A Winter without Winter

These little imaginings are a nice escape, and if I ever become pointlessly rich, I'll be able to torment friends and family who ride with ridiculous Top Gear like challenges.

I've been monkeying around with Furkot and have come up with a themed trip to the end of South America and back.  Starting in October, just as the darkness and cold is closing in on Canada, we head south.  Over the next six months while ice and snow reign in the north, we enjoy equatorial heat and spring in the southern hemisphere.

We reach the southern terminus of our trip in mid-winter/summer (December 21st) on the longest day, and then begin the climb back up the globe on the other coast of South America before finally stopping in Rio and shipping the bikes back to NYC.  With the best part of three months to get south, this isn't a ragged rush to the end and should offer time to really get a sense of the places we're passing through.

We'd be in Buenos Aires two weeks after Ushuaia, coincidentally, just when the Dakar Rally kicks off, which would be an exciting thing to try and follow on lightened motorcycles (we could store most of our luggage in B.A. while we chased the race).  

The Dakar wraps up in mid-January after we follow it into the Andes and through Bolivia before coming back to Argentina for the start/finish.  We'd recover in Buenos Aires and then begin making our way north into Brazil.  A tour of Brazil would have us seeing the Amazon before coming back down to Rio.


If we left South America from the port of Rio and headed back to New York City, it would take about three weeks on a slow boat; a good time to rest, recover and write!

The final piece would be the two day ride home from NYC to Southern Ontario in April, just when we're ready for spring in Canada.

The Five Thousand Dollar Challenge

The evil-rich me would offer to pay for the trip, but we'd be riding the whole way on bikes that cost less than $5000 Canadian (Top Gear style).

I'm still crushing on Tigers.  I think I could talk this one down to $4200 to get it under the $5000 limit with taxes.

An oil change and a check of the obvious bits (chain, tires, cables) and I'd be ready to go.

The North American bit will be a lot of tarmac, but the Central and South American bits will take some tougher tires, which I'd aim to pick up en route.

A quick trip to Twisted Throttle (who have a whack of 1050 Tiger gear) and I'd be ready to take on the escape from winter.

With a $5000 limit on the bike (taxes in), what would you take?

Some 1050 Tiger Farkling

Engine Guard
http://www.twistedthrottle.ca/sw-motech-crashbars-engine-guards-triumph-tiger-1050i-07
Skidplate
http://www.twistedthrottle.ca/sw-motech-aluminum-engine-guard-skidplate-triumph-tiger-1050-07-black-or-silver
Tires for Central/South America
http://www.twistedthrottle.ca/continental-contitrailattack-2-dual-sport-front-17-inch-size-120-70-17-90-street-10-dirt-58w-tubeless-bias-ply-tire
Hand guards
http://www.twistedthrottle.ca/barkbusters-vps-handguard-triumph-tiger-1050-with-28mm-diameter-barkbusters-aluminum-handlebar-installed

Discontinued Tigers and Triumph Supporting its Riders

If you follow the blog you'll know I'm on a mission to get my 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i to roll over into six figures on the odometer. I picked up the bike with under forty-K on it and have done the majority of the now high miles on it. Over that time I've had an ongoing battle with the early fuel injection on the bike, but other than that it has been my preferred ride even as a series of other bikes passed through the garage.

Once again the fueling has gone off on the bike just as I was hoping to push it over the 100k mark in its 20th year on the road. If I lived somewhere where the weather wasn't trying to kill me for four months of each year this would be an easier goal, but trying to do it in Canada where the bike has to sit through minus forty winters and then navigate the frost heaved results in our too-short riding season? It's technical a flex I'm up for, but it's a shame that Triumph isn't.

I tried the usual solution of rebalancing the fuel injectors, but the bike is still stalling out and running rough. I checked the valves less than 15k ago so that isn't likely it. If it isn't throttle body balancing, which the bike is prone to needing, perhaps it's time to, at over 90k, to finally replace the o-rings and gaskets in the fuel injection system, but Triumph tells me that the majority of these parts are discontinued.

One of the reasons I enjoy the old Tiger is that it still catches eyes and prompts conversation when I'm out and about. Another reason I like it is that it can pretty much do anything (I've trail ridden on it and done multi-thousand mile two-up road trips too). It fits me better than anything I've ridden, is fun to chuck around in corners and has handled axle deep mud when I needed it to. The engine is full of character and pulls well even two up and, considering the miles it has done, the amount of TLC needed isn't unreasonable. I'd love to keep this bike going indefinitely, it's a shame that Triumph don't feel the same way.

