Visually, the new Tiger is sharper, more street-focused and fits right in with the rest of the Triumph range with its distinctive angular look. (Photo: Riles and Nelson) » More Photos

Two years later, I rode the next generation Tiger across America. By 2002 the engine had been enlarged to 955cc, which gave the bike an additional 20 horsepower over the 86 produced by the previous 885cc model. Photographing and documenting the Triumph Across America ride, I was continually stopping to take pictures of the riders, before manically attempting to catch back up to the group. It seemed the bike spent most of the 3,200 miles on or near red line, and I have never thrashed a bike so hard for so long. On one of the days along Highway 60, the loneliest road in the world, I covered 104 miles in 63 minutes blasting along the deserted two-lane playing catch up. This involved many climbs, descents and corners, and temperatures in the hundreds. Thankfully, the Tiger never missed a beat, and became a well-trusted friend during the journey.

Then in mid 2004, Triumph brought me a long-term test unit to try. No documentaries or transcontinental trips to crow about during that test, but the ’05 and I covered more than 2500 very happy miles together: A thousand mile trip to Virginia, some evenings out around town, and plenty of short, fun rides with my son around the Smoky Mountains gave me ample opportunity to put it through its paces.

With a conflicting travel schedule excluding me from the World press launch in Spain for the newest Tiger, I lucked out when Triumph brought me a squeaky clean new one a few weeks back. I am at this point a little sad to say the North Carolina winter weather has not been too cooperative with my schedule for any marathon journeys. But, from the short hop journeys around the city, mad blasts into the local countryside, and two-up trips to the coffee shop I have performed, the ’07 Tiger is a quantum leap forward in the development and progress of the beast. Sure it has lost some of its off-road styling, but get it out on a twisty back road, let the 1050cc triple catch its breath, and there are few more fun ways to spend a day in the saddle of a motorcycle.

Visually, the new Tiger is sharper, more street-focused and fits right in with the rest of the Triumph range with its distinctive angular look. Long-term Triumph buffs will be able to trace the frame back to the original T595 Daytona that was introduced in 1997, and, while there are number of shared parts with the new Speed Triple and Sprint ST, the bodywork is all-new. Quoting 5.2 US Gallons as the fuel capacity, both times I ran the bike at least 15 miles with the reserve light on I could only get 4.2 gallons in the tank. This means either the factory literature or the fuel light are telling porky pies (lies in English), and if the brochure is to be believed then the bike can cover around 50 miles or more after the fuel light comes on. I averaged somewhere around 40 mpg. A full tank should give at least 160 miles while touring.