Triumph Tiger 70, 80 and 90
TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT
On those rare occasions I get to ride a prewar motorcycle, I come away thinking: “I really ought to get one of these.”
The Triumph Tiger 80 single is a great looker, which helped encourage such ideas. It started easily and took off in a sprightly fashion. Taking a lightweight rigid framed bike with girder forks on the road requires a rather different style to riding something more modern. In deference to the age of the little Triumph, gear changes were dealt with firmly but with care with a momentary delay of a fraction of a second in the middle of the change before getting it on song again. Suspension is minimal and bumps at the back are constrained by the use of a decent sprung seat. Vintage riding requires a lighter touch on the steering too. Holding on tight and trying to force things to go where you want them to, isn’t always the way to do it. Rather you seat yourself in the comfortable sprung saddle, let the bike have its head, and while keeping a light touch on the bars, while gripping the tank with your knees, you watch the road carefully for gravel, lumps and potholes, which can make things wiggle about a bit if they are severe. Doing this helped the little century country lanes – it was, after all, designed for conditions like this. The handling was doubtless improved by the modern-ish Avon Speedmaster tyres.