I had a chat with the dealer (who isn't particularly local, it's a 170 mile round trip to go there physically - I usually get parts delivered), and they said that this is a problem with Triumph - they don't support their older machines. He then went on to say I couldn't use generic o-rings because the Triumph parts are strangely size specific. I'm going to try anyway because I really want to be able to jump on my old Tiger and ride.

Suzuki runs a successful vintage parts program so I'm not sure why Triumph wouldn't want to do the same to keep their bikes on the road, especially when they lean on brand heritage marketing so much.

Here's Nick Bloor's take on it:

Never standing still, always pushing to get the best from ourselves, for our riders. Building iconic motorcycles that celebrate our past while embracing the future through bold design, original styling, purposeful engineering and a genuine passion for the ride.
Always focused on delivering complete riding experience, creating bikes with the perfect balance of power, handling and style that totally involve the rider and bring out the best in them. 
This is our passion and our obsession. 
We are chasing the same thing as our riders THE PERFECT RIDE.
Nick Bloor
CEO Triumph Motorcycles

All good stuff, but maybe focus a bit more on celebrating Triumph's past, Nick? That includes the bikes your reborn Triumph have been making since the nineties. For some of us you created that perfect ride a while back.

When you market on brand history and provenance, shouldn't you support brand history and provenance? I'm coming at this hard because I want to believe... and keep my (not so) old Triumph rolling.

West Coast Siren Call

I came up with the idea of setting up motorcycles down south in rental storage units to access over the winter a while back.  This is just the sort of thing I'd do if I had that kind of disposable money laying around.

To set up San Francisco bike storage I'd need to get an Ontario bike down there and parked up in the storage facility.  The idea is to have a ready to go bike that I can fly to with minimal luggage.  I'd eventually be able to fly in to San Francisco with only a carry on bag, take a cab to the storage unit and be on two wheels in one of the best motorcycling locations in the world within a few hours of flying out of the snowbelt.  For the setup I'd take known, works-for-me gear for the ride and then hang it up in the storage unit along with the bike.  Flights back at the moment are one stop, seven hours and about $700 Canadian.

The weather is already closing in here.  We've had dustings of snow multiple times.  This would be one of my last chances to make the ride out west before the white wall of winter descends on us.  In trying to make good time to SanFran, I'd also aim to get a motorcycling bucket list item done:  an Iron Butt thousand miles in twenty-four hours:

Day 1:  Elora to Hampton Inn Portage IL.  Just under 500 miles over the border and to the edge of Chicago.  Make sure everything is ready for the big push on Day 2 (the Iron Butt 1000 miles in 24 hours).  Make sure everything is good to go on the bike, get in early, eat and rest up for an early departure.

Day 2:  Portage IL to Denver, CO.  Be on the road by 5am for the big push west.  Cross Chicago before rush hour picks up and then thump across the plains.  1027 miles in 24 hours.  Get in to Denver overnight and then 2 days at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Denver Stapleton.

Day 3:  Rest day in Denver.

Day 4:  Denver to Grand Junction.  Into the Rockies, 333 miles to the Hampton Inn Grand Junction.  A lower mileage day means this should be as much about enjoying the mountains as it is about making time.

Day 5:  Grand Junction to Ely.  429 mountain miles to Ely and the Ramada by Wyndam Ely passing through 3 national parks, so it should be a pretty ride.

Day 6:  Ely NV to San Francisco.  554 mile day to wrap up the trip.  Get into San Francisco late, park up the bike and put everything into hibernation mode.  Load up a carry-on bag with the essentials and take a cab to the airport.  Retrace the four thousand plus miles back in five hours.

I should be able to take the bike out, park it up and be back home within a week, then I'll have a bike on-call on the West Coast.

For this trip I need something that can cover big miles effectively but is still a useful tool on twisty roads.  The big Triumph Tiger 1200XRx is a long distance capable bike that fits a big guy like me.  It's also easy to maintain (shaft drive, fuel injection) and comes with many long distance handy abilities like long suspension to soak up bad roads and luggage for the long trip.

A big Tiger in this format costs just over $24k Canadian.  It's a pretty thing, I saw the new ones in the flesh at the Triumph Tiger ATLAK meet up last summer.  Many magazines describe the bike as very large, but I didn't find it overwhelmingly so.  In fact, I was surprised at how svelte it was for a 1200cc adventure bike.

