Thoughts or experiences of Triumph Tiger 800?

[Arctic Fox]

Hello,

Sorry, as have not posted here lately. I'm still riding my 2005 Nevada but I have started to look on my next possible bike. Something which would also fit bit better on local gravel roads (some might remember my thread about tires). I like the look of Moto Guzzi V85 (in white - yellow - red color), but those are still too expensive.

Opposite I perhaps could be able to purchase Triumph Tiger 800 (even 2015 model) ... if giving Nevada away.

Have you ever tried one of those? Or what do you think about it? 

[Kildareman]

Had one for 10.5 years, 2011 model. Good bike generally. Gated cleaning it, which is a must as the frame has lots of welds and curves that moisture loves. It is a little too heavy. Power is superb. Working on engine is no fun. Change front tyre to a 110/80 19 if getting a cast wheel model. Not as comfortable as my V7 850.

[Johncolleary]

I have a 2014 800 19” front wheel .  I like it lighter than my Stelvio .  I do a lot of gravel roads riding with my son who has a 2015 800XCX which has the 21” wheel.  He does a lot of heavy off road and is short an loves his.   When the stelvio goes I will probably replace it with a Tiger 900. 

[Arctic Fox]

I would/will hardly do much of off road ridings  , but will need to ride pretty much grave roads.












The one which is on sale here (close to me) is XCx model. So looks like it has 21'' front wheel? Does that have any negative sides in normal use (vs. smaller 19'')?
For example as riding normal roads or in the city?

[Kildareman]

The one which is on sale here (close to me) is XCx model. So looks like it has 21'' front wheel? Does that have any negative sides in normal use (vs. smaller 19'')?
For example as riding normal roads or in the city?

Xcx is spoked 21" tubes.  For those roads is personally prefer 19" cast with tubes - easy tyre repair.
For normal roads the 21" is kinda narrow for my taste.
If you get the xcx is get a centre stand for tyre maintenance (replacing tubes).

[twowheeladdict]

The roads you posted could be ridden on any bike with the right tires.  Suspension and weight come into play as speeds increase.

[Arctic Fox]

The roads you posted could be ridden on any bike with the right tires.  Suspension and weight come into play as speeds increase.

I know, I have these on my Nevada



... still I could never ride those roads as fast as with our ''summer cottage moped'' (Kawasaki KMX 125cm3). Similar as in this photo:


As I said I'm also bit looking more power vs Nevada.

[PeteS]

I have a 2011 XC. Great motor, no problems. I have taken it off pavement including single track. You will be OK on gravel but its a bit top heavy for off road. I much prefer my KLR for that. I wish I had gotten the roadie with 19” front. It would be a better all rounder for my riding. The XC looses all pretenses as a canyon carver. For the price they all should have fully adjustable suspension.

Pete

[JJ]

My neighbor has the Triumph Tiger XRx 800cc...and he loves it!  We have been on several long, overnight trips with it and no issues!

[Seventy One]

I bought an 800XC brand new in 2013 and hated it. The performance was fine. It was really good on gravel and back roads. Don't try to run it in sand or loose rocks.

The maintenance was expensive and difficult. My valves were out of spec every 12k miles so the cam shafts needed to come out at least once/year to fix that. It took six weeks to get parts from Bike Bandit. Now that Bike Bandit is gone, I have no idea where you get parts. The reliability, dealership experience and manufacturer support was terrible. I rode the bike for 3 years and sold it for $2,200.

The main issues were the bad paint, bad powder-coat and bad anodization. The mirror stems went from black to grey to bare steel in 3 years. I never had any rust issues with it but the frame paint was flaking off in several places. Don't even get me started on matte paint. I sure won't make that mistake again.

Failures include: Horn, heated grips, two voltage regulators, two transmission failures (shift shaft and shifter pawl), front suspension hop, soft wheel spacers and low compression on #3. The bike burned oil from new. Triumph found 250, 240 and 190 psi but refused to warranty the bike because my dealer never informed them of my problem. Dealer said I didn't get a warranty because I self-serviced it. Dealer refused to answer why they didn't inform Triumph of my problem. In the end, I never really had a warranty on the bike.  The steering lock never worked either. The locking pin wasn't long enough to engage the hole.

