Yes, after three years the 900 GT Pro has gone to Mr Honda who kindly gave me a shiny new Transalp in it’s place.
Loved the Tiger but time for something a wee bit lighter, slightly smaller and a bit different. First saw the new Transalp on Henry Cole’s Motorbike Show and liked the look of it.
I’ve looked at the equivalent offerings from Suzuki, Moto Guzzi, KTM and Yamaha in terms of middleweight ADV bikes but price and personal preference made me go for the Honda.
New bike day was actually 16th October but I thought I’d put 500 miles on it first to get comfortable with it so I might feel able to answer any questions about it.
For me it’s a great bike, 16kg lighter than the Tiger but only giving away 3bhp. I like the fact that it’s slimmer, neater, less cluttered and well a bit less blinged up with tyre pressure monitoring, cruise control and the like. Back to basics without being basic!
Anyway here are some pictures, which is all we really want
It’s a smart looking bike, Steve, with nice clean lines. It’s just a pity that the winter weather is setting in now, with dirty and salty roads to mess it up.
Let’s hope so, not that I’ve ever had an issue with a Triumph.
Opted for a service package - includes first three services for £499.00 The Tiger cost me £1078.00 for the same!
Well, it’s easier to clean than the Tiger despite the spokes
What have I learned so far?
The stock screen is too short and causes noticeable wind noise. Not as good as the Tiger 900 but about the same as the Tiger 800 one.
Honda do a taller one but so do Givi, which is taller and cheaper so it probably will be that one.
Very small gripe. The TFT screen has an info bar with four sections, there are four of them to scroll through so thats sixteen bits of info available. Honda provide up to 24 bits of info you can switch between - trip A, trip B, various average and instant fuel consumption indicators, voltage and so on.
For some reason there is no range to empty or air temperature - surely the most common bits of info on modern bikes so why omit them?
I can tell you, however what grip angle my throttle hand is at or what the date is.
I do like the Transalp (too tall for me at a seat height of 850mm, mind) although the updated spec for the '24 Tiger range would make it a tough choice now. Looks lovely, anyway, and I hope you get many miles of enjoyment from it.
Thanks!
You can get a lower seat option, which I believe takes it to 830mm but not alower bike as such, although Triumph have dropped that option from the new range.
The upgraded Tiger range will have the bhp that the original should have had, ie. over 100bhp to compete with the equivalent offerings from Yamaha, Suzuki and BMW. Hate to think whatvthe price will be though
What horsepower does the Transalp 750 put out and how does it compare to your previous Tiger?
I like the face lift Tiger 900’s but not enough to consider a change. I find the performance of my current model (94bhp) more than adequate for road use - it gives all the performance I need.
One thing that the Tiger (and my Speed Twin) has taught me is that around 100hp is plenty for a road bike and anything significantly more is wasted on me. Before these two I had a Speed Triple with 180hp and before that an FZ1 Fazer with 150hp but found that you could only scratch the surface of the available horsepower!
It puts out 91bhp and weighs 206kg fully fuelled - so around the same piwer to weight ratio as the Tiger (and Africa Twin apparently).
Really nothing between the two performance wise. It feels smoother as it doesn’t have that T plane vibe of the Tiger and the exhaust note is definitely more of a growl.
Gearing is quite tall so I would think you’d need to drop out of 6th for a quick overtake but high speed cruising is very relaxed - you could cover serious miles on this bike.
Economy is better - getting over 60mpg already with a tight engine, so 200 miles plus per tank is do-able. Engine perks up at 5000 rpm and then properly wakes up around 7250 rpm, coinciding with maximum torque - probably doing close to 90mph in third by then, so easy overtaking.
Just found out it comes with Bluetooth connectivity and built in navigation through Hondas road synch app. (Thought it was optional).
Tried it today - much better than Triumphs effort. Instant connection, more information and accurate to the yard, not delayed like the Triumph one (when it actually worked).
though gold spoked wheels? Crispey always said you were a bit of a tart.
