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Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:29 pm
by thebiggestjolly
Thanks,
I was a bit concerned the tenere wasn't as much of a tourer as the Transalp. I don't know enough about engines to comment, I like the V twin in my Vara 125, which is most of the reason why I was thinking Transalp. I did consider the big Vara, but was put off by the weight. Although worth a test ride.
I'd love a R1200gs one day, but maybe not as my first big bike.
I'd like to have full luggage, crash bars etc for £4k, which was why I was thinking smaller engine, but I'll widen the search a bit, see what else I can get.
Thanks again

Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:18 pm
by allanmac
The big vara is a great bike had a carb'd one & also a later fi version. Your right though its a heavy beast!
Cheers Allan
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 6:54 am
by qcnr
Not either of the bikes you are asking about, but I have a XL600V Transalp.
Nice bike and easy to ride. Had it for nearly 6 years now, use it mainly for
commuting and weekend trips.
What I like
-reliable, never had a breakdown or problem.
-easy to service apart from spaark plugs.
-easy to ride
-handles ok off road and for my ability
What I don't like
- Not comfortable, seat is too low or pegs too high, I get ache sin my knees
- could do with more power
- a bit heavy. At 6ft and 85 kgs after christmas dinner I would like something lighter.
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:14 am
by Tramp
What about a xl700 fuel injection and cat so compliant hopefully, holds value and are great as a real first bike.
Forget crash bars and honda panniers are crap...leak and distort..a rear pannier rack is good ..
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:06 am
by thebiggestjolly
Tramp wrote:What about a xl700 fuel injection and cat so compliant hopefully, holds value and are great as a real first bike.
Forget crash bars and honda panniers are crap...leak and distort..a rear pannier rack is good ..
Yeah the 700 ta is what I'm thinking. Just keeping options open as I've not ridden any yet. With either givi trekkervpanniers or heavy duties stuff. Heard some good things about them. Don't like the look of the Honda panniers.
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:28 am
by Redmurty
have you thought of these
https://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/motorcycles ... rom-650l6/
or an early Tiger 800 ?
cheers Spud

Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:25 am
by -Ralph-
thebiggestjolly wrote:
Thanks,
I was a bit concerned the tenere wasn't as much of a tourer as the Transalp. I don't know enough about engines to comment, I like the V twin in my Vara 125, which is most of the reason why I was thinking Transalp. I did consider the big Vara, but was put off by the weight. Although worth a test ride.
I'd love a R1200gs one day, but maybe not as my first big bike.
I'd like to have full luggage, crash bars etc for £4k, which was why I was thinking smaller engine, but I'll widen the search a bit, see what else I can get.
Thanks again

Twin or multicylinder engines are much better for road use. They aren't just smoother, they are more powerful, have a wider rev range which makes better gearing possible and they are more durable.
Don't worry about the size of the engine. The 1200 in the BMW makes 100bhp, 8 bhp less than the Tiger 955i you were considering.
For road use only weight doesn't really matter either unless you have particularly short legs, or have a habit of dropping them at petrol stations, they aren't heavy when they are moving.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 12:24 pm
by ds99
I've owned both and I would go for the transalp 650
The tiger 955 are nice, but they suffer from head gasket problems after 30,000 miles, whereas the transalp is bullet proof
sure, the tiger is much quicker, but it's also much more top heavy and poor in city traffic
i also found the tiger engine runs very hot and it seemed more like an engine suite to road/race bike, as opposed to an adventure/tourer/commuter bike
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:36 pm
by sprintster
ds99 wrote:I've owned both and I would go for the transalp 650
The tiger 955 are nice, but they suffer from head gasket problems after 30,000 miles, whereas the transalp is bullet proof
sure, the tiger is much quicker, but it's also much more top heavy and poor in city traffic
i also found the tiger engine runs very hot and it seemed more like an engine suite to road/race bike, as opposed to an adventure/tourer/commuter bike
I hadn't heard of head gasket problems and did 65k miles on my previous 955 so I had a look on a Triumph forum and it seems to have just been early bikes that were affected before Triumph changed the gasket.
Re: Transalp 650 or Tiger 955i
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 6:54 pm
by crofty
You said you wanted to widen the search, here is a left field suggestion. a nc750 either the s or the x, euro 4 compliant I think, great mpg for your commute and great for touring and easy to work on. probably get a 14 plate for under 4k.