Accessorizing, Modifying, and Farkling the 2008 Tiger 1050 ABS
After trading in my 2007 Gold Wing (<sniff> <sniff> <sob> <sob>) and getting a smaller, lighter, easier-to-pick-up-if-I-drop-it Tiger 1050, the first problem I faced is that the bike required some pretty substantial changes to get it set up for the kind of riding I do, namely 3-4 day touring rides throughout the Southeast, combined with an occasional day-ride through the North Georgia twisties.
Although the stock Tiger layout was a good start, my work involved essentially three phases:
Phase I: Ridability - improving the wind protection and seat posture to make for a more relaxed position.
Phase II: Luggage - the bike did not come with the factory luggage (which I didn't like anyway), so I had to add my own.
Phase III: Electrics - besides being something of an electronics dweeb (I'm also a ham radio operator, call sign K4EAK), I pretty much insist on a full package of safety and convenience add-ons for the bike.
Phase I: Ridability
This work consisted of
four items:
Surprisingly, the seat feels OK, at least for now, although I have added a sheepskin cover. If necessary, I'll add a new seat in due course.
After completion of Phase I, I'd say I'm about 90% satisfied, which is pretty good for a total cost of $685. Obviously, the Tiger still isn't my Wing in terms of riding comfort, but it's PDG (pretty darn good). I may tweak it a bit as time goes on, but for now, it's good to go.
Last updated: 19 June 2011
| SW-Motech
centerstand (Item: HPS.11.611.100). A frustrating start to
the Tiger project. It
turns out that SW-Motech manufactured a bunch of Tiger centerstands with
the upper brace extending too far to the right-hand side, meaning that
the brace hit the bottom of the engine and the stand would not rotate
all the way down. The fix was relatively simple (cut off the offending
extension), but it was frustrating to have to "fix" a $160 part just
to get it to work! Besides, getting the centerstand on was necessary to
doing all of the rest of the work, and doing the fix was easier than
doing the return. |
 |
| Madstad windscreen. Purchased the complete "robobracket" system with 18" screen directly from madstad.com for $270. This is a great item ... I've got it set up so that it works exactly as advertised .... nice, relatively calm air behind the screen, greatly reduced wind blast, and the air stream rises just to the top of the helmet. Highly recommended. |  |
| Vario extension arms and footpegs (Item: MFW.051.07.03.00). Footpeg kits to lower the pegs and move them slightly forward. Available from twistedthrottle.com for about $150 for the footpeg mount, extension arm, and footpeg. I haven't decided yet if I'll add a longer gear shift lever and rear brake pedal ... so far it seems to work fine. |  |
| SW-Motech
handlebar risers
(Item: LEH.00.039.152). Provides a 1" rise and 1" pullback. I was
afraid that installing these would require rerouting or maybe replacing
brake lines, etc., so I had the work done by the dealer, just in case.
As it turns out, the part just bolted on and I could have done the work
myself.Cost: $105. |
 |
Surprisingly, the seat feels OK, at least for now, although I have added a sheepskin cover. If necessary, I'll add a new seat in due course.
After completion of Phase I, I'd say I'm about 90% satisfied, which is pretty good for a total cost of $685. Obviously, the Tiger still isn't my Wing in terms of riding comfort, but it's PDG (pretty darn good). I may tweak it a bit as time goes on, but for now, it's good to go.
Phase II: Luggage
For
me, the challenge of adding luggage was two-fold: getting enough
capacity to bring everything I need for a 4-day trip in potentially
varying weather conditions (a task made harder by the fact that I have
a tendency to WAY overpack for any given trip) and doing that without
making the bike look like a sushi vendor's bike in Bangkok. The first
objective was met; the second was not. I'm really not crazy about the
looks of the high-and-huge rear case, but maybe it will grow on me. In any event, I couldn't find a suitable alternative.
Also shown in the "luggage" category is a little magnetic tank bag I picked up for about $40, bringing the grand total for luggage to $1000 even.
Installation was OK. The SW-Motech instruction sheets use mostly incomprehensible pictures of undeciperable locations on the bike in lieu of written instructions, which I guess is better than finely crafted written instructions in German. The pictures, though, were better than what Givi supplied, which was nothing. Admitted, one doesn't really need instructions for a box, but figuring out how to replace the lockset was a bit of a challenge.
