New bike!? Soon... Tiger 800, 61 Reg - any one with experience with them?

[peatear]

So... FINALLY, i'll be getting a bike. And so FINALLY will be able to do the Challenge(2024), I hope!! WOO! 

 

But before that... i've already contacted the garage and it is still there.

My absolute max budget was £4000 - and a lovely VN900 and Tiger 800 show up at the same time.

The VN900 is closer to me, it is in Durham. The Tiger is over in Penrith. I've decided to go head over heart and chosen the Tiger, as being

my first 'big' bike, and space being a premium, it would suit better for now. The VN900 is BIG. I'll move on to something like that when I can.

 

I'll not get to test ride, as i'll be getting it delivered, does anyone have experience with Tigers, could suggest what I should do, check over, etc 

to it - It's a 61plate, 33000 miles on the clock. Costing me £4k. I THINK it is the road version, with the peak added on ? As I thought the 'offroad' version had the peak, and spoked wheels... But I don't know how else to tell, as I know they can all be changed. ;D 

 

If anyone has any insight/experience or anything with that year Tiger 800 you'd like to share with me, would be great.

Looking up insurance quotes as they have given me the full reg number. 

 

 oh this is exciting..

 

Thanks in advance if anyone has info. :] 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by peatear
add

[S-Westerly]

I hope you get a lot of pleasure from your new bike. Enjoy!

 

Sadly I know nothing about Tigers. They were on my list before I wandered off down the Italian bike route. Mad fool that I am

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by S-Westerly

[Pie man]

Nice bike. I hope it brings you plenty of enjoyment. I've never owned a Trumpet 800, so I cant add anything constructive, apart from, two riding pals have them and like them 

[peatear]

23 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

I hope you get a lot of pleasure from your new bike. Enjoy!

 

Sadly I know nothing about Tigers. They were on my list before I wandered off down the Italian bike route. Mad fool that I am

 

 

I'd love a Moto Guzzi V85 TT. Especially in the 'duck' colours as I called them.  Sadly out of my price range without financing. 

[bonio]

I had a Tiger 800, like yours a 2019 MY, but I didn't have it for long enough to know what to look out for on an older bike.

There are three models: XRx (the standard model) XRt (top end) and XCa (off road). Don't know which your's is, but probably not the XCa as I think they all had spoked wheels. 

The engine on your bike is completely beautiful, but the beauty stays largely hidden until you reach higher revs. Keep it in a lower gear and it will reward you. 4th - 6th are for motorways and dual carriageways.

Good to see it has crash bars. The top box is a good idea too. Don't be tempted to get the Triumph panniers - they stick out so wide as to make filtering almost impossible. I had a pair, but did my best to avoid using them as much as possible.

I found the suspension was a bit too budget for my liking - the front didn't track well, and it was unpredictable when leant over. I had a new shock put on, and resprung forks and this fixed all the problems. But with suspension what doesn't work for one person is fine with another, so see how you get on. If you find you need to change things, there's not much adjustment you can do with just a spanner.

Enjoy the bike! And the sound - it has that great wail that can only come from a triple.  

 

[RideWithStyles]

Nice. Triumph triples are gems for allround ridablitly.

if its got 33thou on the clock and the suspension hasn't been changed or serviced properly recently it will definitely be very tired.

fork oil change, shock oil and gas refresh (if possible) would be minimums.

[peatear]

3 hours ago, RideWithStyles said:

Nice. Triumph triples are gems for allround ridablitly.

if its got 33thou on the clock and the suspension hasn't been changed or serviced properly recently it will definitely be very tired.

fork oil change, shock oil and gas refresh (if possible) would be minimums.

 

I'll be sure to ask about those when talking to the dealer, hopefully they know and will be able to sort something. Possibly maybe a decrease in price if it is something that is going

to need to be done. Who knows.. I can dream I guess. 

 

 

4 hours ago, bonio said:

I had a Tiger 800, like yours a 2019 MY, but I didn't have it for long enough to know what to look out for on an older bike.

There are three models: XRx (the standard model) XRt (top end) and XCa (off road). Don't know which your's is, but probably not the XCa as I think they all had spoked wheels. 

The engine on your bike is completely beautiful, but the beauty stays largely hidden until you reach higher revs. Keep it in a lower gear and it will reward you. 4th - 6th are for motorways and dual carriageways.

Good to see it has crash bars. The top box is a good idea too. Don't be tempted to get the Triumph panniers - they stick out so wide as to make filtering almost impossible. I had a pair, but did my best to avoid using them as much as possible.

I found the suspension was a bit too budget for my liking - the front didn't track well, and it was unpredictable when leant over. I had a new shock put on, and resprung forks and this fixed all the problems. But with suspension what doesn't work for one person is fine with another, so see how you get on. If you find you need to change things, there's not much adjustment you can do with just a spanner.

