Upgrading Triumph Starter Leads.

[Garandman]

Tiger 1050’s are notorious for labored cranking. Along with higher capacity batteries, there are several upgrade kits available. Finally installed them (lost in garage for two years) and the bike cranks much faster.

Stock seems to be #6 wire. Cutting the insulation exposed some corrosion, not unexpected on a 2008 but not a help to starting.

The Stoltec set is beautifully made using #4 AWG Marine wire “Finely stranded Type III Tinned Copper,” conductor with PVC insulation. The ends are heat-shrink sealed. Calculated the cross-sectional area to be 1.6 times greater than the stock cable. Lo and behold, a chart shows the same ratio between #6 and #4 for resistance, so physical laws are still in effect, even in 2020!

Found the job to be much easier than expected. There is a lot of room to remove and replace the nut and bolt on the starter and engine. The hardest part was bending the new wires to fit, as they are much stiffer. Still an easy job with a 10mm ratchet (if you can find one!) and a couple of screwdrivers. Put a light coat of dielectric grease on everything.

[MattR302]

There’s a guy on the Tiger 1050 Facebook group, I think his name is Jeff Pudding, that makes these for cheap

[Chippertheripper]

The fuglystrada has the same issue, along with a weak sprag clutch. They both work hand in hand to make for tricky troubleshooting.
Upgrade both and sail happily into the sunset.

[Garandman]

There’s a guy on the Tiger 1050 Facebook group, I think his name is Jeff Pudding, that makes these for cheap

Jeff “Pudding” Halford.

“There (sic) £35 shipped to the USA,,,most people just private message me.”

That’s about $45. The Stoltec ones are $50. There are UK online shops selling them for less. Some people make their own: very common marine cable.