Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro

September 2026
Meet Shere Khan: The New King of the Garage

There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles over a garage between bikes. Boudicca had gone after two months and sixteen days, 1,100-odd miles under her belt, and something in me had known almost from the start that the Trident and I weren’t quite speaking the same language. A triple that buzzed when I wanted grunt. A weight and size that were, on paper, perfect, and in practice, just… not it.

So the search began again. Properly this time.

I went back to basics. What did I actually miss from the GS days? Wind and weather protection. That low-down boxer grunt that just pulls from nothing. The planted, settled feel of a bike that isn’t fighting you on a British B-road in October. Comfort first, because the rides I actually want to do are long days out on local back roads, not weekend off-road adventures I’ll never take (I will never ride off-road, and I’ve finally stopped pretending otherwise).

That ruled a lot out. The R1300GS never won me over on looks or price. The Moto Guzzi V85 TT didn’t make the cut. I went round the houses on modern classics, the Speed Twin 1200, the Scrambler 1200 XE, a Bonneville T120, and kept circling back to BMWs out of habit before reminding myself why I’d moved on from them in the first place: too heavy, too tall, brilliant bikes that I’d simply outgrown wanting.

And then, the Tiger 900 GT Pro. Not the GT, not the Rally, not the Rally Pro. Specifically the GT Pro, and specifically the second generation, the updated model with the revised styling, uprated suspension and sharper electronics that Triumph brought in as part of the mid-life refresh. Road-biased, comfort-focused, everything I’d decided actually mattered, wrapped up in the newer, more polished version of the bike.

I found two worth serious consideration: a red 2024 with a full Triumph history, and a 2025 grey example with fewer miles but a patchier history and some nice extras already fitted. In the end it was the red one that won, full history mattered more to me than a lower mileage.

Shere Khan.

Every bike I’ve owned gets a name, and this one felt right the moment I settled on it. Something with presence. Something that prowls rather than buzzes.

First impressions after swapping the Trident’s triple for the Tiger’s setup: this feels like the bike I was actually looking for when I started this whole search. Wind protection that does its job. A ride that settles rather than fights. It’s still early days, but early days with Shere Khan already feel very different to early days with Boudicca.

Routes are already forming. The Peak District is calling, and there’s still that Brecon Beacons loop I’d mapped out ages ago, Abergavenny to Llandovery via Talybont and Pontsticill reservoirs, up over the Black Mountain Pass on the A4069, that’s been waiting for the right bike to do it justice.

I think I’ve found it.