£3k Touring / Adventure Bike - Tiger 955i ?
Discussion
Pothole said:
hat must have been OEM prices, surely?
They were. At the time there were no second hand parts available anywhere. I also had the infamous "brown connector fire" (well, it started smoking, at any rate!) and the dash kept crapping itself for no apparent reason. It was a real shame because to actually ride, it was one of the best bikes I have ever had.
Derventio said:
Pothole said:
hat must have been OEM prices, surely?
They were. At the time there were no second hand parts available anywhere. I also had the infamous "brown connector fire" (well, it started smoking, at any rate!) and the dash kept crapping itself for no apparent reason. It was a real shame because to actually ride, it was one of the best bikes I have ever had.
NITO said:
That is all!
Fantastic ride, V-Twin grunt, bulletproof Rotax 1000cc engine. A couple of silly mods (replace 2 connectors, replace rectifier and metal fuel quick connectors in lieu of stock plastic ones) is all that's really required to address the weak spots for a reliable tourer.
Edit: I see you've placed a deposit...if it doesn't work out one to consider then ^!
I'm considering one !Fantastic ride, V-Twin grunt, bulletproof Rotax 1000cc engine. A couple of silly mods (replace 2 connectors, replace rectifier and metal fuel quick connectors in lieu of stock plastic ones) is all that's really required to address the weak spots for a reliable tourer.
Edit: I see you've placed a deposit...if it doesn't work out one to consider then ^!
Test rode an 800 Tiger enroute to make sure I wasn't making a mistake - what a POS, it wasn't very quick, gave me a numb bum after 20 mins and made a horrid whine despite having an end can.
Got to the Dealer with the 1050, yes it was a bit heavy stationary but on the move it was fine it had the power I wanted and the exhaust sounded great from the Beowolf BUT it had a horrid whine too (google suggests it's the straight cut gears and affects every triple) it completely ruined the ride and was a joyless experience.
So the search continues - but google backs up what other posters have said that the Caponord has issues... but I've just tested a KTM 990 - nice to have the lighter weight, noise was ok but it seemed to lack torque.
Edited by V8RX7 on Friday 31st July 20:54
V8RX7 said:
NITO said:
That is all!
Fantastic ride, V-Twin grunt, bulletproof Rotax 1000cc engine. A couple of silly mods (replace 2 connectors, replace rectifier and metal fuel quick connectors in lieu of stock plastic ones) is all that's really required to address the weak spots for a reliable tourer.
Edit: I see you've placed a deposit...if it doesn't work out one to consider then ^!
I'm considering one !Fantastic ride, V-Twin grunt, bulletproof Rotax 1000cc engine. A couple of silly mods (replace 2 connectors, replace rectifier and metal fuel quick connectors in lieu of stock plastic ones) is all that's really required to address the weak spots for a reliable tourer.
Edit: I see you've placed a deposit...if it doesn't work out one to consider then ^!
Test rode an 800 Tiger enroute to make sure I wasn't making a mistake - what a POS, it wasn't very quick, gave me a numb bum after 20 mins and made a horrid whine despite having an end can.
Got to the Dealer with the 1050, yes it was a bit heavy stationary but on the move it was fine it had the power I wanted and the exhaust sounded great from the Beowolf BUT it had a horrid whine too (google suggests it's the straight cut gears and affects every triple) it completely ruined the ride and was a joyless experience.
So the search continues - but google backs up what other posters have said that the Caponord has issues... but I've just tested a KTM 990 - nice to have the lighter weight, noise was ok but it seemed to lack torque.
Edited by V8RX7 on Friday 31st July 20:54
Pothole said:
The triple whine is epic!
That's the funny thing about people isn't it ...I was disappointed the reviews hadn't highlighted it. I researched and travelled a long way to buy it, coming home and Googling, it seems it is a well known "characteristic" but as always you don't know, what you don't know, until you discover it 😃
V8RX7 said:
Pothole said:
The triple whine is epic!
That's the funny thing about people isn't it ...I was disappointed the reviews hadn't highlighted it. I researched and travelled a long way to buy it, coming home and Googling, it seems it is a well known "characteristic" but as always you don't know, what you don't know, until you discover it ??
Derventio said:
...However, the list of there reliability shortcomings is both long and expensive. £700 each to replace the badly corroded fork stanchions on mine was a bill too far. and that was just the chrome bit, not the full leg!
You could have had them hard chrome plated for well under half of that.gareth_r said:
You could have had them hard chrome plated for well under half of that.
I did try going down that route but they were so bad between the yolks that the plater guy said he would have to grind away too much material to find good metal. With this on top of all the other issues I had I decided to get rid.