If you buy it, keep an eye on the oil. Mine went through a quart every 1k miles virtually from new. Change the battery every 4 years. Once they get to be 5 years old, they'll burn out your voltage regulators. When they go, your headlight bulbs will over heat and melt your headlight assembly. Better yet, replace stock headlight bulbs with Silvania Silver Stars. These are very bright, very expensive and very fragile. This way when your regulator goes, it'll simply blow the bulbs and not spiderweb your headlight housing.

Order parts way ahead of time. Plan on 4-6 weeks for anything from Triumph. It was bad in 2016. I imagine the wait hasn't any better post--. 

Air filters and spark plugs are a 5-6 hour job. Double this for shimming the valves.

Most skid plates are bolted to the sump. These are decorative items. The cardboard box my Triumph skid plate showed up in weighed more than the actual plate itself. Ride accordingly.

You need software to reset the check engine/service reminder lights and to balance the throttle bodies. I believe it's called Dealer tune. Don't forget the lap top. 

The shift shaft was recalled on the Daytonas but not the Tigers. Expect 2-3 hours and $250+ to fix that. This issue was corrected in 2015... IIRC.

My bike was stored inside, maintained to the best of my ability with all maintenance done on time and by-the-book. It seldom seen any off-road use. I used it primarily for multi-state trips, back roads touring and gravel. It never seen a pressure washer and was detailed on a monthly basis. Despite this my bike was worn out after 3 years and 42k miles. The last 4 times I rode it, it came home on trailers. I could no longer leave town on it. Some people love 'em. I hated mine. They are loaded with "known issues". Spurgeon Dunbar (of Revzilla fame) said many of his friends had to have their 800/XC engines replaced under warranty. Good luck. It's a fun bike and does a lot of things well but they're not really built to a high standard.

FWIW I just bought a brand new KLR650 and love it. It may be too early to tell but I suspect it'll be everything the Triumph should have been.












 

[PeteS]

Seventy One, any idea where your bike was made. I know they are made in Thailand now but not sure when that started. My 2011 was made in the UK and have none of the problems you had. I did my own valve work and got shims locally from a friend who has a shop. Bit of a pain but doable and not expensive. Most expensive was the first oil change to maintain the warranty but haven’t been back to a dealer since.

Pete

[Arctic Fox]

I bought an 800XC brand new in 2013 and hated it. The performance was fine. It was really good on gravel and back roads. Don't try to run it in sand or loose rocks.

The maintenance was expensive and difficult. My valves were out of spec every 12k miles so the cam shafts needed to come out at least once/year to fix that. It took six weeks to get parts from Bike Bandit. Now that Bike Bandit is gone, I have no idea where you get parts. The reliability, dealership experience and manufacturer support was terrible. I rode the bike for 3 years and sold it for $2,200.

The main issues were the bad paint, bad powder-coat and bad anodization. The mirror stems went from black to grey to bare steel in 3 years. I never had any rust issues with it but the frame paint was flaking off in several places. Don't even get me started on matte paint. I sure won't make that mistake again.

Failures include: Horn, heated grips, two voltage regulators, two transmission failures (shift shaft and shifter pawl), front suspension hop, soft wheel spacers and low compression on #3. The bike burned oil from new. Triumph found 250, 240 and 190 psi but refused to warranty the bike because my dealer never informed them of my problem. Dealer said I didn't get a warranty because I self-serviced it. Dealer refused to answer why they didn't inform Triumph of my problem. In the end, I never really had a warranty on the bike.  The steering lock never worked either. The locking pin wasn't long enough to engage the hole.

