2021 Triumph Tiger 850 Sport Review

So i had the great pleasure to have the Tiger 850 Sport recently for a week and this was kindly lent to me from Triumph UK, 👍 Thanks. The 850 Sport is the base bike for the Tiger 850 and 900 range consisting of the below options, including a Low version.

• Tiger 850 Sport £9,400

• Tiger 900GT £11,500

• Tiger 900GT Low £11,500

• Tiger 900GT Pro £13,200

• Tiger 900 Rally £12,100

• Tiger 900 Rally Pro £13,500

The above listed bikes being 850 Sport, base entry bike - 900GT & Pro more road focused filled with all the tech, adjustable suspension, larger TFT 7 inch screen, cruise control. While the Rally & Rally pro are more off road focused motorcycles. Interesting thing is they are all A2 compatible with use of a restrict kit.

While i had the bike for a week i racked up many miles mainly through the Lake District regions of the UK, but did get chance on a long green lane and took the 850 over some slippy, rocky terrain and i can say it handled it very well with the 80/20 Michelin Anakee tyres fitted to this bike. Check out that video here: https://youtu.be/CzUqaUx_CMg

On riding up to the lakes i took the motorway to see how the bike behaves on longer mile eating journeys. I took the M6 from Lancaster to Penrith a good hours ride and the only thing i can say is i missed cruise control with that stretch of motorway being one on the quietest in the UK, but notice on the 900 versions you do get this option, just wish the 850 Sport had it as it would be a good seller as priced really well. Comfort on long motorway journeys is great with the plush seat unit fully adjustable for height from 810mm to 830mm.

On leaving the M6 at Penrith i headed across and down through ullswater stopping off at St Patrick’s Boat Landing Cafe, one of my favourite stops right next to the lake. The roads are twisty with a mixture of dry and damp under the trees that hang over the road in places and the bike handled it all lovely with the 19inch front wheel making work easy over the grooves in the roads. We headed over the famous KirkStone pass and down into Bowness on Windermere before heading back down to Lancashire and i can say the bike felt great on the whole journey, suspension being non adjustable on the front was fine no issues. If your are two up the rear suspension has a manual preload adjuster too. Indicators could be set to self cancel which is a great feature on a motorcycle as I always leave mine on many times, think all bikes should have this feature.

The engine on the bike being 888cc actually both the 850 & 900 versions have the same engine, its just they have tuned the 850 down 10bhp and 5nm of torque. The engine is a 3 cyl triple but has a 132 firing order making it sound more like a twin but you still get the triple whistle which is nice, Triumph did this firing order to make the bike more tractable. The 850 has plenty of torque in the right areas and handled motorway speeds in comfort very well. Even the windscreen is adjustable on the go one hand operation and i am 6’2 tall and wind blast was minimal and comfortable at high or low speeds.

I toured Switzerland, Austria, Germany a few years ago on a Yamaha MT09 Tracer, similar bike both have 3 cylinder engines similar BHP etc, but comparing the Triumph felt more stable, comfier, refined and a better bike all round.

The range of the 20litre fuel tank was 55.4mpg and i was seeing on the dash at a full tank roughly 250 mile range during my week on the bike.

Final thoughts on the Tiger 850 Sport from a weeks riding!

The bike is a great entry level if not more for this Adventure bike, would i be happy with it, that’s a yes then!. This bike is so capable, refined and great for touring, daily and anything you through at it!. If there was one think its the cruise control, but that’s available on the 900’s. The dash looks similar as the one on the Street Triple RS i tested recently and i mentioned on that bike too that the tachometer is so hard to read, not a lover of this TFT dash set up and could be simpler and easier to read, only my opinion though!.

Check out the full spec’s below, and if more information is needed check the range out here on Triumph’s website: https://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk

We did in total three video’s on this bike over on our Youtube channel here, go check them out: https://www.youtube.com/c/MOTOUK1

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