The History of the Triumph Tiger – A True ADV Bike with British Character

Embark on a journey through time as we uncover the captivating story of the Triumph Tiger, a legendary adventure motorcycle often overlooked in the annals of history. Bursting with British charm and rugged capability, the Triumph Tiger stands as a testament to the spirit of adventure and innovation. Join us as we delve into its origins, tracing its evolution from humble beginnings to becoming a beloved icon among adventure enthusiasts worldwide. Discover the triumphs, challenges, and enduring legacy of this forgotten gem, and reignite your passion for adventure riding with the Triumph Tiger!

Hey guys welcome back to the video I first of all I want to thank all of you guys we are reaching 60,000 subscribers in this video we’re going to talk about the Triumph Tiger I’m a big fan of Triumph I’ve had two triumphs I had a Speed Triple in a Triumph Tiger from

1998 and the tiger it’s a beautiful bike I really love the steamer look and I even like the girly look now I am a a little bit more critical about the new direction of the Triumph Tiger they look kind of like BMW F800 replicas the new ones now in

2023 2024 they’re starting to have a little bit more character a little bit more distinct character from the previous generations and there is also some confusion with the tiger 1050 that bike doesn’t even seem like it should be in the lineup it kind of goes back with with the Triumph Heritage they

Made so many different versions of the tiger and you’ll find out that they even made a tiger scooter named the tiger so that’s a Triumph thing they’ll just put everything into the tiger umbrella and it doesn’t really matter if it’s a off-road dual sport but they’ll combine

It with something that looks like the fj9 from yamha which is the 1050 and I know I am a little critical of the new Triumph tigers mainly because they don’t have as much character as I hoped and but they are brilliant bikes uh I’ve read the new Tigers they’re they’re

Great great power they’re they have all the stuff that everybody wants um I heard some reliability issues but in my case there wasn’t that many reliability issues I know that the 955 engine from Triumph is really good but the newer ones I can’t really say because I have not owned one

But I had 74,000 mil on my Speed Triple I rode that thing just everywhere never let me down and I did read some of the reliability reports from consumer reports and they do put Triumph high up there with Harley which is kind of amazing but that’s not been my

Experience this is the video that I made about the history of the Triumph Tiger hope you guys enjoy it if you’re new here give me a like And subscribe and thank you thank for watching the Triumph Tiger is important to the world of motorcycles for several reasons first it has a long story

History that spans several decades making it an important part of motorcycle culture the Tiger has proven to be versatile and a reliable machine that can handle a variety of riding conditions from city streets to rugged off-road trails the Triumph Tiger represents the ongoing evolution of the motorcycle industry as manufacturers strive to

Create machines that are both technological Advanced and aesthetically pleasing as motorcycles continue to evolve and change it is likely that the Triumph Tiger will remain an important part of the conversation thanks to its Rich history and reputation for quality and performance the tiger name goes back all the way to the 1930s

But even with that lineage Triumph made more than just motorcycles they even made a scooter named the tigas they had a complete lineup of tigers the 70 the 80 the 90 the 100 the tiger the tiger cub the tiger cub Racer the tiger cub Woods the tiger special and others I’ve

Always been a fan of the tiger and for me it was the Paris the car styling of the steamer that did it for but now the tiger is coming back with the new adventure styling with the overly saturated Adventure Market how does the Triumph Tiger Fair Honda brought back the Africa twin

Yamaha brought back the super tenor and the tenor BMW has several offerings of their GS lineup motor’s got their v85 Suzuki’s got the V this is the story of the Triumph Tiger the tiger Insignia was created by the Visionary design Chief Edward Turner in 1936 this emblem has come to embody the

Spirit of Adventure speed and power that Triumph stands for you can read more about Edward Turner in the official biography graphy by Jeff clue Turner joined the Merchant Navy by the age of 16 and quickly became a Marone Wess Telegraph officer by 1925 he had designed this first motorcycle engine by

