Great day! I am a happy new owner of a '98 Steamer, BRG.
Pictures will come soon, right now I'm on my way to home. Stopped for a late lunch dinner.
Bike feels fine and is a pleasure to ride, so steady yet agile. I'm one happy chappy :wings :occasion14
I will tell more after I get home :icon_biggrin:
Looking forward to the pics! congrats!
I got home without any fuss. Taking pics tomorrow. I will find out if Tigers like water when I give the bike a proper wash. The rims are in exceptionally good condition, maybe they've been renewed.
Good news, can't wait for the pics.
Quote from: Tomcat61 on April 09, 2017, 04:24:28 PM
Great day! I am a happy new owner of a '98 Steamer, BRG.
Pictures will come soon, right now I'm on my way to home. Stopped for a late lunch dinner.
Bike feels fine and is a pleasure to ride, so steady yet agile. I'm one happy chappy :wings :occasion14
I will tell more after I get home :icon_biggrin:
The first time I rode mine I fell in love. It's big man sized and handles better than my old ninja. And those Keihin carbs are simple. You should have a lot of fun.
I was surprised how well these bikes handle considering the weight and size.
Brilliant! I look forward to seeing the photos. 👍🏻
:wings
Excellent news! :>< :>< :>< :><
Busy day today, but I managed to ride my Tiger. Took my son home from school with it and went for a 70km ride with my daughter. Our family loves the Tiger :icon_wink:
Thr odometer reading turned to 99999kms today and I stopped to take a pic of it.
I try to add pics when I have more time.
First pic of my Steamer.
First 100000kms.
Oh thats a good pic, looks lovely
Thanks, I didn't know how large files can be attached, so I re-sized the pics.
Looks good :thumbsup
Nice bike! Congrats! :><
I just got mine yesterday too... :D
I bought a voltmeter to monitor the battery. I think that the digital clock will be removed and voltmeter installed in the same place.
Alternator drive makes some rattle when engine is on idle speed. I'll look into that soon. Nothing alarming in my opinion. Or is it?
Another thing that is maybe normal: when riding at 2000 rpm and accelerate rapidly, there is quite harsh sound and strong vibration until engine reaches 3000 rpm and the sound and vibration goes away. Same in every gear, but not if acceleration is done slowly. I hope that I explained this clearly.
I thought that it comes from the clutch.
If someone thought "what the heck he's talking about final drive by gears" :icon_eek: I meant primary drive by gears :icon_razz:
I'm hoping to do some work on the Steamer during Easter, because riding weather is not very nice.
We might get even snow, but that's quite normal in April.
These triples don't like to do any heavy lifting until about 3500 rpms. If you light her up under that, she'll shiver like a baby wetting its diaper.
Perfectly normal.
That's good to know. I used the low end torque in the morning when the streets were quite icy, even cars went slowly and I was on my way to work on a Steamer :bug_eye
I didn't fall or crash, thank to the nice engine the Steamer has.
Heated grips were really nice in that icy cold weather.
You are obviously hardened to the cold far better than we are!
A bit off topic, but do you know anything about the Britti Ralli in Finland. It is a possible trip for me next year.
Quote from: Tomcat61 on April 10, 2017, 11:41:05 PM
Alternator drive makes some rattle when engine is on idle speed. I'll look into that soon. Nothing alarming in my opinion. Or is it?
Nothing too much to worry about on a '98, I've had to do mine a couple of times.
On then end of the alternator shaft is a splined plate with 4 vanes on it that takes the drive from the engine via some cush rubbers. The plate is held onto the end of the shaft by a bolt and spring washer, it works loose over time. It's just a case of taking it out, little bit of threadlock on it and tighten it up again. If your really unlucky the bolt may have sheared and you'll have to get the end out.
Worst bit of the whole job is that you need to remove the fuel tank and carbs to get at it.
Be very careful not to pinch the o ring when you put it back in, or you'll have an annoying oil leak to deal with! The OEM triumph o ring seems to be a bit too big as it doesn't sit very well in the groove, i think last time I did it, I ordered a slightly smaller one from an online site which made it alot easier. I'm sorry but I don't have any measurements.
If you can put up with the rattle, don't worry about it too much, the bolt can't go anywhere, and it only really happens at idle, once the engine is revving it goes away. Put it on your winter jobs list!
Oh, and enjoy the bike, they are great.
Quote from: Geoff W on April 13, 2017, 08:36:37 PM
You are obviously hardened to the cold far better than we are!
A bit off topic, but do you know anything about the Britti Ralli in Finland. It is a possible trip for me next year.