I sold it and bought a Kawasaki ER650N. It look fantastic. The engine was an absolute belter with more than enough power for such a relatively light bike and it sounder really good, too, despite only having its standard exhaust. The problem was, it was fitted with way to hard, non adjustable suspension. It literally shook my glasses off my face going over some of my local Peak District roads.. It also didn't help that it was fitted with a rock hard plank of a seat that was angled too far forward. It was covered in a material that really gripped my jeans or whatever I was wearing. Every time I braked, I slid forward into the tank but me jeans just pulled incredibly tight crushing some rather delicate parts of my anatomy. It was by far and away, the most uncomfortable bike I have ever ridden.
It was a shame because on a really really smooth road, it could keep up with some much bigger, sportier machinery, with ease.
My Capo and subsequent ER.
V8RX7 said:
I'm considering one !
Test rode an 800 Tiger enroute to make sure I wasn't making a mistake - what a POS, it wasn't very quick, gave me a numb bum after 20 mins and made a horrid whine despite having an end can.
Got to the Dealer with the 1050, yes it was a bit heavy stationary but on the move it was fine it had the power I wanted and the exhaust sounded great from the Beowolf BUT it had a horrid whine too (google suggests it's the straight cut gears and affects every triple) it completely ruined the ride and was a joyless experience.
So the search continues - but google backs up what other posters have said that the Caponord has issues... but I've just tested a KTM 990 - nice to have the lighter weight, noise was ok but it seemed to lack torque.
Honestly, by all means read around on Google, but these are extremely reliable. The problem is that many are owner maintained, that means of course differing standards of workmanship. For example, some people replace the (7mm blades) brown connectors, with 2.8mm blade sizes, this can't carry the same current rating. Myself, I used the waterproof Metripack 630 (6.3mm blades) which is the largest Metripack waterproof connector and rated for the current. There are lots of different regulators on the market, but a CBR600 MOSFET Shindengen fits directly, just the connectors need to be changed, again use Metripack 630's.Test rode an 800 Tiger enroute to make sure I wasn't making a mistake - what a POS, it wasn't very quick, gave me a numb bum after 20 mins and made a horrid whine despite having an end can.
Got to the Dealer with the 1050, yes it was a bit heavy stationary but on the move it was fine it had the power I wanted and the exhaust sounded great from the Beowolf BUT it had a horrid whine too (google suggests it's the straight cut gears and affects every triple) it completely ruined the ride and was a joyless experience.
So the search continues - but google backs up what other posters have said that the Caponord has issues... but I've just tested a KTM 990 - nice to have the lighter weight, noise was ok but it seemed to lack torque.
Edited by V8RX7 on Friday 31st July 20:54
Mine has zero corrosion and it's not something I've noticed on many others. If you are seriously interested, have a look here;
https://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.p...
and ask away at the owners themselves, they have a massive and very enthusiastic following, of all my bikes, the Capo is the swiss army knife, it does everything so well and cross country they are very quick and handle extremely well too. If you like to maintain the bike yourself as most of the owners tend to, there are workshop manuals available and a wealth of info on the forums and subsequently fb group with possibly the best and most helpful owners group of any bike I've owned. They even have a couple of annual camping trips a year as well as an international group that goes further afield such as Morocco!
Edited by NITO on Monday 3rd August 14:35
If you find a good Caponord with little or no corrosion, the brown connector mod already done and the Mosfet regulator fitted, so long as everything works as it should on the dashboard behaves and the camchains are quiet, get it bought. I belleive the second gen bikes (with the separate indicators) were much better.
They can be remapped for even more power but to be honest, I didn't think they need it. They have tremendous torque from next to no revs making for a very relaxed ride but they can seriously get a move on when you wind on the revs. In all Honesty, I don't think the Tiger 955I I had prior would even see which way the Caponord went!
Keep it in fine fettle with good oil, join the owners group (an absolute mine of useful information) and keep on top of servicing and you will have one hell of a bike. Unfortunately, I just bought a bad one that the previous owner had neglected. It just needed more money throwing at it than I was prepared to spend.
If I came across another that was properly sorted, would I buy it? the force would be strong. The thing is, owners of really good Capos tend to hang on to them.
ETA, It was through talking to the good folk on the owners forum that I avoided over filling mine with oil! there is a particular method used for refilling the oil. tank.
They can be remapped for even more power but to be honest, I didn't think they need it. They have tremendous torque from next to no revs making for a very relaxed ride but they can seriously get a move on when you wind on the revs. In all Honesty, I don't think the Tiger 955I I had prior would even see which way the Caponord went!
Keep it in fine fettle with good oil, join the owners group (an absolute mine of useful information) and keep on top of servicing and you will have one hell of a bike. Unfortunately, I just bought a bad one that the previous owner had neglected. It just needed more money throwing at it than I was prepared to spend.
