Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128104
2001 Triumph Tiger The 2001 Triumph Tiger dual-purpose motorcycle Is a fun, all-around motorcycle that's good In the canyons, on dirt roads and on the highway. t he T r iu m p h Tiger. It's not rea lly a d ual -sport and it 's not really a to uring b ik e , · So what is it? " I wo nd ered . I guess it's j ust a reall y versati le bike that c an' t be thrown into an y of th e industry 's typical market segm ents. T hat' s what makes the Tiger a cool bi k e - the fact that it's a vagabond in a sea of conformity. I guess it's tru ly a dual-purpose bik e - not a dual -sport, which would be more dirt oriented. So where does the Tiger fit in? It's even an oddity within Triumph 's own line-u p of motorcycles, let alone the rest of the market. Triumph decided that the best way to sho w what th e bike was designed for wa s to let the bike de monstrate its own capabilities. Let 's say that yo u decided to go on a trip around th e world: What kind of bi ke would yo u take? A ssum in g th at on a j ourney of that nature yo u wo uld encounter so me very d i ve r se ro ad ty pes and co nditions, a bike th at 's a jack -of-a ll- trades wou ld be perfe c t. Triumph decided th at pay ing for j ournali sts t o ci rc u m na v ig at e the e.arth wo uld n 't b e easy, so they devi sed a small er -s c a l e v ers ion of the sa me concept. Ou r 300 -mile journey would be a mock g lobal excursion . A route wa s lai d out that wo uld ta k e us t hrough every imagina ble type of road , from f reeways to di rt goat p aths . In the end , we would hopefully know what the T iger was all about. We started in Costa Mesa , Californ ia , and rod e south , sp e ndi n g t he early part of the day rid ing on some of Southern Ca lifornia 's m ost tw isty can yon ro ads . The Tiger i s r ig ht at home in th e tight stuff - the w ide han dl eb a r s o ffer plen t y of levera ge t o pu sh the b ike down into the co rne rs w ith ea se. At first glan c e, th e T ig er doesn 't t ip y o u off to i t s on -road capabil ities - as a matter of fact , it doesn 't loo k like it would be any good in the dirt, either. It did , however , perform far beyond my expectations in the canyons . The new 955cc motor provides plenty of propulsion even for sport rid ing - it now ha s th e sa m e motor that 's in the S p e e d T rip le . There 's am ple torque, and a n ice , smooth sp re ad of powe r . The fuel in je ct i o n works well, wi th just a n occasio nal hi nt of snatchiness. We ro de on a variety of r o a d s , fr om rea lly tig ht hairpins to fast, o pen sweepers. The T ig er's t all stance ke pt th e foo t p egs and c enterst an d fr o m d ragg in g in the c orners, des pi te the rel ativel y soft suspensi on . It took a 44 n STO RY A ND P HOT OS B y BLAKE C O N N ER wasn 't sure wha t it was at firs t , but I there is someth ing re ally cool abo ut MAY 16. 2001 • e ye . .. e .... s little wh il e to t rust th e semistreet/ sem i-dirt tires fitted to the bike, but once I was accustomed to the feel , they were p red ictable and p ro v ided adequate grip o n the t ar m ac . Th e Tiger h ide s its weight . (Triumph claims 474 pounds dry ) fai rly well in the c an y o n s, but at ti me s the b ike feels to p-hea vy due to the tall sus pension. The bike I ro de didn 't have the o ptional panniers and top box , but the T ig er would definitely make a ver satile to uring bike. T he ergonom ics , in clud ing the seati ng pos ition and wi nd protection . were co mfortab le on ou r all-day rid e. After pu tting in some respectab le m il e s on the fantas ti c mou ntai n roads , we head ed for t he d irt . The Tiger looked like it would work okay in th e dirt, bu t I was a little apprehe nsive about the bike's weight - not to m ention the front tire. The first part of the dirt fire-road had been freshly graded - which sounds like a goo d th ing bu t in reality was a nightmare. The t o p three or four inches of soil were so soft that it was almost im possible to ride at more than 5 mph. The front ti re is j ust too street-orien ted to cope with the combination of the Triump h ' s weight and the deep so il. I was losing the fr o nt end repeatedly and covering very little ground, but luckily the road deteriorated - which in th is case was an improvement. It turne d in to a hard-packed , ru t te d wash board road for about 12 miles, which wa s when th i ngs b e c am e entertaining. A ll of a sudden the Tiger came into it s ele m ent. It' s obvious ly no t as agile as a true dual -sport, and a lo ng way off from a motocross bike,