Triumph Tiger 800 XC

outsidecurtisp

Observer
This morning I was able to ride the bike to work; on the way home I decided to take Angeles Crest. Anyone who has ever riden this highway knows its pretty good for Southern California. The weekends suck as it's crowded with sport bikers, police and Sunday drivers. Today, I think I saw 15 cars total. Four other bikes. It was windy and REALLY cold at the top. I had a blast though. Good mix of corners and straight-aways. The bike is so smooth.

Update: I checked on my stuff from ALT-Rider this afternoon and it's still back-ordered. Darn. Hopefully tomorrow.
 

dirtysouth

Adventurer
I absolutely loved mine before I sold it. The 800 to me is the perfect size, and this is coming from someone who started out on dirtbikes and have owned 1000cc sportbikes and touring bikes. The issues that were known on the new 800 were ironed out by the time the 2012 and newer models came out, and all recalls would have to be performed by the dealer before any bike made it's way out of the dealership. I decided to sell mine after deciding to get out of riding, but I miss the Tiger something serious.

Tiger%20800%20XC%20002-M.jpg
 

gregdee

New member
Tiger's Rock!

My wife and I both ride 'em, 'cept mine's a bit bigger:bike_rider: I ride the Explorer and my wife's on the 800XC. The extra mass of mine keeps me in check so together we're pretty well matched. Though, I have to admit my wife does pull away from me when it get's somewhat technical.

Before she chose the 800XC we rode the F800GS side by side and switched off. The F800 is not even in the same league. Perhaps the 2013 is better for the dirt (someone here in an earlier post suggested the F800 was better in the dirt) but the one I was on was downright boring. I found the F800 GS to be like the Subaru Outback - trusty and stable but not particularly exciting to drive.

Anyway, we're headed out for another adventure just as soon as the sun comes up. This trip will be 8 days through the 4 corners, into southern Utah, then winding back home through southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. These Tigers will go darn near anywhere! OK, I'm probably not taking the Explorer on any single track but there will be plenty of dirt roads and two track in this trip, interspersed with too much pavement but you gotta get there - and that's the adventure.

Plenty of good info over on ADVRIDER and here's one of our rides from last Spring showing a few shots of the bikes in action.
 

Butch1979

Family Adventurer
Pretty nice incentives on the 2013s through Triumph at the moment. Might be one in my future soon also.

Butch
 

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
I went and did a test drive on one today, very nice bike. They are still running pretty good incentives and $1000+ of farkle thrown in too.
 

SalsaJJ

Salsa GM
I owned a 2011 Tiger 800 XC and sold it for a 2013 BMW GS800. There are great things about both bikes. I liked the control/gauges better on the Tiger than the GS. The suspension on the GS seems to be a bit more solid, but both need tweaking for serious off road riding. The layout of the GS feels more balanced off road for my riding style as well. A little lower center of gravity with the weight spread out across the chassis. The low end power of the GS is available more with the snap of the throttle. This really plays well in the off road sections where you are climbing or getting the weight off the front end to overcome obstacles. However the Triumph sliced the road and the corners with a much greater ease of rider input. I believe the Tiger was a better handling tarmac machine.

I hope this helps. I have never been left stranded by either bikes. They both have their unique beauties and they both are amazing bikes for the rider looking to get more serious off road and doesn't want to be penalized by weight or width of some of the bigger bikes.
 

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Brought this home on Monday night. Got the tags sorted yesterday but couldn't ride because the weather was crap here in NC - looking a lot better today for a ride.

2012 Tiger 800 XC with 1400 miles - the PO pretty much bought it and had it sitting inside on a battery maintainer for the past year and a half.

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BADDANDY

Adventurer
Bought my 2013 used last June with 5,000 miles on it. It now has 26,000 miles on it and the only issue it has had is it uses 1 qt of oil every 4,000 miles since I bought it.
My XC replaced a 6 month old 5,000 mile fat underpowered crappy clutch of a pig 05 GS1200 which I hated, except the neat red lit instrument cluster.
The engine and trans are a jewel and are just like a little brother of my old 97' Bandit 1200S that I owned for 16 years and 85,000 + miles. The GS1200 was more like a giant KLR650 which I had owned one for 2 months and had hated too. I guess 30 years of sportbikes has tainted me on engine feel and performance.
My first choice was the BMW 800 per the test reports, but I got gun shy that it might have some of the hated characteristics of the GS1200. Plus people want ridiculous prices for used ones and more warranty/quality issues that I wanted to deal with.
I mainly ride it to work, 150 miles round trip every day if it's dry, all year round. 50 mpg no matter how I ride it.
I do all of my own maintenance. The chain and sprockets are still like new as they get lubed every other day.
It had new TKCs on it when I bought it that lasted 14,000 miles. Now it has Shinko 700s with 7,000 miles on them with 50% tread remaining.
The Shinkos are noisier, but they cause way less (almost perfect smoothness) of the dreaded front end hop the front suspensions are known for.
The only mod being pondered is RACE TECHing the suspension which I did to my Bandit and 01 DRZ400S (which I still have).
 

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Gatordoc

Adventurer
I own an '11 non-XC (roadie), absolutely love it, and have had zero issues outside of regular preventative maintenance in 20k or so miles.

No regrets, would buy again 10/10.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

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