"Be careful," said the dealer when I collected the 2007 Triumph Tiger, "it has a new front tyre - you'll have to scrub it in before you ride it hard."
Hardly an auspicious beginning to my time with Triumph's big "round-towner" and indeed, in the beginning the bike seemed to lack stability, its steering was twitchy and it felt way oversensitive to my commands.
However, after a few days, the tyre's central ridge flattened out a little, the waxy factory coating scrubbed away and the bike settled down; it remained surprisingly quick-steering for a 200kg streetbike with a 1500mm wheelbase but my confidence in the Tiger's front end grew the further I rode the bike.
The latest Tiger has a detuned version of the 1050cc engine introduced in the Sprint ST; in this application Triumph claims 85kW at 9400rpm and 100Nm at 6250.
It's blessed with superb mid-range, pulling with immense authority from 4000 to the red line at 10 000, with no steps or sudden changes in the power curve - although it gets noticeably steeper after 7000rpm, which is also where the engine note picks up a harder edge and a little secondary vibration becomes apparent.
It runs to 220km/h with alacrity; the test bike topped out at 232 with the rev-counter on 9000 after a long run but remained reassuringly stable as long as I kept a light grip on the bars and let the bike look after itself.
It was also unexpectedly frugal; the test bike averaged 6.2 litres/100km after a week of mixed duty - although that rose to an alarming 14.1 during performance testing, which explains why I was able to run it practically dry in 154km.
The downside is that the bike seems to run lean off idle and the throttle response is jerky at low revs; it often hesitates for a moment and then jerks forward, which can be very disconcerting in traffic and makes the bike a less-than-perfect commuter.
The six-speed gearbox is noisy and notchy, combining with a fair amount of driveline lash to exacerbate the jerky bottom-end delivery, but it smoothes out at higher revs, it's always positive and, as is common on today's big bikes, shifts better without the clutch when it's really going.
Now for the good stuff; the Tiger is sumptuous; its slightly forward-leaning seating position, perfectly shaped and deeply padded saddle and superbly responsive, long-travel suspension combine to create a new definition of the term "all-day comfort".
The abbreviated fairing keeps enough of the slipstream off you that, while you still feel you're battling the elements, on this bike you always win.
Depth of control
The brakes are as good, Nissin radial-mount callipers delivering almost too much bite (you would be ill-advised to order your Tiger without the optional ABS) but with a depth of control and feedback that leads you to precision braking because you can, not because you need to.
The 1050 Tiger is street-orientated, dual-purpose bodywork notwithstanding, and its running gear is less compromised that of its predecessor. It runs a 17" cast-alloy rim shod with decent sports rubber at each end, giving it precise if rather too sensitive steering and superlative grip while leaned over.
And, of course, the only real benefit of the "adventure" styling is practically unlimited cornering clearance - all of which means the Tiger can be thrown about like a much smaller machine, although a steering damper might be in order for sustained high-speed work.
One of the best
The instrument pod has an analogue rev-counter with an LCD speedometer readout in it and an LCD info screen alongside that'll tell you anything from the time to how far you can go before the next pit stop to the bike's average speed since the last reset, with additional pictograms for fuel level and coolant temperature.
It's one of the best of its type that I've seen, intuitive in operation and easy to read; my only gripe is that its selector buttons are a little difficult to operate with gloved fingers.
Fit and finish are typical Triumph, nicely put together and very durable but a little plain compared to the best from Japan - and without the "details to delight" that make Italiana a visual feast.
The new Tiger makes no pretence at being a dual-purpose machine, so what does it have that the other models in the 1050 range don't? It's way more comfortable, around town and on the open road, than the Speed Triple and much more agile than the Sprint ST.
It's the only street-fighter I've ridden with genuine tourability and you have to admit that's an intriguing combination.
Price:
R108 950 with ABS.
- Test bike from Mike Hopkins Motorcycles, Cape Town.