Triumph Tiger 850 Sport: Most Affordable Tiger Coming To India For The First Time VERY Soon!

The Tiger lineup is to become more accessible in India with the arrival of the 850 Sport, the new entry-level offering of the family

Yep, you read that right! The Triumph Tiger Sport is finally coming to India. But temper your excitement for just a moment, because the bike in question isn’t the beloved Tiger 1050 Sport with the bewitching Speed Triple motor, but instead the Tiger 850 Sport, based on the Tiger 900. So, what exactly can we expect from this new bike? Well, actually very little that’s new. Confused? Keep reading.

So the Tiger 850 is powered by an all-new 849cc inline-triple with… erm, no. It’s powered by the same 888cc T-plane inline triple that sits in the Tiger 900. Except that here, it produces 85PS/82Nm as opposed to 95PS/87Nm in the 900. So yes, output is lower, but the peak figures kick in earlier, at 8500rpm and 6500rpm respectively on the 850, against 8750rpm and 7250rpm on the 900.

Triumph feels that there is a chunk of prospective buyers who want an adventure tourer, but are intimidated by the power and delivery of bikes like the Tiger 900, so to fix this, it has created the Tiger 850 Sport with more manageable output figures and a friendlier power delivery that’s less likely to scare away first time big-bike buyers. This is not unlike the way BMW sells two bikes with the same engine but in different levels of trim and tune, with the F 750 GS and F 850 GS.

Unfortunately, this is about all that Triumph has done to make its Tiger more accessible and manageable. The adjustable standard seat still sits a fairly lofty 810 to 830mm off the deck, and the Tiger Sport tips the scales at 192kg dry - both figures are identical to the base-spec Tiger 900 (not sold in India). This is because the frame, sub-frame, suspension, brakes and wheels are all identical. The only key difference in the chassis department are the new Michelin Anakee dual-sport tyres on the 850. On the upside, the underpinnings that have been carried over from the 900 are quite competent. You get Marzocchi suspension at both ends with rear preload adjustability, and absolutely top-spec Brembo Stylema calipers biting on a pair of big 320mm discs up front.

Equipment levels are near identical between the two bikes as well, with the Tiger 850 Sport getting the hand-me-down 5-inch high-contrast TFT display and two riding modes (road and rain), while missing out on heated grips, cruise control and an IMU. It does get all-LED lighting, though, including an LED DRL, whereas the base-spec 900 only gets an LED headlight and tail lamp.

If you’ve made it this far through the article, you now probably understand why Triumph has chosen to discontinue the base-spec Tiger 900 and replace it with the new Tiger 850 Sport, since they are largely the same bike underneath. The good news is that the 850 is going to be more affordable than the base Tiger 900. The bad news is that it’ll only be around £200 more affordable. But considering that all the high-spec cycle parts have been carried over, that’s not too bad a deal. Here in India, we never got the lowest-spec Tiger 900, but we will get the Tiger 850 Sport. And what this means is that buying into the Tiger brand is about to become a whole lot easier. At the moment, the most affordable Tiger on sale in our country is the Tiger 900 GT, at a cool Rs 13.70 lakh. Once the 850 arrives, that entry point is expected to move to Rs 11.50 lakh.

If the Tiger 850 Sport does sound like your cup of tea, bikes are expected to reach dealers in India as early as February 2021, so you better start planning right now. Personally, we wish Triumph had made a more sincere effort to create a manageable, affordable, street-focused adventure tourer with the Tiger 850 Sport. Shedding a few kilos, dropping the seat a bit, and throwing in a 17-inch front wheel would have gone a long way in reducing the intimidation factor so strongly associated with ADVs in India. Nevertheless, hopeful Tiger buyers now have a much more reachable target to aim at, and if they hit it, they will appreciate the friendlier nature of the 850’s engine, along with the decent level of equipment being offered.