If you buy it, keep an eye on the oil. Mine went through a quart every 1k miles virtually from new. Change the battery every 4 years. Once they get to be 5 years old, they'll burn out your voltage regulators. When they go, your headlight bulbs will over heat and melt your headlight assembly. Better yet, replace stock headlight bulbs with Silvania Silver Stars. These are very bright, very expensive and very fragile. This way when your regulator goes, it'll simply blow the bulbs and not spiderweb your headlight housing.

Order parts way ahead of time. Plan on 4-6 weeks for anything from Triumph. It was bad in 2016. I imagine the wait hasn't any better post--. 

Air filters and spark plugs are a 5-6 hour job. Double this for shimming the valves.

Most skid plates are bolted to the sump. These are decorative items. The cardboard box my Triumph skid plate showed up in weighed more than the actual plate itself. Ride accordingly.

You need software to reset the check engine/service reminder lights and to balance the throttle bodies. I believe it's called Dealer tune. Don't forget the lap top. 

The shift shaft was recalled on the Daytonas but not the Tigers. Expect 2-3 hours and $250+ to fix that. This issue was corrected in 2015... IIRC.

My bike was stored inside, maintained to the best of my ability with all maintenance done on time and by-the-book. It seldom seen any off-road use. I used it primarily for multi-state trips, back roads touring and gravel. It never seen a pressure washer and was detailed on a monthly basis. Despite this my bike was worn out after 3 years and 42k miles. The last 4 times I rode it, it came home on trailers. I could no longer leave town on it. Some people love 'em. I hated mine. They are loaded with "known issues". Spurgeon Dunbar (of Revzilla fame) said many of his friends had to have their 800/XC engines replaced under warranty. Good luck. It's a fun bike and does a lot of things well but they're not really built to a high standard.

FWIW I just bought a brand new KLR650 and love it. It may be too early to tell but I suspect it'll be everything the Triumph should have been.

Ups ... that did not sound promising. Well, I have understood that Trumph made several changes exactly to 2015 model (which one I'm looking for). 2011 - 2014 being pretty same. I'm trying to get a member of one international Trumph forum to ask more/details. Can spare parts situation be better this side of Atlantic Ocean?

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[vintagehoarder]

Deb has had her's for 4 years and just loves it. 2019 XRX Low 800

[Guzzistajohn]

 Mine is a '06 955i But it's been GREAT! Over 70,000 miles now, It's been all over the central US and southwest, Datona bike week, Blue ridge PKY and even did a bunburner 1500 (1500 miles in 36 hours)

[Seventy One]

Seventy One, any idea where your bike was made. I know they are made in Thailand now but not sure when that started. My 2011 was made in the UK and have none of the problems you had. I did my own valve work and got shims locally from a friend who has a shop. Bit of a pain but doable and not expensive. Most expensive was the first oil change to maintain the warranty but haven’t been back to a dealer since.

Pete

As far as I know, all '13's were built in Thailand. I used to know which letter of the VIN indicated this but have long since forgotten that. I'm not sure that it matters though. The 1050's had issues with cracked pistons. The 800's were known for oil consumption and improperly installed piston rings. The 1200's in the Trophy/Tiger 1200 had cylinder head issues. The list goes on.

In my opinion, Triumph has design, engineering and quality control problems, not manufacturing problems. What else could explain a steering lock which doesn't actually lock the steering getting off the drawing board, into production, into showrooms and into customers garages without ever being detected? When the shift shaft failures in the 675 Daytona warrants a recall but the same issue in the Tiger 800/800XC (which share 80% of parts in common) gets no recall you have other issues.

It's easy to blame Thailand. I get it. I just don't think it's fair. These people are simply assembling the bikes they've been given. It's not the assemblers fault the wheel spacers were carved out of cheese. It's not the assemblers fault that the suspension hops, the mirror stems were badly anodized or the steering lock isn't long enough to actually lock the bars.

This is what my mirror stems looked like after 4 years. This is inexcusable on a $13,800 motorcycle (in 2013 dollars). My DR650 held up much better and it was almost 1/3 the price. I slapped 40,000 miles on my '16 Versys 1000LT. Every inch of that was 100% trouble free. Like my DR650, it still looks new. My Tiger was worn-out and unreliable by 42k miles.

