Showing posts with label 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i. Show all posts

Sunday 28 January 2024

The Struggle is Real: Trying to Keep a Triumph 955i Tiger on the Road

The 'Idle Speed Control Valve Housing' (Part Number: T1241064) continues to be a pain in my ass. This housing sits behind the throttle body on my 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i and it seems Triumph isn't supporting them anymore. My local dealer shrugged and said it isn't available any more, so I went further afield.

Blackfoot Motosports in Calgary's site seemed to suggest that they could provide this complex plastic piece that doesn't enjoy Canada's extreme temperature swings (I've gone through 2 of them so far). So I ordered it! Guess what:


That an O-ring should take 3 weeks is one thing, but the housing is obsolete? On a bike that's only just 20 years old? So, I did a little research. It turns out this product fits 84 vehicle variants across four Triumph Models between 1993 and 2020. A part that was in use on models four years ago is obsolete? That doesn't sound right.


No matter where I look the story is the same: this key part of the idle control system on thousands of bikes isn't available?  Being a determined sort, I looked to ebay for options and came across Bike Spares Barn in the UK. They take bikes traded in at dealers that are still running and on the road and dismantle them for parts, which is what I'm reduced to using with my Triumph.

They had a throttle body with the needed idle control housing on it along with an airbox. My airbox isn't in great shape so I got both parts. They worked out with shipping to be about $300CAD. It took a good 3 weeks for the parts to get here (I ordered right after the holidays so I can't really fault the timeline). The seller was very communicative with what was going on so, unlike some ordering experiences, I was never left wondering where things were.

The box finally arrived and looked like someone had been playing football with it. Two corners were mashed in and a piece of the airbox was sticking out of the box. I unwrapped it and everything looked OK so I began to clean and dismantle everything. The airbox was a good idea, this one is in much better shape than my 24 Canadian winters one, but the throttle body didn't fare so well. 

Inevitably, the only broken piece on the damned thing was the fragile idle housing, which was cracked around the base in exactly the same place that the one I'm trying to replace is.



So, I'm back where I started, but with a spare throttle body and two broken idle housings. This damned thing is so complicated that fabricating an alternative isn't likely. The three pipes on the bottom go out to each throttle body and servo sits inside that is moved up and down electrically adjusting the vacuum so passages open up to each throttle and modulate the idle so the bike doesn't stall. When this complex and fragile piece doesn't work as it should the bike hesitates on acceleration and stalls.

Obviously this wasn't the case because the bike it came from was working fine (they tested it before dismantling it), but it didn't survive ebay's international shipping service. I asked Bike Spares Barn what to do and they said to go through ebay's return/refund process, but ebay is cagey about sharing that anyware. Fortunately Peter at Bike Spares Barn helped me navigate the obfuscation and we've now gotten me a refund... but I'm still stuck without this part.

I've asked before and I'll say it again: if you're not willing or able to support your own machines, Triumph Motorbikes, how about sharing publicly the CAD files on this part so after market and crafty types like myself can fabricate our own? With the right fuel resistant plastic in a 3d printer, I could knock up my own version. But before I did I'd reinforce the model and design something more robust so I'm not left out in the cold again.

The happy face getting the solution to my problem in (the box on the bench)... then, well, you know what happened.


Tuesday 9 May 2023

Lots of 8s

 

I've been on the road for work for the past couple of weeks (Newfoundland is spectacular!) The weather from there followed us back and we haven't seen the sun for many days, until this weekend! It finally broke and I've gotten some riding in.

I was hoping to get the old Tiger to 100k this year in its 20th year on the road. On the way to that I managed to hit eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight kilometres! Very satisfying, and the bike looked great doing it:


I pushed my luck the next day and took Connie out for a couple of hours to Hockley Valley and back...





Weather's been good this week too, maybe we're finally into spring time! I had the C14 out again for a ride over to the Forks of the Credit after work today... time to make some miles!

Wednesday 15 February 2023

Winter Maintenance: Fuel Injectors on a 955i Triumph

 It's been a busy winter and I haven't gotten as much done in the garage as I'd hoped, but breaks in the gloom are beginning to appear so I spent the weekend getting the Tiger sorted and giving plastic welding my first go.

2003 Triumph Tiger 955i Fuel Injector Maintenance

The old Tiger is up at about 90k on the odometer. I did a deep maintenance a couple of winters back (swing arm out, everything gone over from the wheels up) and that seemed to solve most issues, except the fuel injection. These early electronic fuel injection systems in 955i Triumphs is touchy. What I've found that worked is to pull the injectors each winter and deep clean them in the ultrasonic bath, so that's what last weekend was.

