Looking south down Lake Windermere And then back home Covered in fly’s but thankful the screen took them more than me
In summary……. I left Wigan around 16:30 Friday 1st September and got back 14:30 Thursday 7th September. According to the trip meter I covered a total of 1,432.4 miles riding for a total of 35 hours 43 minutes. I used a total of 121 litres of fuel (mostly super unleaded) at a cost of £189.56 Returning 48.8 mpg at an average speed of 39.6 mph. Accommodation for the 6 nights B&B totalled £499 Dunoon Ferry £11.40 Other than breakfast I took a flask of tea with me each morning and had brought cereal bars with me for lunch (just meant I could stop when and where I wanted in the day rather than when there was a cafe - good job too as many such were closed). I didn’t have an evening meal the first Friday as I’d had a late lunch. The 5 evening meals I had out cost me £126 only one a takeaway fish and chips in Arbroath (I don’t drink when I’m riding the next day, so I’m a cheap date). I need to do a bit of rubbing down and painting on the engine bar where I forgot the side stand And there are a few more marks on the left side pannier (but the luggage was far from perfect when I got the bike) I’ve absolutely loved it and although going solo, was never lonely - everywhere I went people were keen to chat and I have met some very interesting people. It was certainly made by the weather - I don’t think I would have taken so many longer routes between A & B on a daily basis if it was tipping down. Did I miss my fireblade on some of those roads - definitely. Would I consider doing it again taking the fireblade - no way. The Tiger has been excellent and far more suitable (and as much fun, but in a different way). The ride was smooth as silk, but it has the Ktec fork internals and Nitron rear shock. I’ve never ridden a standard 1050 so can’t comment for the difference they have made but the previous owner said he’d ridden both and the difference is very noticeable. I certainly have no aches or pains and never felt thankful to see my accommodation. I got off feeling as comfortable as when I started. I will do it again, hopefully with a pillion, but as was mentioned by the previous owner the luggage isn’t the biggest (which is why he changed it for a later model with explorer luggage). However, I’m not sure I would want to do it with other bikes as a group. You need to concentrate and have your whits about you far more than normal riding I’m used to and additional bikes just add to the risk. Whenever I got caught by another rider/s I let them pass and dropped back. But that’s just me. I picked up half a dozen midge bites and a very painful bee sting to the face on the run to Moffat. Broke out my first aid kit and put Anthisan on straight away, so didn’t swell to bad and is hardly noticeable now. In fairness to the bee, I rear ended it at 60 mph so not his fault and he came off a lot worse if anyone has any specific questions please feel free to message me or just ask here if you think it’s of use to the wider audience. Thanks to all for reading / commenting and a very big thanks to @CharlieR85 for all his input EDIT - Just to clarify. I bought the bike from Staffordshire Triumph, but managed to get contact details for the previous owner from the DATATAG registration. So all my discussions with him were not tainted by any selling interest on his part. A really nice guy and that contact/feedback gave a high degree in confidence for my purchase.
A really great thread. Thanks for sharing all the photos and your impressions. Glad the weather was generally good which must have helped with the enjoyment. Something to look back on with a smile.
Having done this myself mate I’d say no, 7 days isn’t enough to take it all in as often as boothman stopped there is still more. Throw in the distilleries and a few other places you can easily add another week or two. While your up there you’ll see plenty of signs for islands and ferry ports that are a short ferry trip away (Lewis/Harris ) for example that that would probably make you want to( just have a look) that on its own could easily be another week lol. The bike of choice is upto you as me personally have done it with the island hopping on a blade and will be again on a panigale in the spring. All I would say mate, I’d be prepared to want to go back every year as there’s so much to see and it gets better with every different season.you’ll never see it all so enjoy the route you plan.
Yeah it's a lovely place, but along way from Devon so another 2days+ travel. I went 20 years ago and was put off the place, probably something to do with getting married up there Anyway I've come to my senses now.
Did lands end to John o groats last year and went from lands end to Carlisle in a day and that was just going steady in a group of 12. A bloke in our b n b said he’d done the whole trip in 14 hours
Interesting reading. I have just come back from a smaller version of of your trip - the last week of (bank holiday) August, before the current heat wave ! A quick trip only as far as Inverness and back via Loch Ness and Glencoe, For sure want to do the rest of the trip that you have just done - but will have to wait now until next year. Interesting comparing your expenses and statistics which was very informative - thanks for that. Scotland - all new to me...
Having decided I’ll be keeping the Tiger after our little NC500 adventure, I decided to sort a Scottoiler for it. Having to get a vac tapping meaning tank and airbox coming off, I also opted to fit new iridium plugs and replace the air filter. I know the bike was serviced before I collected it just over a month ago, but I’m sure that would just have been an oil/oil filter change and check on levels. So, that all happened, including fitting of the Scottoiler yesterday evening/this morning.
There’s a conveniently capped vac connection on the throttle body assembly that I used for the push on elbow and threaded the small vacuum pipe towards the battery area. Fitted the reservoir in the shock absorber well by screwing in to the ECU holder (removed the ECU first) cutting the tips of the screws off flush and then tapingover on the inside of the holder. To be double sure of no scratch risk to the ECU. and then because I’m a bit of an OCD freak. Sleeved the clear tube in blacknylon, routed it over the top of the chain guard and to the underside of the swing arm. That held in place by a P clip screwed in to the (drilled and tapped M4) underside of the swing arm and connected to a similar 2x D&T diagonally opposite fixing for the Scorpion Dual Feeder to drop the oil on to the rear sprocket (not as good IMHO as the Dual Injector type they used to do and I have on my Fireblade). All looks rather neat, if I say so myself
Know what you mean about the clear tubing but personally I wouldn't sleeve it as I use it to keep an eye out for airlocks etc.
Yes, I deliberately stopped short of the scorpion connection to have visibility, and of course the scorpion tube is all the clear stuff so there’s a few inches you can see
No gear indicator on the Tiger has niggled me so I bought and fitted a Heatech at the weekend, but the weather was too rough to do the setup. I’m happy to report that the ‘Learning’ of the gears by the indicator went without issue and all appears to be working correctly. It stopped raining briefly enough this afternoon which gave opportunity to pull the bike out and do the set up. With the bike running up on the centre stand it was all very straight forward. Wasn't fit to go out for a run, but went up and down the gears a good few times and response is within a second I’d say of releasing the clutch for the display to change to the gear you are then in. I’ll give an update for how it performs on the move after the weather offers a chance for that to happen, but so far I’m very happy. When I spoke to Healtech before the purchase they did say the Series 2 units are a lot better than the first generation. Mind you, he was selling them so who knows - I’ve no previous experience to go off. With the Series 2 you do get options the previous model didn’t have - you can fine tune the response, increase/decrease the display brightness and even invert the display if it works out better routing wires to come from above rather than below. As you can see I opted for the white display and I’d say that’s in keeping with the bike - had briefly considered red, but that was the fireblade side of me coming to the surface I think
I did consider one for my 07 but hadn't realised they had moved onto plug and play into the diagnostics port. That makes them much simpler.
Got out today on the Tiger for a few hours. Checked functionality of the Healtech gear indicator and alls well.
Good idea to fit one of those. Gear indicator - a useful indicator of what will happen to you if you suddenly give it a hand full of throttle ! With mine - 4th gear is the one to watch out for. Got to lean forward a bit otherwise it will leave you behind