We have used to cold weather in Finland. I also used to go Winter swimming but that's another story :icon_biggrin:
I know Britti Ralli but I've never been there for the obvious reason that I didn't ride a Brit bike until now. I can get some information for you.
Today I visited my sister's farm in the countryside. Driving along the twisty unpaved roads I remembered what fun it was to ride there with an enduro (KTM 2-stroke and 4-stroke and Aprilia 2-stroke) and I was also thinking the tyres that I have on my Steamer. With those Michelin street tyres on it would be no fun at all. So for the good time on unpaved roads I would need suitable tyres.
Suitable tyres for that kind of blasting are some kind of knobbies or enduro tyres, and if I had two sets of wheels it would be great, but I don't. It has to be some sort of hybrid of street and off road tyres. Do they even exist? Surely there are such tyres, but will they work on a Steamer?
I would like to hear good advice and experience on such tyres for Steamer.
My riding would be 60-70 % asphalt and 30-40% unpaved but normal roads, not forest paths and enduro trails.
GavD, thanks for your good tips about the alt drive. I will deal with it soon I guess, as I'm on a 3 weeks vacation starting after a week. Now the weather is really cold, only 1 or 2 degrees C and it snowed today :icon_lol: only very lightly but it's really no like Spring weather.
I connected the battery to a charger (0,8A) to keep the battery in top condition in cold weather.
I don't have space in my garage for Steamer right now so it's resting under a bike cover.
With the bike came a Corbin seat, it's totally different than the original seat, but I will try it and if it's not too wide for twisties I may leave it on. Corbin seat has seen some road use.
So it must have been good for touring. I won't be doing much long distance touring so the advantages of a touring seat may not be great.
Just today I looked at my insurance cost for the Steamer. Total cost the year round is 184€. It is quite affordable and compared to 50cc scooter insurance it's about the same :occasion14
The scooter riders, at 15 years of age, are having a lot more accidents than big motorcycle riders.
I'm 55 years old and not in the top risk age group. Of course, Steamer's relatively low horsepower figure helps to lower the insurance costs.
And no road tax on bikes it's quite affordable to have a motorcycle in Finland. My personal bonus (discount) of 75% on traffic insurance helps too.
Relatively low HP! Compared to modern bikes yes,but back then..what in the same class,had more per CC? And remember,you can 'tune' the tiger up,using the higher spec parts!
if the idle speed is set too low that causes it to rattle, I think it should be 1050-1150 rpm
Quote from: threepot on April 16, 2017, 01:38:49 AM
Relatively low HP! Compared to modern bikes yes,but back then..what in the same class,had more per CC? And remember,you can 'tune' the tiger up,using the higher spec parts!
Modern bikes with higher power output have higher insurance costs than Steamer. Power to weight ratio is the most important factor.
Quote from: JayDub on April 16, 2017, 02:50:09 PM
if the idle speed is set too low that causes it to rattle, I think it should be 1050-1150 rpm
Good point! I still haven't got Owner's manual or workshop manual, so I have to get all info from the web.
Today my neighbor came to see what I have under wraps on my front yard. Of course I had to demonstrate Steamer's starting and engine sound. All went well first, the engine started easily, the battery had been connected to a charger at least one day. As we were talking and my Heavy Tiger ( I named it after a Swedish girl-rockband :icon_wink:) idled with choke half-way in, the engine suddenly stalled. I tried to restart but there was only quiet click from the starter or some relay.
I connected the charger to battery and tried to start again, but only the tacho needle went up and there was buzzing sound. I turned the ingition off. My first thoughts were: Ok this is it! The SPRAG has had it! :bug_eye
I tried once more but only the quiet click was the result. The charger went crazy and showed full charge, then full discharge and short cirquit in rotation and then stayed in short cirquit display.
Then I disconnected the battery and measured the voltage with a multimeter. It showed under 12 volts. I just checked and it showed 10.4V. I am pretty sure that the battery died on front of my eyes.
Surely a sprag can't just lock up and stall the engine when it's on idle? I didn't have a battery at hand to try to start the engine once more. I didn't want to connect a car battery nor did I have the suitable wires. So, tomorrow I go and buy a quality battery and charge it fully before even trying to start the engine.
I would have been really pissed off if I had gone riding and that would have happened on the road.
Now it happened in my own yard.
A dead 12 months old battery.
Is 14Ah battery the original recommended size? Is there any advantage to use a battery with bigger Ah value? Charging not able to top up bigger than 14Ah battery?
OEM is YB14L-A2
14AH, and probably the biggest you can fit.
AGM batteries will generally have higher cold crank (CCA) value, and are preferred generally.
Poor or duff batteries are sprag killers.
