After 11.5 years of content Super Tenere ownership, it's all Dirt_Dads fault for buying a KTM 1290 and letting me ride the thing when the world was in COVID lockdown. I'd been perfectly happy with the Super Tenere until I experienced how much lighter and better performing all around the 1290 is. The itch began. But no matter how great a bike the KTM is I am not going back to chains on a bike I use for long distance rides. Not happening, no matter how good the chains have gotten, all the high tech oilers, etc. That left me with the BMW GS series, Guzzi V85, Triumph Tigers, and the good old paid-for Super Tenere sitting in my garage. And so it's been since 2020 when he got the 1290.
The V85 is a FUN flickable motorcycle that just needs more motor.
Tried two Tiger 900s which I just didn't bond with and I can't even tell you why.
My friend has a 2019 Tiger Explorer and the thing is HUGE. It's faster than the Tenere but I felt like I was riding a really big horse. The new 2022 1200 Tigers had not yet come out.
The BMW GS bikes have great tech and I've rented a number of them over the years, so they're a known entity. However I've had two rentals fail on me and I just never liked the quirks of the shifter (new is FAR better) or boxer motor. Even so I recently test rode a new one and it was a nice bike with great tech.
Time passed till I saw the new 1200 Tigers and then it was a matter of money. I'm now semi-retired with a 32 ft $ailboat that works by blowing the $ail with dollar bill$ and have a fairly new (3 years) consulting biz so I've been watching expenses.
This is the point where I need to point out that like with the 900, Triumph offers two basic variants (road vs dirt) on the 1200 and the prices go up between each step between the models below:
ROAD ORIENTED:
GT This is basically the stripper to have a low price entry into a 150 hp adventure bike.
GT PRO This is what I got and it's between the BMW GS and KTM 1290 Adventure in being a road oriented bike that can go off road. Like the BMW and KTM it has most of the same tech such as active suspension with multiple modes that can be customized, TFT screen, heated grips/seat, fancy steering headlights in corners, etc. Test rode a couple and with the 19" front it's the bike the Super Tenere should've evolved into several years ago.
It's the small tank version (20L/5.2 Gal) which has most of the bells and whistles other than crash bars. (There's a minuscule aluminum bash plate protecting the bottom of the pipes.) The wet weight is 529-540 lbs (depending on source) compared to 575-584 (depending on source and before crash bars, skid plates, etc) for the Super Tenere and the weight is carried lower. It weighs close to the same as the 524 lb KTM 1290, a bit less than the GS, and 50 lbs less than the previous generation of Tiger Explorer with a much lower CG. https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/motorcycles/adventure/tiger-1200-gt/tiger-1200-gt-pro-2022
GT Explorer The big tank version (30L/7.9 Gal) which is nearly identical to the PRO but with a big tank and a couple extra smaller items. Amazingly it only weighs 6 lbs more than the PRO but the big tank on the one I rode makes it feel much bigger. Most people just put in enough gas for what they are doing because lugging around 7.9 gallons (300+ mile range) gets to be a hassle.
DIRT ORIENTED:
Rally Pro This was a fun bike as it is the dirt version of the GT PRO, adding wire spoke wheels with a 21" front, full crash bars, and dirt mode. When you see the off-road photos they are using this bike. It's taller and the weight is heavier and I felt the bigger front wheel turned in a bit slower. If I was willing to spend more and were to do a lot of off-road and gravel this would be the bike.
Rally Explorer Again, this is the dirt version of the GT Explorer with the big tank. This is what the Gen3 Explorer has evolved into and is one big motorcycle!
Day 1:
I've known Kevin Carr, owner of Romney Cycles for 11 years and he's sold a lot of bikes to people coming to Camp-N-Ride events because his overhead is so low he can generally underbid most dealers. As he says, he is a destination dealer, not the local one you keep going back to for parts and accessories. He made me a deal on a new Tiger GT Pro that I know I'll never get again so I picked up the new bike yesterday. It was a beautiful day in the high 50s and the bike was horribly frustrating as I took it down the River Road. Frustrating because I was limited to keeping it under 3,500 rpm.
