2024 Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro | Thorough Test/Review
[Music] [Music] Hot on the heels of the Australian press launch of the 2024 Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro Clubby and I get our hands on two bikes to test rest assured when not going to ride like Australian off-road champion and Dakar racer Ben Grabham we're settled on a 1300 km Adventure route from Melbourne to Sydney through the Victorian High Country in hinterland the ride covered a wide range of dirt surfaces and conditions as well as black top and a little freeway a typical Australian Adventure tour [Music] a couple of years back we tested the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro and since 0:00:59.920,1193:02:47.295 [Music] that time the midsized adventure market has been flooded with upgraded and new models that make it challenging to work out what is the best midsize bike for you for 2024 Triumph have Come Out Swinging with a substantially upgraded model key highlights include a more powerful engine better suspension a suite of useful accessories that come standard with the bike and then there's the price $25990 AU right away in [Applause] Australia with significant changes to the bike I felt it was worthy of a new review and I reached out to Triumph Australia to get two loan bikes for a decent test that would be strongly dirt oriented. In terms of disclosure the bikes are provided on loan, no money changed hands for this review and Triumph Australia had no input into the production of this video. Well first 10 metres on a Triumph Tiger 900 rally Pro and the front brake is the thing that attracts me I reckon it's a half a finger [Music] job where away oh quick quick shifter works right from the lowest gears through like I just did that then there you go well we're fought through the metropolitan traffic and all that stuff and just starting to see the mountains now and I'm happy about that adjustable screen's good I've got it in the higher setting at the moment and as always with Triumphs they seem to nail screens got a couple of winglets there and it's got a kind of a little air opening there on the main shield and yeah they just nailed it it just works if you look I can just put it up put it down works perfectly probably had a wide range of food groups pie sausage roll so he's got every base covered beautiful country we're into it now you got to get your head around a triple and yeah the way they deliver power is unique and on this 900 this is a classic example so before we start diving into features let's just ride the bike and get a feel how it is three things become apparent really quickly for me that beautiful Engine with this really solid mid-range and doesn't it come on at about 49 goodness me the next thing is the tracking of the bike you can feel that Road Heritage it's just in this bike's DNA and the final point is the brakes oh will I use my pinky cuz I can stop this bike on a dime with my pinky that's how powerful the brakes are here we go I'm going to hold it in fourth and go right down 47 40 and out we come so I was pulling then from 2700 rpm w here she [Applause] goes oh yeah as soon as I hit the dirt the engine's power delivery immediately grabs my attention perfectly attuned to the gravel terrain breaking traction and executing power slides feels like second nature and thanks to the broad rev range the rider has total control with minimal effort and minimal concentration the engine instills confidence in off-road situations whether you prefer a slow pace or crave some serious speed the abundance of power is readily available waiting to be Unleashed yeah the rear break you can adjust for standing or sitting liking the quick shifter so I reckon we'll lift up that back brake uh yeah that's better it's up [Music] high hey so I can't switch now it doesn't allow me once I'm in off-road Pro I'm in off-road Pro and to get back onto the street I'm going to have to stop I think and then Road right tick [Music] yep so you know a number of the bikes have that change on the Fly Triumph don't and they say it's for safety reasons my initial impressions of the bike are overwhelmingly positive and it's already garnered praise for its outstanding engine performance excellent brakes and impeccable finish however a notable drawback is the inability to switch from off-road Pro to Road mode on the Fly which is pretty important in Australian riding conditions where the terrain often transitions between dirt and and tar the capability to change modes without stopping is a feature I'd like to see on this bike the alternative of keeping it in off-road Pro on the road means sacrificing the safety features offered by the road mode especially lean sensitive traction control and abs we've had a huge ride Dave I know you loved the first generation Tiger 900 Rally Pro yeah what are your first impressions about this bike well Triumph have come out swinging they've lifted their game again and this is a really competitive bike in a very competitive market $25990 AU absolutely jam-packed with accessories but not only that there's a lot of improvements 15% increase in power and