‘It’s already clear the XR is a great bike with the bonus of extra goodies’
paint is £200 extra. A Comfort Package (centrestand, keyless ride and Dynamic ESA) adds £630 while a Dynamic Package (quickshifter, adaptive headlight) adds a further £575. The example seen here also benefits from a £185 alarm and £250 SOS system, taking its total price up to a comparable £12,530. Impressively, however, as I take the BMW first to begin our 125-mile A-road loop, it’s the 900 XR’s basic abilities that stand out most. Slim, upright and well-proportioned, it’s instantly easy to get on with; its overbored parallel twin is both sufficiently grunty and beautifully progressive; its well-balanced chassis is both neutral and stable, yet has a nimble and engaging sporty edge. Its ergonomics are spot-on and bolstered by an adjustable seat and a brilliantlydesigned, one-hand adjustable, two-position screen and the icing on top is the BMW badge and the added lustre those extra options – particularly the ESA, quickshifter and heated grips – bring.
In other words, as the XR makes easy, enjoyable work of the A16, Boston town centre and A52, it’s already clear the XR is a great bike with the bonus of extra goodies, not a great bike because of them.
I take the Triumph next… and it is a great bike, too, but for very different reasons. Where the XR’s high spec extras are a bonus, the GT Pro’s almost overwhelm the experience. From the outset it’s clear the Tiger is ploughing a slightly different furrow. With more traditional adventure style (albeit with a road bias), its big tank, screen, front wheel, seat and all-round bulk remind more of a full-size adventure than a 900-class sport-tourer. Its gruntier, less powerful triple is steadier and less sprightly (although probably perfect for pulling around a pillion and week’s-worth of luggage). Its steering is less sharp and all-round it’s less dynamic and exciting – more touring than sports.
As such, it’s the Triumph’s array of luxuries that stand out: the giant TFT dash that’s also so sophisticated it can be distracting; not just heated grips but heated seats, too; the electrically-adjustable rear shock which, adjustable only for pillion and luggage options, fails to be as much of a bonus as BMW’s version, and so on.
Yes, as a bike purely for big miles, the Tiger is certainly the best. But it’s also the least sporty and
‘The Tracer 9 GT was simply in a different, addictively-sporty league’
entertaining, the most pricey and, in some ways, an exercise in excess. Instead, as we approached the end of our B-road loop, and although greatly admiring the BMW and Triumph, it was the new Tracer 9 GT that shone brightest. Earlier, on the A47 during the A-road section, the Yamaha had impressed and infuriated in equal measure. The power delivery and soundtrack of its re-worked triple had proved intoxicating, its new semi-active suspension had delivered a magic carpet ride. But its screen isn’t the best, its comfort doesn’t stand out and, I’m sorry, that dual screen dash and fiddly switchgear are annoying.
But on the nadgery, scratchy B664, then A6003, then the B672 back to Morcott, the Tracer 9 GT was simply in a different, thrilling, addictively-sporty league. Don’t get me wrong – all three are exceptional in their own ways and the XR in particular ran the new Tracer 900 GT close. The BMW is a brilliant all-rounder all three testers would have been overjoyed to own. But the key word is ‘simple’. It doesn’t need its extras to excel (although the extra mode and ESA are tempting) and in this £12,500 trim it’s simply not more bike than the panniered £12,202 Yam.
The Triumph, by contrast, IS more, even without panniers, but most of its extras (heated seat, for example) only count if you’re dedicated to mile-munching. The rest of the time it’s cumbersome, unexciting and excessive.
But the Tracer 9 GT is both thrilling and, partly due to extras such as the suspension and panniers, practical as well. For all of that, at that price, we’ll live with those clocks and screen.