Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200 Review

It has a beak, a single sided swing arm, shaft drive and even an optional set of Ewan and Charlie lights. Perhaps inevitably many reviewers have fallen into the trap of thinking the new Triumph Tiger Explorer is just a deliberate GS clone. At Bigbikemad we think they have missed a trick, and with it much of the point of the new bike. It would be naive to think that Triumph did not have the Bavarian mile-muncher in their sights when designing the Explorer, but we think they are more clever than that and that the story runs deeper. We also think that this bike is a great one – in its own right.

There’s no question that the Hinckley firm want a share of the Adventure bike market – the Explorer comes out a year after the Tiger 800 XC – a fairly obvious assault on BMW’s F650 / F 800 GS. The real question though is why adventure bikes are popular at all – many are about as likely to see the dirt as their four wheel counterparts – the ‘Chelsea tractor’ 4 by 4’s.

According to Simon at Bristol dealer Fowlers, a dealership which sells a huge number of such machines annually, the reason is simple and goes a long way towards actually explaining why the bike is as it is.

Its all to do with sports bike riders – or rather the lack of them. Once sports bike mad, aging UK riders have been deserting them in droves. As Simon says; ‘they want the excitement but without the risk of too easily hitting 130 mph and ending up in jail. They also want more comfort, less maintenance and more toys. They want an alternative that still makes them feel cool, but won’t land them in trouble’.

Adventure Bike

The Fowlers’ expert reckons there are three basic choices; ‘They can go for a cruiser, the cool dude approach, or a naked bike – fast but an upright riding position that discourages excessive speed, or an adventure bike – a macho choice that implies a rugged adventurous individuality, but in fact is an able all rounder.’ All of these deliver excitement and pride of ownership but with safety and control. Rebellion with respectability, acceleration without an admonition from the judge.

Rider Psychology

Seen like this, a machine aimed at having fun, a cool image and injecting a big shot of adrenaline into otherwise over-civilised lives, the Triumph makes a lot more sense. Forget the BM, the Explorer is just an absolute hoot to ride. It’s also an exceptionally clever piece of marketing and design, aimed at a specific audience by a company that really knows and understands them.

The psychology begins the minute you set eyes on the bike; oozing machismo, a muscular tank on a lean and hungry frame, tough looking (optional) luggage and with an obvious pride in its on-show engineering. This is a bike aimed, not at Bavaria, but at blokes in general.

Wide handlebars suggest a Steve McQueen coolness, and the ride height, while high enough to engender a feeling of superiority over other road users, has a lowish actual seat height (837mm/32.9in – 857mm/33.7in adjustable). Having said that the overall view from the seat is excellent – you can see over most cars significantly improving visibility. The narrow tank also helps here.In a word, the design flatters the rider the moment he gets aboard.

Start her up…

Start up the 1215 cc triple and you are rewarded with… um – a sound rather like a bag of nails in a washing machine. Crude, rough edged and er, yup rather masculine. Triumph could easily have smoothed this out – that they didn’t suggests they deliberately created a rough edge. If you are going to set sail on an adventure you don’t want a sophisticated liner, you want Quint’s boat from Jaws. Rough but ready for anything.

Get going and the engine comes into its own; clearly meant for the road, the mill revs to 10,000 and, although torque is plentiful, only really gets interesting above 3,500 rpm. But then it comes alive – a 137 bhp buzz-saw of a motor that rewards enthusiastic riding with rapid blasts of acceleration and an exhaust note that has enough of an edge to be interesting even with the stock pipe. It’s pretty addictive.

There’s way more power here than on the BM (even we can’t avoid all comparisons) and its a different delivery too. Far freer revving and generally more willing. The BM possibly has a slight edge at the low end, but it’s not much. Some testers have whined about the throttle being a bit grabby, but it’s just a light action, and we got used to it. Later models seem to have fixed this with software changes.

