Part 2/3
Lockdown has been an interesting time for lot of people to try do something with their motorcycles and considering I have done most of the bits on the front I decided to once again pull things apart in the centre. 

Let me go back a little, the air filter on the tiger is just one of the most painful things to change, Triumph has finally addressed it with moving the air-filter below the seat. You have to clean this thing every 5 k especially if you’re doing trails and being off the road. Now I know why why that pre filter is such a handy piece of kit. So what’s the problem you may ask, getting to the air filler means a lot of bolts come off, side panels, beak mountings, under the seat panels and then the tank and that requires two people to get off the connectors and fuel line. Once that’s off the air box has 13 torx screws and your finally there. So it surely is a half days work.

My tip here is to do all of it in one go – change your Spark plugs, air filter, clean the air filter box, and a throttle body cleaning and balance. Check for the breather hoses that sit below the air filter. It’s one of those things that does get cracks over time.

One other task that we all miss is where the battery sits, that’s where the ECM, and other sensors are. Now Triumph has made the air intake through here for some reason which surely makes this part a mess. I’ll share a pic of why it took me three hours to brush this clean. That intake also means air is sucked from this part of the motorcycle so no surprises the ECM, sensors, battery and the box it sits in just can’t stay clean.

Oil changes happen at every 6000- 8000 Km, surely the way we ride in india constantly using the clutch, brake and with the kind of traffic we face its a much advisable thing to do. I have been using Motul 7100 (10W59) and will be next moving to the Maxima Proplus 10W50.
I have done a coolant change at 20000 Km which is recommended and its really more than just pouring that liquid in. You’ve got to make sure you don’t have those air bubbles sitting around and that’s what takes time. The process is – fill, turn the bike on – let it run till the radiator fan kicks in and then recheck and fill again. This you have to keep doing till you see the coolant come to the brim of the radiators mouth. Triumph has its own HOAT coolant which I will be changing to either the coolanol of maxima or the motocool by Motul, both of these are HOAT. 

A front sprocket change has always been on my list to do so I have finally moved from the 16T stock to the 15T and boy what a difference it makes. It’s livelier, runs like beast and pops wheelies with much ease. The low down on the 16 T was one of the biggest reasons Tiger owners kept complaining about stalling, no grunt at the low. This is the most economical thing you can do for a drastic performance upgrade. I have had a lot of people ask me about what happens on this highways which I need to figure out once I can take the bike out. Ideally the engine should rev up higher by 200-300 rpm at a speed of 120 km

A few other simple things that can go a long way; one keep that battery charged, I use a C3 Bosch charger that’s been a good addition to my tool kit, and two clean and lube the side and centre stands every 10k giving a glance at the side stand switch too. 

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