Featured Tiger Explorer Thoughts On The New Tiger 1200 Rally Pro

@Aaron Brown: Thanks for the great description of the new Tiger. A had some identical impressions with the vibrations of the new engine.

 

Nice write up....

 

I took out the Tiger1200 GT a couple of weeks ago for a test ride. I was told no-one else had booked it that day so could I have it back for 4pm.
I took it back after a couple of hours.
The vibration through the grips was giving me pins and needles and I could feel my hands starting to go numb.
Not a problem I've ever had on my Tiger Sport 1050.
Out of interest I took out an R1250GS, no problems with that.
Think I'll try a Multistrada 1250 next.

 

I have a Tiger Rally Explorer and don't seem to have issues with undue vibration.

 

Awesome write up
seems the under seat charger, the useless bluetooth and the difficult center stand are characteristics of the current tigers

 

• "Like every other Tiger, I *hate* that I have to stop the bike to switch into off-road mode. Please, Triumph, let me do that without stopping the damned bike. When the route switches often between pavement and dirt, this requirement is a big pain in the ass. I also continue to be annoyed that when I shut the bike off in off-road mode, it's back in road mode when I start it up again. This is a real problem in rough off-road conditions if, for instance, you drop the bike during a failed hill climb in very loose rock or sand. The bike should start up where I left it."

When you switch into off-road mode on a Tiger 1200 the rear preload is backed off, lowering the rear end a little to rake out the bike some. Your outgoing Alpine edition did this too. I don't think there is any manufacturer who will let you make major bike geometry changes like that on the fly (but I don't know 100% for sure). Those that do are probably not making any fundamental preload changes, just throttle, ABS, traction etc but not preload.

I took the bike out for a test, superb machine, a good step forward from my 2018 XCa. Vibrations did not bother me at all.

 

On mine I had very unpleasant buffeting over 65mp/h coming though the gap between headlight and fender and up through opening for steering bars. I made winglets to redirect air - problem solved.

 

Great write up and assessment.
A number of years ago, I had told myself that I would not buy anymore bikes but just ride what I have until I don't want to ride anymore. That was the plan.
Then I saw the new Explorer at the local Triumph shop. Now I want one. I ride a Trophy SE and have 0 complaints about it but I sure like the looks of the new Explorer.

 

Great write up and assessment.
A number of years ago, I had told myself that I would not buy anymore bikes but just ride what I have until I don't want to ride anymore. That was the plan.
Then I saw the new Explorer at the local Triumph shop. Now I want one. I ride a Trophy SE and have 0 complaints about it but I sure like the looks of the new Explorer.

 

[QUOTE="
So, after a couple of weeks with it, here are some of my initial thoughts about the new Tiger 1200 Rally Pro:

• First off, let me say that this bike is my favorite of all the bikes I've ever owned.
• The bike feels *much* lighter and better balanced than my previous 1200 did. That was a pretty top-heavy bike, especially if the road or terrain was off-camber. This new 1200 is distinctly better. It's taller than my 1200 Alpine was (expected, given the higher suspension), but it feels considerably easier to manage at low speeds and when stopped. Triumph did well here.
• In general, I love the new engine. Down low, it's much more awake than the outgoing engine was. For lack of a better description, it's rowdier than the older engine was. In a good way.
• Up above about 6500 rpm, there are definitely more vibrations through the handlebars than there used to be, but they're not terrible, and the bar end weights from the barkbusters I added compensate fairly well. Also, I don't often ride up high in the rev range, so it doesn't affect me greatly.
• The bike is very comfortable on longer rides (I've taken it out for several rides that were 300 miles or longer, and have been very comfortable on each). It's definitely more comfortable on longer rides than the 900 rally pro (although that bike was also quite good on long stretches of miles). This does not surprise me, given how comfortable the outgoing 1200s were.
• The rider pocket for wind/buffeting is pretty good, but not perfect. Like my older 1200, I added a Puig adjustable blade to the top of the wind screen, and that cleans up the air stream well. I can ride with a peaked helmet, with the visor open at 75mph+ quite comfortably. For reference, I'm 5ft 10in (179cm).
• The Anakee Street tires that come mounted on the bike are decent, but nothing special. They're rubbish off road, and they're very loud on pavement from ~60-70mph. But they're not so terrible that I'm going to immediately swap them out for something else. I definitely will put something else on the bike when they're done, though.
• It's pretty nimble in low speed maneuvering, like a parking lot, though I find a weird soft spot in the throttle when just barely cracking it from a standstill (like when first starting to move when maneuvering out of a parking space, or moving ahead a few feet in slow traffic).
• The bike is surprisingly responsive on twisty roads, considering that the front wheel is 21 inches. Triumph's done a good job with the bike geometry when in road mode to compensate for the bigger wheel. Beyond some easy gravel roads, I haven't taken it off-road extensively yet, but I'd expect that the off-road modes probably switch the geometry to rake out the front more (like the recommended manual off-road suspension settings on the 900 rally pro do).
• Speaking of suspension: the suspension on this bike is *very* good, and I'd forgotten how much I love semi-active electronically adjusted suspension. I missed that going from the previous 1200 to the 900 RP.
• Overall, I like the simple layout Triumph chose for the instrument cluster in the 1200-s TFT *much* better than the weird and hard-to-read tach display they put into the 900 series. However, I think that I prefer the ease of choosing what additional info is displayed (trip data, fuel usage, etc) on the 900's screen. That additional info requires digging into the menus on the 1200, is not easy to flip through, and is not sticky.
• Like every other Tiger, I *hate* that I have to stop the bike to switch into off-road mode. Please, Triumph, let me do that without stopping the damned bike. When the route switches often between pavement and dirt, this requirement is a big pain in the ass. I also continue to be annoyed that when I shut the bike off in off-road mode, it's back in road mode when I start it up again. This is a real problem in rough off-road conditions if, for instance, you drop the bike during a failed hill climb in very loose rock or sand. The bike should start up where I left it.
• The under-seat phone charger tray is every bit as stupid and useless as it is in the 900. I promptly removed it, and added a fuse block for powering devices in its place.
• I hate the passenger pegs. They're too big, they just get in the way while I'm riding, and are pretty intrusive into my space as pilot when coming to a stop. I don't ride two-up on this bike, so I removed them.
• The center stand is stupidly hard to access if the passenger pegs are present. It's completely blocked by the left-hand passenger peg, and requires a lot of finagling to activate if wearing larger adventure boots. Also, it's hard to get the bike back down off the center stand unless you brace the stand from the front to prevent it from moving along the ground. I liked the stands in my previous 1200 and my 900 much better.
• The bluetooth functionality and the MyTriumph app suck every bit as bad as they do in the 900. After trying it for a single ride, I promptly unpaired everything and disabled all of the bluetooth functions in the bike. Now, as I did for the 900, I pretend it doesn't exist. I pair my phone and headset to my Garmin Zumo XT, and all works flawlessly.

