Tiger 955i - Anything I should know about ??
 

I'm very close to buying my first Triumph. A 2002 955i Tiger which seems in excellent condition, owned by one mature owner..

Anything I should know about when I go to view it ???

I can't find a bad review of the bike on the internet which can only be a good thing :)

I had one for a while and do not have a good memory of it, around 2002/3, as a do everything bike, the engine is strong and fairly reliable, but they are very top heavy and the front end is far too soft, the gear lever disappeared on a gravel road - through road vibration I suppose, leaving me with a bit of a ride home with no gear lever ! but worse of all after riding another light gravel road with a few potholes on another occasion over Half a dozen spokes in the rear wheel cracked and then parted company with the rim - the result showed up as soon as I got onto a tarmac road and started winding on a little the bike started with a gentle weave and ended up in a rather exciting sideways movement of the rear end and a total loss of control as it felt like the rear end had blown out - it was just a rather loose rim - that along with loss of my bowels as I entered and got to the apex of the first sweeping bend I went in to this was on a bike i bought from new and had less than 4 months use so about 4 or 5000 mile. (wheel rebuilt under warranty) - but its a bike I never really grew to love nor have great confidence in - some love them though but it was never the one for me - it went exchanged for a ktm 950 which was a 1000 years ahead of the triumph in every respect. As a daily hack they are I suppose fine though.

Hmmmm ! Cheers for the info...

Could of the gear lever bolt just been lose though ?? Same with the rear spokes not being checked ??? Bad assembly ??

I doubt i'd be doing any off-roading on it.. I'm looking for a motorway mile muncher and something I go two up with the girlfriend.

I've heard about the front being very soft but I imagine it will be just like my Africa Twins. Heavier oil and maybe some stiffer springs should sort it !

I'd love a KTM but I only have a £3000 limit...

I've had too many Africa Twins, A Capanard will fall apart, the Varadero is too fugly, Dl1000s are too massive, BMW's are just not for me and KTM's too expensive. What else is there for £3000 !!! doh

Transalp? Tidy DL650? TDM 850/900?

The first two can do dirt. The thrid is a phenomenally good road bike!

Shame you wouldn't consider BMs: you could get a nice R1100GS and these are great all-rounder bikes to ride

Ted I think your right the bike had been badly prepared and yes the gear lever bolt may have been loose, the front end can be stiffened - I have a mate who has one and loves it and has done about 6 years use on it and some touring - never had a problem - funny enough I rode it recently to move it when he was moving house and it is a nice comfy bike with a good engine - but still just not my cup of tea. For what you want your right its probably a good machine.
now that a contrary reply to my previous post !

How about a DL 650 V Strom ,mine pulls me and the missus fully laden and will cruise all day at 90 mph if you wanted to. Handles really well and considering my last bike was an FJR1300 I don't feel that I've lost much power at all in dropping to half the size.

:thumbup1:

Neil

Had a TDM, was ok but very boring. I really want a big cc bike after being stuck on small singles for years.. Time for a change :)

I have a 955i and love it. Mines a 2006 model so has cast wheels not spoked

As a motorway mile muncher it's fantastically comfortable, I haven't taken mine of roading as I have 2 other off road bikes. I have taken her on some gravel roads at festival sites where i have worked and she was fine.

She'll sit at 70 no problem and there's always enough power to overtake anything you need to.

2 up?? My wife says she's conforrtable on the back I was only allowed it if this was tha case.

Anything else you want to know??

Weak areas ? Things to look out for buying second hand ??

Average Mpg ? Miles out of a tank ??

Cheers, Ted :)

Ya know.. I'm not totally opposed to a 1100GS.. Last of the ones I would go near really. Still, they are expensive for their age/mileage and getting thin on the ground. Plus, everyone seems to want to sell them just before that mega £££ clutch change. Would you pay £2500 for a 70,000 mile machine ??


