STRIPES EARNED!
Remember the days when a big bike was 500, 650 or, bugger me, an enormous 750? Nowadays, 800cc is classified as “middle class”. But notice how all the major and some minor manufacturers are producing damn fine middle-weight bikes. They make a lot of sense: lighter weight, sufficient power to cruise along at legal speeds, and with plenty on tap for licence-losing velocities.
The big-bruiser Tiger XR1200 has a smaller sibling that’s been around for a while now. I wouldn’t call the 2018 version of the Tiger 800 a cub, but more an exuberant, lithe and lively adolescent teenager just busting to take on the world. You know the type — plenty of spunk, willing to push the boundaries and hang the consequences. Sometimes you’re just itching
