After coughing up cash for a new Triumph Tiger 850, I skipped work to send my Dominar back to the Kg Subang service center yet again.

By now, I'm already a familiar face there.

Ran into yet another fanboi while I was there. He accused me of not bothering to read the manual about fork seal maintenance. I told him off.. on which page in the freaking owner's manual does it say anything about fork seal maintenance? "Oh.. ini petua yg sepatutnya ada dalam manual, tapi entah kenapa Modenas tak taruk".

Dah kantoi.

Tak cukup kantoi 1 kali, he goes on to claim that the real maintenance requirement for fork seals is to not let the fork stanchions dry. Need to use axle grease or gearbox oil on the stanchions in order to preserve the fork seals.

Why do fanboys always insult me like this? Me getting a lemon not enough ah?

To further rub salt into my wound, the Grab ride back to Ampang costed me RM70 coz it's hard to get a regular Grab driver around that godforsaken area.

The Tiger 850/900 is a completely different animal (pun intended) compared to the Tiger 660.

I bought it to do what my Dominar failed to do - to tour 2-up with wife & luggage in comfort & with shitloads of grunt. Even in its "detuned" guise, Triumph's new 888cc t-plane triple hauls ass with a passenger on board in any gear!

Being new to adv tourers, seat height & weight are of special concern to me & surprisingly the cheaper 850 ticks both boxes better than the rest of the 900s. After a trip to the famous Has Cushion, I can now flatfoot the damn thing when loaded up with wife & luggage with the rear preload 3/4 max.... and that's a huuuge boost to my confidence in handling my first proper adv tourer.

None of this has anything to do with your 660 though. However you'll get the same top-notch purchasing experience I enjoyed. First there's the test ride - take your time to go thru every inch of the bike to discover that Triumphs are generally exceptionally well built & they are rich in the little details (ie logo stamped on the swingarm, deep lacquered paint etc!) Salesman bagi layanan penuh tu toksah ceritalah since it's a given coz they take special pride in having successfully acquired you as their customer... but once the bike is yours, you can come while they walk you thru the pre-PDI check where the guy will explain in greater detail in ins & outs of the bike. On the delivery day, you'll go thru a handover ritual where they'll go thru the delivery order checklist with you, hand you your nice Triumph zipper folder with ur spare key (the keys look fabulous!), lock barrels, manual, svc book etc. They'll take your photo with your shiny new bike with a full tank of fuel & add you to the RATpack group. There is a sense of welcoming into a family, so to speak.

I got jack shit when I bought my Dominar. They handed me my geran + keys & chased me out in 5 minutes. There was just barely enough fuel in the tank to reach the nearest petrol station! Eang Chun guys didn't even know my name & frankly they didn't care. Now I have to live with a shit bike for another year.