Steamer Wisdom and Illustrated 'How-To' Threads

[Mustang]

Gotcha, I hope to get an up close look at the bike in the next few days.  

My primary intent is to use it as a go to work commuter, which might be sacralidge.  At the very least its a question I should ask to you those in the know.    For a daily jaunt of 15 miles in 4 lane traffic with stop lights now and then, is this bike a reasonable fit for that sort of duty?  

Or should I look for something a bit newer but in the "same-ish" price range, like a less sexy and less appealing V-strom or something?

They make great commuters to go to work, they are right at home with the big SUV's on the 4 lane  :D

3 k is a fair price even as high as 4k is still good as long as the bike is in excellent shape.

You want to take it for a ride before you buy, should start easy with full choke cold.  And in warmer weather you should be able to shut choke off after a few minutes.  1st gear is clunky sounding when engaged, perfectly normal.  Bike should pull and accelerate smoothly, and really pull hard at 5500- 8500 redline.

Don't worry about the diesel like sounds coming from the engine at lower rpms, they all do it.

Early tigers like to have a fresh battery, don't keep trying to start one that is turning too slow to start, because thats when the sprag clutch for the starter motor will f*** up . Not an easy repair.
Just keep a good battery in it and there will be no problems.

The early tigers suffer from:
1. Dreaded alternator rattle (DAR).  The bolts to the shaft for the cush drive on alternator shear off sometimes.

2. Ignition pick up sensor failure, seems to always happen around 20- 30 k mileage range.  New one is 70 bucks.

3. Coils are crap and fail usually during this same mileage frame, NOLOGY's are the hot ticket to repair.

4. The rear shock is a Kayaba and prolly in need of a refresh (new gas charge).  Good news is Steamer shocks can be rebuilt by a member on this board from Idaho, Sasquatch.

5. The front forks will need about an inch of spacer added to them to preload the springs more and usually going to 10 or 15 wt oil helps a lot!  
If left in stock form they will give lots of nose dive under hard braking with front wheel.

For a bike with 25k on it for miles, if the price is 3500 USD, then it should have a recently changed front and rear sprocket and chain , it should have recently replaced brake pads front and rear and the tires should have at least half of their life left.

Would also be nice if previous owner has documents supporting service.

Valves should have at least been checked once for clearance, and if they haven't it's DUE, at 25 k on a Steamer you should typically see a couple of intakes that are tight and need reshimming .
$400 job at a dealer/stealer , cheap to do it yourself .

Check the chain rubbing strip on the swingarm , particually the bottom run at the rear , thats where it will deteriorate and start to chew into the swing arm . Also while you are down there make sure the rub block has at least 3/4 of itself left .

They are great bikes if you get one that was not someone else's headache !

They were not imported in very big numbers so they are relatively rare to see on the road .
1995 had 125 units come to the USA
1996 ?
1997 ?
1998 500 units
So for all 4 years of early US tigers there are only less than 2000 of em roaming the US highways !
Oh and Black is the fastest and best steamer of all

[Stretch]

Mustang, nobody here knows Steamers as well as you.  If you get the time, would you consider expanding on your post above?  Please include other items as they come to you.  This will help new and prospective Steamer owners learn the idiosyncrasies of these bikes (and every bike ever made has their own).

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Friends,

The idea is a long time coming, and more folks are becoming involved in writing How-To articles with photos.

If you're planning a service or repair, please consider taking photos and walking us through it here.

Let's not turn this thread into a Question-and-Answer session, m'kay? If you have a question directly related to a linked article, please post your question in that article (not in the post here). Your new post will bump that article to the top, and the answer can be posted as members are able.

As always, please feel free to ask '92-'98 tech questions in the Steamer Tech forum.

Click the links:


WHY ARE THEY CALLED 'STEAMERS'?

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4212



HOW TO REPLACE A CHAIN AND SPROCKETSt, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5024



CHANGING TIRES, by Neduro

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4606



STEERING HEAD BEARING REPLACEMENT, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4611



CENTERSTAND INSTALLATION, by CBAT

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,3684



FIXING SPINNING CAPTIVE NUTS, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4807



SHIFTER LINKAGE REPAIR, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4586



STARTER SPRAG CLUTCH ISSUES

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/msg,32944


D.A.R. (DREADED ALTERNATOR RATTLE) REPAIR

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5101

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5236

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,6499



HOW TO REPLACE A CHAIN RUB STRIP, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5260



SPLICING AND SOLDERING ELECTRICAL WIRING

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/msg,34014



HOW TO CHECK VALVE CLEARANCES AND REPLACE SHIMS, by Mustang

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/msg,34259



SEALING CYLINDER BASES AND REPLACING A HEAD GASKET, by JetDocX

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/msg,38160



REPAIRING PLASTIC BODY PANELS

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5633



FINDING LEAKS, by Tigger_Rider

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5771


FORK OIL SETTING GAUGE, by Bixxer Bob

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5855



REPLACING SPARK PLUG WIRES, by Snatch

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/msg,39175

Link to Mikuni Carb Information
not exactly Tiger specific but good reading and Information .

http://www.mikuni.com/pdf/vmmanual.pdf