It’s one of Triumph’s most exciting bike projects to date. Developed from a Tiger XCX base and designed by two brothers, David or Felipe Lopez, from Triumph’s chassis development team.

The Tramontana bike gets its name from the north winds that blow across the Pyrenees into Spain where the brothers are from. The heavily-modified Tiger 800 project bike has been six months in the making and is purpose built for competition in the blistering heat and treacherous terrain of the African Desert.

The Triumph Tiger Tramontana is a pure competition bike that will be raced in the Panafrica Rally starting this weekend. The two competitive brothers have been training hard in the run up to the 2,000km Panafrica Rally, to see who is best fit to take the rider’s slot. The Panafrica runs in a loop out of Erfoud, Morocco, over five challenging stages through the Saharan dunes, and will give the test rider engineers a chance to gauge the full potential of their creation.

“This is a racing bike and it’s going to be raced in the most extreme terrain and conditions over distance, so the primary focus has always been function over form,” says David.

Triumph Tiger Tramontana Key Mods

• Rally instrumentation
• Lighter headlights
• Adapted subframe designed to support all the new components
• Custom windscreen to cover and protect everything
• Modified body panels, sump guard, seat and rear mudguard
• Shorter rear end to improve mass centralization
• Longer suspension travel and revised rear shock linkage

“The modifications we’ve made to the Tiger Tramontana take the all-round capability of the Tiger 800 to a much more focused level required for this type of extreme off-road riding, so the off-road capability has been enhanced significantly to be comparable to all of the rally enduro racing bikes in the field. The things that have changed have changed for a reason, either to improve performance, to reduce weight or for more appropriate functionality in racing conditions,” reveals David.

Could we see a special edition production version of the Triumph Tiger Tramontana some day? Lordy we hope so! For more information on Triumph’s build, go to Triumph’s For the Ride website.

Author: Rob Dabney

Rob Dabney started a lifelong obsession with motorcycles at the age of 15 when he purchased his first bike – a 1982 Honda MB5. Through his 20’s and 30’s he competed in off-road desert races, including the Baja 250, 500 and 1000. Eventually, his proclivity for exploration led him to dual sport and adventure riding. Rob’s never-ending quest to discover what’s around the next bend has taken him on Adventures in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and throughout the American West. As a moto journalist, he enjoys inspiring others to seek adventure across horizons both near and far.