Another TIGER is reborn-My Restore Progress

[Orangecnty250r]

Another Tiger is reborn!!!!

Well here is some pics of the tiger restore as promised. Its come a long way and is looking sweet.

The first set of pictures is exactly how I brought it home ---No wheels and in parts. I drug this in my shop myself. The first day I definetly thought I was in over my head.

The motor still needs a rebuild but that all that has to be done now except a few little odds and ends.

I have wet sanded these fenders for weeks now, you can only do so much at a time. Several days I would say they are white enough but the next day after rest I would be back at it. I did not want to paint these fenders. You can see the progress by looking at the rear fender where the seat gos and it gives you an example of how yellowed they had become.

I even left the original 250 decals and the original warning decal on it. This was the decal that Yamatopdog made the repros from.

All powder coated
Original zinc plating on hubs axle
All original plastics except maier front plate --No repro shroud or plastics
My man did an awesome job repainting the shroud and tank.
I took 4 coats of paint off the forks

Enjoy!!

[Orangecnty250r]

Some More Pics midway

[Orangecnty250r]

Here it is for now.

[tecatecrazy]

beautiful!

[Mike_Ham_250R]

omg is that nice!!!!!!!

[Huffa]

I just love before & after shots. SWEET, SWEET, SWEET. I can imagine how much time that took. Very well done!

Cool color too.

I imagine the rear shock is over to the left so the air box could be bigger and give a direct blast to the carb.

Would that be correct?

That cleaner in the can, who makes it? Just strictly a cleaner or more of a rubbing compound?

[ATCwithdrawals]

Very nice work your doing to it! Did you do all the painting yourself, what type of paint?Them tires look sweet!!

[twgranger]

That is awsome!!!

[Maine_Triker]

OHHH MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :Bounce :Bounce :Bounce Totaly awesome!!!! :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:

Wonderful those tires are a nice touch :cool: :cool: . I hope you don't plan to ride it... :TrikesOwn :TrikesOwn

[chris200x]

I'm speechless. Absolutely beautiful. I thought those tigers were rare? Seems to be some of them showing up on the boards lately.

[sblt500r]

thats some real nice work there. those radiators look like they would be vunerable to rocks and dirt from the front tire.

[Orangecnty250r]

Heres some more pics of the fenders I restored. Again these are not painted.
Thanks for the compliments on this project.

[big red 24]

awsome man

[Yardbird]

One word........AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:

Keep up the good work!!!! You should be really PROUD of what you've done so far and what it will be!!!! :TrikesOwn

[250rsteve]

I dont know which resto I like better, the tiger or tecate. Both are incredible trikes and definitely ones to be proud of. :D :D :D :TrikesOwn

[MassTrike]

That is breath taking!! A+ work dude! what are your plans for her? rider or show bike?

[RideRed250R]

thats just beautiful, i mean we all know what those fenders probly looked like and they look better then my white R fenders from maier when i got them out of the box! great job man, get her going
adam

[Darius1502]

Alright...you are king of restores man!

That trike is awesome...

Can we get a pic of the R, Tiger and Tecate together??

[Dammit!]

Can we get a pic of the R, Tiger and Tecate together??

/faints... :Bounce

[SPD FRK]

I bow to you. Where do you find the patience?
For the love of god make this a rideable trike. It was born to be raced. The least you can do is run her up and down a few fields somewhere. Having a trike like that just sitting would be like having a hunting dog who never leaves the house. PLEASE ride that trike. No need to run the piss out of it of course but at least let it hit the power band here and there.
It deserve to be babied. I can't argue that. It also deserves to be run. True props to you. The original designer of that machine would gladly shake your hand. So would I!

[Trackburger]

Awesome job!!!, You have some true tallent!!! Beautiful bike.... :TrikesOwn

[Orangecnty250r]

Can we get a pic of the R, Tiger and Tecate together??

I'll try to do a photo shoot of the three over the weekend. As for a ride or show bike , its definetely a show bike but I have to find the right field or parking lot to rip this thing around on when its done. I agree it would be a sin to find a tiger, build it, and never find out what it feels like to ride it.

