[June 17, 2011] 'Adventure bike' enters Tiger country [Herald, The (Plymouth, England)] Tweet (Herald, The (Plymouth, England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TRIUMPH''S latest "adventure bike", the Tiger 800 XC, is a serious off-road model that is designed to go up against the likes of BMW's F800 GS. It is very similar in many respects to its sibling, the Triumph Tiger 800 which is more suited to the road than this trail-ready offering. The 800 XC is taller than the basic 800 and feels a much more substantial machine. This is as a result of a 21-inch wire front wheel which replaces the 800''s cast 19-inch model, longer travel forks and slightly wider and higher bars making the XC seem a much more fullon adventure bike compared to the basic 800 which is aimed at the less experienced and accomplished rider. The off-road biased Triumph Tiger 800 XC will set you back Pounds 7,749 on the road or should that be on the trail? That is Pounds 600 more than the basic Tiger 800. The middleweight triple engine used in the 675 and Street Triple was already a superb unit but with the stroke lengthened to take it up to 799cc, its low and middle range of the rev band has been fattened up albeit at the expense of some top end speed. The result is that the Tiger 800 XC''s powerplant is now an easy and seamless gem. Combine this with its light clutch, perfectly smooth gearbox and rapid throttle response and it makes the Tiger 800 XC a just joy to ride. Its lighter sibling with 19inch road wheels is inevitably the sharper, slightly easier of the two Tiger 800s to ride on the black stuff, but the XC isn''t that far behind. And off road there is no contest! The slightly different dimensions and geometry of the off-road XC version means it needs to be levered and then tipped into corners a tad more deliberately, the rider feels a touch more remote from the front end and there is slightly more dive and settling from the longer travel forks, but it''s absolutely no problem and you only notice this when switching from one to the other. As with all Triumph bikes, the options list is long and includes goodies such as ABS brakes at Pounds 600 and heated grips at Pounds 155. The Triumph Tiger 800 XC looks to be an up and coming star for its British manufacturer. Triumph has certainly done its homework with this bike by testing it in development against the market leaders from both BMW and Suzuki. The consequence is that the Tiger 800 XC can now challenge the best in its class on performance, equipment, ride and price. It doesn''t get much better than that. (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]