1996 steamers.....would you call these bikes reliable?

[BruKen]

hear! hear! Basri.

I dont have much experience of Tigers or Triumph in the long term. I absolutely loathed the way it was put together, a by product of robotic assembly, when doing my rebuild. But what I can say and the evidence is there for all too see, that engine for all it's faults was over engineered. Have a look at the state mine was in. It was so bad I stripped it down because I knew it had to be be broken. In the end I did not need to replace a single mechanical item. Just gaskets. If I had a real gripe at all, it would be over the metallurgy. It is very prone to oxidation.
When it comes to maintenance on these beasts, the old adage is true. If the job is worth doing; do it properly. Because maintenance is awkward at best, the job often isn't done properly. That's not a bike reliability issue.

[NeilD]

aaargh... perhaps I should edit my post - just found broken bolt on the clutch side of the alternator shaft... £98 for the upgrade kit  :shock:
I blame Nickcalne for making me say nice things about it - I knew I was tempting fate..   :D  :D

[BruKen]

aaargh... perhaps I should edit my post - just found broken bolt on the clutch side of the alternator shaft... £98 for the upgrade kit  :shock:
I blame Nickcalne for making me say nice things about it - I knew I was tempting fate..   :D  :D

The real question is why did you wait for it to break?

[Mustang]

aaargh... perhaps I should edit my post - just found broken bolt on the clutch side of the alternator shaft... £98 for the upgrade kit  :shock:
I blame Nickcalne for making me say nice things about it - I knew I was tempting fate..   :D  :D

The real question is why did you wait for it to break?

the rattling noise grows on ya after awhile  

[NeilD]

it didnt really sound that noisy, so I'm looking forward to the 'silent running' once its back together..    obviously been like it a while as the bolt head on the clutch side is polished nice n shiny where its been rubbing against something..  :shock:
at least I was finally able to use the clutch holding tool thats been hanging on my wall 'just in case'  :D

[Nick Calne]

aaargh... perhaps I should edit my post - just found broken bolt on the clutch side of the alternator shaft... £98 for the upgrade kit  :shock:
I blame Nickcalne for making me say nice things about it - I knew I was tempting fate..   :D  :D

That'll learn ya!  :lol:

Mind you my car been in the garage for the last three days and is set to cost £800.  Shouldn't really whinge about the bike...

[Sin_Tiger]

I got a 87k miler, it rode great if a bit 'steppy' in power delivery, the brakes were not brilliant and a bit fierce when they did bite, the pogo sticks strapped to the front wheel did a tremendous job of keeping her flying into bends and keeping her straight without too much input up to about 140 kph but had a serious 'domestic' every time the front brakes got involved, I couldn't stop grinning.

But I took it apart, as I do with everything, the brake pads turned out to have been made in Indonesia from coconut husks by some local batik artists, the previous mechanics thought grease nipples on the rear linkage was for attaching flashing LED strips to but the needle roller bearings put up with it manfully for this long, they also thought that brake fluid and fork oil lasts forever, the previous 'tuners' thought that drilling the carb slides out and the can ends with a Black and Decker was a sure fire way to massive power gains and having enough sh1te in the air filter to supply the Irish with potatoes was part of the power plan. The electrical genius with the masking tape, the car temperature sensors and a few bits of pre-war cable also thought that having three different coils would make the power delivery smoother.

If it could survive all that and still return so much fun, start at every prod of the button, when there was fuel in it (level sensor disconnected  :roll: ) not let me run into the back of the taxi that just decided it wanted to be in my lane and not cause me to want to strap air bags to the seat. Reliable, as much as my Honda ever was, fun more than my meager skills with English allow me to express.

I am going to have to buy a quieter helmet, not to stop the lovely noises from getting in but to stop people looking at me like my riding jacket zips up the back (actually many locals wear their jackets like that) and have belts and buckles on the sleeve ends, due to the great hilarity emanting from inside the helmet.

Read the above and then look at what else I ride / have ridden recently and that should give you an idea of how much I am looking forward to getting her back on the road after the rebuild.

[kingdomstyle]

well i am going to keep my eyes  on the swing arm on regular basis lol  :shock:

[Nick Calne]

Don't overtighten the bolts and loosen/retighten them yourself if anyone else does it for you.

[kingdomstyle]

nick if you do that,there should be no problem...

[Milton]

Very. Bought my 1998 steamer 18 months ago, with 44K miles, and just rolled over 56K with only routine maintenance. I'm planning a long trip through the Pacific Northwest this summer and will be riding the steamer, and I have absolutely no doubts about her reliability.

[kingdomstyle]

mixed reviews

[Colonel Nikolai]

My Sprint has 45,000 miles, the Tiger has 31,000. The Sprint I bought in 2006 without a front end, as it had been crashed into a 200 lbs herd animal at 50 mph. I rebuilt the front end, and went on to put 16,000 miles on it. I checked the valves this winter: 2 needed minor re-shims. I've ridden the Sprint across America, in tornadoes, through days of pounding rain and across the Bonneville Salt Flats at 140 mph. Never had a problem. No DAR either. The Tiger so far shows that it might be about the same. Also no DAR and all 8 valves did not need adjusting.

I think Triumph was really worried that these bikes would have problems and carry on the legacy of the older Triumph company so they over-engineered them. They have their foibles, but I would say they are at least as reliable as their Japanese counterparts.

[Mustang]

my tigger has been everywhere and still runs as good as the day I first brought it home 12 years ago ....................





it is what it is and I wouldn't trade it for anything ! :D

[D-Fuzz]

I almost bought a R100GS last spring.  I started doing some research into their reliability and the cost of ownership and quickly decided against it.  True the engines run for hundreds of thousands of miles, but having to worry about final drives & transmission splines and leaky pushrod tubes and German electrics and so on was more than I wanted to maintain if it was to be my only bike.  I didn't want to spend my winters tearing down & rebuilding in order to get ready for the next riding season.  I have owned enough British cars to know what that is like and it gets tiresome after awhile.

When I bought my Steamer, I knew I was getting a 15 year old bike and it would likely need maintenance.  The good thing is I can do most of the work myself, versus owning something newer with all the whizz-bang computer stuff.  The better acquainted I get with the bike, the more I agree with people like Mustang and other good folks on here in saying I'm prepared to ride my Steamer pretty much wherever.

By reading the Beemer & KTM forums around, there are plenty of reliability issues to go around even with today's technology.