My Tiger 955i

First thoughts

My bike is a high mileage (well, 60,000 miles) 2006 Triumph Tiger 955i that had no service history when I bought it. I was told by the previous owner it was first owned by the BBC for filming cycle races. He bought it in 2008 and used it to tour in the UK and Europe and I have a full record of MOTs taken from www.gov.uk. So, I can see annual mileage, whether it passed an MOT and when, and if it failed, what it failed on.

I was also told it had an engine replacement at 20,000 miles when the head gasket blew.

He did originally replace the gasket but there was damage to one of the cylinder liners so the engine was replaced with one that had covered 18,000 miles. As a bonus, I have the original engine currently on a bench in my garage.

I know there's some work needed and it's coming up to an annual service. It will also probably need another service before next September (2020) when I'm planning to set off on my tour. She'll need a major service, covering valve shims, fuel filter as well as the usual oil & filter change.

Tallulah in full touring mode

Small jobs

I also have a few small jobs to do to get her ready for a long trip. I want to replace the non-functioning heated grips, not that I'm anticipating needing them in September, but you never know, especially in Scotland. While I have a power socket fitted to the dash to power a Satnav, it's not yet wired up. The original power socket is connected just below the seat on the left side and the feed wires to the one in the dash were originally connected to the wiring to this original DIN style socket. I decided to reinstate the original socket as I wanted to utilise this to connect my battery optimiser without the need to remove the seat every time. I'm planning on wiring the dash power socket to the same power feed as the heated grips later.

I've also been experimenting with the seat height and screen position. I have a screen spoiler fitted to lessen buffeting around my head and lessen wind noise. It works but it's not perfect, so I've been experimenting with lifting the screen off the fairing. It seems to work but it doesn't look pretty.

The seat height on a Tiger 955i is adjustable. Underneath the seat is an adjustment mechanism that gives it three heights. Since buying Tallulah, I've had it on the lowest setting, but that's causing a little pain in my right knee. The last journey, I raised the height to the middle setting. I can still reach the ground and it seems to have lessened the pain a little. I've got some time to get the ergonomics right so will keep experimenting.

I have luggage for the bike, panniers, top box and tank bag, plus a Hein Gericke rucksack if I need it but that brings up yet another question to think on. There's a weight limit for the luggage, 6kg for each pannier and 5kg for the rear rack.17kg is not a lot but I could probably fit a further 4-5kg in a tank bag. In addition to any camping gear I may want, I'll also have to plan for food & drink as well as clothing, phone, tablet, satnav, my iPod, spares, tools, the list could be endless. I also don't know how the bike would handle if fully loaded and with a full tank of fuel. This is something I'm going to need to test.