Thank goodness. I was all set to plod through the usual specifications, but I see our man Steve Anderson’s earlier introductory Euro-ride aboard these new Triumph Tigers has already been digitized for your convenience: Triumph Tiger 800 and Tiger 800 XC – First Ride.
Leaving me not so much to do, really, but add two cents worth of my two-day camping safari aboard the new Tigers 800 and 800XC around all sorts of paved and unpaved routes in San Diego County. Tiger 800, you’ll recall, is the streetier version, with 19- and 17-inch cast wheels, less suspension travel and a lower seat. The dirt-worthier 800XC (Xtra Careful) gets 21/17-inch spoked wheels (the front rim’s an Excel), more suspension travel and a taller seat.
Listen, I may not be the best rider of big streetbikes off-road (or smaller ones, or medium ones, or on-road ones, or…), but I’m one of the best destruction testers money can buy. When did the original BMW R1100GS appear? C. 1993? I was there, and I broke the rear part of the engine case on the left side where the frame bolts to it without even falling off—just by running over a slightly large bump at a speed (I was later informed) that was a little excessive for a dirt trail (where you are supposed to plonk along slow, standing up. Why not take the bus?) BMW said “operator error,” but I noticed that part of the engine casting grew burlier in the second year.
The good news is that I did not break the Triumph Tiger’s frame or any major load-bearing components. The bad news is I think they might need to go back to the drawing board on the hard-luggage mounts. The accessory side cases are nice big plastic jobs, with cool brushed-alloy shells on the outsides to give that rugged adventurer look, but the top rear mounting tab could be a little stronger. On several bagged bikes I saw that fell over on the left side, that molded-in tab broke clean off—rendering the rest of the bag unattachable and therefore useless, and leaving you with no way to get your stuff home if you don’t happen to have a chase vehicle along like we did. Superglue is not going to fix that. Luggage mounts that work fine on a road bike, I fear, may not cut it on an off-road one. Of course if you never fall off or tump over, like all the multitudes who thrive upon my misadventures, it won’t be a problem.
Other than that, no complaints. As for myself, riding big adventure-touring bikes on dirt roads is always going to be classified an unnatural act (the front end always feels pretty sketchy bending into corners), but once aimed out the other end, the 800 Triple’s broad, linear delivery makes it easy to gracefully transfer weight rearward and power down the straights. The rubber footpeg inserts pop out so you can stand up and weight that outside peg like Dick Mann. Dual disc front brakes that need a hefty squeeze on the street make a lot of sense in the dirt, and if you pony up for ABS, you can switch it right off when you leave the pavement.
Try not to get too cocky, though, the Bridgestone Battle Wing is not much of a knobby, and it will come around about two corners after you’re sure you’ve got a good handle on things. (I blame the Kawasaki ZX-10R’s traction-control system for my crash on the Tiger—and the photographers who put me up to it.) Most of this off-road stuff for me is too painful to recount, psychologically anyway—but thanks to my excellent Aerostich PROTEKT jeans and Icon Patrol jacket, physical injuries were avoided.
On the street, where, in my opinion, 500-pound motorcycles belong, these Triumphs are difficult to fault. The base 800, thanks to its being lower, is able to transition from side to side quicker than the XC. Both bikes, though, cling to dirty back roads like Spaghetti-Os to your microwave ceiling. The wide bars and sit-up ergos beg you to push them down into the pavement like dirt bikes, springs and damping are nice and firm for 150-pound riders, and there’s something Ducati-esque about the Tiger’s steel frame that seems to torque the contact patches into the pavement when the Tiger’s leaned over hard and your boot edges scrape. In street use, both Tigers feel a bit more firm and planted than the BMW F800GS.
What the bigger 800 Triple (stroked 9.6mm to 61.9) gives up to the revvier 675 (on which it is based) in peak power, it makes up for in an extremely broad midrange—and in sporting mode, six gears are really too many: third and fourth will devour any road. Revving the thing all the way out makes a nice racket, but not a lot more thrust. Like all the Triumph Triple gearboxes lately, the Tiger’s might be the nicest-shifting six-speed in production. Sixth is good for the long drone home, about 14 mph per 1000 rpm, a nice 83-mph cruise at 6000 rpm and just the hint of a tingle at the grips. And the windshield pokes a nice torso-sized hole in the air (until you break the flimsy plastic front mount in a crash like I did, and are left with more of a wobbly flyscreen you hope won’t come the rest of the way off and bisect your Adam’s apple). At right around 40 mpg, you’re looking at 200 miles between 5-gallon fill-ups and just go ahead and remain seated between stops: There were no pressure points on my posterior, at least, from the supportive, not-too-cushy saddle.
In any case, progress is being made. The BMW R1100GS I left in Animas Creek in Colorado over a decade ago drove the first deep wedge into my ex-marriage, and I never even had the decency to thank it. That bike weighed 530 pounds without fuel, and made 73 horsepower. The 1995 Tiger 900 weighed 527 dry and made 78 horses. The new Tiger 800XC weighs 464 (a single lb. more than the BMW F800GS), makes considerably more power and is a finer moto in every way. Almost every way. Spring for the top box and a tank bag. Maybe hold off on the side cases.