If I came across another that was properly sorted, would I buy it? the force would be strong. The thing is, owners of really good Capos tend to hang on to them.
ETA, It was through talking to the good folk on the owners forum that I avoided over filling mine with oil! there is a particular method used for refilling the oil. tank.
Edited by Derventio on Monday 3rd August 16:43
Yes it's a dry sump system, (good for wheelies 
) oil should be checked after a run (min. 10 miles ish) on level ground and upright. When it's cold the sight tube will show it below min often, so owners top it up and then it all spews out of the airbox!
The dash problems and many of the other electrical gremlins generally stem from the electrical issues brought about from bad rectifiers, bad brown connectors, bad mods to either or both of those or alarms causing constant power drain and therefore weak batteries as the V-twin requires a fair bit of effort to crank. You can't jump start them on a hill in 1st or 2nd as it will just lock the back wheel!! Third gear up lol.
Some have led a life of problems, by now however, most are well sorted, if you can find one that has spent a long time with the owner chances are it's a good one. The later ones had better forks and the like but many owners replaced the front springs on the earlier bikes, it's a common mod. There is quite a well trodden mod path so you'll find many will have uprated brakes, front fork springs, the aforementioned electrics and Oberon clutch slave is another good preventative mod.
They run 2 coils per cylinder, so if a coil drops you can still get home. They can run on as little as 2 coils overall (you may have to rearrange to ensure that it's the centre one working, as they have a main and a supplementary one on each cylinder but you can reassign the wires if need be). Some early bikes had coil problems (later ones are better) and many owners have modified them and sometimes relocated the front ones to a more accessible location, all common mods.
Mainly, it's the quality of the brown connector elimination, the rectifier unit and the fuel quick disconnects (all fairly common on many Italian bikes) that you want to ensure. If you get a virgin one, as I did, you can take your time and do it right if you're hands on.
Beware also that there are 2 length oil filters. Aprilia changed this on all the Rotax engines at a certain point in time from a short filter to a longer filter which has a deeper cover. The dealer I bought from who serviced the bike, put a short filter in a long body, so mine wasn't filtering oil properly for a while!
I have a blog on these must do mods here...
https://nitosport.com/blog/2019/07/11/the-must-do-...
ETA: For the ultimate Capo owners resource, check out this blog and some of the mods he has done;
https://www.moto-abruzzo.net/
there are quite a few owners Capo's with over 100,000 miles!!
) oil should be checked after a run (min. 10 miles ish) on level ground and upright. When it's cold the sight tube will show it below min often, so owners top it up and then it all spews out of the airbox!The dash problems and many of the other electrical gremlins generally stem from the electrical issues brought about from bad rectifiers, bad brown connectors, bad mods to either or both of those or alarms causing constant power drain and therefore weak batteries as the V-twin requires a fair bit of effort to crank. You can't jump start them on a hill in 1st or 2nd as it will just lock the back wheel!! Third gear up lol.
Some have led a life of problems, by now however, most are well sorted, if you can find one that has spent a long time with the owner chances are it's a good one. The later ones had better forks and the like but many owners replaced the front springs on the earlier bikes, it's a common mod. There is quite a well trodden mod path so you'll find many will have uprated brakes, front fork springs, the aforementioned electrics and Oberon clutch slave is another good preventative mod.
They run 2 coils per cylinder, so if a coil drops you can still get home. They can run on as little as 2 coils overall (you may have to rearrange to ensure that it's the centre one working, as they have a main and a supplementary one on each cylinder but you can reassign the wires if need be). Some early bikes had coil problems (later ones are better) and many owners have modified them and sometimes relocated the front ones to a more accessible location, all common mods.
Mainly, it's the quality of the brown connector elimination, the rectifier unit and the fuel quick disconnects (all fairly common on many Italian bikes) that you want to ensure. If you get a virgin one, as I did, you can take your time and do it right if you're hands on.
Beware also that there are 2 length oil filters. Aprilia changed this on all the Rotax engines at a certain point in time from a short filter to a longer filter which has a deeper cover. The dealer I bought from who serviced the bike, put a short filter in a long body, so mine wasn't filtering oil properly for a while!
I have a blog on these must do mods here...
https://nitosport.com/blog/2019/07/11/the-must-do-...
ETA: For the ultimate Capo owners resource, check out this blog and some of the mods he has done;
https://www.moto-abruzzo.net/
there are quite a few owners Capo's with over 100,000 miles!!
Edited by NITO on Monday 3rd August 17:20
They can be a bit top heavy under 5mph which disappears on the move, which can be a problem for some if you're short in the leg dept.
If you're packing 32"+ no worries Much less and you may be on tippy toes, we have many owners that are nevertheless and cope fine.