believe me that's there it's got better suspension and it's got improved ABS but the traction control I think and I stand to be corrected but it feels very much similar to the old [Music] [Music] [Applause] one [Music] it's a it's been like a ride of two halves of me I rode the national press launch last week on this bike with Cameron Donald hero TT racer all round awesome dude let us on all these technical fire trails and tracks down closer to Melbourne Real High Country riding second and third gear love the suspension lots of initial compliance didn't beat me up on those slower speed Trails once we've got out here on our ride to touring conditions higher speed open gravel roads filled with potholes and square edges at higher speed and okay I'm going to be honest and say I've battled a bit with particularly the front suspension in those conditions getting the preload setting a compression and rebound setting you got all that adjustment but still not the compliance I want on those bigger faster sharper hits mate and I'm thinking that's comes back to a spring rate issue for me my weight of 100 kilos and my luggage load that we've had strapped on the back as well probably another 10 to 15 kilos there as well you know that's the only little chink in the armor of this bike for me if I was an owner I think I would give attention to the spring rates for that kind of riding Clubby and I requested Triumph Australia to set the suspension to off-road settings and in the lower speed stuff I felt the shower suspension was outstanding front is fully adjustable rear doesn't have compression damping compression rebound seem pretty good at this stage for the bigger hits but on the trail feel sort of stuff that first 3 cm of the stroke feels a little bit harsh it's okay but it's it's noticeably different to some of the other bikes I've ridden lately has a few surprises on it it's got some kind of hidden potholes that catch you out and occasional wash outs at a quite sharp edge yeah I just bottomed the rear suspension quite hard it it went fell right through the stroke with a big thud it's the only one that's done it on but I'm thinking of upping the preload when I can I think it's about mid I think I've got I don't know 20 more clicks I can add to the preload Clubby and I both found the trail feel a bit harsh but the Showa suspension responds well to clicker adjustments I have a hunch that softening the compression and rebound a few clicks on the forks could enhance the bike's trail feel for the less demanding Adventure touring despite having a screwdriver on hand to make these adjustments I ultimately decided to leave them untouched signalling my satisfaction with the overall suspension performance for adventure touring the suspension on this bike is definitely a step up from earlier models however in a highly competitive field a couple of other brands managed to just outperform this one and snatch the crown in terms of suspension performance though it's a close call time to look at ride modes traction control and abs from a dirt perspective the language and actions required by the rider to get the best out of this bike are pretty simple the mode switch this is the way you change the different mode settings you can just flick through that and this is the button this is just a toggle that allows you to go deeper into the settings and find what you want and then you just confirm what you want with the tick which is just squashing it in while we're there the cruise control on this bike is great to set it two clicks and then it's on Rain Road Sport Offroad not recommended for experienced Riders I don't think off-road Pro is the place to be and at the moment I've got abs off the map is off-road and traction control is off uh sometimes I had ABS off-road so let's go to off-road Pro you're in off-road Pro now you go across and you've get got the different settings here so this is Journey riding Aid so by going to riding AIDS I press that and so I'm in off-road pro at the moment and now I've got an opportunity of changing the ABS so the ABS is seated there so I can go down and select off-road ABS which was a good setting but I could also go across uh to the map I was happy with the off-road map and I was happy with having traction control off so they are now permanently so if I turn the bike off it doesn't matter it'll come back to the settings that I've put in there for off-road Pro I'm going to try just playing off-road mode this time so let's go across um Sport off-road all right select so got to be the ABS now let's give it a bit on this corner yeah the traction control in the off-road mode is not subtle but shuts down power to limit Traction in a very noticeable manner it's certainly not seamless nor as sophisticated as what you'd find on the top of the range midsize twins that said I can see it being useful for those unfamiliar with riding in the dirt and gravel if you use this mode at a slow and steady Pace it probably could save your bacon the off-road ABS in this setup is excellent for bringing the bike to a stop GE so I've got abs off-road on so that's different to no ABS at all so if you grab a fist full