Now, 1100GS Vs 955i Tiger ??? hmmmmmmmm

Ted doing the clutch on a gs1100 is not such a big deal its not a hard technical job just a bit time consuming but still easy in a day with lots of stops for a cuppa. Also if ever needed - splitting the gearbox on the gs1100 is an easier job than the gs airhead series - no mega presses needed for the later series bikes. I really would not worry about the workings and the cost of a clutch about £170/190 for all the bits needed.

That's not so bad I guess....

You'd still be looking at double the age and mileage for almost the same cost though.... It's not just clutches that wear out !

I've always been very impressed with Triumph build quality with the ones that came through the dealership. Never any big problems and they seemed to age well. Probably because they're built by Brits, knowing the British weather/roads etc.

That fruity big triple too... oooooooooooooooooo

Ted,I would be interested to know how you get on with the Tiger if you buy it.I have an Africa Twin and a 955 Sprint ST and I thinking that a Tiger might well be my next bike to replace both of them.

I've had three Africa Twins.. I'll let you know how they compare..(if I get one, which I probably will)

The tank is just over 20 litres and if you keep at sensible speeds you'll get about 220miles before the reservelight comes on. Then you've got 30 miles to fill up.

In town driving I get about 180 miles between fill ups.

Week points: The gear box is very clunky and not very smooth. The centre of gravity is very high. I'm 5'9" and Probably would have major issues with it if I was any shorter.

She's great fun on twisty roads and really easy to manouver.

The next best thing is the market is currently flooded with 955i as all the tiger lovers out there are now trading in for the 800XC.



I hope this helps.

Maybe not a problem in the UK where temperatures are lower than in Oz, but what has stopped me from buying ANY Triumph triple to date has been the ridiculous amount of engine heat blown onto one's upper legs when stopped at traffic lights.

Even on a 15C August day (which is our winter) I found the heat way too much. 3 weeks back I test rode the new Tiger XC 800 - and guess what, Triumph still haven't fixed the problem.

On the servicing front, valves are a breeze on boxers and a lot easier than many tank/airbox off bikes. I imagine the Tiger would need at least the tank off.

Oil change intervals are 6000 miles (or were on my 1150). Being a seperate gearbox, you could use car oil in the engine: a lot cheaper than bike oil, and it has a shaft drive: no more chain adjustment.

So, yes, the clutch could be a pain, but other jobs that you do more often are not.

Ultimately, go for the bike that is most comfy and you'll enjoy the most: the service costs would not be so different to justify getting the one you like less.

See if you can get a back to back test ride a few days apart....

Let us know!

Ted - go and ride a DL650, it's a very comfortable bike for one or 2-up (and yes, I am biased because I won one):innocent:...

Won one ??? You lucky sod !! :thumbup1:

doh:blushing: ...fat finger syndrome. I OWN one...

I had a 2001 Tiger, put over 35,000 miles on it. You need to keep the brake calipers clean. I didn't pay attention to them first winter and had to get new seals and pistons. They collect dirt off the road, so need to be cleaned, I'd say evey 5k miles, pretty easy to do. I also had an oil seal go and it somehow misted oil into the air box fouling up the air filter.
The fuel injection can be snatchy at very low speeds, like filtering through traffic. Mine didn't like me putting on aftermarket heated grips and the engine warning light came on a few times when I flicked the grips on whilst bike was on stand ticking over. The EWL does go off eventually and bike didn't go into 'limp home' mode as a consequence.
Others have mentioned, being top heavy...it is , don't try tight turns at walking pace. Front forks do dive when braking hard at speed.

Having said all that, I loved mine and finally sold it with 52,000 miles on the clock.
Got a BMW F800gs now and its much better than the Tiger, but costs more to purchase.
Hope you have some good trips out on it if you buy it.
Cheers
CP

Forgot to mention....If you do buy it, let me know cos I've still got a new gear lever and indicator left in my spares...yours if you want them.
Cheers
CP