This work is still in progress, but here's where I stand so far...
Yet to do:
So far I've spent about $1300 on the installed items (most of which was the GPS), and probably spent 40 hours getting everything done.
 |
The installed luggage
system consists of the following (all from twistedthrottle.com): Givi E36N sidecases and Givi V45N topcase Givi Three-Case lockset SW-Motech Quicklok EVO sidecase racks SW-Motech sidecase adapter kit SW-Motech Alu-Rack toprack SW-Motech Alu-Rack adapter plate The total cost was (gulp): $964. |
 |
Also shown in the "luggage" category is a little magnetic tank bag I picked up for about $40, bringing the grand total for luggage to $1000 even.
Installation was OK. The SW-Motech instruction sheets use mostly incomprehensible pictures of undeciperable locations on the bike in lieu of written instructions, which I guess is better than finely crafted written instructions in German. The pictures, though, were better than what Givi supplied, which was nothing. Admitted, one doesn't really need instructions for a box, but figuring out how to replace the lockset was a bit of a challenge.
This work is still in progress, but here's where I stand so far...
| Eastern Beaver P8 Power Panel ($60). In addition, although the P8 has ground terminals, I was trying to minimize the number of wires running forward, so I installed a ground block up front and routed the ground connections for the front-mounted electrics to that block. To be safe, I wired the ground block using 10-gauge wire directly to the battery. |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Front lighting: Denali D2 LED auxillary lights.
These are WAY expensive (like $350), which is pretty silly given that
most of what I want could be had with a $20 set of Wal-Mart driving
lights. But there were two reasons I went overboard: (1) the lights
have a VERY low current draw (10 watts per lamp), which is better than
55 watts each for standard lights, and important factor given the
Tiger's marginal electrical capacity, and (2) although I do not plan on
driving at night, the option for higher output makes me feel better in
case I get caught out late. The only real issue in the installation is
that the Denali lights come with about 600 feet of wiring harness, and
given the PCM control system I was chicken to start cutting and
splicing, which means I had to find a way to coil and stash all that
excess cord. The lights were installed using the Twisted Throttle light mount ($45). I also added the BikeVis LED Marker Lights ($15). They're kinda pointless with the Denalis, but I like the looks. |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Garmin Zumo 660 GPS.
A little cheaper ($650) than the 665, but I figured I'm not doing
enough long-distance riding any more to warrant paying for XM Radio and
Nexrad weather radar. The 660 has a built-in .mp3 player, which is
adequate for music on the road, and the J&M CB (see below) has
weather radio, which is adequate in case the skies turn threatening. Again, the only installation problem is that Garmin also supplied about 600 feet of wiring harness. What's with these people? Anyway, I did cut out most of it and splice the headset and microphone jacks closer to the unit itself. |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Rear Lighting: Hyperlites Auxillary Running/Brake Lights ($74), Auxillary 16 LED Turn Signals ($66), and mounting bracket ($10). |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Gerbing Battery Harness ($10). |  | ||||||||||||||||
Sparkbright LED Voltage Monitor ($18). Nicely informative output as follows:
|  |
Yet to do:
| J&M CB Radio ($265 from cyclegiant.com) and Firestik No-Ground Plane Antenna
($63). I do most of my riding with others, and staying in touch over
the CB is part of the fun of doing the ride. And the J&M radio
seems to be the best way to get that capability on the bike. Right now, I'm waiting for my brain to grow smarter on two issues: (1) how and where to mount the headset jack, and (2) what to do with the 10+ feet of excess coax for the antenna (which can't be trimmed away because the coax forms the counterpoise for the antenna). | |
| Symtec Heated Grips ($37) and Grip Puppies ($10), both from casporttouring.com. I wasn't crazy about the supplied rocker switch, so I think I'll use this rocker switch instead: HotGrips Handlebar Mount Rocker Switch. |
So far I've spent about $1300 on the installed items (most of which was the GPS), and probably spent 40 hours getting everything done.
Start-to-Finish
So, here's where I stand:
Tiger as it looked the
day I got it: |
Tiger as it looks as of
today (18 Jun 2011): |
Last updated: 19 June 2011