Hi folks I've just taken acquisition of a 1999 Tiger 855i and can hardly believe how heavy it is. Seeing as the last thing I rode was a 50cc Scooter its not surprising I feel like this. I'm presuming they do become less daunting the more time you spend with them. It would be good to hear from other Tiger owners who know their machines and could alleviate a few worries I have about aspects of the machine I've noticed that at first don't appear right.
Hi Wolley and welcome to the forum. If the last thing you have ridden was a 50cc scooter then everything is going to feel big and heavy. At 210 KGs it isn't actually a heavyweight compared to many bikes, I think because its quite tall it will feel a little imposing until you get used to it. Just take your time for a while and have a good look if the road slopes away on slow turns and junctions. Its traditional of newbies to post a photo of their machine.
Hi Richard, thanks for posting, what you said about the road sloping away on slow turns, is that something you notice happen when you change the power of the bike you ride? I've noticed on a few occasions that a subtle turn and lean slightly has not always had the desired effect and although I'm only going ten mph I'm running out of road. I've learnt that the tiger has got soft front suspension but I'm interested to hear of other possibilities/causes other than ineptitude on the part of the rider that can be issues that you need to take into account before blaming yourself entirely for what occurring as you ride.
The only reason I mentioned about the gradient of the road on slow turns was in relation to a bad experience I had with a new bike. 2006 just picked up a new Suzuki Bandit (about 240 kg) arrived home and tried to turn around on my sloping drive and simply over balanced as my leg was not quite long enough where the slope was. I'm sure there is no ineptitude on your part but there are several factors that affect how a bike handles and turns; Tyres: if they are the duel sport ones partly for off road use they will not handle as would a set of purely road tyres. Wheel size: I think your bike will have the 19" front wheel; a nod to off road use and better on the dirt but slower and harder to turn on tarmac. Suspension: If the suspension is very soft it will dive under braking making turning and braking harder, it will also make the bike wallow and bounce around in corners and will not inspire confidence in faster turns. On older bikes the rear shock often needs overhauling or replacing and a knackered shock will seriously affect handling.
Hi woolyle welcome to the forum.. Could the issue be worn tyres when you turn.. Check the tyres, the pressure and if it was for touring or motorway trips they are probably squared off... That would give you a unnerving feeling when turning..
Tyres:Continental Attack Wheel Size: 19"Front and 17"Rear Suspension: I need to inspect it properly, play around a bit with the easy to access Spring Preload nut under the seat. Also the rear shock absorber has a screw at the base where you can adjust the Rebound Damping without taking anything apart. I read a review somewhere that claimed a better set up could be attained by setting the front forks 22mm further up the steering yoke to bring the front down a bit.
I purchased my old CBR1100XX Blackbird off a small bloke from Wales. Riding it home was awful. I stopped at the services to check & adjust the tyre pressures which did improve its handling very slightly. But it still didnt feel right. For the rest of my ride home all i could think of was that i had spunked £2k on a lemon! Anyway, i gingerly rode it home, going round roundabouts at walking pace & upright as i just couldnt get the thing to turn in. Raised the rear suspension with a 6mm spacer, put all the rear shock settings back to standard. I also noticed that the "midget" had dropped the yokes by 12mm! The front wheel bearings were also past their best so swapped them out for new ones. I set the fork tubes height back to standard in the yokes & hey presto! Wow!, it totally transformed the bike. The handling became superb, silky smooth & very flickable on the twisties & roundabouts. That was one of my old bikes that i really do miss.
Hi Screwball I rode the bike back from where I bought it some 130miles away with the air pressure at about half the recommended PSI and it was during those horrible winds we had in the UK a few weeks ago, it was lashing down and it wouldn't be any word of lie if I said was petrified clinging to this enormous sump that I had just forked out everything I had for. Trying to remain focused on the motorway was something of an issue with it being the first time I'd ever been on anything bigger than the 125 I passed my test on, if I overtook, I found I had difficulty persuading the machine to get back into the slow lane again, and when it did make it over the white lines and cats eyes it tended to keep heading towards the Hard shoulder. The tyres condition isn't an issue,as you can still see the small embossed 'Continental' logo that's etched into the bald parts of the new tyre and now their fully inflated they've got a firm curvature to them should I need to lean on them.
Definitely mate View attachment 2460 . I have been looking at the CBR1100XX quite a lot lately on ebay, bike trader etc & i think the cruiser is on borrowed time to be honest. The Triumph America is a nice bike BUT its not a Honda & its certainly doesnt give the same "smiles per miles" as the old Blackbird did. But, if i do go back to a Honda, i will not miss the poor quality finish that Triumph appear to have applied to the America.
Woolley get some photos, it's going to be suspension or tyre/ set up issue.. The issue you will find is when the bike has been used on mainly motorways it creates a shoulder on the tyre. This means when you try and lean into a corner it feels harder and vague... Depending on how much you ride you can get used to this and ride around it. From your coments you are fairly new to biking / larger bikes and on a smaller bike I doubt you will notice the same issue due to lack of weight. It may help you to counter steer when turning.... For example when riding along a straight road gently push forward on the left bar.. The bike will turn / try to lean on the left side... This is not the same are physically trying to turn the bike by steering this is applying gentle pressure to the Bars..... Pretty sure someone will be able to elobrate more If required....
If you are unaware of the counter steering method, google it or look it up on you tube. Its a very good practice to get into & will help you out a lot in everyday riding mate.
I was looking at a Kawasaki ZXR1100 something like that before I bought a tiger. Wondered if something major hadn't gone wrong with it or was just about to, because it was inside my budget, thought nothing that good could possibly be within my grasp, I liked the shape of it and of course the speed was a bonus factor I would have get around to addressing should I decide to buy but I plumbed for a Tiger instead and had a terrifying ride back from where I bought it some 130 miles away, picking it up in the early evening during those windy storms we had in the uk a couple of weeks ago. I found out after I got back that I had half the recommended pressure in the tyres.
No you are right in assuming I am a total novice when it comes to bike riding, I'm 43 and passed my test when I was 39 and have only just got round to buying the next size up from the 50cc I had until a couple of years ago. When I was a teenager I was too nervous to even balance on one, I think I gave it another go in my twenty's but again couldn't get to grips with the whole concept of bipedal motorised travel, it wasn't until I found I had some unexpected holiday time owed me from work that I thought what can I do with this week, that I decided to go for my test. Before the scooter I used to get to work on a GoPed before the Constabulary told me they had the power to trash it unless I could find a way to register it with a UK plate, so Its not been straight forward by any means.,those suggestions might sound like froth to the seasoned rider but to me they're thought provoking and poignant in their own way _
The terrible weather you rode back in would have done nothing for your confidence, the Tiger is quite tall and you would certainly have been affected by the wind. There is nothing better than a warm summer day and dry Tarmac to give you cornering confidence. You could call in at your local Triumph dealer and ask if one of their techs could take your bike for a road test, they would be able to give good feedback on how a Tiger should handle. Hope you persevere with the bike and get to enjoy the riding :upyeah:
Yeah that was the first thing I thought once I was back home. Have a specialist look it over. There is a dealership at the end of the road so I went down there and sat on the sofa. bought a Haynes manual and wondered how much it would cost to have it looked at. I didn't dare ask because I had already gone over budget buying the bike in the first place. I should have been buying a Kawasaki 550 Zephyr and using the money I spent on the rest of the tiger for the insurance helmet tax etc, but when I saw it at the price it was I had to have it, so I'm a nervous about what it might otherwise still cost.