of front brake on this setting it also applies the rear brake for maximum braking demand so if you're really going to just grab a handful of front brake you're also on this setting going to get some back brake as well to balance the bike up it's quite a good setting I just found that out then came into that corner it's a little bit faster than I wanted to and yeah just settled the bike really quickly we've mentioned multiple times those massive big front brakes but the ABS system's impressive as well though yeah it's definitely been improved congratulations Triumph it's a step off the off-road ABS honestly we have taken that to its extreme uh yesterday with about I don't know 3,000 3 million Corners I don't know in the slipperiest conditions you could find and we did reach the point where it actually wasn't as good as just turning off ABS but you know what I didn't turn it off because in the overwhelming majority of cases the ABS off-road was good for me and allowed me to ride consistently particularly at the end of the day we did a 12-hour day and we're getting tired and the ABS off-road looked after me but it does have limitations particularly if you're in deep gravel like this on a you know off camber Corner um it just didn't work for me and I had a couple of heart starters there [Applause] [Applause] off-road pro at slow speeds is my happy place unbridled Gob fools of earth moving grunt that's the only way to describe it [Music] it's the combination of the three settings I've have chosen that enhance the experience of Adventure touring for me it's a very personal thing engine map set to off-road which noticeably boosts power and performance through the lower and mid rev range the delivery of power is so flexible it caters for sitting back and chilling or hooking into it with this engine having you back traction control off is essential for me with the twist of that throttle I know I have the power on tap and can effectively use it to steer the bike with the rear wheel the ABS off-road selection is a surprise for me it just does a great job three long days in the saddle Dave talk about touring comfort with this bike uh seat position on this bike is fantastic I can sit on this bike all day unfortunately for me and this is just user preference more than anything I just felt a little bit cramped standing and I would need 3 cm bar Rises the other thing is when you spend all this money putting all these accessories on it just another 15 mm wide foot pegs would have uh done me proud I mean for the first 3 hours yeah it's great but we were in the saddle 12 hours last night yesterday and you know inner souls start getting sore just because you've got so much weight and so many other competitive do that better they have wider foot pigs great features for touring I love is this uh screen bang bang you just got to watch it you can't move that up and down highway speeds obviously because there's too much air pressure on it but that's beautiful that's a great uh great thing and there's been one thing I haven't missed at all on this ride no fuel anxiety that's the best and I mean we were Fair Off the Grid yesterday especially middle and nowhere stuff but yeah 20 L tank and we've averaged as I say 20 km per liter as you say 5 L per 100 km 5 into 100 is 20 * 20 400 km to dry range yeah and the the the fuel warning light came on for me high 200s and it's still indicating but that we've got 6 to8 lers remaining another 100K still to go so fabulous fuel range and for a big high performance multi-cylinder bike 20 km a liter that's fabulous fuel economy favourite features of this bike three favourite features I'm going to do a little bit odd airbox look where the airbox is and it's accessible you don't have to take a freaking tank off to get to it praise the Lord hallelujah someone has listened but you can't go past the front brake the front brake is amazing I've been on it all all the time with just one finger incredibly powerful but subtle and progressive and the engine the engine nothing beats a triple uh the lushness of that engine it comes on from about 48 to around 62 and I just stay in that happy Zone and you know you can power slide if you want if you if you get into it quickly or you can just slowly get into it it can pull two gears above what a normal bike can and it's comfortable just go and it's away so long live the triple try out if you've done well good and bad best part about this bike is the motor and it's dual personality like I said low red perform and high performance brakes are just brilliant even I've been riding a lot with abs off and I've still got unreal modulation on that particularly that front brake stop it's straight off a super B that whole setup it's got and even then in the off-road setting ABS it actually has surprised me how well it's worked most of the time until you get those downhill inner corner corrugations where mate it's just such a big ask to get an ABS system to fully control the bike in that situation bikes are funny things you know like mechanical noises kind of interfere with our actual riding pleasure and when you're in the in the rough stuff and you start you hear