As you should know by now, Triumph has been busy revising the Tiger 800 for 2018 with a claimed 200 upgrades to the engine and chassis, gaining many of the improvements that its bigger brother – the Tiger 1200 – adopted this season. Internal work on the 94bhp 800cc triple, apparently, offers a more responsive delivery and there’s a shorter first gear for off-road benefits.
Other highlights include Triumph’s fabled new TFT dash, updated Brembo brakes, shifting the ‘bars towards the rider by 10mm (a la Tiger 1200), updated cruise control, a five-way adjustable screen and an array of new switchgear featured on Hinckley’s latest machinery. Triumph has also geared the Tiger 800 further toward off-road shenanigans without sacrificing Tarmac prowess. The addition of ‘Off Road Pro’ mode allows skids and wheelies, and proper mudplugging capabilities.
The launch was in Marrakesh, Morocco: the ideal testing facility for such a versatile middleweight. With the continual growth of 44T, and where we’re both busy on other launches and ensuring our trusty Budget Bike Battle steeds complete the trip to Africa, the time has come to share the love and allow other to represent our fine brand.
Which is why we sent Chris Moss. ‘Mossy’ is an industry legend. Simple. Famous for his brutal honesty and off-bike skulduggery (we’ll get to that another time), Mossy has just completed two days of riding in Morocco and we’ve gathered his first ride thoughts on the 2018 Triumph Tiger 800 via telecom communication.
“There are six versions in total. I rode the top spec XRT road model and XCA off-road version on a great test that involved every terrain possible: nice roads, battered roads, scenic roads and very twisty roads. All in all, Triumph succeeded in letting us see this bike in its best light. The off-road, in particular, I was surprised as to how well it did.
“Listen, it’s a big, fat, heavy thing but they put it on some decent tyres (Pirelli Scorpion Rally) and the bike was way more manageable than I thought it would be, and that’s probably the word to sum it up: manageable. Easy to master, go-anywhere, anytime type bike.”
“I’m not sure whether the updates to the engine have made a huge difference but it’s very useable and there’s added excitement in the midrange when it gets going, a rush of extra speed. Overall, it handles very well, stops well and the suspension is very good – I especially like the better-spec kit on the XCA.
“It’s one of Triumphs best-sellers and I don’t see any reason why that will change for 2018. I would have one of those as a longtermer straight away [because Mossy is a tight bastard who hasn’t bought a bike in years] because it’s a tool, something you can use for every aspect of motorcycling.”
You can expect some fine japery, concise opinion and all the finer details on the Tiger 800 in a video coming soon. In the meantime, here’s the pricing…
- Tiger 800 XR £9,100.00
- Tiger 800 XRX £10,550.00
- Tiger 800 XCX £11,250.00
- Tiger 800 XRT £12,050.00
- Tiger 800 XCA £12,450.00
- Tiger 800 XRX Low £10,550.00
2 Responses
The Tiger has always been the bike for the person who wants a GS but wants to stand out a bit. Here’s hoping Triumph sells loads of these and adds some diversity to the ADV market. It would also be nice to see some variety in the local Starbucks parking lot.
Hi there
Nice ‘adventure’ bikes they are. Good for gravelroads ok for me. But I saw you’re last youtube video on the Husqvarna 2stroker. Love 2strokes but not in the forest as you and the other were doing. I wonder if it is legal to do-in Wales/UK?? Here in Sweden you are not allowed to ride in the forest/bush. Only if there is a gravelroad or forest track.