Triumph Tiger 800 XCA, 2020, 1635KM, R169,888

Last month, you read about the new Triumph Tiger 900. I told you that it is a step forward from the outgoing Tiger 800 but that didn’t necessarily mean that the 800 is a bad bike. Far from it. The Tiger 800 remains a brilliant road bike, with a fantastic engine, good comfort and good looks. In short there’s nothing wrong with it at all and only a hardened off-road rider could criticise its lack of lowdown torque in off-road riding. But, how often are you likely to be doing that?

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Launched in 2010, the Tiger 800 has gone through three generations; the first from 2010 to 2014, the second to 2018 and the third from 2018 onwards. The engine in all three generations remained largely the same, but each generation had multiple detail improvements, not least of which to the styling and electronics packages.

Each generation was well received by the press and public alike. The engine was a peach, silky smooth and powerful - around 95bhp pushing along 200kgs - and it sported Showa suspension and Brembo brake calipers.