A tale of 2 forks

2011 Trumph Tiger 800

1951 AJS Model 16

The fork on the right performs better as a suspension device than the one on the left. Technological advances over 60 years give it better damping and a better ability to handle poor road surfaces. The fork on the left will continue to perform for many years without servicing or attention as the makers intended. The fork on the right by the manufacturers own admission is liable to fail at any time after leaving the show room and the all important oil seal that enables it to function correctly is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty. One of the seals on the Triumph failed before it had reached 10k miles. It will cost me about £90 to repair if I remove the fork myself and take it into the dealer, considerably more if I let him do the fork removal.

I wrote to Triumph, asking what the design life of their forks was and this was their response: "However with any man made component there is no expected life cycle as there is always a possibility of a failure. There are many reasons as to why a fork seal may leak due to wear and tear regardless of mileage. Therefore fork seals are not covered under the manufacturers warranty" Note the 'regardless of mileage'. You could drive it out of the showroom brand new and it could be leaking when you get home and it is not covered by warranty. 

Why do the AJS fork seals last for a very long time and the Triumph ones are so poor the manufacturer does not have sufficient confidence in them to include them within its warranty? If anything the seals should be better with advances in materials and design over 60 years. It is nothing at all to do with the seals themselves but their working environment. Notice that there are no exposed fork stanchions on the AJS. The highly polished chrome stanchions are hidden away under protective steel outer covers. It is virtually impossible for dirt,grit and the elements to get in and rip the delicate oil seals. Note on the Triumph the stanchions are out there unprotected, save for a wind deflector, in the open air.

Why are they not protected? Fashion. Years ago race riders stripped off the protective shrouds from their forks to save weight. After all, in a race the bike only has to do 100 miles or so. So to ape the race riders we no longer have decently protected suspension units, even on a so called Adventure bike.

Sometimes Ebay is wonderful!

So I thought, OK I will reassemble the magneto. Might as well do it carefully, points look a bit wide. Fitted a new pick up brush I had going spare. Lets just see if there is a spark. Wow...lovely big fat spark! Put it back on the bike. Timed it carefully and the AJS started first kick and revved away happily. Brilliant for an almost certainly dead £50 magneto. (working magnetos sell for north of £250). No guarantees as how long it will work for of course but it might hold out until the other one comes back.

Go electronic?

The AJS magneto has gone off to the Magneto Guys in Sussex for an overhaul. I am not expecting it back for 6 months because they have such a backlog. This is somewhat frustrating as I would like to ride it.

In a moment of wild optimism I bought a 2nd hand magneto on Ebay. It was not a lot of money but...guess what?.... it does not spark. I thought I might have a go myself. It is reasonably straight forward to dismantle down to the armature but after that you start needing special tools. Rough costings look like around £250 to get this magneto going....on the other hand I could spend £115 and get an electronic conversion. I found this thing called Thorspark sold by Sussex Motorcycles. Basically it is coil ignition with a little electronic timing jobbie that sits in the points area of your old duff magneto. The picture shows the kit for a twin but they do one for a single.

Advantages

• Cost
• Probably better starting and running
• Possibly greater reliability, certainly less/no maintenance.
• Could be up and running within a week

Disadvantages

• Relies on the battery, so dynamo needs to work (I have had it overhauled).
• Some sort of ignition switch would have to be wired in
• Detracts from the authenticity of the bike.

Ponder, ponder, ponder. I will probably go for it, just to get the bike back on the road. I can always revert back to a magneto when the original one finally gets back from the Magneto Guys.

Triumph Tiger 800 Review

I bought my 2011 Tiger from Laguna’s in Ashford when it was about 18 months old in 2012. It is the black model with a full set of luggage. It doesn’t have any other extras apart from some crash bars. Most of the things I am going to complain about were perfectly visible on day 1 so you could say ‘you knew that didn’t you’. 

Virtually all modern bikes suffer from the same affliction of fashion getting in the way of practicability and service life.

I had a brief test ride and felt instantly at home on the bike. Everything fell easily to hand. Comfortable riding position and I immediately felt I could ride this bike all day.

Likes

• ·         Lovely gutsy flexible engine. Plenty of power for touring and good low down pull. It does not demand to be revved.
• ·         Superb predictable handling. So easy to chuck around with confidence.
• ·          Great carrying ability. This bikes feels nearly as solid and planted 2 up and fully laden with luggage as it does solo. A remarkable achievement.
• ·         Long service intervals (for a motorcycle).
• ·         Good lights and generally good instrumentation (see moans below).
• ·         Decent range from the fuel tank, probably 200 miles solo.
• ·         Comfortable seat for both rider and pillion. My wife loves it on the back.

Observations

• ·         The brakes are good but seem to require more hand power than I would expect from a modern bike. Not like the Brembos on my old 900SS Ducati which would stand the bike on its head if you looked at them.
• ·         I have the low seat option. I have a 29” inside leg measurement and ideally would like the seat to still be a bit lower.
• ·         By modern standards the bike is not heavy but I think bike manufacturers should prioritise weight loss.
• ·         The finish generally seems to be standing up well to my lack of care.

