Hi, I'm a recent owner of a '01 Tiger and new to this site. I've had my Tiger for 2 weeks and I can't seem to stop smilin while I'm on her.
I have a question on the stock fork oil and springs. I've heard that changing the oil from 10 to 15 weight would drastically improve her handling. I'm also thinking of changing the springs to the progressively wound Wirth Fork Springs available on the Touratech website. Can anyone give me any personal experiences or suggestions on what to do?
Any aftermarket springs and 15wt will give a dramatic difference,i say difference because any change in suspension is a trade off,you find the forks less responsive at slow speed,but a lot less front end dive when your brakeing,i've run my 01 with that set up 3/4 years now
Great! Thanks for the response.
I've left the springs alone but put heavier oil in (a mix of 66% 15W & 33% 10W) and find that it's still absorbing the bumps nicely but is more controlled with slightly less dive on the brakes.
Thanks for your response. Will highly take that into consideration.
I just rebuilt my forks and went with Wirth springs and two parts 15w to one part 10w. I think it feels alot better with much less dive while braking.
I fitted WP springs to my Tiger, and went with their recommendation of 15w oil. Things were much improved, but things improved again when the time came to change the fork oil and I put 10w in.
Just got my cat back this weekend and it feels better. I had the Wirth springs and 15w oil and I can notice better handling. Especially in the braking as goerover1 stated.
Thanks everyone for their input. I love this site.
What you have to remember guys,nothing is set in stone,there's no such thing as the ideal setting that everyone is happy with,what works in the UK at this time of year one up,won't work on a hot sunny day two up,the more you delve into this suspension lark the more complicated it gets,it's just a case of fine tuneing it for each individual requirement,the same go's for the rear,wait till you ride your Tiger with a quality shock fiited,you'll be cussing you didn't change a long time back,finances permitting of course.
I am interested in what might be recommended as a quality shock. The standard one will take immense punishment but I would like to upgrade at some point.
Over to you Chris..................
Pheww!!! a lot depends on how deep your pockets are,same as everything else in this life, you only get what you pay for,topline shocks White Power,Wilbers,Ohlins there are others that are cheaper and people speak well of them,it's just a case of were you draw the line,one thing for sure a quality shock is an addiction when you've ridden a bike with a good one you'll realise how poor the stock offering is,and you'll not need to ride the bike very hard to find out.
With a decent shock the shear fact that you can separate preload from compression from rebound makes such a difference instead of a one screw at the bottom fix's all!!! for the compression and rebound,and just 5 ajustments for the preload,were as with good a quality shock you even have a choice of springs.