Tiger Hunting

[greatbuffalo]

I suppose I should have looked down a bit before asking that question on how the ride went on the other thread. Some just like I thought it would be. The Idle problem is interesting. Have you looked into any further?

[Hank]

Sounds like a great ride home!   I set the valves on Caras 800 this winter (it was a bit of a PITA, 8 of 12 were out) and while I was in there I cleaned and lubed the stepper screw with Teflon.    No issues yet.

I completely agree with your review of the bike too.   My only bitch after my ride home was the gear ratios.   

Sent from my Pocket Altair 8800

[Osnabrock]

A new bike is always nice.  A bit of a trip on a new bike is always nicer. 
Congratulations Jim!

[Hank]

I should add that the gear ratios (in my opinion) are far from terrible too.   But it is one of the few areas where the bike is less than perfect.     I really think I like the 800 just a little bit better than the 1200.. Maybe.

Sent from my Pocket Altair 8800

[Bogus Jim]

The Idle problem is interesting. Have you looked into any further?

The bike has been idling OK since leaving Moab. The solution according to ADV is to disassemble / clean the linkage and lubricate with Never Seez (copper grease), or some guys just blow the area clean and use Teflon spray lube.

I also noticed the bike doesn't have an oil + foam pre-filter installed, so I'm going to add one of those. Paper filters are not ideal for off highway riding.

[Bogus Jim]

Well I put a Madstad windshield on after work today. Jumped on the interstate and did a run to New Underwood and back. Doing about 85-90 mph on the way back to Rapid, with a 20 mph headwind, trying to beat the thunderstorm (I didn't make it, oh well).

Pretty major difference from the 21" Givi windshield that was on the bike when I bought it. The wind noise with the Givi was deafening @ 85 mph w/ 20 mph headwind; with the Madstad it's tolerable. I'll play with the height / angle adjustment a bit more and see if I can improve things further but I'm pretty happy based on my first ride.

Almost done with the farkling, still need to get my heated grips on for those cold mornings in the fall / spring.

[Hank]

I think the Madstad is the best mod I've ever bought.     I have mine set with about a 1" gap and set about nose level.   Unless I have a 30+ mph quartering headwind or straight headwind, I almost never close my visor, even at interstate speeds.   At 60-70 mph under "normal" wind conditions, its just dead calm and quiet in the pocket.   The stock shield was pretty bad.

[greatbuffalo]

I've found that windscreens aren't a one fits all scenario. The screen that works for some, don't for others. I love the Vario with the adjustable lip on my Tiger but others I've read, hate them. I have heard great things about the Madstad screen from more than a majority that mount them. I think it works well for many because of the adjustability.

[Bogus Jim]

I have heard great things about the Madstad screen from more than a majority that mount them. I think it works well for many because of the adjustability.

The adjustability is probably part of it, but I think the airflow underneath the windshield is what reduces the turbulence. Some people cut holes or put NACA ducts in the bottom of the windshield to try and achieve the same effect.



Seemed like it was raining off and on all day today, so I did a few maintenance items on the bike. First up was checking the paper air filter. Oil changes are dead simple (5 minutes, really) on this bike, but getting to the air filter requires removing quite a few body panels and the gas tank. Nothing too difficult, just lots and lots of bolts to undo.

Here's the filter... kinda dirty but not totally plugged. Most of this is probably Arizona dust from the ride home.



I didn't have a new one on hand, so just blew it off with the air hose and put it back in for now. Need to order a couple.

I added a Unifilter - basically a foam + oil prefilter that replaces the snorkel that attaches to the air box. Supposedly this can be removed and cleaned without opening up the airbox or removing the gas tank. I'll find out soon enough how easy it is to remove and clean, but getting it fitted was difficult because the ABS modulator is in the way.

I added a Triumph center stand. Now the bike is 5 lbs. heavier, but I think it'll come in handy when I have to fix a flat.

Removed the charcoal evap canister, and the solenoid that cycles the fumes back to the intake. I was worried that unplugging the solenoid might throw a check engine code, but the guys on ADV say the ECU doesn't care. There's a hose running up to the throttle bodies that needed to be plugged, I used a small bolt and a zip tie.

The kick stand switch on this bike is just begging to be smashed by a rock... it's sitting right in front of the kick stand mount. I wanted to remove this, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to unplug the connector. The wires need to be a closed circuit, I was hoping to build a connector that was shorted and just plug that in to avoid cutting and soldering the factory wiring. So... put the switch back on. I'll have to think about this one.

Finally, took a look at the infamous stepper motor that controls the idle speed. The mechanism is a lot easier to see with the air box removed, and I understand how it works now. I think applying any type of grease here is just going to attract more dust and make the issue worse... so I just cleaned up the linkage and stepper screw, and sprayed some teflon lube on the screw. I doubt that's a permanent solution, perhaps some type of foam or rubber dust shield could be fabricated, but it might be tricky designing something that doesn't accidentally jam the throttle linkage.