Engine and Handling

Couple the lively engine response with high ground clearance, wide bars giving loads of leverage and and a quick natural turn in, and any series of fast sweeping bends becomes a joy you want to go on forever. Riding a roller coaster of power, this is a theme park ride for grown ups, and the grin just keeps getting bigger. Should a day-ruining tractor stray into your path then powerful and progressive Nissin brakes bring velocities down fast and under control. The only problem is that the commanding riding position, effortless steering , bags of power and sheer controllability induce a sense of Wagnerian country-invading invincibility that can, ahem, bring out the hooligan in anyone. In this respect Triumph may have done their job almost too well.

The fun doesn’t stop when you get into town though. The Explorer’s wide bars, accurate steering and narrow flanks practically force you to filter, sending you into ever narrower gaps. Nothing less than the front of the queue will do. Car park manoeuvres are similarly a doddle – the bike’s weight – enough to keep it well planted and give good ride comfort over distance – disappear once the wheels start turning. Balance is good and confidence comes quickly. We found ourselves doing neater and more controlled slow speed stuff than on practically any machine any of us have ever been on – so long as we were on dry tarmac.

Capable all rounder

So, it ‘goes’, ‘handles’ and is easy to ride. What about on the long haul – gadgets, comfort and touring ability? Well, the bike is roomy and the stock seat, while on the narrow side, is pretty good. It was also highly rated by Sara, our test pillion.

Ride quality is excellent, with bumpy surfaces being easily soaked up. Even two-up with luggage the bike has enough grunt for fast overtaking. Luggage capacity is pretty huge with the option 3 boxes fitted, though integral underseat space is very limited. The stock screen gives minimal protection but it’s enough and does help keep speeds sensible. A taller one is available and is rated highly by those who’ve used it.

A six speed box allows comfortable cruising even on the motorway or autobahn. Tank range at 180 miles is only passable however, partly due to the relatively small tank and partly to a rather poor 40 mpg fuel consumption average. We’d hope for improvements in both in later models.

Ready for Real Adventure?

What though if you decide to follow McGregor and Boorman and head off road? Is the bike good enough to displace the R1200RT and steal its crown?

We did, in a modest way, try the bike off road, down a series of fairly gently rutted farm tracks – just to see. It wasn’t a great experience. We found that the bike’s weight and relatively high C of G became much more apparent than when on the blacktop, with the compromise tyres and suspension starting to tell. The RT on the other hand carries weight lower and is a bit easier to manage.

But it seems we were wrong to assume that the bike is best left on tarmac. Since initially publishing the review, owners across the planet have contacted us to set the record straight. We welcome such real-world info, so we’ve added the following section: (Thanks to ‘Prh142’ of http://www.triumphrat.net/)

An Owner’s Opinion

Phil lives in Florida, USA, and after rather longer on the bike than we managed, here’s his informed opinion…

‘It had been a good 20 years or so since I took a bike off of the pavement. This past year I began to get the itch for a bike that I could take back into the woods. The decision was narrowed down to the BMW R1200GS or the Triumph Explorer. After test rides on both, right then, I would have probably have been happy with either of the bikes but the Triumph just “felt” a bit better. Besides, the wife liked the Sapphire Blue color. I got the bike and added OEM panniers, fog lamps, engine guards and a taller windscreen. The bike really does not need anything else.

After a couple of hundred miles on the bike, I was having second thoughts. The throttle was just too sensitive and the bike seemed to me to be very top heavy. esp when compared to my big Yamaha touring machine.

I was afraid to take it off of the road for fear of dropping the bike. But, at about 500 miles, I no longer felt that I was going to be dropping the bike when I came to a stop and I was actually beginning to enjoy the sensitive throttle. I think it was about mile 700 before I actually took the bike off of the road. Right then, I knew that I had made the right decision in buying the Explorer.

The bike handles like a dream off road. The deeper suspension soaks up the ruts and bumps, the tires, while not true off road tires work well on the packed dirt roads. My old dirt riding instincts came back fairly fast and I soon found myself riding standing of the pegs, sliding the rear tire and riding the bank around some of the corners a bit and there was a grin from ear to ear when I finally rolled back onto the pavement. Since then I have actively looked for dirt roads to ride on. Most recently a trip up to Tennessee I met a few local riders and we took off on some awesome back road rides.

