2007 Triumph Tiger 1050

Untamed Tiger

Since its founding in 1883, the Triumph marque has seen good times, bad times, and many of its UK neighbors, such as Norton and BSA, unceremoniously ushered off into the shadowy abyss of moto-history by the auctioneer's gavel. Without getting too misty-eyed over recent developments, it really does cheer one's spirits to see Triumph delivering a series of truly notable motorcycles, with John Bloor's regime whacking open the throttle, popping the clutch, and racing away from the company's not-yet-distant years of strife.

In 2005, the newly minted Rocket III grabbed an armful of awards on its way into the history books as the largest displacement production bike ever built. Almost before the press had finished applauding, Triumph delivered the Daytona 675 into our eager clutches in 2006, prompting many of us to scramble breathlessly to our keyboards and proclaim it the "Bike of the Year." Enter 2007's overhauled Tiger, a freshly refocused Swiss Army knife of a bike that is tons of fun to ride and clearly another successful execution of their design brief by the lads from Hinckley.

The 14-year-old Tiger model has gone through many changes over the years, but perhaps none as radical as those dished out in this iteration. In the name of addition by subtraction, Triumph has tossed aside any lingering vestiges of its dual-sport heritage, re-conceiving the model as a do-it-all street machine intended for those poor unfortunate blokes who, whether due to limitations in space, funds, or political capital with their significant others, find themselves constrained to achieving 'happiness' with only one motorbike parked in their garage. As noble and yet unattainable a goal as that may be, the friskier, more competent 2007 Tiger actually does a fine job of approaching it....

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