I run a 955i Tiger and its a great bike, mines got some miles on it too (50K). The clutch actuator rod broke a bearing and the repair meant you had to buy a casing from Triumph for £270 and a new rod for £55. That didnt sit right so I bought bearings and a seal off the net for next to nothing and an actuating rod from triumph for £55 and re-conned the casing.. quite easy really. The tiger is very comfortable and easily does 500 - 600 mile days in comfort. At 70mph 250 miles on the 23ltr tank is achievable. The casings and original bolts suffer from corrosion mainly off the front wheel but a generous application of scotchbright and some satin black paint alongside a set of stainless allen bolts off of ebay for £15 turn a cheap bike into one that will hold its money and look great too.
Buy one Ted, I had XT600, Transalp and a whole host of mid range bikes too and the tiger has been a good move for me, if you drop it tho' get a m8 to help you pick it up!
Cheers MPF

I bought mine new in 2004, I love it..... its here to stay... bit heavy I suppose, but very comfortable.... I usually fill up around the 200 mile mark...
I traded my Africa Twin for mine... previous to that was a Varadero & Transalp.....

Well, I have to say.......

I bought a 2004 DL 650 V-Strom....

£1950 with full luggage, crash bars, centre stand, scottoiler touring, heated grips etc etc.

It was in need of a service and has 45,000 miles.. It now purrs like a kitten though..

Bargain me thinks !!! It does 280 miles in its 22L tank and cruises nicely at 80-90mph.

I had a 2006 955i and loved it - funnily enough it was a Royal Enfield that made me realise it was a bit top heavy for me when manouvering on foot!
The minute it was moving it was fantastic - a beautiful engine and really well balanced. At a squeeze I got 300 miles out of the tank (fill up before you have to!) but generally 250 was fine. It easily cruised at 70/80mph (still with enough oomph to overtake) but I also did a few pretty rough gravel roads with hairpin bends etc - may not have won any marks on style/speed but it was feet up and the bike performed better than I did. It was very comfortable with great weather protection. A friend toured Europe for 5 weeks two up, fully loaded, with no problems regarding comfort but pretty heavy for slow handling. Mine was slightly 'lurchy' at slow speed in traffic but slipping the clutch solved that - the friend had no problem. Only other problem was that the ignition barrel worked loose (fixed under warranty) and the footpeg mounts loosened off until a bit of Loctite was applied. I also fitted a MRA Vario screen as the original resulted in a lot of buffeting. I had Triumph heated grips with no problems but after 25k the throttle grip lost it's heating element on friends bike. If I hadn't got an Enfield I'd still have the Tiger - as it is I now have a Transalp. The Tiger always felt like a big bike but then I'm a 'gurl'! (5'8" 60kg) Had it weighed a bit less, had the C of G a bit lower or a lower seat I'd still have it. It was a lovely bike and I was sorry to see it go.

V-strom sucked...

Just bought a 2002 Tiger....... So far so sexy :)

Hi Ted.
I used to have a 650 strom,I put nearly 20k miles on it around Uk, Ireland and France and sold it last year for an FJ1200!:confused1:
I get to ride tigers a lot in my job, (just done a couple of hundred miles on the new 1200 explorer, now thats a seriously good motorcycle).
My favourite is the Tiger 800, but I have allways had a soft spot for the 955i, its very underated, really comfortable and has a great tank range.
Im curious as to what you you didnt like with the V-Strom?
Good luck with the Tiger, you'll love it!

The V-strom 650 is just REALLY underpowered for the size of the bike. My Tiger is probably the same weight and makes WAY more power and knocks out the same MPG... The handling is also very slow.

I dunno, it just never felt right and I tried EVERYTHING...

It always felt asthmatic.. As a one up overland bike, I would still consider it as it smooth, reliable and the weight is well distributed.

Tiger
 

Yeah I know what you mean about the lack of power..
I allways thought the 650 was a great bike, utterly reliable and dependable but also really dull and boring, no excitement whatsoever.
I bought the FJ to do some quick 3 or 4 day European trips,I cant get away for very long now cause we have a little boy.
But its a big cumbersome lump and so lately I have been thinking of selling it and getting something like a 885i or 955i Tiger, very flickable,nice riding position, and great sound.
Have you had a chance to do any trips on your one yet?

Not on the Tiger.. I've only had it a a week. I rode it back 150 miles from where I bought it did an all day tour (two up) around North Wales and it was brilliant. Lot's of smooth, well delivered power; great brakes and lovely handling.