A lot of folk use AGM, some buy old school acid, and junk them yearly.
I used MotoBatt, but some people have had issues with them.
lithium is latest tech, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the reliability of Lithium batts, as seen with IT tech exploding....
Larger battery not needed, but good battery is.
Thanks Phil,
I found out that 16Ah batterys are generally wider, so not possible to fit into Steamer's batt box.
I looked Motobatt's at local store's website, but there were no measurements on show.
The "YB14L-A2" Yuasa costs 54,90€ and GS of the same type costs 34,90€. I think Yuasa is better quality. Motobatt costs roughly 50% more than Yuasas. Cheaper brands I leave to the shelf.
I had AGM battery on my diesel Alfa and had trouble to keep it fully charged, when using the Webasto fuel powered heater. Same could happen with Steamer equipped with heated grips? The alternator can't handle bigger than 14Ah batteries? The DAR gets worse with bigger batt? :bug_eye
Its a uk site, but will give you some options
https://www.tayna.co.uk/YB14L-A2-Motorcycle-Batteries-G78.html
A good question. I've often thought about a bigger battery? Would the stock charging system cope,and would it fit?
The stock set up barely copes to start these 'beasts', and that includes my Daytona. I've read that upgrading the wiring from the alternator thru the starting mechanism helps?
You need to understand the "separateness" of the start and charge systems, as it were.
Limitations to starting would be battery condition, battery CCA ( amount of energy the battery can release in one go), engine compression, Starter efficiency ( ie brushes/commutator).
Charging rate will have no effect on this, as you're not charging until engine is running.
As far as charging goes, the Alternator output is the main issue, its not very high, combined with poor wiring connections between Alternator and battery.
There is a mod to the wiring somewhere, but I cant find it. I think essentially the wiring from the alternator to battery is replaced, but some rewiring is needed.
I found with a MotoBatt, and cleaned connectors, I could get 14.5v above 1800RPM on the Steamer,,( sniff... :icon_salut: ... ), but if you start adding extra lights etc, you run up against max output issues with Alternator.
So today after work I went to the Motonet store where I found that Motobatt MBTX14AU costs 94€ and is AGM technology. It should last longer plus has more cranking power 210CCA compared to Yuasa YB14LA2's 175 and Motobatt is 16,5Ah while Yuasa is 14Ah. Bigger is better, I hope :icon_rolleyes: :icon_wink:
Also genious is the 4 post design for connecting additional applications to the battery.
What confuses me is that on the box Motobatt says that "No initial charging required" but the store's web site they recommend initial charging before the battery is installed in place.
I measured the voltage of the battery just out of the box and it read 12.6V which should be as in a fully charged battery.
I guess initial charging won't do any harm?
Yep, charge it, my Yuasa shows 13v sitting
:iagree charge it overnight before you try a start.
Quote from: Tomcat61 on April 17, 2017, 02:21:57 PM
So today after work I went to the Motonet store where I found that Motobatt MBTX14AU costs 94€ and is AGM technology. It should last longer plus has more cranking power 210CCA compared to Yuasa YB14LA2's 175 and Motobatt is 16,5Ah while Yuasa is 14Ah. Bigger is better, I hope :icon_rolleyes: :icon_wink:
Also genious is the 4 post design for connecting additional applications to the battery.
What confuses me is that on the box Motobatt says that "No initial charging required" but the store's web site they recommend initial charging before the battery is installed in place.
I measured the voltage of the battery just out of the box and it read 12.6V which should be as in a fully charged battery.
I guess initial charging won't do any harm?
That is the one I have. I bought my Steamer (Freddie, after Freddie Mercury) in 7/15 and it is still going and is hard to deplete. The first year, before I knew about the sprag, it sat from November to March with the stock clock and started right up. I keep a tender on it now to avoid a slow start though.
P.S. PM me for a manual link
Today I put in new battery, but before that I cleaned the cables with sandpaper. Now the starter turns faster. It was a pleasure to ride today, I missed my old girl :icon_wink: she didn't mind the cold weather, just barely 40F. I went to local historic bike club for a chat and coffee.
If you have a bit of time and patience, cleaning and dielectric greasing the connectors in the large multi blocks under the seat and behind the instruments is very worthwhile.
Missing her after such a short time, it must be :love10
Quote from: Sin_Tiger on April 19, 2017, 01:51:38 AM
If you have a bit of time and patience, cleaning and dielectric greasing the connectors in the large multi blocks under the seat and behind the instruments is very worthwhile.