Buyer beware.

 

[Kildareman]

I wouldn't blame Thailand.  There are enough videos of the Thai factories and their QA on everything.  In fact I'd say the Thai factories are newer and as high tech as Hinkley

Re comments above.
Mine was UK built. There was a separate sticker under the seat with factory code. F1 & F2 was UK. Everything else as far as I'm aware is Thailand.

Sparks and air filter 1 to 1.5 hours tops. Shit hits the fan for valves though as the frame is tight to the engine and it's just a bi**h to remove the rocker cover.

The frame powder coating (mine was the early silver) was shockingly soft and chipped easily. Most of the frame when I sold the bike was Smoothrite Silver. Rusting around welds was a big (cosmetic) issue for me. Lots of weld splatter so no weld was smooth and all held moisture.

The gear shift return spring pin was an early failure.  Most think it was because of a recall for the return spring replacement. Stronger spring went in putting more pressure on the return pin. Pin mounting was a shitty design though. Easy fix was drill and tap shaft (M5) and the pin was never moving. Can also be welded.  I did mine and two others.

Broken:


Fixed:


Only other mechanical issue I had was loss of drive once. Turned out to be the drive sprocket departing on a separate journey, despite the locking tab. Lesson there is to turn over two sides of the lock washer, not one that Triumph recommended.

Sold it with a smidge under 100,000 on the clock. Got bugger all for it but got the V7 850 as a replacement - which I have to say is a better put together and finished bike than the Tiger.

[blu guzz]

My best riding friend had one for a few years.  I never rode it but can comment on an aspect I did not like.  When he would approach me at parking lot speed while riding the bike, it sounded like a jet fighter coming in for a landing.  There was a very loud, high pitched wail that I think was cam or cam chain noise.  It may not be audible while you are riding.  He liked the bike but traded it after a short time, but turning over bikes was common for him at that time, probably 5-6 years ago now.
Make of this what you will. 

[Kildareman]

My best riding friend had one for a few years.  I never rode it but can comment on an aspect I did not like.  When he would approach me at parking lot speed while riding the bike, it sounded like a jet fighter coming in for a landing.  There was a very loud, high pitched wail that I think was cam or cam chain noise.  It may not be audible while you are riding.  He liked the bike but traded it after a short time, but turning over bikes was common for him at that time, probably 5-6 years ago now.
Make of this what you will.

The Triumph Whine. They all do it.

[PeteS]

The Triumph Whine. They all do it.

Thats the most annoying thing about mine after riding twins most of my life. Wish the V85TT had been available when I bought this bike.

Pete

[s1120]

Seventy one, thats crazy!!  Do the newer Bonneville based bikes have these issues also? I ask because I rode a new 1200 scrambler last month and I LOVED that bike!!!  Its really on my short list to find down the road when I have more money to spend.

[Arctic Fox]

Deb has had herr's for 4 years and just loves it. 2019 XRX Low 800

With low 800 you meant that she has so called low saddle which is/was available as extra?
How tall she is?

[DesertPilot]

I had a 2014 Tiger 800 roadie, and loved it.  I put 50,000 miles on it with precisely zero problems.  The engine was a gem -- the sort of thing Dr Who uses to power the TARDIS.  An additional bonus was the way it set every small yappy dog within a mile barking hysterically.  Ride past a cafe and all the SUYs (small urban yappers) would be bouncing off their leashes leach like paddleballs while their owners wondered what the heck was going on.  Apparently small yappy dogs had some ancestral enemy that had three cylinders.  The whole bike had this English butler, "Very good, sir.  I shall see to it immediately," vibe it was impossible not to like. 





The only problems were

1) First gear on the 2013 is too tall -- great for track use, perhaps, but maybe not so great for crawling along goaty roads.  Time and time again, I'd slow down for some tricky section, have to slip the clutch, and wonder, "Whatever were those engineers thinking?"  They changed this on later models.

