After two years with the Tiger 1050 I decided to try something a bit smaller and lighter for the summer.

Here she is as I got her home (OK, I have removed the enormous AMC topbox…)

62-reg with a personal plate. The previous owner bought a Fazer 1000 so didn’t want the “T800” plate. 4,500 miles only and still 6 months of warranty left.

Here she is with the obligatory Givi:

Fitting was not difficult – just drilled a couple of extra holes in the AMC rack and bolted the Givi E250 adapter on top. The box sits a lot lower than on the 1050, in fact the whole bike is lower, lighter, revvy-er (is that a word?).

It’s a very different bike to ride, more like a big Street Triple than a small Tiger. The bike will not pull away on tickover (as I discovered in the petrol station) and 85mph in top gear is 6k revs (6k revs on the 1050 is closer to 100mph).

The gear indicator is brilliant. The time display is a little small in the top left corner and the trip meter doesn’t automatically switch to “miles to empty” when the fuel light comes on. Buffeting is pretty bad so I’ve lowered the seat which makes it better at 80 but worse at 40. I might have to experiment with a few screens…

LED spotlights are great but I don’t use them much. Tyres are Pirelli Scorpions (OEM) which are OK but the rear is squared off.

Here’s a picture of the AMC box:

Here’s the obligatory exhaust – you didn’t really think I’d stick with the standard can for long did you?

Look – no baffles…

After a month, I’ve just about come to terms with the bar risers and decided to keep them!