But there are some things about the big Tiger that I'm not a fan of.  I've never gotten excited about the big aluminum panniers thing on adventure bikes, or any bike for that matter.  I like the colour matched lucifer orange ones on my old Tiger.  I think the aluminum ones look half assed and unfinished, and I get to pay hundreds more for the privilege of having them because others think they're a fashion item.

The other issue is a recent BIKE Magazine review in which their Tiger developed a number of electrical issues.  Whatever is waiting for me on the West Coast would need to work when I opened that storage unit roller door.  The Tiger is also a reasonably sensible choice, but it'd be nice to have something a bit more come-hither waiting for me in San-Fran.

For surprisingly similar money there is something that I'd describe as more of a dream bike:  the Kawasaki H2 supercharged demon bike in sport touring form.  The H2 SX is an efficient, powerful, supercharger-chirping-as-it-breaks-the-sound-barrier thing of beauty.  It weighs about as much as the big Tiger but produces prodigiously more power and looks like a Japanese super model.

On top of that it has beautifully designed and colour matched panniers that practically disappear into the stunning looks of the bike, rather than looking like tacked on, low-rent metal boxes.

Having the SX sitting in a storage unit in San Francisco would be a constant West Coast siren call.  If I wanted to go far, it could handle it, if I wanted to canyon carve in and around San-Fran, it'd do that to.

As much as I love adventure bikes for how well they fit me, I think I'd have the Kawasaki super model waiting for me on the west coast.  It'd be a blast to ride on the trip out there and would fit in with Californian bike culture much better.

Triumph Tiger 955i Winter Maintenance List

2003 Triumph Tiger 955i winter maintenance list

Chassis Maintenance

Swingarm remove and check/lubricate, replace bearings if necessary.

That's a tricky job because removing the bearing destroys them, so if things get that far along I need to make sure I can get new needle bearings... and a press?

Parts List (that I hope I don't need)

• Triumph BEARING NEEDLE 2526 Part # T3800014
• Triumph SEAL, SD 25 32 04 Part # T3600170
• Triumph SPINDLE, SWINGARM Part # T2056007
• Parts List

Front fork oil change and refresh.
Steering hub check, clean, replace if necessary

• Forks & hub parts list
• Triumph FORK SEAL Part # T2040283
• Triumph 'O' RING Part # 2040081-T0301
• Triumph GAITOR,FORK Part # T2040288

Triumph FUEL INJECTOR, F-TYPE, LONG
Part # T1240891 

Fuel System Maintenance

• clean fuel injectors?
• how to do that except the first comment is not to backflush a fuel injector as they almost never go bad and this can wreck them
• Royal Purple FI PEA Cleaner
• I think I'm going to go with the SeaFoam I've been using if they aren't showing any signs of leaking
• Motion Pro makes a clamp that lets you force cleaner through injectors, but it's expensive (for a clamp) and I'm not sure it's necessary
• Another FI cleaning how to
• And another is removing and cleaning injectors necessary?  Evidently. 
• I think I'm going to draw some PEA cleaner through with a vacuum pump and let it soak rather than trying to pressure force cleaner through the system
• I balanced the injectors in the spring with an FI vacuum/mercury system, but I'm going to try it again using the TUNEboy diagnostic system I've got.

LED Indicator Light Upgrade

• replace existing LEDs with heavy metal update
• got the parts in
• kept the original flasher relay so if these aren't LED they'll still work
• put LEDs on it aside

Tire Change

• change tires and inner tubes (either through Lloyd or DIY?)
• https://www.cycleworld.com/how-to-change-a-motorcycle-tire/
• looks pretty straight forward - where can I get tire irons?  Tire spoons aren't expensive and are available on Amazon.
• Already got the tires in from REVCO.
• Also have new inner tubes with Counter Balance balancing beads already in them
• chatted with our auto teacher at school, I'm going to have a go at this DIY next week in the shop

Brake Fluid Flush And Fill

• Read the BIKE article on braided brake lines
• done this before on the Concours
• Tiger needs new fluid anyway (3 yrs since last flush)
• Get DOT4 fluid
• replace lines with DISCO HEL lines

Other

Touch up work on body panels (I have Lucifer Orange touch up paint)

Triumph 955i Stalling Issues Part 3, between a rock and a hard place

This started in June with intermittent stalling.  I've done all the obvious things like spark plugs, fuel and air filters, but the problem persisted intermittently, so I had another go at it in July.  The Tiger has been my go-to ride for over four years now.  I've put over twenty-seven thousand kilometres on it, and up until this year it's been as dependable as a sunrise.

