snow and winter down there in your area this winter, have you been out riding alot? More pics please :D
 
And I have a question for you: I read through your ride report (witch is amazing!), and noticed you broke the rear engine mount two times.
Did you ever find the actual reason why this happened? And how it could have been avoided?

[Rocinante]

Shame on you Dag, that was an inapropriate question :shock: !
You dont need an excuse for owning 3 Tigers. Its just common sense.
You never get enough of a good thing.

Sorry, no offence. I'm just genuinly curious, and I when I said excuse, I meant towards the outer world like a family counsul.
Me, I understand it fully.

Nice wheel you made up!
Its been lots of snow and winter down there in your area this winter, have you been out riding alot? More pics please :D

Yes, a lot. I just got back from 100 km of perfect winter roads in the nearby hills. We've had the best winter in many many years with snowy roads for more than two months so far, and we're still in early february. I love it.

Also, today it was around zero so the main roads were free of snow and ice. This meant I could field test the front wheel balance by doing 110-120 km/h. I did and it felt rock steady. I must have done the trueing better than I thought.:)

And I have a question for you: I read through your ride report (witch is amazing!), and noticed you broke the rear engine mount two times.
Did you ever find the actual reason why this happened? And how it could have been avoided?

No we didn't, except thinking of the obvious, weight. In the beginning of the trip, somewhere in the US, we drove onto a road weight. It showed the equivalent of 470 kg, including a 90 kg driver, 60 kg passenger and 60 kg of luggage.

We did 60 000km that year. Few Tigers have gone through that amount of stress over such a long time. Maybe that's an explanation, or maybe my bike has a structural weekness not found in other Tigers. I don't know.

The repair our on and off travel mate the Austrian tool mechanic Gerald did in Chile is still rock solid, so I've done nothing to it. I guess the stress these days on the mounts is  just a fraction of what it was back then.

Dag

[aeronca]

looks great on those big wheels. oh, and by the way, my fairings have the exact same scratches as yours :lol:

[ArcticTiger]

Yes, could be the heavy load and rough road conditions. Causing the "banana" frame  want to straighten out, putting to much "stretch" in the engine witch is part of the weight carrying structure. Maybee also a lttle loose engine mounting bolts, not giving enough clamping force to hold up against the strain??

Would be nice to meet you soon Dag, I will be  down in Andebu from 20-28 feb. Thats just a short ride through the hills east of you!
I will make up some good coffe, and keep it hot to melt you up after the ride :D

And, are you going to the Scandinavian Tiger Club Spring Meet in Axevalla (S) on may 14-16 2010?

[Mustang]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but what is your excuse/reason for owning three black Tigers? Are your raising them? :)

I ask because I am thinking about buying a second one myself some day, since Rocinante is so much different than the original now.

Dag

#1 is wifes she's had it since new in 1995
#2 is my favorite a 1998 owned it from new
#3 is another 1998 that was too good of deal to pass on and has a traxion reworked suspension front and rear , front with cartridge emulators and low miles , and I am dumb enuff I put a side car on it cuz with three wheels I don't fall down in the frozen wasteland .    

and yeah I got a monkey on my back , a motorcycle monkey ,
the tigers are just the tip of the ice berg so to speak ...............

[Rocinante]

#1 is wifes she's had it since new in 1995
#2 is my favorite a 1998 owned it from new
#3 is another 1998 that was too good of deal to pass on ...

Ah, smart, you included the counsil.:)

Me too owned Rocinante from new. Which means every scratch mentioned below was made by me...

looks great on those big wheels. oh, and by the way, my fairings have the exact same scratches as yours :lol:

Tigers like to fight when growing up... Actually I think there's a spot on the lower left side which hasn't got a scratch.
Not sure though...

Would be nice to meet you soon Dag, I will be  down in Andebu from 20-28 feb. Thats just a short ride through the hills east of you!
I will make up some good coffe, and keep it hot to melt you up after the ride :D

And, are you going to the Scandinavian Tiger Club Spring Meet in Axevalla (S) on may 14-16 2010?

Sure. Andebu is just 65-70 km away through some nice roads this time of year. Remind me when you get there and let's see.

I haven't been to any of the Tiger meetings.  The only meeting I normallly go to during the year is Bukkerittet, the off road rally in Rondane (http://www.otc-mc.org). That meeting is heaven for the offroad enthusiast.