Seriously with the impressions of the first day and a bunch of test rides, the GT PRO feels very close to the KTM 1290 but without so much character and both are much snappier than the GS1250. Leaned into 20 mph turns at 40 the Triumph and the KTM feel like big sport bikes, but the KTM has more of an adrenaline rush accelerating out and snapping left/right, probably due to the chain and having something like 10 more hp. Both are more fun than the GS1250 and the Triumph acceleration and intake howl above 5,000 on the test bikes was addictive. The Triumph needs a bit more clutch to get moving which is something I'll get used to, and the clutchless-shifter is something I'm already getting to like.
So far the ergonomics fit me really well. It's a good thing when you get on and everything just feels natural. The bar height, seating triangle, and seat height are near identical to the Super Tenere. However, the Triumph rear seat is much higher.
Remember how we were all doing mods to flatten the seat on the Super Tenere? The Tiger also has high and low options, BUT you can flatten the seat simply by mixing so the front is high and the rear is low. So far I've found nothing wrong with the seats on the ones I've ridden but then I've only ridden for up to a half hour.
After seeing how the lighting is at night for a while I may try putting aftermarket lights where the beak is.
There's a 10A power outlet (BMW DIN style) just to the left of the instruments for GPS or other accessories, another in the back, and a phone charger under the rear seat. I really like having tire pressure monitoring built in and which will show an alert if a tire pressure falls while riding.
The stock windscreen is a bit small but no issues with wind. I like how easily you can move it up or down just by grabbing the little cross bar. Folks on the forums found a little top air deflector and there's a touring screen available.
It's quite narrow to stand across! (demo GT PRO)
Unfortunately it was delivered with street tires (Metzeler Tourance) so I'll be staying away from anything harder than easy gravel and dirt for now. Besides, I don't have bars or a skid plate yet.
So far the dislikes:
The TFT screen is great and very much like the KTM and BMW - however WHAT they display is stupid!!! This is the first bike I've probably ever owned that doesn't have an odometer on the home screen and I am starting to realize how much I refer to it. The odometer is on the service page (wtf??!!) and there are two trip meters just a couple clicks away, but the software engineers should be hung for how you need to keep searching for basic info.
The Triumph phone app can put turn by turn directions on the screen via BT but to keep the phone powered you need to figure how to mount it to the bars or need to lock your phone under the rear seat in the special foam lined holder. I've never liked turn by turn directions versus seeing an actual map and putting the phone in that holder is a hard no.
While the power is provided for a GPS they didn't give a nice convenient place to mount one, so the aftermarket has a number of solutions.
I haven't had my lady on the pillion seat yet but from my sitting there it is less comfortable than the Tenere. Gotta qualify this by saying that I flattened the Tenere rear seat with some custom spacers. The bar height, seating triangle, and seat height are near identical to the Super Tenere, but the Triumph is generally a bit taller and that rear seat is probably about 4 inches higher. It's a perch.
I think over time, the size of the fuel tank will be an ongoing issue because just like in the Goldilocks story there's a too little, too big, and just right. The Super Tenere 6 gallon tank is great for long distance and the 5.2 on the Tiger (according to forums) puts you on reserve at 180-200 miles. I really struggled with whether to get he 7.9 gallons on the Explorer but for most riding it's just always big and there.
The V85 is a FUN flickable motorcycle that just needs more motor.
Tried two Tiger 900s which I just didn't bond with and I can't even tell you why.
My friend has a 2019 Tiger Explorer and the thing is HUGE. It's faster than the Tenere but I felt like I was riding a really big horse. The new 2022 1200 Tigers had not yet come out.
