My '98 needs suspension help...and I need some knowledge!

[burntclutch]

Hey there...



I have searched around and found more questions than answers for suspension upgrades for a '98 Tiger.



I have 35k on her now and after getting a valve adjustment done, I am thinking shocks on my bike need upgrades and/replacement on the bouncy bouncy dept.



Hagon seems the the best choice for the rear...but not certain on what model to get for my bike...or even if a bitter option ( just do the spring) is available. The U.S. is not a huge importer of Hagon shocks I think.



As far as the front goes...I am having no luck on what to do in the spring arena. I am hearing conflicting things and most success stories apply to '99+ models. Anyone know the secret here?



THANKS!!!



james

[nightowl]

Hey Burnt.  I have a 98 and also in Atl.  Anyway, I too have not seen any posts about shocks for the steamers.  I know that Wilbers makes shocks for any bike and surely they have delt with the early Tigers.  High quality stuff too; I have one on my Transalp.



On the front, a cheap fix would be to insert a spacer in the forks to stiffen the spring.  I vaguely recall seeing a listing for progressive-type springs for the steamers.  Maybe it was on the Jack Lilly site.



Cheers

Scott

[Mudhen]

I went the rebuild route on my '96.  Shipped the forks and rear shock to Aftershocks in CA and they tore them down, revalved them (I was looking for better dirt performance), modded the springs to suit my weight, then put new seals in.  Entire thing was $500 and took 2 weeks.



Other than progressive springs and spacers you may want to look into cartridge emulators.  They will allow you to tweak the suspension some, although I think you need to take them apart to get to the adjustment mechanism...



M

[burntclutch]

Thx guys!



I did some research and will probably try and put some Racetec Gold Valves on the forks...and continue my search for stiffer springs. I remember the spacer thing on the front forks but didn't want to mess with raising the forks in the yoke.



I did some research on that rear shock and so did my local suspension shop, Traxxion, We'll try and go with a rebuild on that.



That shop also dislikes progressive springs on forks also... are they a bad idea? I could see the issues on a sport bike...but anything on the Tiger would be an improvment.



Thanks for the tips and things to tihnk about guys! Glad to hear verification that the rear can be rebuilt!

[TigerTrax]

If you want to do it right...

put in cartridge emulators up front .....



throw a Hagon adjustable shock on the rear... Ohlins if you want to spend a couple hundred more!



Then...

toss in a 4,àû advanced timing disc from Factory ( not Triumph )



Shim up your needle valve and drop in some larger jets.



Toss in a set of '04 Daytona igniters .....



Dyno tune it.



You'll have well over a grand invested .... and a hot running Steamer....

[burntclutch]

I will try and go with the cartridge emulators. The Racetec Golds are the most popular I assume.



I want to go with a Hagon, but funds and fact that my local suspension shop says they have very good luck rebuilding the Showas to pretty impressive specs, has me wanting to give that a shot.



Any links for the timing discs?



I've had her rejetting several years ago..



No Daytona cams on that list?

[Mudhen]

While we've got TT talking mods...what about tranny gears?  Did any of the other bikes use the same tranny with gears that may be better?  ie, lower first or higher 6th??

[TigerTrax]

Give Kevin a call at Baxter Cycle in Iowa...

He can give the whole poop and nothing but the poop....



including Daytona igniters!