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[ST] A New Bike Adventure



Well, I was going to keep quiet about this and just
show up at the TSRA Rallye on a new bike, but my
experience this last weekend has prompted me to post. 
Richard & I are acquiring a pair of '03 Tigers in
Lucifer Orange.  We've wanted a pair since '00 and now
that we have the garage space and since Triumph was
running their "special", we put the wheels in motion. 
I picked up my Tiger this last weekend.  Richard gets
his this next Saturday as they had to bring it in from
Arkansas. I was getting to know her on Saturday on our
way to College Station for the endurance motorcycle
races.  We weren't going to be able to stay that long
because we had 7:00 p.m. reservations for dinner to
celebrate my grandma's 92nd birthday, and it was
taking forever to get there!!  That first 100 miles of
break in sucks, though I have to say, I was still
thrilled with her.

Roughly 18 miles from our destination, we stopped
briefly at a stop sign, and I thought I smelled gas,
but an old car had just driven by, so I just wrote it
off to that.  3 miles later, I hit the magical 100
miles and was happy as a clam to get her up to the
next RPM level.  About 5 miles later, I felt a
stinging behind my left knee.  I could feel nothing
through my gloves, and my quick glances down didn't
reveal a thing.  I came to the conclusion that
something got into, or through, my leathers and bit
me.  I also realized that I was not going to strip off
my leathers on the side of the road and since we were
only a few miles from our destination, we continued
there. 
When we stopped at the gate at the track, we looked
down, and gas was pouring out of my bike!!!!  Keep in
mind, I have less than 120 miles on it. . . .  It was
then that I looked at the gas gauge and saw my tank
was almost on empty.  We had filled up 50 miles ago,
so I wasn't exactly paying attention to the fuel
gauge.  They are somewhat superfluous to me anyway.  
We get her parked and Richard starts taking off the
few body panels that need to come off while I go to
try to wash the gas of my leg and leathers and put on
the shorts I thankfully brought with me.  I've got
quite a red mark where the gas burned me.

It was obviously the quick disconnect that we the
culprit.  Because we could see no cracks in the
plastic quick disconnect, we thought the hose crimp
clamp was bad.  We hunted down a regular hose clamp,
but that didn't help.  We then noticed that a piece of
the o-ring was shaved off, so Richard went with Scott
Friday into College Station to the Triumph dealer
there and obtained o-ring.  Well that didn't work, and
by that time, we were at the point that if we didn't
leave, we would be REALLY late for dinner, so we
locked up the bike and I rode behind Richard home.   
The next day, the service manager from British USA
brought a metal fitting to the races so he could fix
the bike, just in case Richard's efforts had failed. 
We had talked with him the day before.  That fixed her
right up, and his careful inspection revealed the
crack!  I'm thankful that Wayne took the time to do
this on his day off, and I'm rather peeved at Triumph
for continuing to sell bikes with this part that has
failed multiple times on multiple models!!  I will
also be talking to the dealer about a new pannier back
and a new small side piece (both black) for the Tiger,
as the gas discolored them. I do no think I should
have to just "live" with it.  It's Triumph's fault the
got that way, and I do enough things to screw up my
bike on my own!!  I also told Wayne that we wanted a
metal fitting on Richard' bike before it leaves the
shop. . . .

At any rate, Richard rode his ST to the races Sunday
and I took the truck with the ramp, just in case. 
Since the Tiger was fixed, we loaded his bike into the
truck and I rode her home.  I had planned to get at
least 400 miles on her this weekend, and she had less
than 200 on her. Because of that, I rode her to work
this week (240 mile round trip). After we pick up
Richard's Tiger this Saturday, we should hit the
500-600 miles mark so we can do it's oil change before
we leave on Sunday.  Richard will have to follow the
truck and trailer for a couple of hundred miles on
Sunday to get up to his 500-600 miles so he can change
oil in Amarillo when we get there.

Good news is that, other than the gas incident, I'm
loving the Tiger's ride.  I'm happy that we're keeping
the STs, though, as they'll definitely be the bikes to
take to the track and for focusing on twisties, though
I have no doubt that the Tiger can hang with an ST; it
would just be a bit more work.  We're looking forward
to a bit of dirt road riding in Colorado before we hit
Red River for the Rallye--something we definitely
wouldn't do on the STs.  So, if any of you see a pair
of  Orange Tigers on the road on the way to New
Mexico, it's us!

Lisa
'99 Sprint ST
'03 Tiger



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