Injectors out! I put the end without the electrical connector into the ultrasonic cleaner and give it 10 minutes at 60°C. Once out I clean them up and back in they go. No hesitation or idling problems since.

That vacuum run stepper motor (upper left) is what manages the idle control system - it's touchy! Make sure you've got good vacuum hoses (the black ribbed ones in the pic) and the gasket for the stepper motor is in good shape, or you'll be stalling... a lot. I'm sorting a threaded holder for the fuel injectors here.

Tank off gave me a chance to sort out the airbox, which I now seal with gasket material. At almost 90k, maintenance takes on jobs like rethreading bolts and gasketing tired airboxes to keep everything tight.

Found a stowaway on the airbox under the gas tank. Probably good luck?

Tiger is back together again and ready to take a run at 100k in it's 20th season.

How well did it work? We had a break in the polar vortex (it was -30° last week). In 5°C we went for a blast up and down the nearby river roads and it felt sharp. Doing that bit extra with an older high mileage bike when it comes to maintenance is the key to a happy riding season.









Sunday 24 October 2021

Triumph Tiger 955i on the edge of winter

 Single digit temperatures make for a brisk ride.  This one was down to Guelph Line before coming back home and warming up again.  All photos taken with a Ricoh Theta 360 camera set to fire automatically every 6 seconds, attached to the rear view mirror using a flexible tripod.  Here's a walkthrough if you want to try it yourself.












Sunday 29 August 2021

A Ride To Watch a Blue Horizon


 





270km round trip up to Georgian Bay to meditate on the big water.



Flesherton to Highland Grounds for a locally owned (and one of the best) Americano you can get in South Western Ontario.








Beaver Valley has some beautiful views and winding roads.


Graham Hill is worth going off pavement for, as long as the bike's up to it.




After a winding ride down Beaver Valley to Thornbury Harbour I found the Bay growling in the wind.  It was 10 degrees cooler on the water.









After a sit by the water I headed back into the inland heat and tackled the Grey Bruce Highlands around Glen Huron.









After a rehydration stop on the Noisy River near Creemore I tracked back through the flat, straight, tedious farming desert back home to Elora.


270kms in intense heat - the 18 year old Tiger was flawless.

Thursday 29 April 2021

Tiger Tales: finding twists and turns in a straight line desert

I know I live in the wrong place when I ride 20 minutes out of my way to find two consecutive corners that let me lean the bike.  One day I'll escape the tedium of Southwestern Ontario and live somewhere with geography that delights rather than depresses.

In early April I rode for over an hour to get to River Road out of Horning's Mills.  That's a 60 minute ride to get 13 minutes of corners, except Ontario, in its wisdom, has decided to make the whole thing a 60km/hr zone now, so you're going so slowly you end up tipping over rather than enjoying the corners.












The other fun thing (besides the tedium of the geography) is that the roads are falling apart after another long Canadian winter. Between that, the lack of geography and ever increasing population pushing speed limits down to dribbling velocity, it's time to find some corners elsewhere on a trip, except there aren't any trips in year two of COVID.

I've still got a stupid grin on my face though because I'm back out on two wheels after nearly a hundred days of the weather trying to kill me.





45 minutes to the east are the Forks of the Credit, a 5km wiggle that follows the Credit River as it tumbles down the Niagara Escarpment.  You actually get a switchback out of it, but the proximity to Toronto means it's usually very busy, even though it wouldn't rate a second look in California or anywhere else with mountains.  I went on a mid-week day and managed a couple of clean runs in the mid-April sun.





















Last weekend I headed south to near Campbellville, another 45 minute slog to get a couple of curves.  I don't usually head that way often because it's perilously close to the GTA, so you not only get tedious roads but also a lot of tedious people.  It took me a couple of tries to get a clean run at it, but even then you're waiting forever for the odd corner.









We live west and south of the Niagara Escarpment (yep, the same cliff Niagara Falls flows over an hour and a half south west of us), which winds around us and up north into Michigan.  It's one of the few geographical features that break up the monotony, but not by much.  After having ridden the Arizona mountains and Vancouver Island's spectacular scenery, it's difficult to take the tedium when you know other people live in places that make riding a thrill.

Not all Ontario is this dull.  As you head east you get into the lake of the woods and the Canadian Shield which offers some interesting riding options, though the road conditions are still rough.

Maybe one of these days I'll get a chance to head out Peterborough/Ottawa way and enjoy the curves the Shield and the lake of the woods offer.