V-Strom 650 or Tiger 800?
 

Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a second-hand bike to travel.
I already have experience with a BMW F650GS and a KTM SMT 990.

I am now deciding between a 2020 V-Strom 650 and a 2015 Triumph Tiger XRX 800, which would cost me around the same (6.5k €)

I'm based in Southern Europe and would most likely be driving in Europe, North Africa and West Asia.

I test-drove both already and, although I found the Triumph engine more exciting, I know the V-Strom would likely be more reliable and cheaper to run. On the other side, the Tiger seems to have better suspension and brakes as well as more power.

Would be great to hear your thoughts :scooter:

It's personal taste to some degree but I'd go for the V-Strom. Lighter, more economical, Japanese so reliability and spares support should be a given. Plenty enough power for road touring and TBH neither bike is really the greatest dirt basher.

I personally had a great experience riding South America with my 2014 V-Strom. No problems whatsoever. With the stock suspension ground clearance is pretty low though. I’d assume that it would be easier to find spare parts for a japanese bike along your route, too. The difference in power shouldn’t be a factor on a long distance trip. Ride safe!

Yours,
Martin

I think TS have pointed out the basic positive and negative sides with those two bikes. The Tiger would be more powerful and thus fun to ride, better suspension if its a newer model but more expensive to use and probably less reliable, and the V-Strom would be more economical and reliable as its a newer model.

The further from home the ride is planned the more it points towards the V-Strom but maybe if the trip was planned within the neighbor countries maybe the Tiger would be a good choice.

Thanks for the comment :)

On dirt capabilities, I thought realistically I wouldn't go too crazy off-road stuff as I'd be riding mostly alone and loaded with a couple of aluminium side cases...so I might as well get cast wheels sacrificing some dirt abilities but have tubeless wheels.

I didn't find much info on ground clearance to compare the two... I know the V-strom is VERY low and Tiger XRX is a bit less but couldn't find the measure for the latter...