Ownership Verified: 1998 Triumph Tiger

Crazyjeeper

Crazyjeeper

NickGyver
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
8,020
Location
Dallas, TX
Car(s)
F150, CJ7, Mustang GT, Tenere, Griso
After browsing craigslist obsessively while saving money for the last 5 months I have finally pulled the trigger on an adventure bike. After looking at countless BMWs, KTMs, Suzuki 'Stroms on CL, an ad for a 98 Tiger popped up in Colorado but it was a little bit out of my radius. Then two others showed up in Idaho, but that was also out of my range. After seeing all of these tigers, especially the early "Steamer" I did some research and found out they are very reliable and have very few known problems. Can't say the same about the BMWs and KTMs I was looking at. I kept searching until a couple of weeks ago an ad for 1998 Tiger with 32k miles showed up in Pierre, South Dakota. I called the seller up, and we agreed on a price and I was down to pick it up 10 days later, which ended up being Saturday the 7th.

Now, what everyone came for, pics:













The tall building in some of the pics is the North Dakota State Capital Building in Bismarck and the river shots are on the Missouri south of Bismarck.

My plans for this are to make it my commuter/bad road machine. Planned mods are as follows
-Center Stand (ordered)
-Engine Guards (ordered)
-Pannier racks (ordered)
-Panniers (ordered)
-Lowered pegs (installed)
-Bar risers (ordered)
-Tank bag (installed)
-Knobbies


As it sits now it is a bone stock blank slate, and for once, one that runs. :D

(I'll get out to the garage for a proof pic tomorrow)
 
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Nice!

You figured out what kinda bags you're gonna use on it?



BTW, we've had 3 Finalgear Members (CJ, Kajun and Twerp128) all buy Triumphs in 1 week. Are they gonna be like the two-wheeled Miata's of the forum? :lol:
 
I think I'm going to go with the SW Motech Trax boxes in 45L each side. The only company that still makes pannier racks for the early tigers is Hepco & Becker. Even with the adapters, the Trax boxes are a very reasonable option plus I really like the industrial look of them and they look like they can take some hits and not show it.
 
Triumph owners: today, the forums. Tomorrow, the world!!! :evil:

Spectre said:
This should be interesting to watch.
Click to expand...

Yes it should! Especially since the engine in it is the same 885cc that my Sprint has, although this one is tuned for more low-end torque. It's even the same color as mine! :cool:
 
Very nice bike! Now put some knobblies on it and go make it dirty! Oh and can we get a soundclip?
 
I pumped about 3 gallons of quickly souring gasoline out of the tank today and put 5.8 gallons of fresh premium in. It is amazing how much better they work when they don't have ancient stale gas.

I also pulled the trigger on the Trax panniers and assorted brackets only to find out that all of the 92-98 tiger specific stuff I've ordered is back ordered for at least 2 weeks and in some cases 4 weeks. I guess it is the price I will have to pay for buying something rare.
 
Crazyjeeper said:
I pumped about 3 gallons of quickly souring gasoline out of the tank today and put 5.8 gallons of fresh premium in. It is amazing how much better they work when they don't have ancient stale gas.

I also pulled the trigger on the Trax panniers and assorted brackets only to find out that all of the 92-98 tiger specific stuff I've ordered is back ordered for at least 2 weeks and in some cases 4 weeks. I guess it is the price I will have to pay for buying something rare.
Click to expand...

Yep that happens. I waited 4 months for a set of SW-Motech case guards for my Bandit 600.
 
Rossco said:
Yep that happens. I waited 4 months for a set of SW-Motech case guards for my Bandit 600.
Click to expand...

:blink: Sheesh, that is a long wait. Maybe it is a benefit to rairty then that I only have to wait a month, nobody else is waiting for another set so I get the first one once they arrive from Germany or wherever Hepco & Becker and SW Motech stuff comes from.
 
Added a Wolfman tankbag today, and went out and took some more pics at sunset.



















 
Another day, more pics:













In the last 2 pics you can see the new pegs I installed. They are approx. 1 1/4" lower than the originals which just makes all the difference for a tall person such as myself. They are also a lot more aggressive so I no longer worry about my boots slipping off while standing on the pegs
 
Looking good and it's great to see it off the roads already! The more pictures I see the more I realize it's just an off-road version of mine. :cool:
 
Yup, I think all of the early rebirth triumphs were variations on a theme rather than totally separate models.

I took it out today, and did 173 miles, stopped at this bridge for some pics.





I think it is going to need an aftermarket seat though for any more distance than that.
 
Got my SW Motech Centerstand yesterday and wrapped up the install tonight. Finally, I no longer have to work on a leaning bike like a peasant. :p

It was quite an involved install. There are no provisions for a centerstand on the tiger, so I had to replace on of the bolts in the rear suspension linkage with a supplied longer one which created the mounting lugs. All of the exhaust but the headers had to come off. But, totally worth it. Finally I can do chain maintenance without rolling it back and forth on the driveway.



My Hepco & Becker pannier racks and engine guards are due in monday after over a month of being on back order.
 
I have spent the last few days working on the tiger more getting my pannier racks and engine guards installed.















I have a new airbox on the way to replace the cracked one on wednesday and some Conti TKC80s on the way as well.

It is getting there. I thought by buying a newer bike I wouldn't have any GDPO problems. I was wrong.
 
Ooooh, shiny new powder-coated bits! :drool:

And yeah, I hate having to deal with previous owners stupidity.
 
Yeah, there are 2 major areas of GDPO stupidity on this one.



That is the primary area, the carb wasn't fully inserted into the boot on the airbox. The second, which I don't have a picture of is that the triumph had 3 airboxes. One central one then 2 rear ones and one of the rear ones and the main one both are seriously cracked. You can see a little bit of my shiny duct tape I put on there as a temporary fix.
 
Crazyjeeper said:
Yeah, there are 2 major areas of GDPO stupidity on this one.



That is the primary area, the carb wasn't fully inserted into the boot on the airbox. The second, which I don't have a picture of is that the triumph had 3 airboxes. One central one then 2 rear ones and one of the rear ones and the main one both are seriously cracked. You can see a little bit of my shiny duct tape I put on there as a temporary fix.
Click to expand...

So now I know what the PO who swapped the wrong bracket onto my Hawk bought. :p
 
I got it all buttoned up tonight.



It was quite the operation, now it has new tires, new airbox, engine guards, pannier racks, Trax cases and is bolted together properly. I hope the last mechanic that worked on it has been fired, it was that bad.
 
Since I can't seem to edit the OP, here is the proof pic (finally).



And some pics I took today out in the Little Missouri National Grassland.





And back in the driveway.

 
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