Bonnie Or Tiger 800

Had two Tiger 800’s and they’re great.

Ridden a street twin for a couple of days and found it small and somewhat lacking.

But that’s just my preference others will differ.

Test ride and only you can decide

 

Also, if you went for @tcbandituk's bike, or one like it, you wont have much in the way of chrome to clean. Mine is the SE with cast wheels so no spokes!

 

Thanks for the referral

But, and I'm sort of shooting myself in the foot here , for a 500 mile trip (assuming it's one 500 mile day rather than ten 50 mile ones ) the Tiger would be a far better bike with the much better tank range, fairing and extra power all helping to make the rider feel a lot less fatigued than a Bonnie rider who's done the same distance.....

On the other hand, if it is ten 50 miles days, the Bonnie's ideal, have mine !

 

I'm in the same boat. I was at the dealership today going back and forth between a T120 which I think is absolutely beautiful, and a Tiger 800 xca which I think is much more versatile. I love the classic looks of the T120, especially with the competition green/fusion white paint. But the weather protection and the TFT screen and all the bells and whistles of the Tiger, including riding modes, heated seat, etc. make the T120 seem like a dinosaur.
Maybe I should just get both!

 

I had pretty much the same decision as to which of the 2 bikes to buy. I only have room and the finances for one bike.

I went with the Bonnie. Beautiful looking bike and will put a smile on your face every time you open the garage door. Every time you park up you will be met by a misty eyed old bloke, like me, who wants to talk about his triumph from 40 years ago. Nothing wrong with that, it's good to talk...

The riding reality, for me was quite different. I spent a shed load of cash improving the suspension and brakes. As I found the standard set up lacking.

A wet tour in France convinced me I had bought the wrong bike. I changed to a tiger xrt when I got back home. Absolutely love it. Comfortable, extremely capable and from the right angle pretty.....well sort of. I cant wait to tour on it this summer.

As said by the wise sages here test ride both. Make it a long ride because, again as said earlier, the Bonnie can feel a bit cramped after a while. I found the leg angle made my dodgy hip ache after an hour or two riding.

Good luck with your decision. Oh, again as said earlier, make sure the big service has been done if going for a 20k+ mile tiger. Service costs aren't so much of an issue with the basic Bonnie.

 

Hi and welcome. I have just traded my T100 in for a Tiger XRt, as much as I loved the Bonny and put 4.8k mls on it in 10 months, a round 700 mile trip to Cumbria in Jan did it for me, took me days to recover from it. I test rode a Tiger for a week and found it far more comfortable for what I want, which is an all rounder that I can commute, play and tour on, the Bonny is great for 2 of those but can't tour on it with the Missus. She has also fell in love with the Tiger, it has heated seats! Having said that, maybe in a few years I may be able to convince her to let me park 2 bikes on the drive, in which case I would defo buy another Bonny for sunny weekends days out. For me the head ruled the heart on this one. Good luck with your choice, you wont regret either of them.

 

Say it loud! My Bonny is black and proud!

 

Had both at same time and Bonnie for speeds up to 60mph on nice twisty roads.... Tiger for everything else. I put a Madstad screen on my Tiger as the standard and adjustable Triumph screens were worse than useless and blasted the wind straight at my head... Madstad adjusts to your height and perfect in my view. Luggage, comfort endurance, fuel economy all ticked off with the Tiger whilst the Bonnie only scores on looks and a nice exhaust note, which doesn’t count for much when you are chasing your mates tail lights at speeds the bike really isn’t suited for. Oh and suggest avoid the cool look of the open face helmets in the Bonnie ads... they try and pull your head off at any speed over 45mph ! ...I’ve got a Street Scrambler at the moment but all I want it for is blatting about the back roads near me...hopelessly unsuited for fast A roads or motorways as the general traffic speed is 10-20mph faster than is comfortable on a classic style bike. Just my opinion so hope of some use, cheers

 

I faced the same dilemma. Last summer I test rode all the Classic bikes and loved them all (less sure about the T120) Then I tried a Tiger 800 and bought it. Functionally it is a great bike but I still have hankerings for a T100. Another poster is right, the Bonny is a bike you would pull out and park up outside the house just to look at it. And the soundtrack when you are riding it is awesome!

 

I've been wrestling with this for a few years. I have a "classic" street triple, which I've always loved and is great for short blasts etc. But on longer trips it's hard work, especially long rides down the motorway to the ferry.
So I'm also considering whether I should be getting something like a Tiger (head vs heart) rather than getting a new speed triple.
On our NC500 run last year I was wrecked by long days in the saddle on my little Street.
So for our long trip next time I thought to myself, "why not just hire a Tiger 800 for the week?"

 

Try the Tiger - you can ride them all day and not feel as if you need a week to recover.

 

Yes I agree... very good riding position on the Tigers so no aches or staggering about after a long ride!!