Tiger & Wing to the Great Smoky Mtns

[Rincewind]

Very nice trip report Alex. I've been all over those same roads. No doubt you had a great ride.

Thanks, Garry.  I used some of the GPS route info that you had emailed to me a few months ago.  However, for some reason the Day 1 South thru WV did not hold to the route completely.  I'm not sure what had happened that some of the route was recalculated to interstate after awhile.  Next time I will hard-input more waypoints to avoid that from happening.

[Orson]

Beautiful pictures and a nice lookin' Triumph  


"Dad's office"   holy kwap!  

[Rincewind]

Some additional pics are trickling in from my dad.  

Route 16



Mural in WV or VA



Riding thru Backbone Rock Tunnel in TN

[Cablebandit]

Mural in WV or VA

That mural is in Welch, WV.

[sammyseaman]

Nice! You and your pops are very fortunate to be able to share a love of bikes

[nnjhawk02]

Nice RR, great pics.  Was ur Dad an Astronaut?  Dude that Wing has so many buttons & whistles.  Hell I still write out my routes, LOL

And thanks for the road report as I'm planning on hitting WVa in a few weeks, looking like 16 to 60 is part of my plan.

[ConPilot1]

Pops looks like he's good for a few clams judging from the pics of the digs and the '12 farkled up Wing-rig.  

[1000lbs]

Nice ride report   the Tiger sounds like its working out great.  I was hoping to hit some of the same roads on my east coast visit, but our annual road trip has transformed into a golf trip

Thanks for the pics, at least now I can show the rabid golfers what they gave up while they bitch about their swings lol.

[Kneescrubber]

 






I miss riding with my Dad.    Enjoy it a relish for as long as you and your Dad can.  

[Smoker]

Great trip Alex. Thanks for sharing.  

[DosEquis00]

Alex and Garry.

Mega thanks for the information and pictures on Route 16 as it has been on my to visit list for too long.

[scottzilla]

Nice!

[Rincewind]

I'm glad to see the pics are back up after they had been put offline for exceeding bandwidth.  Sorry about that, I don't have a Photobucket Pro account.  Here are some more pics from the Dragon and some from my dad.

Our run on the Tail of the Dragon was late on a Friday.  Unfortunately we didn't have anything near a clean run of it.  Fortunately, our runs on the Snake and many other roads were clear and unhindered.  The BRP at 6am was very clear of traffic.









And some more riding pics...





The Tiger 800 is a hot bike and I found myself standing to air things out often.















Dad said - NO! - to this gravel shortcut.    He is usually more game to that, but I guess not in WV.





Old pics of the Mast General Store

[Mastros2]

Great report Rincewind!  

The killboy photo of your dad is priceless. Check out that smile!

[nevinfs327]

Nice report and pics of great roads.  And congrats on the new bike    There's one in my neighborhood and my wife often comments on the passenger accommodations.  I prefer the more nimble Striple myself, but suppose I could give the T800 a try.

[Rincewind]

Nice report and pics of great roads.  And congrats on the new bike    There's one in my neighborhood and my wife often comments on the passenger accommodations.  I prefer the more nimble Striple myself, but suppose I could give the T800 a try.

Thanks, Nevin.  I would still have my Street Triple R if it had passed the 24k service without issue.  As it was I had a torn piece of rubber in the secondary air injection system.  Because Triumph is shifting supply warehouses, it was going to be at least 2-weeks lead time for Hermy's to get that part, which would have prevented this trip or caused me to borrow a bike.  Rather than that, I was able to swing a trade for this 2012 Tiger 800 ABS. 

I looked briefly at the new 2012 StripleR in red, and the Striple in Imperial Purple , but didn't really make a move on those.  While I really appreciate the engine and handling of the Street Triple, I'm even more pleased with all the practical features of the T800 which make it a better fit for me.  Even though my wife has her own bike to ride, the Tiger has tempted her back to riding 2-up with me on occasion and she likes it loads more than the Striple.

[Eric308]

Great report and fantastic Dad/son adventure. I went to school in Banner Elk just down the road from Valle Crucis....(just slightly after those old pics were taken) When I was there there was virtually no development and we used to hike to the top of Beech Mountain when it was still a virgin.

[Jay S.]

It's funny to me that you posted some of the most beautiful riding scenes out there yet the photo that stands out in my mind is "Dad's Office."

Love it!

Excellent report and pics, thanks for sharing!

[lcon2]

I was wondering, do you still have problems with excessive heat coming off the frame? Very interested in the tiger, but i too felt the bike ran hot when i demoed it last week. Surprisingly the street did not seem to run as "hot", harder working engine and all...go figure. Have you found a solution to the tiger's frame getting hot, or are you just learning to live with it?

Thanks

[Rincewind]

I was wondering, do you still have problems with excessive heat coming off the frame? Very interested in the tiger, but i too felt the bike ran hot when i demoed it last week. Surprisingly the street did not seem to run as "hot", harder working engine and all...go figure. Have you found a solution to the tiger's frame getting hot, or are you just learning to live with it?

Thanks

Hi Icon2.  The Tiger 800 remains a hot bike when the weather is above 85-90 degrees F.  I have around 4000 miles on the bike now and the heat may have lessened, but I suspect I'm just more used to it.  I have not been stuck in traffic as badly as I was once on this trip, when the frame felt searing through my riding jeans as I had my foot down.   For my riding and commuting when in hot weather, I find it rather tolerable.  

The Street Triple does not trap as much heat, you are right; however, in slow traffic conditions on very hot days it can become a hot potato as well.  They both produce plenty of heat.  My wife test rode my Tiger on a hot day and was also really turned off by the hot air as compared to her Gladius.  If I lived in a consistently hot climate the T800's heat might be bothersome, but I don't think it's that bad and likely better than a great many bikes.