2) Except for trivial things, there was no way I was going to do my own maintenance.  The Tiger might not have had a Ducati level of unnecessary complexity, but some things, like pulling the tank or (cue ominous music) the Stepper Motor, did seem unnecessarily complex.

3) It was sufficiently top heavy that I entirely lost interest in riding it on the roads I bought it to ride on.  Which rather missed the point of buying it in the first place.  And led, inevitably, to me trading it in for a V85TT.

[Seventy One]

My best riding friend had one for a few years.  I never rode it but can comment on an aspect I did not like.  When he would approach me at parking lot speed while riding the bike, it sounded like a jet fighter coming in for a landing.  There was a very loud, high pitched wail that I think was cam or cam chain noise.  It may not be audible while you are riding.  He liked the bike but traded it after a short time, but turning over bikes was common for him at that time, probably 5-6 years ago now.
Make of this what you will.

My friends called my Triumph "the dust buster". A cheap, plastic, handheld vacuum cleaner... that seems about right.

 

Seventy one, thats crazy!!  Do the newer Bonneville based bikes have these issues also? I ask because I rode a new 1200 scrambler last month and I LOVED that bike!!!  Its really on my short list to find down the road when I have more money to spend.

I have no idea and no intention of ever finding out. I think I'm through with Euro bikes. I'd consider some of them but I'll certainly never own another Triumph. One was enough for me. Their customer service was the final nail in the coffin. Triumph called the dealer and the dealer literally lied to them. I sent Triumph proof that the dealer lied to them about my service history and Triumph STILL denied warranty work!

How do you get warranty work done when the dealer won't inform the manufacturer that you are having issues with the bike?

How do you get warranty work done when the dealer lies to the manufacturer about your history of complaints?

How do you get warranty work done when the dealer lies to the manufacturer about your service history?

You don't.

I learned I wasn't a Triumph customer. The dealer was their customer. Dealers buy Bikes, not people like you or I. The dealership is where Triumph customer care begins and ends. I was a customer of the dealership and my issues were none of the Triumphs concerns. I proved to them that the dealer lied about my service history and they simply did not care.

The dealer in question had lots of leftover models on the floor and probably wanted out of the Triumph franchise. I suspect that was at the core of my mistreatment from the dealership. They wanted an angry customer to give Triumph an earful. That person was me. After my complaints to Triumph started, they pulled the plug on the dealership and effectively told me to go pound sand.

I won't buy a cycle from a small dealer anymore. If they have leftover units on the floor, run away. That dealer might be trying to get rid of the franchise. The manufacturer might not be happy with the dealership. Go find a high volume dealership instead. Manufacturers prize these places. That's my thoughts on it. Take that for what it's worth.

[Motormike]

I won't buy a cycle from a small dealer anymore. If they have leftover units on the floor, run away. That dealer might be trying to get rid of the franchise. The manufacturer might not be happy with the dealership. Go find a high volume dealership instead. Manufacturers prize these places. That's my thoughts on it. Take that for what it's worth.

That approach would certainly rule out most Moto Guzzi dealerships!
My experience has been just the opposite.  The big mega, multi-line dealerships are the worst to deal with.  And with 4 or 5 or more brands on the floor (not to mention personal watercraft and side by sides) I wonder just how much experience and training the techs have?  Jack-of-all-trades and master of none?  The fewer brands on the floor, the better service I've gotten, most of the time.

[vintagehoarder]

With low 800 you meant that she has so called low saddle which is/was available as extra?
How tall she is?

No this is a factory lowered frame and yes also a low seat.  The actualy factory model is an XRX Low.

[Arctic Fox]

No this is a factory lowered frame and yes also a low seat.  The actualy factory model is an XRX Low.

Well, that kind bike can be impossible to find as a second hand. At least from here I live.

Anyway the Tiger I was looking for was sold yesterday, so it looks like I will still ride my Nevada for some time.