I bought a 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i in February. Since then it has become increasingly troublesome to change gear. The gear quite often gets stuck beteween positions. I can press the gear down endlessly without effect. It just doesn´t change into the next gear without accelaration of motorpower. It is motly so when I stop the bike at for example red light. Any idea what this is about? I bought it from Metropolis Motorcycles in London and the guarantee runs out by the end of this month. Should I bring the bike in?

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Illustrator and designer: www.espenlauritzen.com

Do you have too much slack in the clutch cable?

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Brooks

Dunno. I am new to bikes. How do I find out?

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Illustrator and designer: www.espenlauritzen.com

Chain tension affects the gear changing on mine. The gear change loses it's smoothness, and tensioning the chain brings it back.

To check if you have too much slack in your clutch lever -

You should have a few mm of freeplay (don't know what Triumph recommend), where the clutch is just free to move with no tension in the cable what so ever.

If you have too much slack on the lever, slacken the big locking nut off, screw the smaller nut out until you hav e a few mm freeplay, then retighten the locking nut. Go for a ride and check if it's any better.

Don't know about anyone else but I feel as if the clutch lever is a poor design on the Tiger - too much of a stretch.

If you bought the bike second hand and the previous owner had little hands, he / she may have adjusted the lever too far in making gear changing difficult.

Let us know how you got on.

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Safe riding.

Regards,
Graeme.

Cheers. I´ll try.

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Illustrator and designer: www.espenlauritzen.com

It would be a good idea also to check your gear changing linkage to make sure it's not loose and adjusted properly. My Sprint would sometimes loosen every couple of years. A little locktite helped.

Originally Posted by hawkster

It would be a good idea also to check your gear changing linkage to make sure it's not loose and adjusted properly. My Sprint would sometimes loosen every couple of years. A little locktite helped.

There's no linkage on the Tiger. The lever is attached directly to the splined shaft.

I agree with Graeme, the clutch lever set up on the Tiger is a bit cheap and poorly thought out.

The gearbox on Tigers tend to be a bit notchy, with a tendency to baulk. As everybody mentions, you need to have the clutch lever adjusted correctly, with the final drive chain the loose side of manafacturers specification. Most people reckon on at least 60mm.

Owners say the gearboxes improve with mileage. This might be so, or perhaps we get used to them and change our riding style to suit?

What kind of shape is the engine oil in and is it the proper type and weight?. Has it been changed lately??

While it's true there's no linkage, check the lever for tightness. The steel shaft can chew up the aluminum lever so there's a bunch of play. I actually fabbed a new steel lever from a Honda lever that I made the length I preferred. The shaft size is pretty common, so before you shell out too many bucks, pounds, euros, or drachma, for something that says "Triumph" check with your neighborhood breaker for something made of steel if you want to go the replacement route. The steel lever will also withstand those times when the Tiger wants to lay down to rest.....

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William Fee
Iron Butt #26777
Tucson, Arizona