ETA:
Nice one here with all the right mods and in your budget!
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/10528835...
If you're packing 32"+ no worries
Much less and you may be on tippy toes, we have many owners that are nevertheless and cope fine.ETA:
Nice one here with all the right mods and in your budget!
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/10528835...
Edited by NITO on Monday 3rd August 17:37
And don't forget some Remus (Titanium if possible) Cans if you can stretch to them. They sound properly epic! Or any cans other than the standard ones, to be honest. The original ones weigh an awful lot.
If you don't mind sacrificing a bit of performance for total reliability/good parts availability, but still want great handling and comfort, go take a test ride on a Honda Transalp, if you can. I have had two, a 600 and a 650. and would recommend them to anyone. The 600 is one of only three of the many bikes that I have owned that I rode up to Glasgow from Derby. The other two were an old BMW K100 RS and my Tiger. They make great mile munchers, especially with a taller screen fitted.
If you don't mind sacrificing a bit of performance for total reliability/good parts availability, but still want great handling and comfort, go take a test ride on a Honda Transalp, if you can. I have had two, a 600 and a 650. and would recommend them to anyone. The 600 is one of only three of the many bikes that I have owned that I rode up to Glasgow from Derby. The other two were an old BMW K100 RS and my Tiger. They make great mile munchers, especially with a taller screen fitted.
Edited by Derventio on Monday 3rd August 18:15
Update after trying to find a Caponord within 150 miles that was sensibly priced and not clocked / a dog I gave up and went to a big bike dealership to see loads of alternatives - no test rides so could only make decisions on what I could see / sit on
Tiger 955 felt like a heavy, 70's relic
Sick of looking, made a silly offer on an 07 Superduke - which was accepted, never even seen one in the flesh so what could possibly go wrong
Tiger 955 felt like a heavy, 70's relic
Sick of looking, made a silly offer on an 07 Superduke - which was accepted, never even seen one in the flesh so what could possibly go wrong
Update - discovered that the Superduke was a cracking bike but 90 felt like 30 just too much bike / temptation for me at this stage.
I mentioned it on a local group and sold it on at a profit within 48hrs
I then saw an early 690 Duke 3, a bike I'd originally wanted to buy so I bought that - but the vibration is worse than my 525 !
Have checked the usual suspects, engine bolts, serviced it etc and there's no change, far more vibration than the later 2016 - spent 4 uncomfortable hours on it yesterday so it's up for sale - shame as I think it's lovely.
As it's getting colder I'm thinking a screen, heated grips... 650 V Strom fits the bill but I don't feel old enough whilst I see the Shiver 750 doesn't compare to a Street Triple, surely the GT with the fairing must be a better option than a V Strom ?
I mentioned it on a local group and sold it on at a profit within 48hrs
I then saw an early 690 Duke 3, a bike I'd originally wanted to buy so I bought that - but the vibration is worse than my 525 !
Have checked the usual suspects, engine bolts, serviced it etc and there's no change, far more vibration than the later 2016 - spent 4 uncomfortable hours on it yesterday so it's up for sale - shame as I think it's lovely.
As it's getting colder I'm thinking a screen, heated grips... 650 V Strom fits the bill but I don't feel old enough whilst I see the Shiver 750 doesn't compare to a Street Triple, surely the GT with the fairing must be a better option than a V Strom ?
NITO said:
Where are you based, there have been lots of nice ones recently and 150 miles is a big sweep of area!
Cheers
Nito
Near WarwickCheers
Nito
But I saw a cheap KTM 950 SM on Monday night and bought it yesterday however if you see anything decent let me know I'm always happy to try new bikes
I looked at every sub £3k Cappo on Ebay / AT and none inspired confidence - no history etc
Most of the forum bikes are owner maintained, some fanatically so. I wouldn't be too put off by lack of dealer history, if it's a forum bike, most of the weaknesses will likely be addressed, how they have gone about it and quality of workmanship will be a good indication of the owners proficiency.
There's a high level of technical info and help on the AF1 forum for these and workshop manuals are available for download. You'd be surprised how well maintained most of these bikes are, certainly the ones that join the annual camping trips at any rate.
I thought this one looks nice, low mileage, seemingly excellent condition and fitted with a scottoiler gives an indication into the type of owner.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aprilia-ET1000-1000-cap...
There's a high level of technical info and help on the AF1 forum for these and workshop manuals are available for download. You'd be surprised how well maintained most of these bikes are, certainly the ones that join the annual camping trips at any rate.
I thought this one looks nice, low mileage, seemingly excellent condition and fitted with a scottoiler gives an indication into the type of owner.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aprilia-ET1000-1000-cap...
Edited by NITO on Wednesday 9th September 11:11
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