A poor design of the early Hinckley Triumph engines is that the sprocket cover is part of the engine casing, usually requiring the engine oil to be drained to change the engine sprocket or fit a new chain. To compound this, on the Tiger models, you have to remove the rider’s left foot rest as well. This takes time and is a real pain in the ass, something I have done before and didn’t want to do again just to fix a broken chain that had slid off.
As I could reach – and turn – the top of the engine sprocket, I tried to feed the chain in from the top, which wasn’t very successful because I couldn’t get any access to the lower part of the sprocket. 
I then decided that if I could feed the chain in from the lower part it would be easier to pull the chain around by spinning the top of the front sprocket. This worked a treat. I used a thin, curved, metal bar from a Triumph America screen as a support for the chain. By placing the chain on the metal bar and feeding them both under the swing arm until the chain pushed up against the sprocket I was able to hook the chain onto the sprocket after only four or five attempts of spinning the top of the sprocket with my hand. Once the chain was sufficiently far enough around the top of the sprocket I was able to start pulling it through with ease.
I bought a 1993 Triumph Tiger last August to run through Winter. As it happens, for one reason or another, I didn’t get it on the road until December. In the three months I ran it, I went through around six stop/tail bulbs of various types, including LED bulbs. I have no idea why the bulbs kept blowing but I decided that I could resolve this issue by designing my own LED circuit with some over voltage protection built in.
The main reasons for deciding to build my own circuit were as follows:
- Off-the-shelf LED bulbs are not efficient at putting the light where you want it – and because of this, are often not as bright as filament bulbs.
- My bike was blowing bulbs quicker than I was able to buy replacements.
- I wanted to incorporate a flashing brake light circuit
- I fancied doing something different
The initial design included two 12v regulators and two polarity protective diodes; one for each of the stop and tail light circuits.
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I am currently doing 900 miles a week on my Tiger so I decided to treat it to some new exhausts as the old ones have been full of holes since I bought the bike over a year ago. Triumph wanted around £300 per exhaust which are made of plain old steel with just a dash of stainless steel at the end and another extra stainless plate for a heat shield. Looking around, I was able to find Trident Exhausts offered a selection of exhausts for the Tiger and I decided on the carbon and stainless steel option. Peter Corlett was very helpful on the phone and the exhausts were around £80.00 cheaper than the Triumph offering with a lot more going for them.
The exhausts took a little over a week from order, to be custom made, and to eventually arrive at the door.
I was a little disappointed with some aspects of the exhausts; One of the baffles was dented to the one side, the pipework were of different lengths and – this is a little picky as I am happy with the finish – but the stainless pipework does not look as polished as the website pictures:
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As I could reach – and turn – the top of the engine sprocket, I tried to feed the chain in from the top, which wasn’t very successful because I couldn’t get any access to the lower part of the sprocket. 
I then decided that if I could feed the chain in from the lower part it would be easier to pull the chain around by spinning the top of the front sprocket. This worked a treat. I used a thin, curved, metal bar from a Triumph America screen as a support for the chain. By placing the chain on the metal bar and feeding them both under the swing arm until the chain pushed up against the sprocket I was able to hook the chain onto the sprocket after only four or five attempts of spinning the top of the sprocket with my hand. Once the chain was sufficiently far enough around the top of the sprocket I was able to start pulling it through with ease.