This week I chased down some other possible electrical issues.  The ECU was covered in muck so I cleaned it up and sealed the plastic underbody around it so it won't get mucky again any time soon.  I then found out how to test the ECU relay under the seat:

That's the main how-to test Triumph 955i relays video, here are the two follow up videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwkhX461GjM   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDmh7FdpDDQ

Everything else is sorted on the bike, so I'm down to the valves, which I really should have done in the winter.  I'm now between a rock and a hard place since I'm not sure I'm hanging on to the Tiger and it takes weird, old 25mm over bucket shims that Japanese bikes haven't used since the '80s.  Modern bikes use much smaller under bucket shims.   My nearest dealer is far away and dropping off the bike there would be a real hassle, so I'm looking at getting the Triumph valve shim removal tool T3880012.  But you don't need that if you're willing to remove the cams, so now I'm elbow deep into pulling most of the top end out if I want to avoid getting a special tool for a bike I'm selling on. 

On the other hand, one of the reasons I got into bikes was to get back into mechanics, and any self respecting rider should know how to do valves, so I'm kinda keen to do the job since I haven't done it yet.  I'm just shying away from sidelining my long distance motorbike in the middle of a too-short Canadian riding season while I wait for COVID crippled parts delivery on a 17 year old European bike.  The valves need doing anyway, but doing them might still not sort out the stalling issue, which would be very aggravating.

If I can move the Honda on I'd get the C14 Concours I've been eyeing and then the Tiger could take as much spa time as it needed.  I just had the Honda up for a few days in the four thousands, which is high for what it is, and only got an offer for a trade.  I'm going to put it up this week in the threes and see if it goes, then I can do some shuffling and take the weight of expectations off the old Tiger.

Motorcycle Valve Adjustment Research:

Good primer on valve clearance from Revzilla:  https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/why-do-bikes-use-shim-under-bucket-valve-adjusters

Why higher revving bike engines have bikes have solid rather than hydraulic valve lifters that need adjusting (cars and Harleys rev less and so use hydraulic/self adjusting valve lifters:  https://www.quora.com/Why-do-motorcycles-require-valve-adjustments-when-automobiles-dont-require-them

https://www.bikesrepublic.com/featured/checking-bikes-valve-clearance-important/
Why checking your valve adjustment is important.

Triumph 955i specific valve clearance primer:  https://www.canyonchasers.net/2006/02/triumph-t955i-valve-adjustment-tips-tricks/

Local advice on how hard it is to find 25mm shims for the Triumph 955i engine: https://www.gtamotorcycle.com/xf/threads/help-looking-for-25mm-valve-shims.201738/

Some 955i engines are under bucket shims, the Tiger has over bucket shims (which is why the tool is needed if you don't want to remove the cam):  https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/05-955i-valve-shims.6986/

Good advice on when to do your valve clearances (when you stop hearing the valves 'rustle'): https://www.mikesxs.net/25mm-valve-shims-sizes-2-30-to-3-10-honda-yamaha-triumph.html

Shim sizing on 955i Triumphs (25mm over bucket shims are hard to find!):  https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/2000-955i-shim-diameter.230758/


BikeBandit has the tool (1-2 week wait, and a 25mm shim set for $335US/$455CAD because even though the US is making a mess of COVID19, their currency seems to be immune to their poor management.

At this point I'm stuck between over four hundred bucks in tools, parts and the opportunity to do my first valve adjustment and whatever Inglis Cycle gets back to me with costs wise - though that'll also include having to get it over 140kms down there and get it back again on another day.  If they get back to me with a price north of $600 and a long delay in getting it done, I'll be going after the tools to DIY it, though I don't want to go crazy with a fancy set of 25mm shims when most modern bikes don't seem to use these big over bucket shims any more.

I'd go with Fortnine, but for some reason they're selling the identical shim kit to BikeBandit ($179US/$243CAD) for $278CAD. 

If I can move the Honda, I could get the C14 Concours and then have time to work on the Tiger without depending on it as my main long distance tool.  On the other hand, selling the Honda means I've just sold the only bike that's working right at the moment.  The Tiger picked a bad time during the summer of COVID to tighten up on me, though I'm well past when the valves should have been checked so I only really have myself to blame.