this it kind of puts you off it's great to have the center stand and I don't know what the solution is maybe if I had this bike I'd just get a rubber tube and just hold it up here you don't need the center stand very often but that noise was driving me mad competition what where's this bike sit man there is so much competition for this bike isn't there rattle them all off now you know you've got your Nordon 901 standard and Expedition KTM 890 Adventure R and standard Ducatti desert X slips in there as well new BMW is coming and right World Raid World raid is there same similar price point to this bike but but the the Motor Performance you get with this bike it's another League you know like the world raid 70 horsepower this thing's 106 horsepower you know like yeah you know World Raid will be on people's radar but I kind of don't put it as a direct competitor on the matter of engine performance yeah I'm in a slight disagreement with you I think people uh because of the price range of $25990 AU I don't necessarily think people look at capacity of bikes I I think think this is a competitor to the World Raid I think the takeaway for me is you can just grab this bike you can do a 4-day adventure like we have it's been cracking fun and this bike just does that straight off the showroom floor a couple of the other bikes maybe not like you know we've been joking about take 30 seconds Clubby and list everything that you get included on this bike I won't do it I'm not even going to try mate everything is included in that price of what $25 $990 on this Tiger like if you're in the market guys Apple to Apples comparison compared to other bikes of the same category mate this bike's got everything it everything is there as standard equipment mate it's it's so impressive the spec sheet that the Rally Pro has well that's a wrap for our deep look at the Rally Pro Through The Eyes of two dirt oriented adventurers the midsize Market has just become a little more interesting with this very competitive offering from Triumph now we can't leave without listing some of the standard features of this bike arguably one of the most standard accessorised bikes in its class the thing like I say it is just fully loaded this bike if we get wet and cold tomorrow up the High Country I'm turning the standard heated grips on I'm turning the standard heated seat on I'm tucking behind the hand adjustable screen mate like everything is there mate there's link breaking there's backlit switch gear there's is rear warning light technology flashy doesn't it yeah the indicators come on like a flash when you're really boom boom boom correct mate correct big off-road pegs on it mate uh the crash bars down lower standard the alloy bash plate is standard the 7in TFT screen is standard the six ride modes are standard do that again the switchable abs and traction control is standard rubber damed handlebars are standard oh man I'm having H little driving lights spotties are standard everything adjustable seat height is standard Center stand is standard you're kidding me I don't know what I'm going to fle it if I was a punter I don't know what my first bolt on it be maybe some high Crash bars cuz I'm likely to bin it on the mountains down here just a little more protection that's about the only thing I can think of and rubber up mate these ones are fitted with Caro fours the standard fitment is a little bit more 50/50 Road tire is standard so we've got a bit more knob bit more bite for the dirt yeah man I enjoyed it last week and my prediction is Dave you'll be frothing yeah by the time we hit the dirt in a couple of hours well 3 years ago when we ran I was very impressed with the power sling mid-range that's well you've only got more of that mate it's another 10 133% 15% more power and it's right where you just said 4,500 rivs it just starts going and going crazy B Trip well You' you've let's get going I'm sick of the talk I I've sold you I've sold you it's enough talking enough gibbering I think yeah let's get going let's get going well we're with Sean uh technical specialist for Triumph and what we want to do is get our head around the triath tiger so Sean all right how are you good lead us through it mate lead us through it so we might start with just the the writing modes on the new 900 so you want to get a shot of the screen yeah so got a little mode button here y can hit that and it gives us access to mode so at the moment we're in Offroad Pro I'll just show you the other ones we've got so you have a a rider mode which you can fully customize a rain Road sport uh the off-road so it's got all settings in off-road and then off-road Pro Y which allows you to turn things like traction control and abs completely off right uh so there they the modes now I'm going to select that one yep um one of the other things which we had to look at and love to ride is on the launch last week had to how to play with yeah uh is adjusting those modes which to do that I'll show you here so you go across on the menu so you go on that and um and it'll take us in to bike settings yep and ride raids yeah and in this menu is where we can switch things like Abs