Adventure touring bike checks all the boxes
Motorcycle is packed to the brim with creature comforts, worth every penny
BORMIO, ITALY Let’s describe the perfect motorcycle shall we? Or at least the perfect motorcycle for your typical 50-something — OK, 60-something — long-term biker who has fond memories of strafing back roads and hitting the road for 10 hours straight, for whom typical sport bikes (too crouched over) or touring bikes (too heavy) no longer appeal.
The perfect bike, then, would have more than a modicum of power — 120 horsepower would be nice; 140 even nicer — but retain compliant suspension. It would be able to carve a corner, but also have a riding position rational enough to eat up miles. It would also have to be relatively light, yet have all the luggage-carrying capacity of a Gold Wing. In other words, the perfect motorcycle is probably an adventure tourer.
More specifically, Triumph’s latest Tiger 1200 XCa might have a shot at this perfection thing.
First of all the engine: Though Triumph makes no claims for increased power, the power certainly feels more usable. Perhaps it’s the new triple’s lighter flywheel, which encourages more forceful tugs at the ride-by-wire throttle. Maybe it’s the superior fuelling that makes throttle response, even at low rpm, feel so linear. Whatever the case, the big triple felt like a giant electric motor, so easily did it move the Tiger up even the steepest mountain passes in Europe.
When fully loaded, you’ll start feeling the Tiger’s weight. Or, more accurately, its relatively high centre of gravity. That brilliant triple is a tall engine and the Tiger’s passenger perch is also one of the tallest in the biz and the two to make the 1200 a little tippy at low speeds.
I suppose I could wish for a slightly lower price tag. The top-of-the-range XCa starts at $23,750. Factor in another $2,310 for the powder-coated aluminum bags and another $340 for the tire pressure monitoring kit, and there’ll not be much change from 27 large.
That said, the Tiger 1200 XCa is the most comfortable adventure tourer I’ve tested and worth every penny Triumph Canada is asking.