Tiger Brains

The other day I was once again going over the details on the Tiger after taking the tank of for the billionth time.  Even though the stock pipes for the vacuum controlled idle system for the electronic fuel injection hold vacuum when I test them, I can't test that when they're on the bike, so they might be leaking where they join.  I happened to have some fuel line in the right size, so I've taken out the Triumph hoses and put these clear ones on instead to isolate another possible point of failure.

Once I got them in I fired up the TUNEBOY software and figured I'd run the idle control system test since it would move the plunger up and down and with everything off I could check to see that it's all working as it should,  except the ECU wouldn't connect to the computer.  I've done dozens of TUNEBOY adjustments now and know how the bike syncs with the PC over the serial port, but it wasn't connecting.  While trying some variations I turned the ignition on on the bike and the ECU made unfamiliar popping noise, and then none of the dash lights would come on (the running lights still do though).  The ECU no longer clicks off when the ignition is switched off either, which suggests it's not coming on either.

The intermittent nature of this failure always made my ass twitch in terms of it being electronic rather than mechanical.  Mechanical failures tend to be more consistent and easier to diagnose, and I've replaced everything around the idle control system now, so unless Triumph sold me a dickey idle control motor, which seems unlikely since the first one lasted 17 years and did over seventy-six thousand hard, Canadian kilometres and survived seventeen -40°C Canadian winters.  Assuming all the new parts are working as they should, an ECU that was losing the plot is as likely a culprit as anything else I've been chasing, and now it seems to have popped entirely.

So what do you do when your old Triumph's bike brain loses the plot?  Get another, I guess.  Used ones seems to be extraordinarily expensive and look to be in rough shape out of US used parts suppliers on eBay.  And for some reason they're charging twice what European suppliers are for shipping.  With that and the fact that The States seem like they're on the edge of a civil war, I think I'll be looking to the dependable Germans who have COVID19 well managed for a replacement Tiger brain.  If I'm thinking that, I wonder how many other people are avoiding business with the US right now.

But before I go that far, I'm a G.D. computer engineering teacher, so I'm hardly going to let an ECU go in the bin without having a go at it first.  If this is a short or something simple, I can solve that easily enough.  If nothing else I can see how the ECU is set up architecturally, but more often than not I'm able to get electronics I have to open up working again.  Time to flex my soldering prowess.

The most frustrating part about this is that I may well have solved the idle problem with replacement hoses, or maybe I didn't.  Maybe I chased down all of these hoses and parts for nothing and it was the ECU losing the plot all along.  Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) is a wonderful thing, but the early systems were fragile.  There a lots of posts online about early Triumph EFI headaches, and I've added to them.

Guy Martin does a good special called The Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber.  They grounded the last of these nuclear bombers in 2015 because they no longer had the expertise and technology too keep them safely air worthy.  In the show Guy talks about why there are plenty of older planes like Spitfires still flying when the Vulcan has to be grounded.  He says the Spitfire was made from bicycle parts you could fabricate in a shed, so they're relatively easy to maintain.  The Vulcan was an industrial machine with early electrical and electronic systems that were many times more complicated.  He goes on to talk about how the Vulcan looked like it came from another planet when only seven years earlier an Avro Lancaster was the state of the art.  There are performance advantages in these leaps forward, but there are also maintenance headaches that mean these early jets will never fly again.

Early fuel injected bikes are a lot like that Vulcan - they can do things earlier bikes can't like get better mileage, not need parts changed to ride at altitude and generally require less maintenance.  I just fixed up one of the last carbureted bikes, a 1997 Honda Fireblade, over the winter.  EFI was around then, but Honda wisely went for highly evolved carburettors rather than new, fragile and poor performing EFI systems.  I rebuilt the carbs, which are a complex but highly evolved four-carb set, and the bike runs like a Swiss (or rather Japanese) watch.  The EFI on the Tiger did the job without any attention for 17 years and seventy-six thousand kilometres including two rides into the Rockies - something no carburetor could do, but when it finally broke, boy did it break.  It's things like this that will make these first generation EFI bikes rare in the future.  Like the Vulcan, they're so complicated and difficult to maintain when they go wrong that they'll get retired from service where an older, simpler bike might still be fixable.