I'll post further thoughts as they occur to me...[/QUOTE]

Superb write up. I wish I had found this the almost 2 years ago as it would have hastened my quest towards this superb machine. A little history so you guys can see where I "came from" to this 2023 Tiger 1200 Rallypro I picked up in March of this year, new, greatly discounted, which was the only time I saw this kind of price move for the couple of years I've been eyeing all things "tiger".

My "adventure" bikes have always been KLR650's since 1984, yes from the very first 600 which as of this time last year was STILL on the road in Georgetown Tx! I ended up buying and horsetrading 4 more after this with my last one being a 2005. In 21 years I literally put OVER 200,000 miles on them cumulatively and they never broke nor left me stranded, that is until my 2001 threw the camchain a few teeth. This, along with the redesign circa 2007+ turned me off completely, the added weight along with NO upgrades that I considered essential made me look elsewhere. Then the cancellation and "resurrection" of the KLR650 IMO was even worse! The only thing that made it even worth a look-see was the pricing. Somehow Kawasaki brought back an almost clone-looking 650 with FI but with an extra 100 pounds! STILL the same five speed tranny and really should have went to a parallel twin instead of the tired single design. My 2001 was listed as 349 pounds not sure if this was dry or wet). In either case the "doohicky debacle" was a severe hit to the "bulletproof" moniker the KLR's reputation had and it is precisely why my 2001 model is sitting in my garage with the motor half torn down. It will probably stay that way since I have a spare motor that I plan to swap someday...if ever now.

In 2018 I decided to go get another "dual sport" with smaller displacement. Picked up a brand new 2018 Suzuki DRZ400s and really liked it, albeit with so many things that make it a not so great touring bike, but a superb trailbike. 2.2 gallon tank, not so great MPG (mostly due to it's low stock gearing) but superb power and handling, Suzuki has seemed to always put great suspension on these and the guys that rode with us through many desert adventures on them kept up and didn't break (unlike the KTM's and yes, the Tigers of the time, of which there were only 2 max per trip in our groups). My son bought the DRz from me and so after looking at EVERYTHING I could find in the adventure segment, I picked up a Tenere 7 in 2023 trading in my BELOVED 2009 Concours 14 that had lovingly taken me nearly 70k miles all over the continent without ANY issues. Loved it initially. Took it with the wife where she was my passenger for about 4k miles of Arkansas on and off-road adventures. (Yes, she's tough!) That was what put the bug in my head for something similar but with a tad more power and perhaps more passenger comfort. Enter the 2020 Tiger 900 Rally that a now friend was selling (which was almost completely upgraded to a PRO minus TPMS) with one ride and I was hooked. It was a gingerly owned and never offroaded unit with only 5k miles. Ran quite nicely. I owned this and the Tenere together for over a full year and some months until I came across the Tiger 1200 in Temple, Tx, can't say enough good about the folks there at Bell County Motorworks! I traded BOTH the Tenere and 900 for it and we had a rocky start. One of the clutch discs (never saw any photos so I really don't which plate was the culprit) was "out of position from the factory" causing the clutch assembly to not be 100% engaged...in other words severe clutch slip. Took an entire week just to get it looked at (I live 140 miles from this dealership, one way) but it was a simple "fix".

