TIGER DISPLAYS ITS BRILLIANCE
In 1990, I splashed out £500 I didn’t have on a 28in Sony Trinitron TV. Back then, it was the dog’s dangly bits and the biggest you could get.
But the 46in HD plasma one I have now would have made it look like the 12in black and white Ferguson 988T on which my grandfather Edward watched the football results every Saturday in the hope he had won the pools and could stop being a butler.
Which brings me, of course, to motorbike instrument panels. The one on my first bike consisted of a speedo and an ammeter. The one on the new Tiger, by contrast, is like the latest 4K TV, and is such a paragon of beauty it could win design awards.
Even better, the display and the 4,736 rider modes covering power delivery, traction control, semi-active suspension, ABS and so on are controlled by a little joystick on the left bar so simple even blokes can operate it.
None of this would matter, of course, if the bike was a pile of donkey droppings. But the good news is that it’s the best Triumph machine to bear the name Tiger – from the 250-500cc offerings of the 1930s up to the 900-1200cc machines of modern times.
Triumph has shaved up to 11kg off the outgoing model, the Tiger Explorer. At 262kg fully fuelled, it’s still a hefty beast, but thanks to the usual Hinckley magic, that mass disappears instantly on the move, making handling a doddle – particularly with a featherlight clutch and low-speed fuelling which is deliciously smooth compared to the sensitive, snatchy feel at low revs of the Explorer.
At speed, that segues beautifully into a seamless, linear power delivery from a gem of an engine all the way from the basement to the red line at just over 10,000rpm, accompanied by a gloriously visceral growl from the exhaust.
Add low-maintenance shaft drive, brilliant mirrors, adjustable screen, heated grips and plush seat, and it’s a bike on which you could set off around the world without a care in the world.
Any faults? Only a range of about 200 miles compared to almost 400 on the BMW GS Adventure – but that’s only going to be a problem crossing the Atacama Desert – and a price tag of a grand more than the outgoing Explorer.
But then that’s why God invented PCP deals. Enjoy!