TRIUMPH TIGER 900 GT PRO
The Tiger’s always been well-known for its top road manners, offering poise, performance and plenty of comfort for big miles and brief blasts. Add in an updated engine that’s smoother, more powerful and more efficient, and surely the new GT Pro’s on to a winner
Sitting above the slightly cheaper, and slightly less-equipped GT, the GT Pro is the flagship road-ready bike in the newly-revised Triumph Tiger 900 range. With a slightly lower seat (which is adjustable between 820-840mm) and longer reach to the bars, it feels surprisingly different to the Rally despite plenty of similarities.
The Tigers have always been really good handling bikes – and that’s still very much the case for 2024. I was properly impressed with the Rally Pro on the road, but the GT is even better. That probably doesn’t come as a great surprise; the road is its domain, after all. The smaller 19-inch front wheel and slightly more compact Marzocchi suspension are the big differences, making it sharper turning and more settled when you’re pushing on.
There’s a good amount less travel on the GT Pro’s springs than the Rally. The 45mm fully-adjustable forks have 180mm, while the preload and rebound damping adjustable rear shock offers 180mm. That’s plenty to happily soak up some of the rough, root-spewing roads on our miniadventure of Andalucia without too much pitch under hard braking to ever feel unsettled.
The suspension’s actually a pretty clever bit of kit. It's electronic – but it’s not an all-singing, all-dancing semi-active thing that’s becoming increasingly common on some of the bigger, more expensive bikes on the market (including the Tiger 1200). Instead, it’s a much simpler but equally worthwhile electronicallyadjusted rear shock. That means you can easily set it up just so, whether you’re riding around on your tod, loaded up with luggage, or are ferrying about a pillion. No need to whip out the spanners, just a few taps on the five-way joystick on the bars and you’re all sorted.
It’s a comfortable place to be, too. I preferred the seat up high to give me the most leg room, but even with the seat down low, I could have happily charged about all day on the GT Pro. It’s significantly more accessible than the Rally Pro to those on the shorter end of the spectrum. That lower
820mm seat really does make the world of difference; as proven by the ease at which a couple of the less long-legged riders on the launch jumped on and off it. It helps that it’s so well balanced, too. While there's a tiny bit of a top-heavy feeling thanks to the big 20 litre tank, it's perfectly manageable to shunt around and a joy to ride at slow speeds.
It's lovely to ride faster, too, of course. It’s actually lovely to ride full stop. Picking your way through towns, plodding along the motorway or pushing on the twisties, it’ll do the lot without a grumble. It is an exceptionally capable road-going adventure bike that feels reassuringly refined, while remaining great fun to ride. The electronic safety systems are the perfect example of this. A blast along a particular tree-lined, slightly slippery road saw the traction control quickly jump into life a handful of times, gently interfering to keep things upright and moving in the right direction. While it's on the more intrusive end of the spectrum, it goes about it in such a way that it never disrupts the groove – and that essentially means it helps you ride smoother, faster and, ultimately, safer.
Just like the Rally Pro, it does everything well, and remains an excellent option if you’re after a top adventure bike that’s just for the road. Its £13,895 price tag might feel a bit steep when you look at some of the other options out there, but when you factor in the standard heated grips, centre stand, handguards, cornering ABS, quickshifter, and the electronic suspension, you’re actually getting a hell of a lot of goodies for your cash.