Featured Tiger 1050 New 2016 Tiger Sport

Blimey quiet in this part of the forum !

I thought I'd put down my thoughts so far on my TS I picked up on Friday.

Picked mine up Friday from Bulldog Triumph.
Swapped crash bars, alarm, centre stand, Scorpion exhaust from old one to new one.
Left the Triumph luggage on the old and they fitted a Givi kit.
Went the silver as I don't like the yellow highlights on the matt black, will need to do something about the shellsuit 1050 graphics over the winter.
Engine, fuelling and gearbox are a vast improvement over the old one.
Suspension was a bit too stiff over bumps, causing the FBW throttle to move a little bit.
Screen is good, bit of buffeting in the helmet area on highest setting, but using it on the next setting down moves it down a bit to the top of the chest which is no problem. Even on it's worst setting it was better than the old one.

Did 80 miles on Saturday.
Saturday evening put a 25mm lowering kit on it from the old one, dropped the front @15mm but think I might need to drop it a couple more mm.
Softened the suspension all round
Fitted some Speed Triple mirrors with mirror extensions as the new std ones buzz too much at motorway speeds - could only make out blobs behind you with the new ones.
removed all "Danger Will Robinson" stickers.
Fitted Givi tank ring.
Did 140 miles on Sunday, the lowering is fine, just possibly need to drop it a couple mm and increase the rear preload back slightly to stop a slight squat when accelerating hard.
Mirrors are much better, just a shame the extensions make them look a bit functional rather than aesthetically pleasing.
The ride is a bit more forgiving now without affecting the handling, I might soften the front a bit more still though.
Did 140 miles from full and the gauge had dropped to just below half a tank, it averaged 52mpg on a real mix of motorway/town/rural roads.
Cruise control can be a bit fiddly until you get used to but it makes life so much easier on the long motorway stretches.
Seat is ok up until about 80 miles but part of that is because I don't do enough miles to get "saddle hardened" these days (something I'll be rectifying with this Tiger )
Just got to add the f&r mudguard extenders and oil\water radiator protectors and she's done.
Oh, nearly forgot, I'm going to get them to put some barrel grips from the T120 onto it at the first service as I think they'll make the grips that much more comfortable. Although, with the cruise control, it's not too much of an issue.
It was real handy knowing what I need to tweak on the chassis and swap bits over onto the new one.

Should be ideal for the ride up to Liverpool at the end of the month
Can't wait to get out in it again

 

Too busy riding it to take pics

 

Got back from the Isle of Man on Wednesday after putting another 850 miles on the bike.
With the cruise control, knocking out a long distance is a doddle, the only thing that needs sorting is the seat/backside interface.

The tank range is great, I put 146 miles on it from Heysham in one hit and the fuel indicator still had a couple of blocks before the low fuel light would have appeared.
I just stuck it at 78mph which is about 76mph on the GPS so I didn't have to worry about cameras etc, knocked it down to 55mph on the roadworks where the average speed camera's were and the 252 miles took just over 4h30m including a leisurely lunch stop.

Dropped it while I was there, the place we were staying at you have to do a sharp right turn on loose gravel uphill, I was doing this and the TS cut out just as I was turning, with the loose gravel and the right leg being on the down side, down she went.. Damage was minimal, A small scrape on the crash bars, the handlebar protectors and the Givi pannier rail was all.

As I said above, I think the front needs to be dropped a little bit more, it wasn't handling quite as well as it should, but it didn't spoil the trip, it coped with the bends on the unlimited sections and the Mountain section no problem and was fine when loaded up with the panniers and top box..

 

Actually, in a perverse way I was quite happy, it proved that the engine bars were a good buy and that the quick release Givi pannier rails are fairly strong.....
All I need to repair it is a black marker pen for the small marks on the crash bars and hand protectors

 

I had to soften the front up rather than stiffen it on mine.
Done a few bits on mine before we go to France in a few weeks time (the other half's going on her Bonnie)
Fitted the Navihalter GPS Mount, fitted Grip Puppies, dropped the front another 5mm, fitted the radiator/oil cooler guards.
Just got to fit the fenda extendas front and rear and she's done and ready to go.
Probably go for a blat down to the coast tomorrow to try the various bits out

 

I've dropped the rear by 25mm, so just trying different heights on the front to see what works best.
I had dropped the front 15mm but it wasn't handling quite as well as I know it can, so I've dropped it another 5mm to see if that makes a difference.

 

Just to update about mine.

Dropping the front forks 20mm seemed to do the trick and it handles fine now.

Riding it down to the Dordogne last year fully loaded was a doddle, exactly what the cruise control is designed for.
The Givi kit, and the bike, coped fine with something like 10-12 kilo's in each pannier and a loaded top box

I might sort the seat out at some point as it's the only bit that stops me doing 200 miles between stops.
Having said that, it's not bad, just not as comfy as it could be.