from Offroad to off now the difference between that setting the off-road mode it keeps ABS on the front uh so the front reel will still have abs but it's off on the rear or we can go off completely and you have no ABS front or rear mhm um so we can select just off-road for now on that one sorry if I go back in uh the mapping as well so that's how the engine's going to perform sport Road rain and you have off-road setting as well uh for you guys probably Offroad is going to be best that's more low down torque not so worried about the top end um so that's obviously a good setting for your off-road setting uh traction control as well we have a off-road or off setting uh off-road is going to allow some slippage but it's going to catch it before it gets too far out of control off is obviously traction control completely off yeah so it's good to have a play with both settings and see how they feel U again we can select that one and that's it for the riding AIDS and riding modes again you all of them now big question for me can you change them on the floor you as far as how the modes are you can do it so you can change between the modes yes while you're riding the only thing if you're going from a road setting so sport rain or road to an Offroad setting where the ABS or traction control may be switched off you will need to come to a standstill and actively select that so say I'm going on a on a [ __ ] Road I sorry say I've been on a dirt road and I'm in rally PR and everything's gone fine yeah then I hit a [ __ ] Road this is what happens in Victorian High Country then I come back onto a dirt road you got any shortcut for me so there's there's no real shortcut in a sense um the only thing we do have if you were to switch the bike off yeah so at the moment we're in R Pro mode if you were to key the bike off yeah and then come back on yeah which I'll just wait for this to load now let just let the start up the bike's going to recognize that it was in rally Pro mode right when it restarts though as a safety feature it has to go into a road mode with ABS on right but it will come up with this message here saying so the bike will start in Road mode R mode return to previous right so it's just two clicks I go one mode back down and you're back in I'm back in I'm back in Pro with the settings that you had got previously yeah so we'll go straight back to that uh with the ABS and again it's really a safety thing we don't want people to be able to just accidentally go into a setting with no ABS yes uh so we have to consciously make that choice and and select it yeah um so that's with the the modes uh there a bit of adjustability there uh some of the other things to talk about uh with the ABS we touched on the ABS and switching it from just the front or having no ABS at all y uh the ABS it's a new and enhanced system so it does allow so if you're grabbing a front brake it will balance the ABS and apply the rear brake if needed and we'll balance the both and it's the same vice versa if you hit the rear brake it may engage the front braake slightly as well uh to keep the bike as balanced as possible both in off-road setting and a road setting so so they're basically linked and you slam on the brakes and it gives you optimal braking corre to avoid whatever you think you're going to hit the starting to to lock up it's going to apply a bit of the rear to keep the bike balanced right brilliant yeah and I'm looking there Sean and I see that word that I'm in love with at the moment show the shower suspension that's it's been a great great system again we got to test it out last week um now it is all manual adjustment which a lot of people actually prefer over the electronic stuff yeah um some of the adjustments so you've got a a single use Fork so we've got compression on the right rebound on the rear um now also the preload so preload just get a spanner on that one and you can adjust that where you need to and then there's just some clickers that we can use to adjust yeah again the the compression and rebound yeah um it was commented on by a few of the Riders last week just a few clicks did make a world of difference so it's worth having to play with that we found that in a recent test we did that show like there's a big difference in two or three clicks yeah absolutely some folks you feel like you're doing turns turns and it's not doing anything these ones one or two clicks go go for R it and you will notice the difference okay so on the front you got preload compression and rebound yep so on the back see a preload the back yeah you got a nice little preload switch there that's easy enough to turn um yep from your so your base settings and yeah you could do that quite easily if you were putting a Pon on the back you want to put some more preload into it that's nice and easy uh rebound rebounds down on the other side here so it's just a flat blade um it's about four turns in total again it is quite sensitive so even just half a turn you will notice the difference there um so yeah that's the rebound setting that's any compression on the rear no compression adjustment on the rear for this one okay yeah
2024-02-26 00:53
