How does the tiger 900 stack up in everyday use?
Triumph’s new Tiger 900 Rally is our Bike of the Year for 2020, but what’s it like to live with? 1500 miles, two-up slogs and Welsh road entertainments tell the full story
The all-new Triumph Tiger 900 has a tough act to follow because the old Tiger 800 was a great bike. And the adventure category is packed with strong rivals. So this had better be a really good machine. The new Tiger is available in two versions, the road biased GT model and the off-roadable Rally. In addition there are ‘Pro’ versions of each range, loaded with electronic gizmos. It’s the Rally model that’s the standout – the white painted frame, tall stance and wire wheels giving it stunning visual appeal. Over a month we subjected the bike to a 350-mile two-up day, Welsh B-roads, the M25 and the Peak District, as well as local roads and city streets. This is what we learnt.
Engineandtransmission
The standout technical development on the Tiger’s new 888cc engine is the ‘T-plane’ crankshaft. According to Triumph development bosses this was created in response to customer demand for better feel at low rpm, to deliver improved off-roadability. A combination of unevenly spaced crankpins and a quirky ignition firing order make the engine deliver power more like a twin. It’s true that compared with a BMW GS the old 800 felt a bit, errrr... whizzy, though whether that is a bad or a good thing is debatable.
It does work off-road. On the bike’s launch in Morocco its tractability on dirt was impressive, but for this UK road test the bike was delivered on road tyres, so Triumph know where most people will use it. On gnarly, single track moorland B-roads it’s ace. But that’s because you ride them like they’re unsurfaced, driving the bike out of the mid-range and not using high rpm.
Cruising along A-roads and motorways one is aware of side effects caused by the ‘feels like a twin’ transformation. Firstly (and like some of its twin cylinder rivals) it feels busy, so you’re always tempted to change up early. That’s no problem with the 900’s rich mid-range, but until you’re used to it you also tend to look for a seventh ‘cruising’ gear.
It also vibrates more like a twin so that at a steady 5000rpm (indicating 80mph in top) on the M25 my right hand starts going numb and I can feel the pegs gently tingling through lightweight summer boots. Is that a problem? Not really. On a curving road, like the fast blast along the A44 through mid-wales, with varying throttle positions, it’s not an issue. And, two-up on a motorway, as soon as I start using the intuitive cruise control my right hand gets a rest and feeling returns. But it certainly doesn’t feel like a step forward.
Bike’s ‘ridden them all’ Deputy Editor agrees. ‘The engine’s performance is impressive,’ says Mike Armitage after his stint on the bike. ‘Even more midrange urgency and response than the previous 800? Yeah, I reckon. But I don’t get the whole twin-alike sound and feel from the T-shape crank. I’m sure the claim about extra traction on dirt from the big-bang firing intervals has some truth, but I also guess that a) for most riders it’s of little relevance as they won’t go off-road, and b) to really appreciate any benefit you’ll need Dakar racer ability levels. Building an adventure bike with a syrupy, whooshing, luxurious three-cylinder engine was Triumph’s USP, and the 120˚ crank motors are fabulous road engines. The T-crank rumbles mean it now sounds and feels like all the twins flooding the market, and you get more vibrations too. I just don’t understand why they felt the need.’
As for the rest of the engine , it is pretty fantastic. The flexibility and mid-range drive make it a great bike on which to make smooth, unruffled progress. Good for pillions too, as you can hold gears all the way from almost nothing to
way beyond the peak power point at 8750rpm (redline is at 11,000rpm), to avoid helmet crashing gearchanges. Not that shifting ratios is any kind of problem. The clutch action is light and smooth and the gearchange is crisp and accurate.
Low speed metering is good too. Combine that with a light clutch and easy handling and it’s a good bike for town use.
Handlingandride
Riding on road profile Bridgestone Battlax Adventure tyres the Tiger handles superbly, achieving that holy grail between stability and agility. The 21-inch front wheel and 830mm wide bars on the Rally Pro must be a big part of providing that feeling. The increased wheel radius provides gyroscopic stability, while the bars provide the leverage to overcome it. Of course the smaller wheel and wider tyre of the GT versions might provide better ultimate grip, but I don’t think I’ll be troubling the extremities of that. For me the Rally is marginally the better handling of the two bikes.
Ride quality on quality Showa suspension is good too and, as you’d expect of a machine with off-road pretensions, the Tiger can calmly spear its way down potholed and pockmarked Welsh B-roads in an utterly unflustered manner (I was late, again). Mike concurs; ‘Triumph’s chassis engineers must have massive domed foreheads. They get away with building rowdy nakeds that feature 250Gp-like geometry but that are somehow stable, and can create a large-wheeled high-rise adventure bike
‘The flexibility and mid-range drive make it a great bike on which to make smooth, unruffled progress. Good for pillions too’