All Tests – Test drives Triumph Tiger 800 and 800 XC: road or off-road? – When Triumph (re) tries the big leap

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Triumph Tiger 800 and 800 XC test drives: road or off-road ?

All Tests - Test drives Triumph Tiger 800 and 800 XC: road or off-road? - When Triumph (re) tries the big leap

Triumph has chosen to reinvest in the off-road segment with two new models, the Tiger 800 and 800 XC: the first is intended for daily road use, and the second for more distant escapades.. Site was able to verify it: tests.

When Triumph (re) tries the big leap

Since the Tiger 1050 in 2007, Triumph had deserted the segment of road trails, these "real adventurers" motorcycles that will probably never wander on side roads but seem quite capable of doing so.

Manufacturers know it well: the vast majority of motorcycles of this type are confined to road use, even urban. However, "there was a real demand here for an all-terrain model‘, tells us Simon Warburton, product manager at Triumph.

In addition, "Triumph wishes to become a generalist manufacturer: by offering an exhaustive range, we are protecting ourselves from reduced revs in certain sectors. In recent years, for example, as sales of cruisers and sports cars eroded, we have been able to rely on our roadsters", continues the British official interviewed by Site.

Launched in April 2007, the "little tigress" project finally resulted in two new products: the Tiger 800 and the Tiger 800 XC, respectively the "handyman" and its more "adventurous" version (read).

The name choice was obvious: "Triumph has a great off-road heritage dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, with the 650 cc Trophy and Tiger", reminds us the Hinckley firm. For engine capacity, however, the English admit to having procrastinated a lot…

"The engine was one of the key points and the decision was not easy to make", explains Simon. With one of the most efficient mid-capacity engines on the market – if not" the "engine! – Triumph has however chosen to overhaul its 675 almost entirely..

"The six-seventy-five would have been too aggressive on an off-road model", Simon Warburton believes."By increasing the displacement to 800 cc, we wanted to offer an engine that was easier, smoother, less scary but still vigorous.".

Rather than rebore its small 3-cylinder, Triumph therefore preferred to increase the stroke. This decision, which necessitated the modification "about 85% of the pieces", deprives the new Tiger of several revs / min and a few horsepower compared to the Daytona or Street Triple, but offers them more torque at low and mid-range.

Both equipped with this new engine – at this stage, even if the similarities are great with the 675, the 800 is a "new" engine – the two Tigers do not create jealousy between the owners of the "road" 800. and the 800 "track": each will benefit from the 95 horses at 9300 rpm and 79 Nm at 7850 rpm.

Likewise, the two new Triumph models benefit from the same framework. If it takes the double tube design of those of the Speed, Street, Daytona or Sprint, the frame of the Tiger is made of steel and not aluminum. Very robust, this material "will allow the more adventurous to carry out makeshift repairs much more easily than aluminum", advance the English. Same observation for the selector and the rear brake.

Both Tiger’s also receive the same braking systems. Note however that the 800 will be available with or without ABS, while its sister XC (for "Cross Country) will be available without ABS only during the first months of its marketing in France….

Indeed, once the ABS models have been launched into production (in February 2011), Triumph France will only import the 800 XC with ABS. "In the event of a trip on the roads, the ABS may be disconnected", instantly reassures us Eric Pecoraro, marketing manager at Triumph France.

Note also that the Tiger 800 is not similar to a "small" 800 XC, nor to a discounted version of the Cross Country (less powerful, dispossessed of a front brake disc, for example). These two new Triumph trails have, in fact, two different programs that the manufacturer has offered us to discover in Spain, near Barcelona … Action !

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