After eight years of production, Triumph’s mid-sized adventure bike gets a thorough overhaul for 2018. There’s new bodywork, a more responsive engine and shorter first gear to help pop the bike over rocks or (more likely) off the lights, a new lighter and rortier-sounding exhaust and a new, fancy full-colour TFT display for the gauges.
Those are just the more obvious changes. Triumph says there are more than 200 fixes and tweaks to the Tiger 800, which comes in six different variants, including a lower-riding model. Four of them (the XRs) are more road-oriented, while two (the XCs) are more for off-road.
Traction control and ABS are included as standard, together with five different electronic ride modes, and the XC model has a new “off-road pro” mode that lets you turn off the rider’s assistance. There are also heated seats and grips (yay!) and cruise control.
Basically, the six different models run the range from serious off-roader (“Mongolia, here I come!”) to serious poser (“Starbucks, here I come!”) and everything in between. There’s improved Brembo brakes on all but the most basic model, and upgraded suspension of either Showa or WP, depending on your fancy. The windshield is redesigned, too, with five different positions and adjustable “aero diffusers.”
Here’s a handy chart that shows what’s available on each model. Pricing is not yet released.
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