Triumph Tiger 750 Review

Overall Rating

A sturdy british motorcycle built by the Meriden Co-operative.
Reliable!
Handles well in dry and wet.
Low seat height suits me, and adds to the handling.
Fun to ride
Makes the right sound
Easy to maintain.
Spares are cheap.
Excellent owners club with friendly members.

There can be no bikes left with original dodgy chromework so most now look good.

Poor finish on chromework rusted within first 10 years!
Wheel rims were especially poor.
Lucas (Prince of Darkness) headlight was awful, but uprated bulb solved the problem.
Lucas Rita electronic ignition was excellent, but when it failed I had to replace entire unit with aftermarket part due to unavailability
Most chromework has been replaced since.
Single front brake disc is not very efficient, and back disc has always been unresponsive, but given the age and speed of the bike they are effective enough.
Slow by modern standards.
Vibrates less than Bonnie 750.
Amal concentric carb is prone to wear, so refit every 30,000 miles or so.
People always want to talk about "their triumph" - I've even been accosted by a 75 year old at the traffic lights who went on honeymoon in 1974 on one!

I bought this bike after owning a Suzuki GS550 in 1987.
I wanted something simple to run and maintain.

I paid £550 for it with 18,000 miles on the clock.
Its currently worth best part of GBP3000, and I get offers for it nearly everytime I ride it.
Its the best investment I have ever made!

It has since done 150,000 miles with very little going wrong.
New clutch every 60,000 miles, easy to fit with engine in situ.
Engine oil change every 2000 miles - I run it Castrol GTX
Gearbox oil, grease points etc once a year.
I fitted new pistons and overbored the barrells 0.020" after the first 100,000 miles, and took the engine apart for the hell of it, taking the opportunity to clear out all the oilways.
New coils fitted at the same time, not because they were needed but because I had them in the garage.

I fitted an aftermarket oil filter set at 100,000, but took it off again as the oil seemed to get just as dirty, but engine oil pressure lagged on start-up which can't be good.

Original Triumph silencers were poor on chromework and have been replaced with Norton cones which sound better and last longer.

I holed the centre of a piston on holiday in France ( due to my own ineptitude setting the timing on the L in Lucas rather than the timing mark), took the rocker and barrel off, removed the piston and took it to a local workshop where it was welded. I dressed the piston with a file, cleaned and refitted it.
Having retimed the engine I continued with a two week holiday with no further problems.

Indeed it was a further 10,000 miles before I put a new piston in!.

If you want a motorcycle but nothing too new or expensive, thats easy to maintain and fun to ride, and won't lose any value.

Buy one today!