All the Duels – Duel BMW F 800 GS Vs Triumph Tiger 800 XC: the English against its full sister – Lots of travel, a little off-road

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Duel BMW F 800 GS Vs Triumph Tiger 800 XC: the English against its full sister

All the Duels - Duel BMW F 800 GS Vs Triumph Tiger 800 XC: the English against its full sister - Lots of travel, a little off-road

In 2011, the new Triumph Tiger 800 XC comes to spice up the trail segment to try to overshadow the BMW F 800 GS, until now alone in its niche. And the English has a weighty argument: its 3-cylinder. Duel between roads and paths !

Lots of travel, a bit of off-piste

While this is more or less true for all motorcycles, the BMW F 800 FS and the Triumph Tiger 800 XC can be enjoyed even more in "leisure" use. In this register, they have a remarkable ability to stick the banana to their pilot in almost all situations..

Whether you are in a duo with luggage, on the highway on vacation or alone on the attack on a small road, the Tiger like the GS shine by their extreme versatility. Able to cut the road (and the highway) like a big trail-GT, our two "middle-trails" almost manage to keep the liveliness of a single-cylinder. A kind of ideal compromise, in short !

Easy does not necessarily mean boring !

Their ease of use makes them formidable machines for efficiency on small roads. Intuitive, they take full advantage of the ease of tilting from one angle to another provided by their narrow pneumatic mounts: 90 mm at the front and 150 mm at the rear. Not very impressive on the terrace, but devilishly effective when climbing a pass !

Once again, the GS takes the advantage thanks to its rigid, precise and a tad more agile cycle part than that of the Tiger. For a bit, it almost feels like a big supermoto! On board the Triumph, the sensations are more subdued: if the tubular chassis performs its functions with skill, the whole ultimately encourages less debauchery.

British Comfort

While the kilometers go by, the F 800 GS also (unfortunately) shows the dark side of the Supermotard, namely a suspension agreement a bit dry and especially a trendy saddle "peach stones"! In addition, the protection of the small windshield is insufficient, especially as the wider handlebars expose the rider more..

The picture is much more favorable on board the Tiger 800 XC, which offers a well-designed and more comfortable saddle, but also a windshield (yet visually very close to that of the German) very protective.

As a duo, the pretty passenger handles are appreciated on both models, but the advantage also remains English thanks to its large and comfortable passenger seat. On the other hand, prefer a passenger type Adriana (ex) Karembeu to a Mimi format (always!) Mathy, as access to the passenger seats requires a significant leg lift, especially on the GS.

Long haul trails

When it comes to cutting miles, the two trails are always there. Despite its small 16-liter tank (against 19 for the Tiger), the F 800 GS offers a good range of 300 km thanks to its reasonable consumption (around 5.1 l / 100 km on average, even when driving rather hard) . The Tiger is a little behind on the consumption side, with an average of 6.2 l / 100 km.

When it comes to taking luggage, in addition to their very expensive optional cases, it is very easy to secure a bag at the back of the two motorcycles thanks to their luggage rack and the many anchor points available: handles and passenger footrest, frame, etc. But in this case, you will have to be able to do the splits like Jean-Claude Van Damme (well, in his prime!) To get in the saddle !

The very muddy conditions of our comparative test unfortunately did not allow us to assess the full off-road potential of our two trails, in particular for the Triumph, whose road-type tire assembly does not evacuate the mud at all….

It is true that it is not necessarily natural to evolve on the roads with a three-cylinder 95 hp, but for this exercise the BMW is much more at ease..

Despite the large suspension travel (220 and 230 mm at the front, 215 mm at the rear), it should be borne in mind that these are motorcycles of over 200 kg and that the slightest gadget can quickly raise Note…

Not easy to make a choice…

At the time of the assessment, it is difficult to decide between two European trails as close both statically and dynamically … Nevertheless, at the end of this duel, it appears that adventurers and athletes will undoubtedly prefer the surprising F 800 GS, while travelers will set their sights on the comfortable Tiger.

Will they necessarily need the XC? Not sure, because the performance of the classic Tiger 800 (and less expensive!) Is largely sufficient for road use. Remains the look – wiser on the 800 "short" than on the Tiger 800 XC – which also counts a lot when choosing.

On the price side, on paper only € 380 separate the English (€ 9,990) from the German (€ 10,370) in their basic versions, without accessories and especially without ABS. If we add ABS to the BMW (€ 715), its price rises to € 11,085 (€ 11,645 with the GS Pack), or 495 euros more than the Tiger XC ABS at € 10,590.

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