LEVEL UP?

Does the road-biased Tiger 900 GT make for a worthy upgrade over the Tiger 800 XRx?

- ADITYA CHATTERJEE 

If you’ve been following my Instagram posts, I am sure you know how happy I have been with my Triumph Tiger 800 XRx in all these three and half years of owning it. Having clocked over 50,000km, the Tiger has been obediently doing my work-home commutes, weekend getaways and also occasional trips to off-road trails. Everything was fine until earlier this year when Rohit came back from Morocco, impressed after having ridden the all-new Triumph Tiger 900.

Agreeably, the updates have made the new-generation Tiger 900 a lot better when compared to the Tiger 800. But then are these changes worth an upgrade from the Tiger 800 XRx to the Triumph Tiger 900 GT?

Design and features

What has often attracted me to the Tiger 800, more than its rivals, is the fact that it looks intimidating in a handsome manner. The overall tall stance paired with the muscular styling and the exposed framework makes its one of the most attractive looking ADVs in the business. The Tiger 900 has taken this to the next level with its leaner design, as if Triumph made the Tiger hit the gym and it got chiselled, with six-pack abs and a perfect jawline. Interestingly, the Tiger 900 has gained dimensions, but Triumph has done a neat job of tucking it in nicely.

The sleeker LED headlights look smarter and offer better illumination than the larger units of the 800. Almost everything about the Tiger 900 feels better than the 800 in terms of design until you look at the rear of these two motorcycles. The signature vertical twin-LED tail lamps have been replaced by a horizontal single LED strip, that looks similar to the Hero Xpulse 200. Even after spending some time with the bike, the design just refused to grow on me.