It's just SUCH a better bike than the V-strom and it was literally a straight swap cash wise. The strom is a better commuter/hack but that's not why I bought it.

Tiger trip
 

Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' Stories - Richard Lindley

This is good.

Hi guys my name is Hesso and I have just HU last night. I've had prodominately trail style bikes over the years and quit road riding while the kids were young. Now we're back (Treena and I). We purchased a Tiger995 06 model last year. I tried a few road bikes but I seemed to be more comfortable with the trail bike riding position and manuverability but I also wanted good road stability at 120km point with two up and panniers loaded. The tiger955 fitted the bill. Loved the tiger XC 800 but at $17,000aus I need the wait for a second hand.
Couple of points to contribute.
1. Last week I changed the oil As the first routine service under my ownership. I put in 5w40 full synthetic which was different from the previous oil 10w30 semi synthetic. The smoothness for all the gear changes improved dramatically. I've has experience with gearbox oils in the past. Remember that every box on the same model bike is different pending Kms, wear etc. I guessed i change in the right direction but if it made it worst I would have changed to another oil weight. It really is experimental until you are happy. NEVER deviate outside from the manufactures broad range without reliable advice.
2. I just fitted an electronic criuse control. One of those AP model you get on eBay for some $260 . It took some 3 days to fit it properly. It uses the triumph 4 pulse per revolution from the front wheel as the speed detection to the criuse control ( no need for magnetic detection). It holds about 2 km/h accuracy and the accelleration/deaccelleration rate is slow and steady uphill and down ( I was initially worried about this one)
Also have clutch and break drop out for the cruise control

Happy to help out anyone who want to know how to fit a cruise to a tiger.

Well did You get it?
If You want to know what you can do with a tiger, My web page
Thataway - Gedanke look at the photos

Yup... I bought it. And yes, I've still got it. I've had it nearly a year now. It's a record for me ;)

I really like the bike. It's a great road bike. TERRIBLE off road though. Way too top heavy.

I also HATE the clutch. It's REALLY stiff You need Ape-like grip and reach. You literally need to pull bags of cable to get it change smoothly. I only like using two fingers and it aches in traffic. I bought adjustable levers but they ended up a waste of money as if you bring the levers closer to the bar, you can't pull enough cable for a smooth change.

Apart from that I love it. I put the TOR exhaust on and swapped the map using a £5 cable and free TuneECU software. It's a lovely engine, good economy, great riding position and lots of fun.

A Vario Screen and mirror extenders are a must though. Otherwise the wind blast is truly HORRENDOUS.

I bought a 2006 a few months ago and love it. It is top heavy and very tall as was said but that is not a problem on the road once I'm rolling...though I'm sure it would be a big problem off road (have not taken it off road as I have a DR650 for that). I'm 6'1" and have a 34" inseam and don't think I'd want to ride it if I were much smaller. The 1-2 and 2-3 shift are very notchy, higher gears are better. The clutch pull is light and very smooth, from what I've read that is because the 2006 uses 1050 cases. I swapped the vario screen the bike came with for a low Cee Bailey and no longer suffer from buffeting. A very comfortable bike for solo or two up riding. The instrument lighting is poor in stock form but I was able to improve it by using LED's, red for the temp and fuel gauges and tach, green for the speedo (will try green for the tach too)
The power band is excellent, from about 2000 to 9000 rpm and the engine howls most wonderfully at high revs and has a burble on the overun that sounds great to me. Am completely sold on triples for bigger bikes in general now that I've owned one, love the feel and sound of the engine and it does not bore me like the one four I've owned (a K100 FWIW). The back roads are poorly maintained and very rough where I live and the Tiger handles them very well, am no longer getting beat up like I was in my Monster.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x...1010-00189.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...1012-00193.jpg

Glad you bought the Tiger and are enjoying it. It is NOT a dirt bike. Although it can do dry dirt roads but don't go alone if you're not a weight lifter.