Missing her after such a short time, it must be :love10
:iagree
Especially the one from the ignition switch. Cured a little issue I had a while back. What felt like a coil starting to fail,and rev needle fluctuating slightly. And I noticed it on my Daytona recently! And a bit of attention to that connector,seems to have sorted it!!? So thanks to the guy's on here that advised :thumbsup
Should be a general maintenance task?
This morning it was a couple of degrees below zero C, about 28F, and the starting first failed, engine just wouldn't turn, second attemp succeeded and Steamer woke up right away. I also noticed a few drops of cooling liquid from between cylinder and head, but it stopped when engine started to warm up. Is this a symptom of head gasket failure or normal in cold weather? Do I need to check the head bolt tightness?
Maybe my Steamer is crying for the cruelty of working her in cold weather :icon_lol:
Quote from: Tomcat61 on April 19, 2017, 05:34:49 PM
This morning it was a couple of degrees below zero C, about 28F, and the starting first failed, engine just wouldn't turn, second attemp succeeded and Steamer woke up right away. I also noticed a few drops of cooling liquid from between cylinder and head, but it stopped when engine started to warm up. Is this a symptom of head gasket failure or normal in cold weather? Do I need to check the head bolt tightness?
Maybe my Steamer is crying for the cruelty of working her in cold weather :icon_lol:
Is it definitely coolant from the head gasket, not condensation or dripping from elsewhere?
Good point Phil, as I didn't see for sure that it came from between the head and cylinder block. It felt like coolant on fingers, but I didn't taste it :icon_razz:
Tomorrow I will be looking like a hawk :icon_biggrin:
Not many bikes on the roads, Spring is very cold for this time of year. Yesterday there was 6 bikes at the bike club and 2 were Tigers :icon_wink: my Steamer and 800 XC.
The drop of coolant has been seen before, doesnt seem to be a pre curser to failure, only happens when the temps are really down. Keep an eye on it though.
Like the electrical connectors, switches on a 20 year old bike just beg to be opened up and cleaned/greased.
Worth checking out the handle bar switches :icon_wink:
Quote from: John Stenhouse on April 19, 2017, 10:15:34 PM
The drop of coolant has been seen before, doesnt seem to be a pre curser to failure, only happens when the temps are really down. Keep an eye on it though.
This morning, although a few degrees warmer (less cold) same thing happened, just a few grops of glycol came from the same place as before and it is really glycol, now I'm absolutely sure of it.
It is expected that dripping stops as weather gets warmer.
Mine used to weep around the head gasket, only a very light smear of liquid in cold weather. On the low side of the engine when on the side stand overnight. It seemed to cause no problems other than making me worried, sorted itself out as the weather warmed up. So as with most things I just forgot about it until I read about yours. I do not ride as much in cold weather now, so I have not noticed it at all recently. I was never sure if it was coolant or condensation.
Geoff, sorry that I made you worry again, and reminded of this :^_^ :bug_eye :icon_lol:
Riding bikes when it's below zero C was never in the engineers minds :nono
I'm not worried, because your Tigger survived from the cold test. Mine will also :iagree
I used to ride in Winter regularly to Rallies and I remember clearly this guy who had a Kawasaki Z1300 and used candles under the engine to preheat the engine in -25C outside temperature :icon_lol:
GOOD GOD!!!!!!!!!! -25ºC!!!!!!, I have been in Northern Canada in those sort of temperatures, the idea of riding a bike is just beyond belief, a 10 knot wind was enough to make your face feel ripped.
Yeah, I know. Worst thing is that at those temps your vizor is so covered in ice that you simply can't see anything. Ok, these days you can have heated vizors, gloves, jackets, pants, socks and grips. And bike equipped with tyres that have spikes on them. But that's too much fuzz for me now, I'll let younger riders have that fun. Our Spring is late this year, normally day temps are well over 10C.
Today it snowed and then we got hail and then perfect sunshine! Crazy! :icon_eek:
So I parked my Steamer on the terrace which is under roof. I haven't been riding for two days now.
Next week the weather is going (hopefully) to warm up considerably.
I complained about the vibration or harsh sound between 2000 and 3000 revs. I noticed that the chain has quite a bit of slack. That's when bike was on the center stand. As I don't have owner's manual, I don't know in which way to measure chain tension. Normally I would do it when bike stands freely on it's wheels and front sprocket, swing arm pivot and rear axle are about on the same line.
So how to do it the right way with a Steamer? I guess 20-30 millimeters up and down is enough to have free movement of the chain?
Yesterday I picked up a large gasket kit for Steamer from a local food store.
No, our food stores do not have Triumph gasket kits as stock. The food store is our post office too.
The Finnish Post outsourced it's customer operations to petrol stations and food stores.