1927 he built his first Turner special motorcycle in 1928 he was hired by AEL motorcycles by 1932 he became the technical director of what is now known as Triumph engineer in company in 1960 Turner went to Japan to gather intelligence on the growing motorcycle Japanese industry they had

The tiger 70 the tiger 80 the tiger 90 and they even had a scooter the tiger they made several versions of the Tiger in different configurations Triumph launched the tiger t00 that featured a 498 aircooled parallel twin engine that was in the previous year speed twin model that was

A lag of production from 1939 until 1946 when the Triumph Coventry facility was destroyed in World War II from 1953 to 1961 the tiger 110 with its 650cc engine was offered along with the T100 the final year of the t00 was in 1983 when the company stopped produ

Motorcycles in Meridan England in 1983 due to financial difficulties and labor disputes at the time Triumph was facing increasing competition from the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers and was struggling to keep up with the changy market the company was also facing labor problems as workers at the Meridan Factory went on

Strike leading to production delays and additional financial difficulties in an effort to save the company the government stepped in and arranged for the formation of a workers Co-op which took over the factory however the co-op was unable to turn the company around and the production of motorcycles at the

Meridan Factory finally came to a halt in 1983 Triumph’s motorcycle production was later relocated to hinley England where it continues to this day real estate Tycoon John blur revived the Triumph brand and in 1993 the new Triumph Tiger was Reborn the tiger 900 also known as the steamer was an

885cc 3 cylinder engine Michael lock Triumph’s International marketing manager looked at dual sport flops at the time Kiva and the Japanese manufacturers had a hard time selling Adventure bikes only the BMW GS was a financial IAL success lock goes on quote our other bikes are more conventional

And easily understood the Tiger has to be demonstrated people look at it and immediately form an opinion it’s a bit of a chicken or egg situation you have to remember that in the early ’90s motorcycle buyers were not yet looking for dual Sports they were not looking

For bikes that could crush Forest roads and at the same time keep up with sport bikes in the twi 60s they were looking for specific motorcycles for sport bikes for dirt bikes for Cruisers but they didn’t have much of a use for bikes that could do it all this was especially true

For the American Market in Europe with the Paras the car big dual sports like the Africa twin and the Yamaha ten gained popularity they were big powerful carried a lot of Road presence could cope with the Hazardous Villages of Europe could do touring and were simply perfect for everyday

Commuters by 1995 Triumph was already known in the Bike World they had nine three and four cylinder road bikes but they had another bike the tiger which was much less popular in the early ’90s bikes were not marketed as Adventure bikes they were simply called big trailes or dual Sports so there wasn’t

Much of a demand for an extremely large dual sport because people thought that you had to go off-road on them and in the early ’90s Triumph didn’t sell many of the Tigers it had a very distinct styling it looked like a Paris thear replica and for that same reason it was

Extremely unpopular in the United States it was also a very heavy bike but something about this bike makes it one of the coolest looking motorcycles of the entire ’90s and it’s extremely rare it’s so difficult to find these days this represented the best of the big trailes large powerful stable and

Beautiful and it proved to be a great commuter but had quite a few issues with quality it’s funny to look back and there are some great travel logs by riders that rode a steamer across the entire world one is by dag jansson and his wife on the back of their motorcycle

Rosenan in the early ’90s dual Sports only represented 6% of the motorcycle buying public now Adventure bikes are the norm and they are the growing segment as typical of these bikes the steamer was a great bike for everyday riding it had plenty of torque had enough speed for everyday conditions it

Had a 19in front wheel 17 rare which was perfect for a touring Machine cyle World in 1995 set said about the tiger the tiger is much more than a practical userfriendly commuter it’s a two-up tour a light duty dirt bike and a Sunday morning Back Road Blitzer and a go

Anywhere street bike Without Limits to put simply it resisted neat classification it took Triumph less than two years to design the first tiger the steamer because of the modularity it had with the other triumphs an interesting tiger that was made by Carlo Alo the Importer of Triumph in Italy from 1992