The cure for the clutch is either a new cable and or swap the lifter arm (the bit the sticks up through the clutch housing) for one from an 06 model that has the 1050 cases like the one that Boethius has, above. The lever that the cable attaches to is longer which lightens the pull.
The other thing to get a smoother gear change is to keep the chain on the loose side of the adjustment range. About 50mm slack is about right. However, I disagree that you need to pull bags of cable to get a smooth change. Mine will swap cogs without using the clutch at all. It's actually the best way....going up the box.

I might look into that. Thanks !!

Yeah, up-changes are fine. Down changes are a bitch though.

Will the lifter arm out of the 06 work in my 02 cases ??? Do you know ??

AFAIK yes but I haven't done it myself. A new cable cured my woes.

Do you know.. Is it just that it has a longer arm ???

Maybe I could cut n' weld some steel onto mine to make it longer...

Yes. I believe the insides are the same. The arm is about 50% longer.
I'd thought of doing what you're suggesting but that would still involve taking it all apart because of the heat involved.
The arm is about £50 here in the UK. http://www.worldoftriumph.com/triump...lock_03=232917

Tamed the Tiger 955 on the dirt and loving it
 

Guys
Just completed a 'big bore adventure motorcycle" course on the weekend at Batemans Bay NSW Australia. And what a difference it has made to me.
I have a 955i '06 which has been lowered about 25mm. Love riding on the road but were always nervous taking it on to a normal dirt road 'fire trail'. My brother bought me this course for my birthday so I had to go although I was still a bit nervous about what we would be doing. Out of 7 riders on the course I was the only one that had dirt experience and that was on 250 enduros some 12 years ago. The other bike were 2 x honda 250's, Susuki 400 enduro, GS 650, My tiger 955, GS 1200 and Tenere 1200.
Saturday was skills training and ended with a 50 meter circuit on a sandy rollover enduro training track. Sunday was more skills and confidence training and my final goal, riding the tiger so 8 times around a motorcross track including up to booms and over table tops and rollovers (front wheel remained firmly on the ground, just used correct speed, momentum, clutch and brake control, wheel placement). All of us were doing it and the the confidence level was tremendous for every one. Over the whole weekend only one bike fell on a boom and the rider knew what he did wrong, no injury no damage but pride a little dinted. After lunch on Sunday were did a 10km ride on a heap of fire trails. Heaps of fun and NO fear of riding a heavy bike.
the link for the course it did is Academy of Offroad Riding.
I would recommend course like this to anyone on a big bike wanting to go onto the dirt.
Couple of points. I did buy a set of Metzler blocks tyres for the course. These did help but looking back I could have done the course on my normal Anakee's. Also let the pressure down from 32/34 to 24/24psi for the dirt only. This allowed the tyre a little more flexibility without bottoming the rims out. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...unmeteryes.gif

Tiger 955i good, bit thirsty.
 

Hi Ted.

where U going in Siberia, what date?

had tiger for 2 years, 30000 miles, comuting and trips.
like it, proved usefull tool. 2000 model getting bit old.

42mpg if driven well, less if used all day on Motorway 80+ mph.
been in Spain, Ireland two up.:D

if parked up >>10days, fuel leaks into cylinders, won't start.
pull off fuel pump connector off tank, crank it & it will clear & start,
usefull tip if left at airport 3wks.

on 800 XC, just bought one for jolly to China next year.

plan for 955i, put Diesel engine out of Smart car in it, cannot resist 110mpg & ridicule from my mates.

Joe.

I look forward to reading the RR. Very capable bike. Mines been fully farkled, gets dirty regularly and has been trouble free for 26000 miles.
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/p...3/IMG_5120.jpg

For things I've done to it follow TIGER800XC LV11UXM Photos by black955tiger | Photobucket

Fuel leaking into cylinders ??? Really ?? Sounds like it had a fault. That definitely isn't normal doh

Siberia... 2015 hopefully :)

955i good machine
 

Ted.
Had 955i 2 years older one at 2001, I've done 30kmiles, lots of fun to ride.
42mpg.

Joe.:thumbup1:

Bought one... Rode it..... sold it.

A bit late old chap LOL.. Great bike isn't it.