Didn't get the heated grips on, maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

[greatbuffalo]

Thanks for the update. This info helps when making a decision on the next bike.

[Bogus Jim]

I'm planning to leave next weekend for a 2 week trip, so wanted to do a few updates to make the Tiger a little more dirt-worthy and get it ready for the trip.

I revisited the kickstand kill switch. In the photo below, you can see the mounting position, between the foot peg and the shift lever. Just begging to be smashed by a rock that flies up. What was Triumph thinking? I believe they changed the mounting in 2013, but I haven't looked at a 2013+ model to see what they did.

I did figure out how to unplug the switch harness, but after studying the switch I realized all you have to do is unbolt it and secure it somewhere out of the way. That's simpler than removing it and either cutting the wiring harness, or making a closed-circuit plug for the harness. You can see the zip tie in the upper left of the photo; I just fastened the switch to the crash bar lower mount.




Next I wanted to balance the throttle bodies, install a new air filter, and take another look at the stepper motor that controls the idle (known issue with 800 XC's). To balance the throttle bodies on this bike, you buy a software program (DealerTool) and plug your laptop into the bike's wiring harness... no vacuum gauges needed. DealerTool runs only on Windows... I've never had a Windows laptop but I used Bootcamp to install Windows XP on my MacBook and that worked OK with DealerTool. The throttle bodies were a bit out of balance, a few tweaks with a screwdriver and that was corrected.

Here's a view of the throttle bodies and the stepper motor (lower right) that controls the idle speed. I don't think there's a consensus on how to permanently "fix" the stepper issue, but for now I'm going to stick with cleaning the screw and linkage, and lube with teflon spray.




A closer shot of the stepper motor linkage. To the upper left of the nut / bolt with yellow paint is the rocker linkage that the stepper uses to adjust the idle speed. Since cleaning this linkage the first time, I've only had a problem idling once or twice, and cycling the key took care of the problem.




Nice clean airbox... that's good to see because it means the air filter and pre-filter are doing their job.




The red foam thing in this photo is the Unifilter pre-filter... it's an oil / foam filter so it tends to make the surrounding area pretty dirty, but at least it keeps most of the dirt from entering the paper filter and plugging that up.




The first time I removed the air filter, I actually removed more bolts than I needed to... Doh! After doing it the second time, it's probably only a 15-20 minute job to remove the body panels, gas tank, and air filter. Here's a photo of all the fasteners that need to be removed... I count 36 bolts / screws here... quite a difference from my WRR and KTM 2-stroke.




I put on a new set of sprockets and chain. I had a really hard time getting the master link plate on... it was definitely a press fit. Ended up using a small C-clamp. It's a 525 chain, but not sure why the plate would be so much tighter than the 520's on my other bikes.




When I first rode this bike down in Arizona, there was a terrible clanking noise coming from the chain area when I rode across washboard. I thought the bike was falling apart. It turns out, this noise is due to the chain slapping against the lower chain guide on the swing arm. A guy on ADV rider said that placing a piece of weather stripping foam between the swing arm and the lower chain guide would fix the noise... I was skeptical but I tried it and that does eliminate 90% of the noise. In this photo you can barely see a white line between the lower chain guide and the swingarm... that's the weather stripping foam.




After riding on some muddy trails, I noticed the radiator and rear shock were both getting pretty plugged up with mud. I installed a Triumph mud guard extension on the front fender, and a Acerbis mud flap on the rear swing arm.

The front mud guard installed with some strange plastic pop rivets. I've never seen these before but they seem to be pretty secure.




Here's the rear mud guard. This is just a generic Acerbis item; it's a little too narrow for a 150/70 tire but it should keep 80% of the mud from piling up on the swingarm and rear shock.




I installed a set of Fastway footpegs. I have these on my WRR and KTM as well; I like them because they lower the footpegs about 1/2", nice if you're tall. These are a little bit wider than the standard Fastway pegs. I'm not going to say how much they cost, in order to avoid horrendous ridicule by the KLR owners.




Also installed a folding shift lever. The stock shift lever does not fold and I'm sure the first tip over on the left side would bend it like a pretzel. This is a Touratech unit... I think it sticks out a little too far, but it's better than the stock fixed unit.




I wanted to install a set of heated grips. I got a set of Oxford Heaterz at Bike Bandit for $49. They seem to be a quality item but the amount of extra length in the wiring is ridiculous. They must think the average modern motorcycle is 17 feet long... but better too long than too short I guess. Luckily the Tiger has space under the gas tank to store the extra wiring. I looped it and put a few zip ties on the wiring.




Triumph makes heated grips for the Tiger, but they're $250... I decided to go with the Heaterz, and the Eastern Beaver kit ($25) that lets you plug after market heated grips into the factory wiring harness.

Most people mount the heated grips controller on the handlebar but I didn't want to clutter up the bar, so I mounted it just beneath the instrument cluster.




Here's a close up of the controller. It uses PWM (pulse width modulation) instead of a resistor, to control the current and grip temperature.




