If concerns about this keeps up till the time when order books open, i might have to sit out on round one.
Honda Worried About Vibrations?
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I would hang around for sure. Honda rarely get it that wrong and with a bike such as this they will be bending over backwards to bring to the market something that will topple the GS from it's perch.
The Vara (we're talking 2003 MK1 - SD01 here) had more solid feel overall than the 2007 Tiger 1050. Mind you, the Tiger feels much lighter.
The Tiger (Fuel Injection) definitely has more acceleration than the Vara (SD01 twin carb), which in turn had more acceleration that the later FI Vara's (late 2003 onwards).
The V twin motor in the Honda had much better pulling power lower down the rev range than the Triumph parallel twin.
Suspension wise the Vara seems to cope better with bigger bumps on paved and unpaved roads.
Both bikes pretty much handle the same IMHO, but on loose surfaces you might prefer the Tiger as it is a little lighter with seating slightly lower to the ground.
Braking seems about the same. The Tiger I have has ABS. The Vara I had was the Honda split braking system (Non ABS).
Electrics/switchgear on the Honda seem better made/better quality than the Triumph.
The Tiger sucks up battery power over time when switched off, key out. I'm talking more than normal battery voltage loss one might expect over time.
I've read stories online from other Tiger owners of batteries going flat if the bike is not used for a couple of weeks. I work away for weeks at a time. As with the Vara (original OEM battery lasted 10 years) I keep the Tiger on an Optimate to maintain the battery during spells of inactivity.
To me I felt that the Twin beam headlights (low and high beam) on the Vara gave better lighting than the Tigers single beam setup. It's a shame Triumph didn't make the tiger lights both come on when on high or low beam.
The so called 'clutch safety switch' gave me grief a while back. First thoughts were... flat battery! Eek! Digging deeper changed my opinion pretty quickly. If you ever own an older Tiger you must read up on the safety switches (clutch & Side stand) as, when they get dirty, they will cause all the symptoms of a failing battery, failing charging system, or failing starter motor when in fact the engine management system is simply not getting the correct signal from a dirty malfunctioning safety switch so cuts out the starting process just as it tries to start.
I pot on the rear brake calliper was sticking on the Tiger. I freed it off after removing the calliper and cleaning the pistons up, but never had that on the Honda in 10 years.
My overall opinion is Honda have a better build qaility and better parts bin selection than Triumph but that is only my experience based on just one bike from each manufacturer. I guess I'm not counting a Honda wave 125cc step-through that we bought new in Thailand in 2000 and I know is still going strong in Thailand in 2015 with over 200,000 km on the clock!
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