Talyn's Diary

[Lee337]

She's here...

Meet Talyn, named with the help of some of our more active members.

Talyn is a 2014 Tiger 800 XC ABS SE. She has just over 15k miles on her, which is not bad for a 9 year old, but has been quite lazy over the past few years, having only done 56 miles since her 2021 MOT and 9 miles since her 2022 one. I suspect that was 4.5 miles to the MOT station & 4.5 miles back.

Her Service history is a little lacking, having only had the regular service done on mileage, not yearly, but there are receipts for things like oil & filters for all years except the pandemic years. That may also account for the low mileages over the past few years.

She has an Arrow exhaust which sounds nice & was suposed to come with the original as well. I'm in contact with the seller & hope to have the exhaust soon - not that I'll change it over, but it's nice to have all her bits.

So, now she's tucked away in the garage having been cleaned & polished yesterday. A quick look over revealed a Scotoiler with the oil reservoir tucked under the pillion seat but not fixed to anything.  A couple of cable ties sorted that. She also has a new battery. I also found her rather hard to push around. Turns out the tyres were down by about 15psi each. It moved a lot better after I pumped them up. WQill have to keep an eye on the pressures.

The strap in the topbox that stops it opening too far has broken, so that's on my To-Do list for today (as soon as I finish work) and there are a few small marks on the luggage, but aside from that I can't fault her. I've yet to take her out on the road though. I might wait until the weather improves.

Meanwhile, I still have Tallulah to ride when I need to get out.

[Sin_Tiger]

Looking rather smart, both of them. I can see Tallulah's bars now  odd that I hadn't spotted those previously.

[London_Phil]

I'll swap you one of my oem spare exhausts for the Arrow... You will need a truck with HD rear springs to transport it mind you...

[Lee337]

Well, after spending a few hours cleaning Talyn, I fixed the strap in the topbox, but noticed the fogs were pointing in different directions. Spent around an hour getting them pointing in the same direction with the beam patterns matching & tucked her awaty in the garage again.

Yesterday (Sunday) having looked at the weather forecast for my area, I decided to tax her & today took her out for her inaugral run. & short 80 mile round trip to a pub for coffee & a bite to eat.

What I found was one of the fogs wasn't very tight, so started to slip down the engine bars and the gear change was a little too low for me. Both were sorted when I got home.

Sadly she is no longer a spotlessly clean Tigger which means another few hours in the garage to clean her.

As for the ride, I found her to perform really well, even compared to Tallulah's superior horses. The seating position was comfortable although I could probably do with some padding. The heated grips work well, even in 5oC. Yes, I know it's not that cold compared to some areas, but it was cold enough for my feet to get a little cold despite thermal socks. I love the handling though, it's so different to the 955i, so much easier to turn with the XCs wider bars and the clutch is smooth as silk. There's no CLUNK when selecting 1st and aside from stalling her twice - I put this down to being more used to the 955is 'agricultural' clutch, gear changes were spot on, whether I used the clutch or not.

I did notice that she doesn't pull as well as Tallulah, especially when overtaking, although when I first pulled away on the main road, I was surprised to find myself exceeding the 60mph speed limit by quite a margin. The key seems to be riding at higher revs, I found myself rarely above 4th except when on straight A roads. My only gripe is the digi dash, when I filled up, the fuel indicator only seemed to go up half way (the low fuel indicator works) and when riding into a low sun, I couldn't see what speed I was doing. Shielding my eyes from the sun didn't really work either as there wass never enough time for my eyes to adjust enough to the light conditions when looking at the dash, before I needed to see where I was going. Luckiny, I was riding with two other riders, both BMW R1200 RTs (some have our crosses to bear) and as they religiously stuck to the speed limits in 30 & 40 areas, I felt confident I didn't go above the limits either. Now, once I've fitted my Satnav, that should solve that issue as the displayed speed on it, is easier to see in odd weather conditions. I also need to swap over the dashcams at some point too.

I've yet to ride her with the luggage on, that'll have to wait for another day. Overall I'm impressed with the 800XC & am happy I got her.

