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Triumph Daytona 675 vs Tiger 1050 Sport

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With the great weather in July and Chris undecided as to whether to ditch his Blackbird, we headed off to Bulldog Triumph to try out some of their bikes.

Out with the old?Honda Blackbird

I was primarily interested in the Tiger 1050 Sport. I’d heard a lot about the differences that I’d find between the new model and my “old” 2006 bike. First impressions were good, the solid feel of the Tiger, a little quiet for my liking but I’m sure that wouldn’t be to difficult to fix. The brakes are awesome! Just pulling up outside the dealer before heading off gave an indication as to how much better a new set of brakes can feel over a 25k mile set. Same with the suspension. This bike doesn’t wallow around corners (!) – maybe I should invest some money in a suspension refresh…

It was 30°C and 3pm on a Friday afternoon so didn’t get a chance to try the headlights. I’d be interested to see how they compare to mine [HID dip and standard “candle” main]Triumph Tiger 105 Sport

After half an hour or so we swapped bikes.

This Daytona is a bit different!

After wafting along in the arm-chair comfort of the Tiger, the Daytona was a bit of a shock. It is absolutely tiny.I’m looking straight at the road about 10 feet in front of the bike. To look down the road I have to crane my neck into a very uncomfortable position – and then I can’t look through the lenses of my glasses so the view is all blurred!

The bike goes like a rocket and hits the rev limiter in every gear that I use. I just can’t change gear fast enough. And what a great sound comes from the Arrow slip-on exhaust.Triumph Daytona 675 Conclusions:

  • Chris loved the Daytona and hated the Tiger
  • It was as fast (in real life) as his Blackbird, was so much lighter and flickable and just more fun.
  • He’s not sure he could ride one to Wales and back in a weekend…
  • I loved the Tiger but sportsbikes are not my cup of tea (glad I tried it though)

And then there was this sitting in the car park back at Bulldog…

GSXR-1000

It was hot though…

Hot iPhone

Triumph Tiger 1050 Indicators

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If you’ve got an old-ish 1050 Triumph, be it Tiger, Sprint or Speed, take a look at the design of your indicators.  Do they look like this?

old style Triumph indicatorRound, opaque, old fashioned?

Then try these!

new style triumph indicatorSharp, clear, new.

These are the new style indicators fitted to the more recent models and are a direct replacement. They can be bought on eBay quite cheaply as people fit LED indicators to their new bikes and flog these off. I picked up a set of 4 (from a Speed Triple) for £20 – they are £26 each from your friendly dealer.

Fitting couldn’t be more easy:

  • Undo the single (rear) screw that holds the lens on the indicator
  • Remove the lens and pop out the reflector
  • Remove old unit by unclipping the two wires
  • Slide the plastic housing off the flexi-mounting, leaving the wiring intact
  • Slide on the new triangular housing, feeding the wires through
  • Clip wires onto the new reflector (doesn’t matter which way)
  • Fit new lens with single (front) screw

Job done. Sparkly-looking new indicators!

Triumph Tiger 800XC

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At last! A dry day and a couple of hours to spare! Out on the Bulldog demonstrator…

My first impressions were as to what a big bike this is. The 1050 that I rode a while back was the only bike I’ve ever ridden on which I couldn’t get both feet flat on the ground. This wasn’t that tall – but nearly.

A very imposing riding position compared to my Sprint, immensely confidence-inspiring handling and the ability to ride to an actual standstill without putting the feet down.

The standard can is a bit quiet – in fact I could hear Vincent’s 1050 (with can) behind me most of the time, over the engine whine of the 800. Plenty of power and the noise did get better higher up the rev range.

I wear an Arai. It’s not the quietest helmet in the world. The Tiger screen didn’t suit my height, riding position (or choice of helmet). At any speed over 50, the wind buffeting was quite severe. Funnily enough, it was no worse at 80!

All in all, a great bike and one that I’m sure will be very successful. Many of the people who’ve ridden both the XC and the road version say that they prefer the XC. I’ll just have to try won’t I?

 

Now, what was that about a 1200 Adventure??