The bike while heavy for and off road bike does not feel at all heavy while it is moving and is easy to steer with my legs and body weight. That said it does have some limitations. The Explorer is not a bike that you want to get into deep sand with, it bogs down pretty fast and is hard to get started once stopped. It is not really nimble enough to do any single track riding. The bike is mostly happy on a decently packed fire road. luckily there are plenty of them around.

One other thing I noticed when I was up in the Smoky Mountains is that the Explorer handles the turns well. The Tail of the Dragon was a thrill on this bike whereas when I rode it on my Yamaha Royal Star about 10 years ago, it was just….tense! As tall as the bike is I never would have thought it would handle so well in the twisties but it does, while I never scraped a foot peg, the bike easily leaned way into the turns and never felt like it was going to slide out.

This a great bike that will take you the long distance on the highway in comfort and carry all of your gear. Then when you want to take that foray into the back country or the campsite on the other side of the lake, the Explorer will get you there. With a little over 3000 miles on the bike now I am very happy with it. It just seems to get better the farther I ride it’. Phil, Florida USA

Gadgets and Equipment

In terms of toys, the Explorer comes, as standard, with traction control, ABS, cruise control and heated grips. There is a shed load of add on extras, even before the after-market boys get going; Heated seats,engine bars, panniers and top box (the latter the ugliest we have ever seen, but it does contain an electrical outlet), headlamp protector, rad guard and gel seat option; even a bespoke tank bag. A high output alternator means than all electronics plus any heated kit you might wish to wear won’t leave you at the roadside with a flat battery.

The LCD equipped cluster houses a digital speedometer, analogue tacho, gear position indicator, fuel gauge, range to empty, service indicator, clock, air temperature, frost warning, hazard warning lights and trip computer. There’s even a tyre pressure monitoring system. Enough to bore your mates with down the pub then.

Our test machine had the de rigueur accessory lights (actually pretty useful at night up narrow lanes as well as hopefully preventing flat cappers from pulling out on you in their aging Rovers). The lighting package generally is very good – bright and superb for night riding.

There’s a centre stand, which comes as standard, and we also had the bash plate and hand guards. Controls are pretty well placed, with the exception of the heated seat switch which is a bit hard to get at.

Living with it

What’s it like to live with? Too early to tell is the answer, although 10,000 mile service intervals should help keep the cost down as should non-specialist tyres and a 2 year warranty. The engine is new, so long term reliability is a guess, but there are few indications of trouble so far. Some ECU problems have surfaced, but these seem to get dealt with pretty quickly under warranty. Build quality looks good. Frame and suspension have been designed for strength but also maintenance. 46mm Kayaba forks up front and a Kayaba shock and a rising-rate linkage at the back doing a respectable job. The single-sided swing-arm allows the rear wheel to be removed quickly.

So do we think its a good buy? Overall definitely yes. Price is competitive and the bike delivers where you want it – in the fun department. It’s also a capable all rounder; meaning for instance that someone with two different, older machines could usefully trade both in for the more expensive new one and not miss out particularly on any area of biking. The explorer will happily commute, tour two up or scratch down the B roads on a Sunday. As long term real world testing shows, it can also handle back woods trails. Resist comparisons with a certain other bike (even if inevitable); even if that one had never existed this would still be a real triumph of its own.

Vital Statistics

Engine: 1215cc, Liquid-cooled, 12 valve, DOHC, in-line three-cylinder
Power: 135 bhp / 89 ft/lbs
Weight: 259 kg
Drive: Shaft
Acceleration: N/A
Top Speed: 130 mph
Fuel capacity: 20 Litres
Fuel consumption: 40 mpg average
Service intervals: 10000
Cost Now: £11, 149
BBM Overall Rating: ****

Further Info and advice….

If you are looking for great advice and friendly folks that can talk Triumph, then Check out The Triumph Forum … Just click on the Logos.

Thanks also to CoLamb of the Triumph.co.uk Forum for his owner’s input to this review.