Enjoy the bike! And the sound - it has that great wail that can only come from a triple.  

 

 

 The Tiger i'm looking at is quite a few years older than your 2019 you had! It only had an 800 or 800XC, I think it is the basic 800. 
But i'm sure it'll do me fine as a first big bike. I'll certainly see how it rides for me. I know I've seen somewhere that people say put a wider wheel on the front as it is thinner than the 

rear on the Tiger? 

I do want some panniers. Any would do, 3rd party or Triumph ones. I'm not bothered about filtering just yet. I will be wanting the storage space soon, so i'll work something

out.  

 

Thanks guys!

[S-Westerly]

Most motorbikes have a larger (wider) rear wheel than front. I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't but my personal knowledge is limited.

[Bender]

Just now, S-Westerly said:

Most motorbikes have a larger (wider) rear wheel than front. I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't but my personal knowledge is limited.

Indian scout, balloon tyres both end

[S-Westerly]

10 minutes ago, Bender said:

Indian scout, balloon tyres both end

That's why I stressed my personal knowledge is limited. There's probably hundreds but pretty sure none of them are Adventure style bikes.

[KiwiBob]

I enjoyed my 2011 Tiger 800xc but found it a bit top heavy moving it around the garage and not easy to get on its centre stand! .. I'm happier with my V-Strom.

 

As the one you're looking at has done 33k miles be aware that the major service for the Tiger is every 12,000 miles .. It can be expensive!

[RideWithStyles]

2 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

Most motorbikes have a larger (wider) rear wheel than front. I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't but my personal knowledge is limited.

Bobbers run it close

[peatear]

3 hours ago, KiwiBob said:

I enjoyed my 2011 Tiger 800xc but found it a bit top heavy moving it around the garage and not easy to get on its centre stand! .. I'm happier with my V-Strom.

 

As the one you're looking at has done 33k miles be aware that the major service for the Tiger is every 12,000 miles .. It can be expensive!

 

I forgot about the being top heavy part... and it doesn't have a centre stand! Something that i'm hoping to fix, i'll try and find one for it. 
Hmm, major service - i'm going to have to ask this dealer all these questions - All these are things that will cause a large outlay immediately after 

buying it, which i'm not exactly wanting to do. May have to have a think about it if none of it has been done recently. 

Thanks for the info, 

and to everyone, thanks  Very much appreciated. 

[Fiddlesticks]

I've got the Tiger Explorer 1200. Useful upgrades are the rear hugger to cut down on tyre splatter, led spots on the engine bars, and a shock sock. Have a small tank bag as well, very handy for phone/keys/wallet etc.

Have fun

[Gerontious]

2 hours ago, peatear said:

Hmm, major service - i'm going to have to ask this dealer all these questions - All these are things that will cause a large outlay immediately after 

buying it, which i'm not exactly wanting to do. May have to have a think about it if none of it has been done recently. 

 

This is one of my pet hates. I see it all the time, people see a bike and think its perfect for their needs and then are faced with a big bill shortly after buying. There are always exceptions but modern bikes are frequently expensive when it comes to the major service - especially if done by a dealership. Expensive mostly due to the labour charges. It can often take hours of disassembly to get to the valves. And at circa £100 per hour (plus VAT) the cost can escalate very quickly. Im kinda dreading my fist proper major. Though I'll be better prepared for it when it finally comes around. Believe it or not, Honda will want almost £400 just for the spark plugs and this before the labour charges are added. Full RRP for the plugs are almost £100 each!! and of course Honda always charge full RRP!!

 

My advice has always been, be patient - even if it means travelling it can save you a whole wad of cash if you hang fire and wait for a bike to turn up that has recently had its major done. People are hurting right now and Im seeing a lot of bikes for sale, being sold mostly because a major service is looming and they simply cannot afford it. Obviously this is mostly Africa twins, which I see for sale - mostly. But, Im also seeing bikes that have had the major done and then months later circumstances have changed and the bike is being sold.

 

Some in depth research might help. for example. I ignored the first Major on my bike because it turns out its actually unnecessary!! The chances of the valves being off at 16K is vanishingly small. My own dealership - when quizzed told me they have never had a bike in that needed any adjustment doing it that mileage. So, I ignored it and will have them checked for the first time when the bike is at 32K as it will then also need new spark plugs and the labour charge for that change is. very close to the charge for labour to get at the valves. does that make sense?  I can get the correct spark plugs for less than half price. so will supply them myself - when the time approaches.

 

So, a bike an easy distance might seem a great deal.. only it isn't. Whereas a bike thats some distance away and might require a train ride to get to could be a much better buy. I would much rather pay £100 for a train ticket (or delivery) than be faced with a £900 service bill 3 months after buying.