Trophy comes

off the bench

No, not because it's finished, read on to find out why...

This is becoming more a diary of what’s going on in the garage than a diary of bringing my Trophy back to life, because I’ve done little to it this week. I’ve refitted the brakes, front and rear and bled through some DOT4 I had lying around just to get them working. The reason being I wanted to get it off the bench. I did try to inflate the rear tyre so it would roll easier but the valve broke off, so it’ll have to remain flat for now.

Now for why I wanted it off the bench. I've bought a second Tiger 955i.

Tiger2

Tiger 2 in blue is a high mileage commuter I picked up for not much, mainly because it needs a new clutch, but also because it's untidy, probably needs a bit more than just a clutch & an MOT but having cleaned it up, it doesn't look too bad.

 I’ve made a decision on what I’m going to do with  ‘Tiger2’ or T2 if I can’t be bothered to type Tiger2, although this decision was made after I began working on it.

What I was intending to do was give it a good jet wash before putting it on the bench but the weather outside was lousy, so once I’d put the Trophy at the back of the garage (where Tiger2 was stored), Tiger2 went straight on the bench for my first good look.

Tiger2

Initial impressions were not favourable. There’s encrusted oil/road grime all over the underside of the engine and both side and centre stand. I think I know what’s causing this as the previous owner (PO) said the seal on the output shaft was leaking. If that’s the case, and I’ve yet to verify this, it’s a £6 seal from #Wemoto, so not a big problem.

There’s road grime over every surface, including under the seat, the dash, behind the front fairing and the engine (the bits not covered in oil) is thick with it. Perhaps I should have jet washed it after all.

During my inspection, I also found a couple of stray wires. These belonged to a USB connector attached to the bars that had at some point been disconnected but left on the bike. Also attached to the bars was a double USB socket and a Satnav ball mount. I could also see a stray bullet connector sticking out from behind the front fairing.

Other things I spotted was a couple of retaining bolts for the front mudguard were loose. On closer inspection, the captive spring washers on the underside of the mudguard were no longer captive.

On switching the ignition on, the lights worked ok, as do all the instrument lights. I don’t know about the instruments themselves aside from the rev counter, the fuel gauge and the clock. The temp gauge should be easy to check as Tiger2 does start but I’ll have to wait to test the speedo.

The horn doesn’t work, nor does either front indicator (the stray bullet connector was on one of them), so I’ll need to check all the electrics. It’s had some electrical work done though, to the charging circuit, having had what’s commonly known as the ‘Sasquatch mod’, a Shindengen Reg/rec combined with an upgraded Triumph connector, although some tidying is needed as there appears to be wires all over the place.

The chain looks to be serviceable as does the rear sprocket and the frame also looks ok and remarkably free from rust & flaky paint considering its 127,000 miles.

Tiger2 before I picked her up

Having had a good look over, it was time to start cleaning things up. Off came the Touring screen, which I’ll put on Tallulah Tiger, (more on this later) replacing it with a spare standard sized dark screen I have lying around. Next job was to remove the luggage. This is likely to be cleaned up and sold, at least the side cases will. I’m thinking of having the top box sprayed silver to match Tallulah as it’s a genuine Triumph one and the silver one I currently have is a cheap although useable one. For that, I needed to also remove the luggage fittings and for ease, I wanted to also remove the rear bodywork together with the rack. However, dinner was calling so I left things for the evening.