Bryn Davies takes delivery of our new Triumph Tiger 800 XCx
During the making of this January/February edition of Adventure Bike Rider magazine, we took delivery of our Triumph Tiger 800 XCx, and in the few weeks that we’ve had it I’ve taken it to ride a coast to coast route in Scotland (which you can read about on page 53) and I’ve also had the pleasure of commuting to work on it.
The Tiger arrived at an interesting time for me. It was only two months ago that I was riding a 2015 Tiger 800 around the tarmac and dirt roads of Colorado and Utah and, having spent two weeks and over 2,500 miles on that bad boy, I came to know it quite well.
So, it was with great excitement that I threw a leg over Triumph’s latest iteration of its mid-weight adventure bike. If I could sum the 2015 bike I was riding in the US up in one sentence, it would be: great on the road, questionable off it.
The seating position was spot on for long days in the saddle, but the standing off-road stance felt awkward, and there wasn’t near enough ground clearance for the more technical trails.
While I’ve not been off-road on the XCx yet, it’s quite clear that the stellar on-road performance and comfort is still there. For 2018, Triumph made no less than 200 changes to the Tiger 800, implementing the tweaks to make the bike more modern and also more refined.
One such change is the inclusion of a TFT dash, and it’s a beauty to look at, clearly displaying any information that you might need in an organised and uncluttered way.
Elsewhere you get six riding modes, a redesigned switchgear with backlit buttons, and LED lights.
The new switchgear might seem a bit overwhelming at first (there are a lot of buttons with different functions) but it’s good to have everything so clearly laid out, especially at night (why don’t all bike come with backlit switchgear?!).
Price: £11,250
Engine: 800cc liquid-cooled, 12 valve, DOHC in-line 3-cylinder
Power: 93bhp @ 9,500rpm
Torque: 79Nm @ 8,050rpm
Brakes: Front; Twin Brembo 305mm ABS, Rear; Single Nissin 255mm ABS
Gearbox: 6-Speed
Weight: 208kg
Tank Capacity: 19l
Fuel Consumption: 60.6mpg (Claimed)
On the subject of the LED headlights; they’re excellent. You know they’re good when cars coming in the opposite direction are flashing you when you’ve got your dipped beam on.
It might be an annoyance for other road users, but at least they know you’re there!
The handlebars have also been moved back slightly when compared to the earlier models to allow for the inclusion of the high windscreen, which Triumph reckons provides class-leading wind protection.
Having spent a good few motorway miles riding the XCx, I can confirm that it’s pretty damn good for a stock screen.
I’m really looking forward to getting to know the Tiger 800 XCx more, from my brief stint of riding it so far it seems like a fantastic all-round bike, I just hope it’s going to perform better on the dirt than its predecessor did.