Moans

Let us preface these with reminding ourselves that this is supposed to be an ‘Adventure’ bike. In other words the sort of bike that you could put on the cross channel ferry then head of across Europe and Siberia to the Bering Straits or maybe even do Dakar on it. Why wouldn’t you want to do this?

• ·         The unprotected drive chain. To be fair this is lasting pretty well but I am not riding the bike in hostile conditions and I do lube it frequently. Let’s wind the clock back to my 1957 Norton ES2 with its fully enclosed chain case. The chain was lubed by engine oil mist from a vent pipe and surplus dribbled out through a hole in the bottom (not very environmentally friendly I agree). I never remember lubing, adjusting or changing this chain, it just went on and on and on. Fashion over function.
• ·         The unprotected fork sliders. I am going to sound like a grumpy old fart but really none of my old Brit bikes had unprotected fork sliders and I have no memories of stripping forks down to change seals. Whereas the Triumph at 10,000 miles has had one of its fork seals go. I’m sure the other one won’t be far behind. This is POOR. A suspension failure making it an MoT failure after only 10,000 miles. Fashion over function.
• ·         A front mudguard that doesn’t. Perhaps it does not shorten the operational life and effectiveness of the radiator to have mud and road dirt continually chucked at it. I would think it did. Yes you can buy an extender but in my world mudguards are not an optional extra especially on a bike that is supposed to be designed for hostile conditions. Fashion over function.
• ·         Rear mudguarding. I have not used my bike off-road but the rear suspension unit is A) fairly inaccessible and B) covered in road dirt and crud. I know, I should be a conscientious owner and spend my weekends picking mud out of the radiator and trying to clean up an inaccessible unprotected rear suspension. Fashion over function.

Mini moans.

• ·         I would like to be able to read the clock without stopping to put my glasses on.
• ·         I would like to be able to reset the service icon when I have serviced the bike and not have to pay a Triumph dealer £400 to change the oil, filters and plugs so he can reset the icon.

Summary

A great bike that you wouldn’t want to go round the world on without a Triumph mechanic in tow. Maybe a little jaunt across Europe stopping to lube the chain every 200 miles.

Someone found us.

I had forgotten all about this blog. I think it was an attempt to wean people of Facebook (which I loathe with a passion) and share club news. It has been defunct since 2009, when I get an email from an old member from the 80's wanting to resurrect contact. Excellent. We hope to see Mark Taylor on Friday.

It is interesting to read my old posts. Maybe I'll keep it up if only to please myself. Well, the trusty Velo has gone. This is the second time I have sold a Velocette,  I really don't learn do I? The present stable consists of a 2011 Triumph Tiger 800, which is a truly excellent bike except that Triumph still seem unable to make forks where the oil seals last more that 2 or 3 years.

 Next is a 1951 AJS Model 16MS. Very original in oily rag condition, most of the chrome either painted black or in silver Hammerite, you know the look. I'll keep it like that. I have a soft spot for all this old Plumstead stuff. Since doing my grand Iberian tour on a very tired G9 I have a lot of respect for these solid dependable motorcycles. Currently the magneto is away being rewound, which means no plonking around on the AJ until it comes back, which might be months. The Magneto Guys in Sussex are very very good but very very busy. In far away Portugal at the house www.casalaranjeira.co.uk is the Empire Made Enfield circa 2000. Finish quality is pretty dubious but a good solid Brit single with decent electrics and no oil leaks! I enjoy it and the power from the 500 engine is quite decent. Brakes are very authentic 50s.

Then of course there are the cars. Good job I haven't got Alan Clark's money otherwise I would probably blow tens of thousands like he did. The '65 Midget did well this summer taking Jo & I to Portugal. Bit of an oil leak from the timing case which meant a daily pint top up. Lost the keys in Spain so had to hotwire all the way home. It was not a great buy this Midget, being pretty tired in many areas but perseverance has delivered a reliable little car and at least it is bodily sound and they are such fun to drive. The clonky diff is getting irritating so I hope to treat it to a new one this winter. While I think of it, lets remember the spring washer drama. Air cleaner bolt comes loose, engine swallows spring washer. Consequence a lot of horrible noises and a completely f***ed piston. Luckily the bore was undamaged, as were the valves apart from a bit of dinging. Drop the sump, undo conrod, push piston out the top. Fit new one and re-assemble. Did it in a long morning. How good is that!, then off to Portugal in it.

Lastly the newest acquisition; the Series IIA Landie. Bought blind at auction over the internet. It needed a new clutch and the brakes sorting. I did the clutch and let Central Garage do the brakes. Seems to be running well now. The engine seems particularly good. I think it is an old MoD unit fitted probably quite recently.