Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Road Test Review

Easy Yet Tiring Off-road
In the right hands, the Tiger 900 Rally can be an exceptionally great off-roading tool. For someone like me who has just about got the hang of riding off-road, it did feel a bit tiring. It isn’t easy jumping from my daily rider, the Hero XPulse 200 - a bike that weighs half as much as the Tiger and has one-fifth the power, to this large ADV. It does require sharp reflexes, especially if you were to wade into uncharted waters, or terrain. The stand-up riding posture was quite nice, the bike feeling quite balanced even when standing on the serrated pegs.

What made me feel uneasy was the Off-road mode. It gets a dedicated off-road throttle map with better low-end performance as well as an anti-stall feature that raises the revs just slightly to stop the motor dying on itself when you are in a jam. The ABS intervention is killed at the rear wheel, allowing you to lock the rear brake when the need arises. The troublesome bit is the traction control. It isn’t completely off here. There is just a little hint of intervention, not allowing the rear end to spin up too much. We’re sure most off-road riders would appreciate not having any form of intervention, allowing them to slide their way out of a tight spot. That said, a newbie adventurer might find this useful. You can fiddle with the bike’s computer and switch off the traction control but as soon as the ignition is turned off and on again, the TC once again becomes active.

The Tiger 900 has an extremely tall stance, boasting 240mm/230mm of front/rear travel and full-adjustability. While soft-roading, the suspension soaked up almost every single obstacle in its path. The stock tune though is a bit firm, especially the rear end that caused the rear wheel to skip and bounce over small rocks. Had we got more time with the bike, we could have spent more time in fine tuning it for my weight. The front end is a bit more pliant and not bouncy like the rear, helping the rider choose his path through a series of obstacles with relative ease.

There are finally tubeless spoke rims here. Despite them being costly units, they can take a beating. The obvious advantage is that repairing punctures will not be a tedious affair.

Tall But Manageable
As daunting as the spec sheet might suggest the 870mm seat height is, you would be pleasantly surprised how manageable the bike actually is. I am 5ft 10in tall and I was able to just tip-toe the motorcycle. I would blame that more on my large thighs as someone who is equally as tall but more regularly proportioned would not find it too difficult to reach the ground. Someone who is slightly lean or has dandy legs, will appreciate just how slim the midsection of the Tiger 900 is. For others, you could start learning the off-road method of just placing a single foot on the ground and the other on the footpeg.

Triumph has pulled the handlebars closer to the rider by a centimetre, meaning shorter riders don’t have to stretch as much to reach the bars, unless you have to take a U-turn or a pretty sharp turn. I found myself stretching a bit more than I would have liked in such scenarios.

Thanks to a new dual radiator setup, the engine heat dissipation has improved. The hot air is diverted away from the rider’s legs. It’s no longer blown directly behind, heating up the chassis inadvertently, making it difficult to straddle the bike. There is a small plastic guard on the chassis that is meant to protect the paint of the frame. However, it juts out ever so slightly, sort of poking my knees and thighs, and that did irk me a bit.

Rally Is Rally Enough?
If you are going to ask us whether you really need the Rally Pro trim then the answer is - “It depends”. If you are one to enjoy open roads and would love to control your music, attend to calls via your helmet communication device and also navigate your way through unknown areas without having to stop to take your phone out, then get the Rally Pro. The MyTriumph Bluetooth connectivity module comes standard on this trim allowing you to do all of the aforementioned activities as well as control your GoPro. Plus, you get heated rider and pillion seats as standard, a must have if you are going to be riding in cold regions. And not to forget Off-road Pro mode, that switches off traction control completely. Mind you, these bits, except for the riding mode, are also offered as accessories. But the cost of fitting them individually on the base Rally model will be way more than the Rs 1.15 lakh premium that Triumph currently asks for the Rally Pro trim.

Should You Sell Your Tiger 800 & Get This?
If you have the pre-2018 XCx version, then yeah. The Tiger 900 Rally offers more usability and has better credentials to explore Mother Earth. As a highway tool, the engine’s new punchy characteristics help you sustain higher speeds with a little more ease. In the city too, one doesn’t need to work the gearbox much, and the tall seat height just gives a better view over traffic. And if you are seriously going to be taking it off-road then you might not get anything better in its asking price of Rs 14.35 lakh (ex-showroom India). Still, we would like to have a spin on the sensible road-biased GT trim to recommend which Tiger 900 variant you should opt for.