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Keeping a Tiger in Captivity
Written by:
Neale Bayly
05/05/2008 - 03:46 PM
Charlotte, North Carolina
Tracing its heritage back to 1993, when Triumph was still using modular frames and carbureted engines produced from a combination of two different bore and stroke choices. (Photo: Riles and Nelson) ยป More Photos
You have to feel sorry for my neighbors. As non-motorcyclists, they just can’t understand what I do, and telling them I was bringing a Tiger home for a few days last month just had them peering though their spy glasses before leaving their condos, wondering if they were about to be attacked by some form of man eating beast. You can’t really blame them. Periodically disappearing for seven to ten days at a time while attending overseas press launches, I usually return looking like I have been partying with Keith Richards for a week. And over the past year they have gotten used to seeing this jet lagged, unshaven creature, scuttling off to the mailbox rambling on about some weird place around the world. So, preparing for a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago with the new 1050 Tiger, I’m sure it was with great relief when the word got around it was a motorcycle, not some hairy carnivore from Africa, lurking the corridors in search of its next meal.
Tracing its heritage back to 1993, when Triumph was still using modular frames and carbureted engines produced from a combination of two different bore and stroke choices, the Tiger has come a long way over the last fourteen years. Originally displacing 885cc, it became fuel injected in 1999 and hasn’t looked back. Styled to look like the Paris/Dakar off-road racing bikes of the ‘80s, with the large gas tank and aggressive twin headlight front fairing, it was a very enjoyable and well-rounded machine. I was lucky enough to make a 3,600-mile tour out west in 2000 on this second version and was taken by the silky-smooth power delivery, light steering, and simple, robust nature of the bike. At the time I was filming a documentary and was hauling a cameraman with lots of gear. Riding through everything from 117-degree temperatures in Arizona, to ice and snow at Crater Lake in Idaho, the bike performed flawlessly under all conditions.
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