As for finding the patience I think its in the blood. I used to watch my father finely sand furniture for weeks to put in our house growing up. We didnt have alot of money to buy the best so he made the best. I would think "man this guy has to get a life ---it looks nice enough --stop the sanding already". Well I thought of that many times when I was redoing these fenders. It was like an internal drive to make them look as good as humanly possible and that meant boredom , hand cramping , and more and 5 trips to buy packages of sandpaper because I thought each trip would be the last. The end result was definetely worth it.

[atcmatt]

Truley Awsome Mate. Very nice job, I can see alot of time and effort went into that rig. I can really respect a person by seeing just how they treat a machine. ;)

Matt

[chris200x]

I was going to ask you the same question that I did about riding your restored tecate. I don't care who you are or how much will power one has...That thing has to be riddin at least once. I know that I would not be able to just let it sit there that's for sure.

[jakey]

Oh man that thing is absolutely amazing...i love it...it made me post again after almost 3 months.

[mbg75]

bill,
the tiger looks great, i am so glad to see it went to a good home!

alot of hours were spent finding those parts, especially the rear fender and pipe.

[Jeb]

Someone please hook this guy up with a nice Hoosier Tri-Trac front tire! :beer

That Tiger is simply beautiful. A work of art. If I was you I wouldn't worry about some RESPONSIBLE riding on it! Anyway, you've proven that you could take that sucker out and thrash it and then bring it back in the shop and transform it back to show-room condition. Hey, all it takes is time and money, right? !

Great work! :beer

[hrc85250r]

ummmmm, guys......wheres the motor? the laws of physics state that an object cannot be put into motion unless a force is acted upon it, so its going to be slow as hell until the is a fully race ported high compression race motor in that beast.

[ATC crazy]

Wow :eek: :Bounce

That is some awesome work you have done to that thing. Im even a little speechless right now :w00t:

[85 250sx]

yeah definatly the best restores i have ever seen. Just beautifull

[Kintore]

My idol! All the perfect machines restored. Looks amazing! Keep up the work!

[Orangecnty250r]

ummmmm, guys......wheres the motor? the laws of physics state that an object cannot be put into motion unless a force is acted upon it, so its going to be slow as hell until the is a fully race ported high compression race motor in that beast.

A little secret is that the motor being rebuilt was fully race ported with the head shaved 20 years ago. It will be real fast. But it is a very expensive venture. Even though it appears to only need a top end and possibly clutch I am having the whole thing inspected to make sure its solid rather do it once than pull it and do everything over again. The rotax parts are very expensive. I plan on having it fully complete in 6-8 weeks if funding allows it and my motor man pulls it off. He was actually in the process of becoming a tiger dealer when this company folded. I am tracking down a kid I went to high school with who owned a tiger 500 -18 years ago .I know he sold it but I plan to do some detective worked to se if we can track the location of the latest owner.

Anybody know an approxmate number of ATVs Tiger produced.

Erectordale ever find that former employee??

[Mr. Sandman]

Very sano job OC250R. I've only seen Tigers in pictures, and your's looks as good or better than everything I've ever seen. Keep up the good work!

[Orangecnty250r]

I actually got in touch with an old high school acquaintance whom I heard he had a tiger 500 18 years ago. I ve been talking to some other guys about my tiger and they mentioned him (I never saw it back then- he rode with a different crew in a different area). Well I gave him a ring and we BS'd for a while. When I asked if he had a tiger 3 wheeler he said yes. Excited, I asked if it was a 500 and his exact words were. "Oh Jesus a 500!!! I had a 250 and it would do a donut in 3rd gear on dry pavement, I cant imagine a 500" Well anyway we talked tigers for a while because he was the only one I grew up with that ever had one. He was going to race it but he never did and sold it because he trail rode which he said it was terrible for. He did not know the name of the person he sold it to but gave me an approximate area. The man he sold it to also had a tiger 4 wheeler. I'm going to print up some more Wanted fliers for convenient stores and gas stations in that area to see if anything turns up. Doesnt hurt to keep looking for rare machines. Keeps things interesting.