RESOURCES FOR CHASING DOWN ECU PROBLEMS ON A TRIUMPH 955i MOTORBIKE:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Triumph-Speed-Triple-955-2000-2004-ECU-Steuergerat-CDI-S1000T3/324154967093?hash=item4b79244435:g:BCEAAOSwZrteryUL

There are early Triumph EFI issues aplenty online:
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/ecu-repair-refurbishing.525873/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/bad-ecu-on-my-2006-speed-triple.159082/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/955i-idle-hesitation-porblem.971699/#post-2004081361
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/ecu-unit.80778/
https://www.thetriumphforum.com/threads/s1000t3-ecu.22000/
https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/1999-955i-ecu-needed.93566/#post-1107942

Used Parts, not of the vintage I'm looking for though:
http://www.rubbersideup.com/triumph/tiger?p=2

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/detail/triumph/t1291000/b1389042?m=121594&sch=565828
Wahay!  A new ECU is two-grand, AMERICAN!  That's over $2500 Canadian!  The whole bike cost me three grand.  See what I mean about the costs of keeping emerging, fragile old tech active?

Triumph Tiger 955i Old Rubbers

 Perished rubbers on old bikes can be a headache.  If you've got an old 955i Tiger and are looking for rubber bits, here are the Triumph part numbers you need.  I'm going through Inglis Cycle in Ontario.  They've got their act together during the pandemic and their prices are pretty much the same as the volume 'discount' online stores without the border crossing extra cost, wait and headaches.  The red is Canadian prices confirmed and available (I'm still building the order):

• Triumph AIRBOX TO THROTTLE BODY RUBBER TRUMPETS Part#T2201264 AVAILABLE TO ORDER $20.99 each
• Triumph ELBOW JOINT FROM FI COMPUTER TO AIRBOX T2100405 AVAILABLE TO ORDER $1.99 each
• 
  T3020025 DISCONTINUED (rubber grommet for the airline to the computer on the back of the bike)
• Triumph COVER EXPANSION BOTTLE Part # T2501138
• Triumph BRAKE LIGHT BOOT, HARNESS Part # T2500254
• Triumph BOOT, BANJO BOLT Part # T2020074

Another way to tackle this with older parts starting to become discontinued is the 3d printing route.  Here's a link to others doing just that: parts: https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/3d-printed-rubber-parts.566657/

People have been busy:

Tiger Chainguard Riser: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:803393

Tiger Swingarm cap:  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:807687

(I'm actually missing one of those)

Rubber cap for rear brake wiring cap: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:820532

The rubber hoses on the vacuum idle system can get hard in the heat too.  Here are those part numbers:

Evap Control Hoses (vacuum idle control on the throttle bodies)
T1242502 | Tube x1

T1242501 | Tube x2
T1242015 | Hose kit (includes all 3?)

The parts diagram isn't very accurate with what those hoses look like, which is like this:

I ended up modifying some fuel lines when I had doubts about those old vacuum hoses leaking, which look like this:

It worked ok last summer and helped solve my failure to idle/stalling situation, but if I can get new stock items I'll switch back.

2003 Triumph Tiger 955i Winter Maintenance Continued

Winter Maintenance List:  https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/11/tiger-winter-maintenance-list.html

Front end chassis maintenance:  https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/12/triumph-tiger-955i-fork-reassembly-and.html

Rear end chassis maintenance:  https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2021/01/triumph-tiger-955i-swingarm-installation.html

Got the backend back together yesterday:

Today it's the rear brake caliper going back on with new HEL brake line, then a brake bleed and if I have some extra time I'll finish up all the hardware bits and pieces on the front and rear and then turn to the engine.

The fuel injectors are coming out and getting ultrasonically cleaned and the rest of the system's getting a flush.

The odds and ends went together well.  Even the brakes were quick to bleed, so with the wheels back on and the new brake lines installed I turned to the fuel injection.

The injectors highlighted in yellow above are press fit in and just pull out of  the throttle body and the fuel rail behind.

The fuel rail is held in by clips and two bolts holding it in place relative to the throttle body.

The whole thing just pops out when you've undone the two bolts.

With the fuel injectors so easy to remove, I'll be quicker at cleaning them in the future.

Ultrasonic cleaners aren't expensive and do a great job on fuel injectors.

Cleaning doesn't take long if you remove the rail and injectors.

Ultrasonic cleaning gets into the small places.

The injectors press fit back into the throttle body with a beefy o-ring to seal them.

My fuel-line replacements for unavailable replacement rubber hoses for the vacuum driven idle control system (on the right) scored a two out of three.  The far one on the left got kinked, so I cut back the hose and I'll see how it does shortened.  If that doesn't work I'll start looking for stronger walled alternatives.