regrettably brief day aboard the Tiger on one of those strange August days we only get in England, when every possible combination of weather you can imagine hits unpredictably and without reason. Blistering heat, torrential rain, bright sunshine, sub-zero gale force winds and plagues of frogs made up the typical summers day, and gave me opportunity to try the Tiger in a range of conditions it would have taken months to muster in any country with a sensible climate. To it's great credit the Tiger shrugged it all off and just kept rolling. At low speeds the bike is nimble and sure footed, though a little tall in the saddle. I was on tip toes to hold it up in a particluarly slopey pub car park, and I'm over six foot. At speeds of up to 110MPH on tarmac it's confident and well planted, and blasting across rough ground standing on the pegs I could steer with confidence at 60 MPH.
And that motor is really quite pokey, in a moorland blast I was able to put some distance between me and a persuing BMW R1100S. Turn it on, and the power comes in with a rush at around 4000RPM, accompanied by a sweetly rasping exhaust note that's unique to Triumph triples. Lovely. But what really grabs you about the Tiger is the way it looks. This bike looks great from any angle, the tiger stripe graphics driving home the "Don't mess with me" message. That mean, purposeful stance makes lesser bikes cower as you pass, leaving a final impression of a huge silencer like a rocket launcher threatening rearward retribution. And the real surprise for those unused to big trailies is just how versatile a bike the Tiger is. You can tour on it, you can commute on it, you can cross continents on it, and you can even scratch on it at a push.