To 2002 he made a tiger in a special green Livery that replaced the tiger logo on the side with Triumph that was one of the questions with the steamer why did Triumph make the word tiger so large in the side of the tank and not emphasize the word triumph that was

Corrected later on but to me I like the Tiger on the side it gives it a lot of character 1998 was the last year of this iconic motorcycle it was the last of the carburated Tigers the Triumph Tiger from 1999 to 2000 this was beginning of the new fuel

Injection system for the tiger it was showcased in the Munich show in 1998 they removed the large large font of the tiger and added stripe patterns to the tank with the smaller font of tiger competition for the tiger at the time was the Honda veradero the Africa

Twin the Yamaha TDM and tenor and the Kiva Grand Canyon the steamer had angular styling this new bike was cartoony it was fun it was completely different than the previous generation it looked like Triumph abandon a marketing team for another one no other bike looks like this even today it was

Bold styling and it was either you loved it or hated it the only thing that it resembled was the old Tiger was the two round headlights the symmetrical exhaust was gone replaced with one single can on the right side and if you got peners the peners were molded to fit the exhaust

For 2000 the tiger remained unchanged except for the new seum MC 1000 control unit which was more Compact and lighter and they added a new color Eclipse blue the evolution from 1999 to 2000 evolved from an 855c to 955i this was a more powerful power plant but the bikes still resembled each

Other this tiger used the Speed Triple 955 engine modified for lowend torque and power handled better due to the improvements of the suspension and refinements throughout the chassis it had increased stability thanks to the new 43mm fork and the bike is up 16 horsepower and an increased in 70cc

Displacement made 104 horsepower making it one of the most powerful machines in its Enduro class 72 lbs of torque at 6200 the 04 was more Road oriented it was a much better road bike they also added British racing green to the lineup colors in 2006 it was the last production for the girly

Tigers Triumph took a swan dive into a style that had everyone scratching their heads Wonder ing if they accidentally stumbled into a parallel universe of motorcycle Aesthetics personally I’m torn between the charm of the early 90s and the O sophisticated girly Tigers but look there’s something enchanting about

This lime green odity that Triumph created in 2001 in a sea of bikes trying to blend in and Court the same buyers the Triumph Tiger stands out like a sore thumb and I absolutely love it The Styling utterly Unapologetic and quitting essentially British because who needs subtlety when

You can have a lime green Triumph Tiger with stripes look sure these early tigers are as rare as a unicorn siding but fear not the 955 engine is here to save the day and it’s got tons of reliability that makes other engines question their life choices you have have to admire Triumph

For taking such a bold Style on the Triumph Tiger no one could do this no one could get away with creating a bike like this it’s so different so interesting it’s uniquely British as sipping tea in the rain this new tiger was a complete redesign since the old girly Tigers it

Didn’t resemble a dual sport or a Enduro bike or an adventure bike it looked like a street bike an upright street bike it looked more of a hornet than a tiger and it has styling of a Yamaha phaser in it as well this new tiger for Triumph was a

Big sale success in 2006 there were several sketches released in the new Concepts you could see upside down forks and a bike that resembled the day Tona 675 it started in August 2003 when Triumph asked for the collaboration of three different agencies for new lines

Of a new bike two months later in Rome and Milan proposals were analyzed this new design was in collaboration with maraby Design This tiger might be the blandest of all tigers but perhaps one of the most important for trium they used marketing data to analyze what

People wanted in bikes at the time and redesigned the bike to match those needs at the same time I feel they lost a bit of the character the tiger had it looked like a soft super motor rather than a dual sport or aspiring adventure bike it was technically a success and it ran

Until 2012 most tiger owners were confused by the direction of this new tiger they went from a dual sport bike from the 900 to the girly tiger to the 1050 and the 1050 was a road bike the tiger 1050 was a collab between designer rodulfo frascoli the 1050 was one of the

Most popular models for Triumph coming from a quirky and strange models of the girlies and the Steamers this Hornet shaped powerful bike moved away from the Enduro and more into a sport touring machine with 17in wheels it was a rational bike for rational people more more in line with contemporary bikes

