A whole new adventure
TRIUMPH TIGER 1200 GT 3400 MILES Quick swap and Neevesy’s already impressed with his first tall-rounder
This is the first time I’ve run two longterm test bikes in the same year and they’re both Triumphs, which is also a first. For the first five months and 7000-odd miles I had a Speed Triple 1200 RR (you can see all my updates online) and for the rest of 2022 and into ’23 I’ll be riding this £18,100 Tiger 1200 GT Explorer – the road-biased, all-singing one.
I’ve tested hundreds of adventure bikes, but this will be the first time I’ll get to live with one. It’s also the first time I’ve had a bike fitted with practical stuff like a shaft drive, big 30 litre fuel tank, blind spot detectors, a centrestand, a properly comfortable riding position and lots of (accessory) hard luggage. That’s just as well because it’ll also be the first fullon touring bike I’ll be touring on, when I head to Croatia soon.
Swapping from Triumph to
Triumph in the same day was fascinating because the Tiger has a ‘T-plane’ crank version of the RR’s engine. Sounding more like a big V-twin, the 1160cc triple has far more character, low-down torque and for some reason an infinitely smoother gearbox. When you consider the best super-nakeds have the most evocative engines (Tuono V4, 1290 Super Duke R and MT-10), I reckon the RR would’ve been up there with a T-plane crank.
Anyway, my 2500-mile-old Tiger has the same rider aids and switchgear as the RR and the same colour dash, albeit two inches bigger at 7in, so the cockpit view is similar. Everything else is different, of course, from the riding position to the way it goes. I expected it to be easy to ride and comfortable, but what’s taken me by surprise is how well it handles. It’s balanced, light-steering and despite a skinny 150-section rear tyre and semi-off-roadinspired 19in front, it corners like a sportsbike. With the engine sounding the way it does, the Triumph feels more like a big KTM or Multistrada and the speed it can get from point-topoint on a B-road is astounding.
I’ve instantly bonded with it, to the point I took it straight home to get the levers, electronics and seat height set just so. I haven’t done that in years. I’m finding excuses to ride it and in the first week did over a thousand miles riding to London three times, Manchester, Ramsgate, Matlock Bath and Cadwell on my own and two-up.
‘I did more than 1000 miles in the first week’
LIKES
● Point-to-point speed
DISLIKES
● Screen buffeting