Tiger is back in one piece and we’ve ridden round the block a few times.

Brakes

The good:

• Front brake now stops the bike.
• There’s plenty of feel but it’s a good job there’s a span adjuster because the lever doesn’t move much any more (hoo bloody ray!).
• Mirror fits.
• Brake light switch fits and probably works (forgot to check).

The bad:

• It was a bugger to bleed, even with a vacuum puller.

The ugly:

• The right hand guard no longer fits but I’ve left the left one on.  It’s all a bit lopsided.
  • I have some Acerbis ones left over from my brief dalliance with a Triumph Explorer.  They don’t fit the Tiger but I may be able to persuade them on.

Thermostat

I changed the thermostat/temperature sensor/housing for a second hand one.  They are plentiful on eBay because you have to be an idiot to break one.  I broke mine by levering the pressure release cap off with a screwdriver.  You don’t need to do this; just push down and turn a second time, like a normal person.

eBay was actually full of units off Triumph Sprints, not Tigers.  Presumably the Sprint was more popular here in Germany than the Tiger.  Anyway, they looked the same in the picture are, indeed, identical except the Sprint unit has a brass blanking piece instead of a temperature sender.  It’s easy to swap.

I now have four housings:

• The one I broke.
• A broke one I bought off eBay because my German is rubbish.
• A perfect one off a Sprint that is now on the bike.
• Another one off a Sprint that is still somewhere in what DHL laughingly call a postal system.

I was hoping to increase the release pressure so that the header tank could work properly (it empties itself the first time the engine gets hot).  In the end, though, I’ve put it back together with the standard 1.1 bar release.  So that was a total waste of time and money.