Such as the fj9 from Yamaha it showed a segment of riders who Shi away from triumphs that Triumph was here to stay and was more competitive with the Japanese powerhouses when they first started researching the trium tiger looks-wise I hated the 1050 but as I learned more and more about the history

I realized that this was one of the better tigers for most Riders it gets everything most Riders want agility handling a great motor capable of scatching roads with the best of sport bikes but it didn’t have that pedigree of Adventure Riders are’t drawn to motorcycles by Cold rational logic it’s

The emotional pull the connection with the bike that seals the deal Adventure bikes thrive on the sentiment it’s not about embarking on Epic Journeys it’s about the feeling the illusion of transversing Uncharted territories the tiger 1050 achieved significant success but it seemed like Triumph might have strayed a bit from its foundational

Essence in the pursuit of boosting sales starting in 2012 the Triumph Tiger underwent a transformation that was somewhat anticipated faced with the dominance of BMW in the adventure Market Triumph shifted its focus away from from the traditional British style embracing elements of BMW’s distinctive and unconventional design as I set out to

Create this video my excitement initially was fueled by the early years of the Triumph Tiger however what became apparent was the post the 1050 model the tiger took a completely different path drawing inspiration from the distinctive style Champion by BMW while this shift May align with some elements of the BMW

Aesthetic it’s worth acknowledging that Triumph’s Endeavor to infuse its own uniqueness into the mix presenting a tiger that stood out amidst a crowd of similar style motorcycles the latest Tigers boast impressive attributes they’re lighter they’re more reliable they’re loaded with new features however I’ll admit they leave me yearning for

Something more there’s a certain intangible quality a soul a spirit that older ones possess best and the new one seemed to lack it’s what the french describe as J sequa that elusive Indescribable Essence that’s notably absent in the newer models Triumph’s new lineup after 2012 is confusing if you’re

Not a Triumph Tiger connoisseur but I’ll give you a rundown of some of the models they had the tiger 800 and it had special editions with XR and XC variants they had the tiger sport the sport is still the right from the extremely popular 1050 it’s a sporty Yamaha fj9

Tracers Port touring type of machine and then they have the tiger 1200 Explorer that’s their largest tiger with a shaft drive recently they have a tiger 900 the 900 replac the old 800 now makers are Keen to change this placement number when they make a new model because that

Keeps buyers to upgrade more often these revamp 2012 Triumph Tigers present a much improved aesthetic however they still bear resemblance to the BMW f800s crossed with a Ducati Multistrada I understand I might be in the minority with these sentiments but motorcycles in my perspective aren’t always about rationality Aesthetics play a

Significant role for me as do the feel of them in conclusion the tiger serves as a compelling alternative to the ever popular BMW GS often hailed as the goat in the adventure touring realm while my heart May lean towards the older Tigers the new ones wouldn’t be unwelcomed from

A technical standpoint they surpassed their predecessors in many aspects as we wrap up this journey through the evolution of the tiger from the early ’90s Steamers to the more recent Tiger 1200 it’s clear how Triumph has adapted to Changing Times and writer preferences my personal affection lies with the

Early Tigers each carrying a unique charm but here’s a playful thought and miss the Tigers and the girlies there’s a missing link the tiger Triumph when can we expect a tiger scooter to join the lineup now that would be a delightful addition that was the history

Of the Triumph Tiger in a nutshell if you go back to the70s 80s there’s so much history on these British bikes triph made a huge comeback it came back from the dead and it’s now everywhere people love triumphs and for good reason it’s almost like an exotic motorcycle

Without the crazy unreliable quirks of a European maker so in a that way it makes complete sense it’s as if you’re riding something completely unique and new especially if you’re coming from a Japanese you’ll understand it a little bit more than buying like a Ducati or

BMW I hope you enjoyed this video make sure you hit like And subscribe it really helps out the algorithm and I’ll see you in the next video