Tiger Explorer Gen 1 Pros And Cons

I bought a 2013 1215 explorer. I love the bike but after 4,500 miles by me (36000) for the bike, the engine blew! I had asked the dealer about valve guide issues as I had read some articles on them. He said it would have occurred by then. Hmm.
I don't know enough about the bikes or engines ( been a Harley rider for decades) but just a note of caution. Maybe others can advise more.
Great bikes though

 

Gen 1 very early Explorers had head issues in a certain VIN range, a dealer can tell you if the bike has had a new head under warranty/goodwill or is in the affected range and has not been done.

Gearbox issues are also very common, jumping 3 to 2 or neutral. Give the gearbox a right hammering on any test drive and avoid like the plague if there are any doubts on the gearbox. If caught early it can be a reasonably low cost fix, if left it can be very expensive. This affected later models too.

There was also a very early cam bucket service bulletin, check the VIN is not affected on very early models with a dealer.

Synopsis below on the head is from another forum, I know the original poster won't mind me sharing his hard work putting this together for a potential Explorer owner. (hats off to Captain Trips). This was obviously written from a US perspective but you get the idea.

Symptoms
Increasing noise coming from the valve mechanism/cam area of the cylinder head in first generation Tiger Explorer models. At around 25,000+- miles, this could result in either loss of compression when the valve(s) no longer seat/seal correctly or sudden catastrophic engine failures when the head of a valve pops off and jams a piston, requiring a full engine rebuild.

Cause
Some early Gen1 TEXs were built with valve guides that were not made to factory hardness specifications. These soft valve guides wear quickly, resulting in valves leaning at an angle. As the wear progresses, the valve stem is put under increasing stress because it is only touching the seat on one side. Ultimately, the valve gets burned up causing loss of compression and/or a valve stem breaks, causing the valve head to pop off and jam the engine resulting in engine failure.

Models Affected
Gen1 TEX model years affected: 2012, 2013 and early 2014 (also some Trophy models - not documented here). TEX VIN numbers up to 602960 are possibly affected.

Remedy Under Warranty
Triumph never issued a recall notice for this problem. Triumph did issue a series of Service Bulletins which could trigger a no-cost cylinder head replacement while the bike was still under regular warranty coverage. Dealers were required to report symptoms of noisy valve trains to Triumph corporate, who would then authorize a no-cost cylinder head replacement.

Service Bulletin
Service Bulletin number 474 issue number 144 dated April 2013

Remedy Out Of Warranty
Triumph corporate has, on occasion, provide parts for head replacement or engine rebuild out of warranty at no cost, IF there is a history of service at an authorized Triumph dealership, and IF your Triumph dealership can be convinced to pursue the issue with Triumph corporate. This 'goodwill' warranty has also been extended to second owners of first-generation TEXs. There are a number of successful cases that are documented on this forum. The caveat is that most dealerships will claim that they have never heard of this issue. It may take some insistence by the owner to get this consideration from Triumph. Also, the labor costs for a full engine rebuild can be approximately US$2600+-

Many of these bikes are still on the road and are being traded in on newer models or sold privately. Some are just reaching the 25k miles mark and have not had the cylinder head replacement.

 

Yep, that's where it is from.

 

Hi XCaTel, thanks for this very informative post. My bike falls very much into that category and it sounds like that is what has happened to my bike.

I am still waiting to the motorcycle shop I bought my bike from to resolve this - they are trying to find a replacement engine as it dropped a valve and has damaged the barrels and pistons. My bike has 36,000miles. The shop is not an official Triumph dealer.

 

Ouch, hope this works out for you Steve, a bit of a long road ahead for you it seems. Best of luck.