I recently had one of those Ah-Hah! moments. A friend of mine is selling his newish Tiger 800XC on C-List....2012 tiger xc
Somebody came and looked at it and had some questions about the way that it rode and brake concern... The way the prospective buyer commented kind of irked him and made him question whether or not there was really a problem.. Reality is, with our personal machines we forget that someone else may not know the little nuances that we compensate for without thinking about them.
He asked if I would take it for a ride and verify whether or not there were actually any problems. I have wanted to test ride a new Tiger 800 since they debuted. I have resisted the urge to do so for fear of "licking the cookie" and "wanting to eat it", as some like to say... You know who you are... We swapped bikes at his house and took them down a twisty little road that I take all of the time. We stopped at the end, he said, "This 955i Tiger is so smooth. It turns in so nice and rides almost like a touring bike."
I did find one thing wrong with his 800xc Tiger... It needed front and rear brakes. Aside from that, it turned in quickly, but I felt it lacked front end feel. The motor pulled in every gear, from any RPM. Troubadour was right.. just needs three gears, first, third, and fifth. I did find the throttle was a bit digital.. on or off.. there was analog deceleration. All inherent characteristics of the bike I am sure.. All the same...It was not my 955 Tiger..
I have taken it places I ought not have gone.. and done things with it that ought not have been done, (see also... Tigers with Shinko tire don't like snow or mud.) Together we have pushed our limits and learned what we can safely or should not do. It will tear up 1000 mile days.. It will traverse bad tarmac with ease. It will even allow me to probe ...carefully... down a rode less travelled, and it is often the road I choose.. It isn't the prettiest of bikes, but I am a function over form person anyway. It is neither too big to be unwieldy, nor too small to be insufficient for long distance travel.
It is just right.....
It belongs to me, and I it..
The Goldilocks Realization..
