Tires Tiger 800 (onroad)

[Lucky]

Hi,

I am riding the Panamericana right now, with my Tiger 800 onroad.
As my tires are almost done (or done if you have a closer look) - I will need new one. Any sources where I can get some?
I am currently in Mexico City D.F.
The Triumph Dealer in the next town (Puebla) told me that he would like to fit Battelwing tires - but I would rather prefer some more offroad / dirt tires.
The TKC80 should fit - but there is no offical release of this tier from neither Triumph nor Continental.
Where would I get such a tire in Mexico.
The only thing to fit this tire on the Tiger 800 (onroad) would be to raise the front dirt shield about 2cm - which schould be easy with some metal and screws.

Any hints? Suggestions? Feedback welcome.

Thx,
Uli

[Lucky]

I do now ride on Bridgestone Trailwings - got for the 19" front wheel a 100mm TW101 (100/90/19) and for the 17" rear wheel a 140mm TW152 (140/80/17 -is normaly 150/70/17 - but works fine).

So far no problems - very good on the dirt roads in Guatemala and Honduras (remember its the onroad tiger )

The Birdgestones are not as good as the originally Pierellis on rain - but otherwise ok on streets.

Cheers,
Lucky

[Gipper]

Hi Lucky

How are you enjoying the Tiger 800 ?

Can you do a brief review and mention any problems or issues?

If you time have let everyone know where you picked your tires up from in the 'recommended repair shops section'

[Lucky]

Hi,

I love the Tiger - and I did go for the Onroad because I reach the ground better with my feets (the XC is somewhat higher).

No real problems so far - there are a few things you should know:
- if you do river crossings, clean up the ABS sensors afterwards - otherwise they might stop you automatically - I had some sand on them and they where distracted - nothing bad happens then - you just slow down slowly and automatic - after you cleaned them (one screw each) everything is fine.

- there is not a big selection of tires available for the onroad - if you like to have tires for street and dirt you may have to change to different sizes (like I did with the Bridgestones)

The only other thing I had so far was braking down of the Garmin Charger (nothing to do with the Tiger), tow indicators had been ripped off on the pasage from Panama to Columbia on the boat (also nothing to to with the Tiger /Edith - now it turned out that the indicators on the front right and rear left have a material flaw and break very easy - so this is a Triumph issue! /Edith) and last but not least the rear tire is loosing some air every day (maybe thru the different size - or it is not sitting tight any more after going through all this holes in the roads - have to figure it out)

On the other hand - the engine is a motorbikers dream, the suspension even on the onroad Tiger is great, and the frame is stable that you think the bike does run on rails and not on bumpy streets.
The tank has a decent size and is good for over 300 kilometres (did up to 400) and with that much horsepower the bike has you have no troubles in overtaking.
I have the Hepco Becker Gobi boxes fitted on - that is enough space for everything.

As I said - I love the bike

[Lucky]

I went to the Triumph shop in Bogota to figure out why the rear tire is loosing air. Very friendly people there.
Turned out that the Triumph store in Puebla, Mexico gave me the "tubetype" tire instead of the "tubeless" tire - could see the marking for "tubetype" so.
The guys in the Triumph workshop in Bogota didn`t figure it out first - checked the valve which was ok, checked the rim - was ok - still the tire kept loosing air - so they put it into a water basin - and see - all around the tire lost air at the connection to the rim.
After seeing that we searched for a tubetype label - and found one - hidden behind black rubber dust.
Changed the rear tire to a Metzeler Tourance 150/70/17 - which works fine so far - great in offroad - different than the BW in rain, but ok - and not loosing any air - and I made sure - it is tubetype.

[BlackBeast]

Enjoy your travels Lucky, you are definitely in a beautiful part of the world. Thanks for the bike update. I'm going to pull the trigger on a 800 roadie in the New Year.

[Lucky]

So i am now in Chile still on the Tourance on the rear - which I like much more now than the Bridgstone - after driven in - it is much better on rain!
On the front now I have a Continental Escape - which did not have a very high profile - so probably would not last very long - but is good on sand and on road as well as on rain - it is also much better then the Bridgestone front.

Cheers,
Lucky

[blacktiger]

Originally Posted by Lucky

So i am now in Chile still on the Tourance on the rear - which I like much more now than the Bridgstone - after driven in - it is much better on rain!
On the front now I have a Continental Escape - which did not have a very high profile - so probably would not last very long - but is good on sand and on road as well as on rain - it is also much better then the Bridgestone front.

Cheers,
Lucky

Glad you're enjoying the Tiger and your trip. It's one I intend to do on my XC in a few years time. Do you have a blog or write up we can read?

[Lucky]

I have a blog - but you have to Google-Translate it because it is in German.
Lucky meets Amerika

Cheers,
Uli

[BlackBeast]

Looks like you are back home. How did your bike do?

[Lucky]

The bike did great - also you might consider the XC if you are more on offroad. The Onroad certainly has its limitations there - I did like 99% onroad - but still the 1% had been a challenge - you can do everything on the onroad - you just have to go slower and be more careful - which sometimes after 10h of riding is not so easy (as I experienced myself). I still like the onroad more - but for the next big trip I certainly would choose a XC cause if you go further down in Southamerica as I read in my fellows blog, there is not much paved road anymore.
Honestly I think you can drive with every bike everywhere - u just have to be comfortable with the bike.
Quality wise I am very happy with the bike - it's solid and even endured all the crashes I had - including a salto at about 80km/h (did not look so great afterwards - but could still be driven).

Hope this helps, cheers,
Uli

[BlackBeast]

Great feedback. Have just over 1000km on my Tiger road version and yes, it does have its limitations. That's exactly why I still have my trusty go anywhere DR650.

[Gipper]

Hey Daryll,

You kept that quiet ! how are you liking the Tiger ?

When funds allow Im still very interested in getting one, the roadie or XC though ? ,

The roadie has no off road pretentiousness, but i do like having that 21 inch wheel for the odd gravel road...

[BlackBeast]

Opted for the road version as I wanted a road touring bike and going from a single to a triple, has me grinning from ear to ear. Still have the DR for any off road trips as Ang won't part with hers.

Do you want to do an East coast trip next summer?

[Gipper]

Hey Daryll,

Maybe!, I was thinking of riding East with Nevil and Ulf when they get to Canada in a few months, but timing wise I don't think it will work out - Lisa is kind of done riding on the back of the DR after South America!

Nevils got his 1200 GSA, couple of friends in Canmore have 990 Adventures, id like the Tiger 800