Both of these sit-up-and-ride machines make truly stellar urban commuters, with the visibility to see over, around and through traffic, the wide handlebars needed to make quick, cut-and-thrust maneuvers and the instantly accessible power required to fill a shrinking slot in traffic.
The Ducati's riding position feels odd at first. The tubular bar has almost no sweepback, so you feel as if you're riding on the front edge of the seat. One adapts quickly, though, and the compliant, well-sorted suspension, great brakes, sticky tires and excellent throttle response let you slither through rush-hour traffic like a rattler through a rabbit hutch.
The Tiger's riding stance feels exactly right, right out of the box. Its roomier cockpit dimensions suit a wide range of humans, its seat is one of the best we've squashed, and the stronger power from its lusty, liquid-cooled, three-cylinder engine lends it an aura of in-town omnipotence. The Nissin radial front brakes are as powerful and predictable as one could want, and the whole package has the overall feeling of smoothness and refinement more readily associated with BMW or Honda. It's a very nicely engineered piece.
There are, however, two out-of-place maggots in the marmalade. The first is suspension action: The springs at both ends are too soft for anyone but tiny jockeys with lots of time on their tiny hands. One of our test riders bottomed the fork before he even left the Motorcyclist garage, and bottoming the shock was a frequent occurrence with the stock settings. We quickly dialed up both ends to maximum preload, but the problem persisted. Even with preload all the way up, and every damping adjustment (rebound and compression up front, rebound in back) set to near maximum, the suspenders stayed loose and only marginally controlled. On smooth pavement, with a smooth rider, the Tiger showed us its potential, but if you're going to buy one and you weigh more than 150 pounds, figure on an appointment with your favorite suspension tuner.
The second glitch is a lean spot just off idle that makes opening the throttle smoothly an exercise in fine motor control. This problem was worse in lower gears, with higher revs, and it seemed to vary from day to day and ride to ride, for no obvious reason we could ascertain. It may be that the injection mapping is right on the edge of too lean at idle, so that the smallest variations in air density, humidity, etc., cause a disproportionate change in behavior. Either that, or we were hallucinating. Wouldn't be the first time...
Once free of the city, the Triumph began to, well, triumph. It's one of the best long-haul sport-tourers we've ever sampled, with a truly great seat, a smooth, vibration-free engine and near-perfect riding position. The half-fairing leaves one's head and shoulders out in the windblast, but it's a clean, turbulence-free current. Make sure you have fresh earplugs and you're golden.
The Ducati is fine here, just a little less tolerable than the Barcalounger Tiger. Vibration is well-controlled, the mirrors usable, the riding position agreeable and the suspension action pain-free. The Multi's fuel mileage would give Al Gore a chubby: We're accustomed to seeing mileage in the high 30s and low 40s, but the Ducati routinely scored in the high 40s and low 50s, and on one particularly long, frugal freeway run it racked up 58 miles per very expensive gallon. With its 5.3-gallon capacity, that means you can theoretically squeeze over 300 miles from each partially underseat tankful, and ensures you'll be able to routinely make 250 if you behave yourself.
The Tiger, with its more-common 40-mpg average, will need a drink every 180 miles or so. Like the Ducati, its electronic display measures fuel flow and predicts range, making for great fun after fill-ups. Gas it away from the station and the system predicts a 190- to 195-mile range. Keep your gear selection high and your speed and throttle opening low, and the predicted range will then steadily increase-201, 202, 203-so the farther you go, the more range you get. After all these years, Triumph has not just made a nice sport-touring bike, it's created perpetual motion!