I got the kit from the previous owner of my Steamer. It's nice to have the gaskets at home, just in case :thumbsup
Quote from: Tomcat61 on April 27, 2017, 09:13:14 PM
Normally I would do it when bike stands freely on it's wheels and front sprocket, swing arm pivot and rear axle are about on the same line.
So how to do it the right way with a Steamer? I guess 20-30 millimeters up and down is enough to have free movement of the chain?
Yup, but 40mm full travel ↑ ↓ in the middle of the bottom run.
Sounds like the weather is similar as to here, 3°C the last couple of mornings and supposedly warming up at the weekend.
Thanks JayDub,
I was trying to describe the same procedure which you did. So the full travel from bottom to top of the free movement of the chain, measured half way between the front and rear sprockets, is 40mm?
I think my Steamer has now 50-60mm and that causes noise and vibration. Adjustment is needed.
Today I saw another small dribble of coolant running down the engine block immediately after engine start and idling on the side stand. It ended soon after about 1 minute. I hope this doesn't get worse, I must check the coolant level before next ride.
Do the chain with a body on the bike.
Check the hose connections and gaskets on the left side of the head.
Quote from: Sin_Tiger on April 30, 2017, 08:45:22 PM
Do the chain with a body on the bike.
Check the hose connections and gaskets on the left side of the head.
Like "weekend at Bernie's"?
I have been looking for suitable daytime running lights for my Steamer, to be assembled into crash bars on the both sides of engine. It may not be legal, but I'd like to put them vertically on the bars.
Search didn't find any threads of daytime running lights so have anyone done this assembly?
Picture of one possible set is below.
Mounting should be straight forward as long as you have suitable clamps to fit to the crash bars.
Most of those type of lamps are designed for horizontal mounting, so I'd suggest checking the beam once mounted that they don't cause "dazzle" for on coming drivers. If so you could add tape or paint to the upper lense segents to avoid that.
Many new car models have vertical lights, but not sure if there is an aftermarket kit for such purpose.
When the weather stops playing funny I have a look at the possible mounting of the lights.
Today it snowed again.... :Topes
When does it stop? You have to be itching to ride.
Although this is not the weather channel, it's really annoying when it snows every day, not much but enough to make you feel like not riding. After Mother's Day the weather should get warmer :XXsunsmile
I managed to install the voltage display to the right top corner of the fairing dash. Display unit is not waterproof, so I don't expect it to last very long :icon_rolleyes: but I wrapped it in packaging tape to keep most of the water outside the housing.
I chose red led colour but in bright daylite can't see nothing but the "888" :icon_lol:
Classic dial gauge would be better, but the one I already purchased is not waterproof either, as it's meant for car use. I hope for a dry Summer :*
How about something like the Ctek indicator lead (http://www.smarterchargers.co.uk/accessories?product_id=82) . It can sit at the top of your dash (secured with a bit of velcro) and has the dual purpose of an easy connection for charging. It's not really necessary to know the voltage, in fact it can make you worry at every fluctuation, knowing that you're getting a charge is enough.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Tiger/i-G9r9pmJ/0/810c6425/X3/IMG_2205-X3.jpg)
Here's my new voltage monitor from Clearwater:
https://www.clearwaterlights.com/collections/all-products/products/clearwater-voltage-sentry?lshst=collection
A review:
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/clearwater-voltage-sentry/review.htm
It's been over a month without writing anything about Steamer. Mostly I've been commuting with some occasional longer trips, like last weekend to Imatra, legendary street circuit. They had IRRC races there and of course the parade of old racebikes with former World Champions and other stars riding them.
You know, Agostini, Read, Mortimer, Ballington, Lansivuori, Korhonen, C.Sarron, Lavado, Granath, and so on. It was for me like a time travel back to '70's. Ago is in a good shape for his age as were most of the veteran riders. It was so good to smell old time 2-stroke exhaust smoke and hear the ripping soung of MV Agusta and Benelli.
Sorry, I got a bit carried away into good memories.
Steamer's been working fine, the rattling of the chain remains the same, but I have learnt to avoid it by going fast from 2500 rpm to 3000 rpm. The front sprocket needs to be checked but I doubt it would be loose in any way. The alternator rattles as it used to but strange is that when front brakelever is pulled the rattling is silenced! I can't think anything but the brake light going on and it makes the alternator work a bit harder and the sound is different because of that.
Photos please :icon_biggrin:
My wife's cousin has lived in Helsinki(well just outside) for over 10 years now we are due a visit and the plan was to time with the GP next year but I see it's been put off till 19.
If the rattle occurs at those revs then adjusting the idle mixture screws might help. When the engine is on over run the load on the alternator shaft is reversed, that's the most likely reason.