Looking forward to some longer rides when the weather improves. 

[Sin_Tiger]

    

Mine was a pre RBW gen 1, I had similar issues with stalling easily. Punched in the TOR map of the day, which gave me the excuse to fit a Zard end can  , made a very noticeable difference to city riding for me.

The 21" wheel makes a noticeable difference, the suspension setup is quite different to the cast wheel variants, I rode a friends back to back and felt more at home with the XC handling. I later spoke with a Triumph road tester at a factory event, who'd been on the development team and his comment was the XC was the better handling of the models, he just looked at me and said "budget" 

[London_Phil]

I stall mine occasionally.
I think it just needs more revs than your used to to get moving. Definitely not my ability level..no no no....
I also loaded the TOR Map with my GPR exhaust, and that seems to have improved it a bit.

[93TigerBill-2016]

Hi,
Persist with the 800XC, it's worth it.
I've recently sold my Gen 1/2012 800XC, after an enjoyable few years.
Pertinent points:
- Had the 'stalling' problem initially, helped to do the fine adjustments on the throttle cables (and familiarity);
- The engine characteristics are very different to the T400 - you can get away with 'any gear, anytime' with the 900's, but the 800 motors like to be revved; they show their heritage (i.e. coming from the 675 engines);
- 'Bike had a Leo Vince can on it when acquired, and I loved the note out of it! Probably didn't help fuel consumption...  Had the Triumph TOR loaded, and happy with fuelling;
- I found that the handling of the 800XC was the closest to that of my '93 Tiger, moreso  than the 800XR's.
- Switched to a set of Michelin Anakee Adventure tyres, and this transformed the handling!

My .02c.......

[Lee337]

At some point I need to loo at what map is loaded. I'm hoping it's not the standard one due to the Arrow end can & the last service being done by Muddy Sump. The previous owner did mention that the software had been updated at the last service although he was not 100% certain what that actually meant.

Another job to do when I get some time..

as well as cleaning her, replacing the Givi fog light switch that's broken, adding extra padding to either the seat or my a$$, getting out & riding her more, sorting the fuel gauge and figuring out what the buttons on the dash do, attach the satnav mount, install the dashcam etc. etc.   

Having bikes certainly keeps you busy.

[London_Phil]

One very important point to mention is the  tendency of the underseat area to fill with water!!!!
This can happen if the tiny drain hole is blocked.
The issue is mainly the starting solenoid, with the 30A main fuse built into it. It's UNDER the battery, and is a known problem.

1) check drain hole...people put a small tie wrap though it, so the drain can be kept clear. Leave it dangling from inside
2) Check the starter solenoid connections are not corroded.
3) Check the main 30A fuse is not corroded/burnt, as this causes stalling. Its a poor design. Use a good quality 30A fuse. I sourced some Industry quality ones (Durite), not the lidl multipack type

Some people make a remote fuse. I tried it, and  had issues with a poor quality fuse holder burning out  ( Napa from the US!!)
Ended up buying a good, used solenoid, and refitting with a quality fuse back in its original place.

Lots of dielectric grease in and around the connectors  ( actually, I got some from my last job, and greased every connector I could reach....)

[Lee337]

Had a couple of hours to spare this weekend, so decided to fit the Pyramid hugger I bought early last week. Just four bolts - what could possibly go wrong!

The instructions are simple enough, remove chain guard by undoing the three retaining bolts - yep, two minutes.

Thought I'd better clean everything up as I'd been out a while ago & there was still a bit of crud around the shock - 10 minutes to clean everything thoroughly around the swing arm/shock. 

Next remove the exhaust end can - a quick look and I cold see no reason to do this, so I didn't - two minutes to assess & decide I could reach far enough to not need to do this step. 

Remove the two bolts holding the brake line brackets - two minutes. 

Fit the four rubber grommets and metal spacer rings to the hugger - five minutes (took my time and had a few sips of coffee between grommets). 

