2012 Triumph Tiger Explorer – A Practical Review, One Year On

17 September 2013

Last year, I wrote what I called a "practical" review of the 2011 Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring – a bike that I enjoyed but ultimate ended up replacing with the Triumph Tiger Explorer.  I felt that a practical review might be useful as the web was awash with gushy press reviews, but very few of these reflected the reality of owning and using the bike.  So another year on, how do things stand?

I picked up my Tiger Explorer, or TEX the bike has been dubbed by owners, in late August 2012 after an enjoyable test ride.  I was all primed to slap the money on the table at a London dealer when I noticed one available on Autotrader with less than 500 miles on the clock.  It turned out the original owner was a former GS rider who, after putting a couple of hundred miles on his new bike, returned it to the dealer, took the hit on the part ex and bought his old bike back.  According to the dealer, the owner said the wind was giving him helmet concussions.   And even though the dealer pointed out that the TEX's windscreen is adjustable, this wasn't enough to convince the guy to keep the bike.  An ominous start then?

Absolutely not.  And I have two things to say to that:  1) WTF? and 2) Result for me!  Not only did I save about £1K on the purchase price, and have the first service paid for, but the former owner had also kindly spent extra on kitting out the bike with a range of accessories, all of which would have added about £800-odd to the price.  So as I said, result!  The accessories in question were:  heated grips, hand guards, engine protector bars, and tire pressure monitors. 

After a year or so of owning this bike, the odo shows just under 5000 miles – roughly the same as I'd done on the Mulistrada the year before and certainly enough to get a good feel for the bike.  These miles were a mix of London commuting and some trips to other areas of the UK and to Europe.  I haven't had a chance to do any significant off-road riding with the bike yet, but have had it on a few gravel tracks.

Triumph shoots... Triumph Scores!

Overall I love this bike.  Triumph have really created a machine which is worthy of sitting at the top table in the adventure bike segment.  For me, I actually prefer it to the GS.  The TEX looks sharper while at the same time having very clean and compact lines.  It also has less 'sticky-out' bits and it is slightly smaller physically than the GS, which makes it more manageable in traffic and tight parking spaces. 

For long distance riding, the stock seat is fairly comfortable (luxurious in comparison to the Multistrada) and the bike eats up the miles.  The upright riding position is good and the relationship between legs and pegs is also good for me.  There is a bit of a heat off the engine, which was my biggest gripe with the Mutltistrada, but unlike on its Italian cousin, you can simply adopt a slightly wider leg position to let the cooling breeze flow through.  Joy. 

The TEX comes with electronic cruise control, which is a godsend, and the windscreen is large enough to keep a good deal of the air off the rider.  And a little experimentation with the adjustment meant no problems with wind on the helmet for me so I have no idea what the former owner was on about.  Economywise, a highway speeds I'm seeing around 200 miles (300km) from the 20L tank – works out to be just over 42mpg (35 US mpg).  In town, the bike gets around 130 miles (209km) from a tank, or 29mpg (24 US mpg). This doesn't really put it very high up the ranks of thrifty commuter bikes, but it's a small price to pay if the TEX is your only bike. 

At 260kg, the bike's weight is noticeable when riding a low speed and dealing with heavy traffic, but you do get used to it.  And being more physically compact than a GS gives the TEX a distinct advantage when filtering.  Some of the original reviews griped about the fact that the ride-by-wire throttle was too sensitive, particularly in traffic.  I'd admit that this was true initially, but like everything, over time you get used to and then it's fine.  I’ve subsequently ridden other bikes with ride-by-wire throttles and the Triumph is tame compared to that which comes on Yamaha’s MT-09 for example.

As I mentioned, my TEX came with some extras installed by the former owner.  Of these I would say that the engine guards are a must.  That you will drop an adventure bike at some point is a given and these guards pretty much keep all the important bits off the ground in the event of a spill. Heated grips were also a welcome addition for the London winter months. As for the Triumph hand guards, I'd recommend avoiding.  While they succeed as wind barriers, the plastic is extremely brittle so the smallest knock can crack them.  Likewise, the Triumph luggage is flimsy and best avoided if you are planning any serious adventuring.  I've ended up kitting my TEX out with panniers, top case, and hand guards from Touratech, all of which are indestructible. I've also fitted a Touratech seat for a bit of added comfort on long journeys.

Niggles

I've mentioned my concern with the OEM hand guards and luggage, so now that I've started on some niggles, I should probably mention them all. No bike is perfect and there is certainly room for Triumph to improve the TEX.

First and foremost is weight.  Triumph really needs to put the TEX on a vigorous diet.  The wet weight (i.e. ready to ride with a full tank of gas) is a hefty 260kg.  And as I've said, you do feel this.  Sure, that's the same as the main competition – the BMW GS1200 Adventure – but the comparison is misleading as the GSA has a 30 litre tank, compared to 20 litres on the TEX.  Indeed, the Triumph is rather pudgy when compared to most bikes in the class.  The standard BMW GS1200 shares the 20L tank, but weighs in at only 238kg.   Likewise, with a 23L tank KTM's 1190 Adventure hits the scales at only 233kg, and Aprilia's Caponard 1200 238kg with a 24L tank.  Granted these are all chain-driven, but of the fellow shafties, the only competitors with more heft than the TEX are Moto Guzzi's Stevio NX at 272kg, and Yamaha's Super Ténéré, with an extra kilo on the Triumph.  But the kicker is, the Stelvio comes with a monstrous 32L tank, and the Yamaha with a still respectable 23L.  So in its current form the TEX could really do with shedding about 20kg – particularly when you take into account the weight increase from added accessories such as the engine bars, belly pans etc.

One area where weight can instantly be saved is the exhaust.   The factory-fitted silencer weighs in at a ridiculously hefty 7kg.  There's no reason for it to weigh that much and probably reflects regulatory paranoia on Triumph's behalf more than anything else.  I swapped mine for a Scorpion Serket exhaust, instantly shedding 5kg from the bike and getting a 10-15bhp bump to boot. 

I'm sure the super-bright engineers in Hinkley could find a raft of other areas of save weight and doing so would also allow them to address another minor gripe I have with the TEX, the fuel range.  200 miles for an adventure bike is a little lame.  I'd like to see maybe a 25 litre tank to bump the range a little higher.  Saving weight in other areas would allow for the tank sized to be increased slightly.  And as mentioned earlier, the TEX fuel capacity compares poorly to the rest of the competition.

There are also some minor niggles with the cruise control.  Overall it works well, but the 'set' button's position on the right handlebar below the throttle is well out of reach of all but the longest thumbs.  Obviously you can't take your hand off the throttle so it's necessary to reach over with your left hand to initially set the cruise control, which is both clumsy and slightly dangerous. It would make much more sense for the set button to be on the left side.  The other mildly annoying thing about the cruise control is that it disengages if you twist the throttle forward.  As a safety feature, all well and good, but you have to be careful you aren't holding the grip too tight with CC engaged – hit a bump and you can very easily disengage accidentally.  It would be better if cruise control was disengaged only by touching the brakes (or the set button).

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Triumph Tiger Explorer is an excellent bike and a credit to the Hinkley team for taking the challenge of designing a true GS competitor seriously.  I’m certainly looking forward to seeing this bike evolve.