2002 Triumph Tiger

My pride and joy lays on its side the local football team looks on at 2mph get off oh Christ. Triumph Tiger and gravely car parks defiantly do not mix and a bright green 2002 Hinckley beast lays on its side.

B*ll*cks. Bought in February for the 80-mile round trip commute and weekends blasting. The Triumph has gone well, the journey to work involves dual carriageway town and country twisties.

They are devoured with a pleasing amount of grunt and flick ability, know I could mention all the usual suspects like wide bars, seat of the gods driving position bags of go etc. But hey ,everyone does that, so 3748 miles done since February, bought new, centre stand fitted plus alarm and headlight conversion kit, sees a very wobbly ride home.

The morning brings the unusual effect of £8,000 of bike doing the inert thing, luckily the RAC card, provided free with bike, sorts to garage to find wrong relays fitted to headlight draining battery nice touch.

Bike back, Scottoiler fitted for hassle factor, ace! However the ride home on cold wet salty roads have taken the toll with rusty fasteners and look of dilapidation setting in all from a couple of days with a garage.

Luckily cleaning restores some of the lustre but hmmmm it just takes off the edge and makes you wonder about your investment.

Summer has sort of arrived and the rest of the bike has gone well. The commute has dropped from an hour in the car to 35 minutes by bike, allowing a hustle that leaves most things in the mirrors and a grin all over my face – something race bikes never did. I can here the gasps and derision from here BUT ITS TRUE.

You don’t lean into corners, you throw the bike through an unbelievable arc. A flip-flop through an S-bend sees the bike take the rider through a huge arc of air – flipping great. Then you seemlessly/effotlessly turn on the mid range to the next set of bends, the same on a race bike leaves you feeling like you gave it your all, and been rewarded with a very limp experience.

Brakes are just enough. The back break is ace, the front could do with a bit more oomph and the dive is ok. The gear change defiantly needs a firm foot, but that’s it.

Sort the finish, mild alteration to gear box and a slightly better front brake o nearly forgot a higher screen and you’d have the bike. Although after picking up 6 points recently, the buffeting at 90 mph is quite useful for maintaing the licence.

As the adrenaline pumps, I lift bike back to upright(no mean feet in itself) and look at the damage. Pride is also sorely damaged, the bike needs new foot peg gear lever and indicator plus scuffed tank, all done myself for 120 quid minus the respray but the Baglux cover hides tank damage and what the hell.

If you want something that has presence,takes minimal effort for maximum return i.e. makes you feel like a biking god even though it ‘s a 30mph roundabout, then its ace. However looking for the both feet on the ground 5’10 ” rider who rides on gravel car parks then its maybe not for you.