At just shy of 3k miles on it now I have to agree it's my favorite adventure bike, although I don't ever intend to use it on any seriously rugged off-road adventures that are more than fire-roads and the like. It's just too heavy, IMO, for that kind of stuff. Even the Tenere 7, at 438 pounds was a bit portly, weight-wise, for some of the trails I took it through...it held up great but the fun-factor wasn't there with that level of pucker-factor...especially with a passenger! (Ok, not too much off-road with her on the back, mostly paved or fire roads). While the Tiger 900's extra 20hp but also 70+ pounds (minus luggage) really didn't call to me to take on trails but was a superb backroad exploration bike. Now the Tiger 1200's 550 pounds and it's height is a recipe, I feel, for catastrophic offroad disaster. But as a "touring bike on high heels" it's SUPERB!

 

Aaron touched on just about all the good and bad that I would have stated. I was seriously believing that BY NOW Triumph would have made the road to off-road modes switchable without stopping via a software update, amongst other things as in adding more info to the TFT (like the 900 did!). 90% of my pleasure rides are on mixed roads. I see this as a quite severe oversight. There is no way to display engine temp (which is important, no?) OR odometer without going through menus. Why?? This is a largish TFT with PLENTY of room to add several info fields. They did improve the tach compared to the 900's bizarre lines.

The centerstand is really only good for tire maintenance, not for parking as it's absurdly difficult to get OFF the stand.

I love how there isn't ANY perceived heat from the engine on the 1200 vs the 900 (which some people griped incessantly about!).

There is some vibration in the bars but as you said it's not that bad and it is quite less than the 900, even with Bark Busters. Long rides are more comfortable as well. I rotated the bars "up" a tad to get a better standing posture and found that it's also more comfortable on my back to be leaned forward if ever so slightly.

The underseat phone charger is a complete waste of space and mine was broken at delivery. My phone BARELY fits in it and the Triumph app is appalling bad and useless in my experience. Too bad they didn't actually put some sort of storage space there, large enough to store, say a medium sized pistol? =)

My wife has a VERY difficult time, for some reason, getting on and off this bike. She's NOT a big girl, almost petite and very athletic and has NEVER had any difficulty climbing aboard the Tenere nor the slight taller DRz, the 900 tiger was not an issue either...but this 1200 is just not optimized for passenger mounting. Oversight or intended? Unfortunately THIS was one of my reasons for "upgrading" from the Tiger 900.

I do love the shaft drive for it's lack of needed chain lube every fuel stop (if you do it per the book) and that it's never noticed. This is a good thing.

Suspension is superb! I have no desire to change it. Handling is better and more nimble feeling than my 900 was. And the POWER! Wow...the 900 was no slouch but this 1200 is a TIGER! lol. Fun if you use it appropriately (or not!).

I do not intend to go 10,000 miles on oil changes. I will change at no longer intervals of 5k or when the oil just "looks dark"...whichever comes first. Oil is still cheaper than motor damage. Speaking of which, WHY does Triumph insist that we have to take our bikes to a dealer to reset an oil change light!!??

I have noted that the air filter on this 1200 is not easy to get to and it's change interval is listed as 20,000 miles!? Can this even be accurate? It does state "or more often in dusty conditions"...wtf does that even mean? For me that could mean every month! Compared to the 900's filter location, this 1200 is absurd for this. Has anyone ever changed theirs or even looked at it?

And lastly for this post the wind protection and ease of adjusting the windscreen position is superb.

Here's to hoping the rest of this 3 year warranty will go un-needed. Speaking of which what is the going rate for adding factory extended warranty or does Triumph even offer this?

 

FYI both of my posts were in ONE...but there was a 10k character limit...so had to split it...

 

great review

seems the 900 and 1200 share most of the flaws, and the 1200 has a number of advantages

 

Yes, they have similar "DNA" but they are very different machines. IMO the 900 was kind of at the higher-end of the "sweet spot" of a "fire-road sport bike", and the 1200 has much more power on a slightly better chassis/suspension package however the extra weight (50-100 pounds more depending on how you are loaded) makes, shall I say, a negative difference along with the extra seat height. But I would not take either of these through the "Black Gap" in Big Bend NP (one of my better known measuring sticks for rough)...stock T7 maybe...stock DRz not a problem other than worrying one might run out of gas. Ironically a stock KLR (the lighter ones or GEN2) had no issue here as long as you had appropriate knobby tires and progressive front fork springs. I ran that about a dozen times over a several year period and the first time was on a completely stock KLR650...it was sketchy but doable and beat it up a bit. I have no doubt an Ivan Cervantes type would/could take a Tiger 1200 through the Black Gap with aplomb...but NOT mine!

Bell County Motorworks sent me home on a 2024 900 RallyPro while they had my 1200 and I was very glad to take the 1200 back, although its not because the 900 was bad as I even contemplated keeping it instead IF there was a major problem, the 1200 was just better all around IMO (especially on pavement). Riding them back to back on the same routes convinced me of this.

Overall I think the Tiger's are superb. I have friends that own BMW's/KTM's and my kid brother just picked up a Moto Guzzi V85TT. They can keep them!