Likewise (minus the daughter in school lol)..

The new tiger is too expensive for me at the moment and that suits me fine as I'll let everyone else do the beta testing.. I still wouldn't buy a BMW though. I'd never seen one with problems yet...

The 660 Ten is now on my shortlist. Nothing seems to go wrong apart from the rectifier coupling as Tim kindly pointed out. I'd just put a stockier plug on it and take a spare.. Easy !!

For now though, I think a 650 V-Strom is on it's way to my garage

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Mine's one of the first UK batch and has not given trouble. I have done 6,000 miles in the three months since buying it with 4k on the clock. I did open the rec/reg coupling and fill with silicone grease, which may have helped. The main problem with these bikes is the short life of the cush drive rubbers, which get hammered. I've sorted mine using the tried and tested method of adding bits of inner tube. I glued them to the lumps of rubber using bicycle tubular tyre cement.
As of a couple of days ago I know it will cruise two-up at over 80 on the motorway and still return 58mpg.

Gentlemen,

I'd like to thank you all. I've been fancying a new bike. The Triumph Tiger ticks many many boxes including keepng the dealer/parts contacts I've built up with the Bonneville, but as the stalling issue video on the XC thread shows it's just too new. My second choice Tenere fails because some of the use is with a pillion and 660 cc's plus a tall seat and short rider just doesn't work. I'm also damned if I'm going to buy a £6000 bike and stuff old inner tube in the cush drive. If I was happy with less power than the Bonneville, I'd get a Scrambler, everything I know just newer.

So, despite my better judgement after my last experiences of BMW I'm thinking of the F800. The underseat tank, Rotax bits and other assorted weirdness does nothing for me (at least it hasn't got the *****y three thumb indicator switches I'm currently trying to strip off the Brick) but there is a 2 year old yellow and black one on e-bay at decent money. Then I read this thread. Too many reminders of how BMW reacted to shorts in my F650 single, the waterpump in the desert walk and the three front shocks on my R1100 it took before they found one that didn't fail overnight.

So, the Bonneville (that hasn't done anything I couldn't fix with the stuff I had with me for the last seven years) is getting more petrol and a new back tyre. I have a big birthday in 2014 when the 790 will then have ten years use on it. We'll see how the Tiger is rated then I guess.

I would offer you a out of the cash I just saved, but I'm still saving up (and tight).

Andy

Rear/front wheel bearing,steering head bearing failure after 10-20.000 km on new bike?BMW?! After over 100.000 km on each my Jap "crap"(TTR,XTZ)It only takes some grease.
I was thinking about changing my old bikes,old wife...for new one
but now I'm no so sure any more...

Why not? I did mine and the result has been excellent over 2000 miles. It's about the only problem with these bikes - although less vibration and a bit more power would be welcome. Just in the middle of a two-up tour around Wales; with three box luggage, it will cruise on the motorway at >80mph and still get 58mpg.

The bike manufacturers (Especially BMW and Ural) love you

So where would you draw the line? Putting your own oil in and air in when you collect the bike? Checking all the nuts and bolts to find the ones they've missed? Rewiring it? Replacing the "Hand Grenade" alternator with a car bit you buy on E-bay? Throwing the whole thing away and buying a new one because they missed a bit out of the engine (but they all do that Sir)?

If we buy this crap and fix it ourselves, they'll just sell even crappier stuff next year

Andy

All good points but after some 50 machines I have yet to own a bike I didn't manage to fix something on eventually. Sure I'd like the cush rubbers to be better made but if that's the only major flaw in the bike (airbox drain tube slowly fills with oil, oil changes are a pain... I know), the replacements aren't any better than the original and it's easily fixed I'll live with it.

Agreed, there has to be a level of tolerance, but I compare what I'm offered by the bike people and say a small car or electronic gadget and I worry bikes aren't going the same way.

I had a BMW R1100 that died on me on day 2. The dealer (since fired by BMW for not getting a grey slate floor) was a star. They recovered the bike and sent me off on a loaner. They let me keep this for almost a week as getting away from work to swap back was difficult. They replaced the duff starter relay and ignition switch loom the factory had used and improved the mounting with cable ties and conduit to stop a repeat. They saw the rusty shock and replaced it. I wasn't happy with BMW but the dealer recovered it. Then they tried to charge me for a new tyre as it had arrived on the recovery truck with a flat. I refused to pay on the grounds that if I hadn't had the ignition failure I wouldn't have been parked in a gutter full of nails near a DIY shop. It took the manager to intervene and waive the bill. I wouldn't hold it against the service guy for trying to pass on the charge on a "consumable" as if I'd had the puncture without the ignition failure that would have been a fair policy. I bought another bike from that dealer and servicing done there for years.

If Yamaha admitted they had the cushdrive issue and announced they'd changed something, I'd buy. I understand they won't do this as some fool would claim the old cushdrive had made him fall off/lose his hair/be unable to get a girlfriend or whatever his lawyer suggested. Hopefully they'll just sneak in the improvement and in two years we'll be saying "Cush drive issue, I rememeber that". Unfortunately, the example of say the BMW drive spline thing is going to give them ideas that simply denying the whole thing might be a lot less hassle.

Andy