Next was power for my GPS. The Tiger has a powerlet right next to the key. I decided to tap into that circuit, and leave the powerlet open for other uses, maybe a heated vest. I used a couple of the Posi-tap connectors to connect the wires... I've never used these before, I'm not sure if they will stand up as well as a soldered / heat-shrinked connection, but we'll see.




For plugging the GPS into the bike, I use these SAE connectors. If you wire one of these to your bike, make sure the exposed terminal is ground, that way if it touches metal it won't blow the fuse. I have the same connectors on my WRR and KTM, that makes it easy to use the GPS on all the bikes.




I bought this LED light for camping... the elastic band mounts on your head, so the light follows where ever you're looking. More convenient than a flash light, I think. It also works really well in the shop. I use it all the time when I'm working on my bikes.




Also recently bought this automatic wire stripper... wow, should've bought one of these 10 years ago. Makes wiring jobs so much easier. There are a lot of these out there, from cheap to expensive. This one is only about $17, it gets good reviews and has worked well for me so far... but the real clincher was the "GB" initials on the handle. "GB" stands for GreatBuffalo... our own wacky DDSR member from Mitchell. It also has a wire cutter and crimper, but I would use other tools for those functions... the cutter and crimper don't work as well as the stripper.



Here's the Amazon link if you want to buy one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004WLL0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Tomorrow I'm going to put on these bad boys. The rear is 6.5" wide! 150/70 knobbies are pretty wide compared to what I run on my 250's. The Shinko 705 has about 5,000 miles on it... I think it would go another 1,500 but it wouldn't last for the trip.




Also want to put some Paint Protection Film on the gas tank, so my tank bag doesn't wear off the paint. I've never used this 3M product so it will be a learning experience. This seems like a pretty good tutorial on YouTube.

[greatbuffalo]

Bogus, just so you know..............  I invented that tool.

I put that 3M paint protector on my Tiger after my kid painted it. It worked well for the season. A few things to remember:
- It self levels Quite well so if you get a lump that looks milky, leave it. it will settle                            out and clear in time. 
- Pull the tape off your edges long before it starts to set up. Makes sure you use the tape to create a hard edge, otherwise you will srtuggle to get it off when its time to redo it.
- The product is designed to spray straight down on a relatively horizontal surface. It does sag on a vertical surface. I did mine with my tank on a table and was able to tip it some to prevent too much sag. That is the biggest learning curve there is.
- Let it set over night. Avoid the urge to touch it.

Those electrical connectors you used, i've not used them either. All the hard care ADVer's swear by them in their kit.

That kick stand switch shows that engineers take a nap from time to time or think that sometimes, good enough is enough.

Could you have cut that heated grip line down. I guess being pulse width mod you don't have to worry about resistance.     

I put Fenda Extendaz On my Tiger right after I bought it. They had gone out of production for my bike but there was a guy on ADV that had a set of unused ones. They came with an epoxy to puit them on and I didn't trust it but did it anyway, Lesson learned. It came off on the road but I saw it happen so I picked it up and remounted it with Aluminum rivets and have had no issues since. I have one on the back as well. Goes a long way in keeping things free of debris.

Lastly, with that software, can you change mapping as well?

Have a great trip.         

[Bogus Jim]

Lastly, with that software, can you change mapping as well?

You can change the mapping, bleed the ABS system, reset the service indicator on the dash, and a couple other things. There is a freeware program (TuneECU) that lets you change mapping but it won't do most of the other things that DealerTool does.

The 3M paint protection that I applied is a clear film. I didn't realize there is a spray-on product as well. The clear film works pretty well but if you apply it to a surface with compound curves, be prepared to spend a LOT of time getting the wrinkles out.

Here's a shot after I applied the paint protection. Most of the gas tank is covered now with the film, although you can't really see it in this photo. I guess that's kind of the point. The hardest part of applying the film is getting the bubbles out.




I bought a Giant Loop tank bag for the Tiger. You can unzip one side, and flip the bag up to access the fuel filler. The bag also has a waterproof port so you can run a USB cable inside the bag and charge things while riding.




I added this Triumph sticker to the windshield (bit out of focus in this pic), and covered it with some of the 3M clear film to protect it from bugs. Now all the Harley riders will know what kind of bike it is.




Swapped the front tire for a knobby. Then took the rear tire off to change it, and noticed this strange defect on the tube. Looks like the tube was folded over or something. Hmm, I don't think I want to reuse that, hope someone in Rapid CIty carries 150/70 tubes. The rear rim on the Tiger has a safety bead... so it's really hard to break the bead. Managed to do it with the 2 tire irons that I carry, but it took a good 15 minutes of working around the rim.




Still need to get the rear tire on, change oil, and get packed.

[Hank]

Looking good.   Where are you off to?

I have dealertool too.. works good.   I also use tuneecu on the 690.

[Bogus Jim]

Where are you off to?

Planning to do a loop of WY, CO, UT, NV, ID, MT. I saw this trip report on ADV a couple years ago and put it on my list.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647968