Slide the hugger over the wheel and place it loosely so that you can do up the forward bolt with brake hose bracket, finger tight only - A bit of a pain to do, After 15 minutes managed to locate and do up the bolt minus the bracket. I figured once I got everything aligned, I could undo each bolt individually & then refit this bracket. It was a bit tight in there as the exhaust can was still in place, but reachable. 

Do up the rear bolt with the brake hose bracket , finger tight only - WTF cannot for the life of me do the bolt up with the brake hose bracket in place, so did it up finger tight without the bracket the same as the front bolt, just to get the hugger in place. 30 minutes. 

Next, do up the two bolts on the chain side, finger tight - Managed to do up the forward bolt but the rear bolt hole in the hugger seemed to be around 2mm offset from the hole in the swing arm. Abandoned after 30 minutes. 

Finally tighten all the bolts - Yeh, right. Undid all the bolts. Managed to finally do up the two on the chain side thinking this would align the other two bolts so it'd be easier to do the bolts up with the brake hose brackets. 

Not a hope, couldn't even align the bolts without the brackets, let alone with. 

After another hour, gave up and went shopping.

Sunday morning, removed the exhaust can to allow better access to do up the bolts with the brackets. After much swearing, a twix and a cup of coffee successfully do up both bolts, with brake hose brackets finger tight. 45 minutes

Turning my attention to the chain side, it was fairly easy to do up the forward retaining bolt, again finger tight, but the rear one was still approx. 2mm out.  After pulling & pushing the hugger every way I could, it would still not line up. Now I know fibreglass is reasonably flexible, but what it does not do is stretch. I had two options, remove the hugger, take the grommet & spacer out & widen the hole slightly, replace the grommet & spacer & try again, bearing in mind I'd already spent far too much time trying to do up four bolts, or remove the metal spacer from the grommet and do the bolt up with just the rubber grommet in place.

You can guess which option I went for.

Funny how a 30 minute job can take five hours 

[Lee337]

Jobs still to do:

• Check drain hole
• Check the starter solenoid connections are not corroded.
• Check the main 30A fuse is not corroded/burnt,

(thanks London_Phil)

• Wire in the Satnav (mount already done)
• fit dashcam
• find out where the green wire from the +ve battery terminal goes to
• connect TuneEcu to check the map for the Arrow can has been installed.
• check scottoiler flow now I've filled up the reservoir

then 

As it's gong to be cold/wet for a while and I go into hospital on 23rd, assuming it's not cancelled, I suspect it'll be February before I get time to do any more, especially as I won't be able to drive/ride until then anyway.

[London_Phil]

Oh yes, be careful if you fit a Pyramid hugger, the holes don't always line up.....lol...

And on a serious note...
You can get an extender for the rear shock adjuster, search for https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/vfrpaulvfr , he also does Titanium spacers and brake pins.
The shock adjuster can seize/fail
Later White Power shocks are a bolt-in ( but not the very later ones with electronic control...)

[Lee337]

Ok, a quick update on what's been going on with Talyn.

She's basically been sitting in the garage doing not much. I on the other hand have been busy. Having fitted the Pyramid rear hugger and in anticipation of going away at least once this year, I bought a set of internal pannier bags, which includes a bag for the top box as well. They turned up this morning, so I thought I'd see how well they fit. They're a pretty good fit and appear to be well made, certainly better than the inner bags I have for Tallulah's panniers. At £39 for all three, I thought it worth a go.

I also bought the shock adjuster, which I also fitted today. The adjuster wasn't seized although I gave it a good spray with PlusGas just in case.

One thing I'm a little confused about is the adjustment of the rear shock. The Owners handbook suggests winnding the spring pre load adjuster all the way in (clockwise) and setting it at 0 clicks for two up, solo with luggage or off road and 24 for solo riding without luggage. Thing is, the full range from all the way in to all the way out appears to be only 13 clicks.

I've set it at 7 clicks for now and will see how it feels when I go out next. I haven't touched the rebound damping yet, not even to check what it's set at.

[ghulst]

That is a nice purchase to start the year with! You seem to be collecting them well lately. :)

[Lee337]

   My bank account probably doesn't think so