Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special vs Triumph Tiger 1050

The Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special passes its MOT first time more often than the Triumph Tiger 1050: 94.9% vs 87.3%, a 7.6-point lead.

MOT reliability, side by side

first-time pass rate, outright fail rate and tests analysed · 2005–2025

Metric	Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special	Triumph Tiger 1050
First-time pass rate	94.9%	87.3%
Outright fail rate	2.5%	7.1%
Vs comparable bikes (age & mileage adjusted)	+6.3 pts	+2.9 pts
Engine size	1,252cc	1,050cc
Rank among all models	#82 of 5428	#1818 of 5428
Median miles at test	6,790	18,584
MOT tests analysed	447	13,990
Most common failure	lamps and reflectors	brakes

First-time outcomes on normal tests, 2005–2025. "Most common failure" is the component group with the most recorded defects on failed tests. Read pass rates against test counts: a smaller sample is noisier. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT results.

"Vs comparable bikes" is the first-time pass rate minus the rate expected for each bike's own mix of age, mileage and test class, in percentage points: positive means better than comparable bikes. How this works.

Pass rate by mileage

first-time MOT pass rate by miles on the clock at test

Mileage	Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special	Triumph Tiger 1050
0k-10k miles	94.1%	90.9%
10k-20k miles	97.3%	88.8%

Bands with fewer than 30 tests for either bike are left out.

HARLEY-DAVIDSON PAN AMERICA 1250 SPECIAL 94.9% pass · 447 tests TRIUMPH TIGER 1050 87.3% pass · 14.0k tests

See each bike's full report (trend, mileage curve, failure breakdown and rivals) on its own page.