Beaker owner, been lurking a while!

[Dex]

Hi Folks,


So, after posting up my for sale ad for my Saab, I suddenly realised I'd been lurking a while but not yet said hello.

I'd heard of the site but never registered, then I was at a small focus group event at TRL - and another Tiger rider said I should check the place out :)

So I'm Dex, from Swindon in UK. Been riding since my 17th Birthday, treated myself to my second Triumph in March of this year when I got a Tiger 800.


She's had a few bits of fettling and farkles - you'll be far more interested in hearing about/seeing the bike than you will about me :D So here goes...

Parked up at home


Going along the Pyrenees this summer



Ridgeway trail




I've had her since new - picked up in March this year. She's now got 12,000 miles on.

So far we've done the length of the Pyrenees west to east, then back again and ridden around a bit in France and Spain while we were down there.

She came with a few options ticked and I've done a few mods since:

TPMS, Handguards, Beak, Engine bars, Heated grips

Garmin Zumo 660, MRA Vario screen, XC Risers, +20mm SWM risers, DNA airfilter, Laser Produro can with custom link pipe, de-cat, bespoke remap to suit can, de-cat and filter, Red Fox hugger, Moto Agora rack for Givi Trekker box, Scottoiler.

There's probably more, there normally is, but can't think of them off the top of my head :)

[daveb]

evening, bike looks nice

[KuzzinKenny]

Hey Dex !! Welcome to TT.com  

the 800's lookin good in white with the hugger  

12,000ml since march  :shock: i've done 24,000ml since..............

..........

......

..

04  :shock:  :oops:  :lol:

have fun !!

KK

[Tigertriple]

Hi Dex welcome aboard. :D

Nice bike, like the trekker luggage and tool tube. As KK says it looks cool with the white hugger  8)

[aeronca]

welcome aboard - cool bike 8)

[walker]

front mudguard is also white - the stock ones are black - nice lookin! (or maybe they are just black on the XC).

[Sin_Tiger]

Welcome, aka the SAAB Dude :lol:

No cup holders then  

Like those Givi boxes (never thought I would say those words  :roll: ) how is that working out for you?

[Dex]

Thanks for the welcomes...

The post will jump around a bit as I respond to a few of the comments..


Front mudguard is white on the 800, black on the 800 XC, I wasn't sure if white beak would work with white mudguard, but I like it :)

Rear hugger was £75 compared with £150 at the time for the R&G one, I was tempted to go for plain black as I wondered if a white hugger/chain guard would be too much white. As it is I'm glad I went for the white - add a bit of balance to the bodywork colouring.

I bought the bike to use as a road bike, as I suck off-road. So things like tyre clearance for knobblies were a non-issue for me.

The mileage is partly due to us having a decent amount of good weather this summer, combined with my 2,500 miles a month commuting! The bike's now gonna need to sit in the garage until my Saab is sold - then I can afford her 12k service!

Tool tube seems to suit the bike pretty well, although if I ever get panniers it will have to move probably. It's currently holding the bike toolkit (easier to get at, and leaves room under the seat for other bits) as well as my Stop n Go pocket tyre plugger kit. Awesome kit - I used it for a repair on a mate's bike the other day, easy to use and made a really good job of the repair.

All the current panniers racks sit out waaaay too far, if I wanted something the width of a house I'd tow a caravan. I've had the custom link pipe made, with the narrow Laser can, to allow me to modify a pannier rack and keep the cases tucked in as far as possible. It's on my "to do" list.


Trekker - I've always hated top boxes. They are horrible looking things that ruin the look of a bike. So when I got the bike and needed to carry kit for work on my commute I was looking at panniers. Given how wide the current kits go that was going to be no good for my commute and filtering. So I had to go with a top box. The Triumph one cost a fortune and looked pretty shocking I thought, but I spotted the Trekkers and liked the look. They also had the advantage of working as top boxes and panniers for when it came to it.

I've got a 33 and a 46. The 33 doesn't hold a lid, the 46 will hold two full face or one flip front. I can use either as my top box, or when I get the pannier racks I can use one on each side with the 33 on the exhaust side. What would be great is if Givi released a Trekker 21 - then we could use a 21 on right, 33 on left and 33 or 46 as top box - keeping the bike narrow and giving lots of capacity.

So far I've found the Trekkers to be great, they don't leak and they have let me carry plenty of kit. They're also a hell of a lot cheaper than the Triumph luggage.

Not yet got a cup holder - although I did keep a bottle of squash in the Quick Lock tank bag when I was in europe - flip front lids are ever so handy for drinking on the move!

[NeilD]

hi and welcome  :)   still debating wether to go for a hugger or go down the shock sock/mudflap route..

[Sin_Tiger]

Thanks for the detailed feedback, maybe could be moved to the Beaker thread as useful real usage info.

Never liked Givi no matter how well they worked, then they released the Trekker, bugger, reboot!

You using the standard or the adjustable touring screen? Having done decent milage in very varied conditions I would think you have clear opinions by now.

[Dex]

I've got the hugger and a shock sock. The shock sock is (obviously) to protect the shock, the hugger to help reduce the crap thrown everywhere else.

Thanks for the detailed feedback, maybe could be moved to the Beaker thread as useful real usage info.

Never liked Givi no matter how well they worked, then they released the Trekker, bugger, reboot!

You using the standard or the adjustable touring screen? Having done decent milage in very varied conditions I would think you have clear opinions by now.

SO far I've used the std screen, std screen with adjuster kit, touring screen with adjuster kit and MRA Vario.

Std screen (fixed) was awful. Std with adjuster seemed to work ok for me in the lowest position - the airflow stayed low so my lid was in clean air. Touring screen was pretty good - you could feel it keeping the air off when fully upright, but it kept too much off when I was in the Pyrenees and I got really hot so I put it to lowest position. Even then it still almost worked too well. MRA Vario was a great bit of kit, very adjustable and very effective - gave the smoothest/quietest ride of all the screen I've tried so far. I just never quite liked the way the front was obviously designed for a single headlight rather than twin.

Next up will be either a Skidmarx screen, a Givi touring and/or a really small flyscreen for the summer.


The saddle needs either replacing with the gel or rebuilding with gel/memory foam and a slight reshape. I'm also looking to put some SW Motech or Tiger 1050 handguards on. The current ones do a pretty good job of keeping much of the wind off on my commute (mine seem to sit in a more useful position than many - no idea why) but I'd like larger ones.

I will dig out the rolling road graphs from my mapping session with before and after traces for full and part throttle. There's quite a thread on Tiger 800 forum with me going into some detail about what conclusions I've drawn from the graph etc....


The upshot may not come as a suprise - when I first saw the bike I decided the headers on the bike looked decidedly sub-optimal. Primaries are too short, collector is a restrictive design. After some rolling road time I still think the same. Currently working on a potential mod to allow a set of street triple headers to be fitted (although it does involve making a street triple sump fit on a tiger 800!)

[Sin_Tiger]

Very interesting feedback on the screens.

I rode my 1050 with the Palmer on low/mid with std screen (pretty effective for buffeting) up for the test ride and most of my helmet was covered in bug splat, cleaned it completely and went for an afternoon on the XC.

When I got back only the very top of my lid had bug splat, visor was clear, this was the Trosaschs, midge central!

If you consider selling on the touring with adjuster let me know.

[Dex]

Sin - I'm afraid the touring and MRA have now been sold on. I try not to keep a garage full of bits (it doesn't work, I have a garage full of bits)

I'll be keeping the stock screen (along with stock exhaust and other bits I take off) but non-stock items that I try and then decide to try something else all tend to get sold.