The BMW GS bikes have great tech and I've rented a number of them over the years, so they're a known entity. However I've had two rentals fail on me and I just never liked the quirks of the shifter (new is FAR better) or boxer motor. Even so I recently test rode a new one and it was a nice bike with great tech.
Time passed till I saw the new 1200 Tigers and then it was a matter of money. I'm now semi-retired with a 32 ft $ailboat that works by blowing the $ail with dollar bill$ and have a fairly new (3 years) consulting biz so I've been watching expenses.
This is the point where I need to point out that like with the 900, Triumph offers two basic variants (road vs dirt) on the 1200 and the prices go up between each step between the models below:
ROAD ORIENTED:
GT This is basically the stripper to have a low price entry into a 150 hp adventure bike.
GT PRO This is what I got and it's between the BMW GS and KTM 1290 Adventure in being a road oriented bike that can go off road. Like the BMW and KTM it has most of the same tech such as active suspension with multiple modes that can be customized, TFT screen, heated grips/seat, fancy steering headlights in corners, etc. Test rode a couple and with the 19" front it's the bike the Super Tenere should've evolved into several years ago.
It's the small tank version (20L/5.2 Gal) which has most of the bells and whistles other than crash bars. (There's a minuscule aluminum bash plate protecting the bottom of the pipes.) The wet weight is 529-540 lbs (depending on source) compared to 575-584 (depending on source and before crash bars, skid plates, etc) for the Super Tenere and the weight is carried lower. It weighs close to the same as the 524 lb KTM 1290, a bit less than the GS, and 50 lbs less than the previous generation of Tiger Explorer with a much lower CG. https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/motorcycles/adventure/tiger-1200-gt/tiger-1200-gt-pro-2022
GT Explorer The big tank version (30L/7.9 Gal) which is nearly identical to the PRO but with a big tank and a couple extra smaller items. Amazingly it only weighs 6 lbs more than the PRO but the big tank on the one I rode makes it feel much bigger. Most people just put in enough gas for what they are doing because lugging around 7.9 gallons (300+ mile range) gets to be a hassle.
DIRT ORIENTED:
Rally Pro This was a fun bike as it is the dirt version of the GT PRO, adding wire spoke wheels with a 21" front, full crash bars, and dirt mode. When you see the off-road photos they are using this bike. It's taller and the weight is heavier and I felt the bigger front wheel turned in a bit slower. If I was willing to spend more and were to do a lot of off-road and gravel this would be the bike.
Rally Explorer Again, this is the dirt version of the GT Explorer with the big tank. This is what the Gen3 Explorer has evolved into and is one big motorcycle!
Day 1:
I've known Kevin Carr, owner of Romney Cycles for 11 years and he's sold a lot of bikes to people coming to Camp-N-Ride events because his overhead is so low he can generally underbid most dealers. As he says, he is a destination dealer, not the local one you keep going back to for parts and accessories. He made me a deal on a new Tiger GT Pro that I know I'll never get again so I picked up the new bike yesterday. It was a beautiful day in the high 50s and the bike was horribly frustrating as I took it down the River Road. Frustrating because I was limited to keeping it under 3,500 rpm.
Seriously with the impressions of the first day and a bunch of test rides, the GT PRO feels very close to the KTM 1290 but without so much character and both are much snappier than the GS1250. Leaned into 20 mph turns at 40 the Triumph and the KTM feel like big sport bikes, but the KTM has more of an adrenaline rush accelerating out and snapping left/right, probably due to the chain and having something like 10 more hp. Both are more fun than the GS1250 and the Triumph acceleration and intake howl above 5,000 on the test bikes was addictive. The Triumph needs a bit more clutch to get moving which is something I'll get used to, and the clutchless-shifter is something I'm already getting to like.
So far the ergonomics fit me really well. It's a good thing when you get on and everything just feels natural. The bar height, seating triangle, and seat height are near identical to the Super Tenere. However, the Triumph rear seat is much higher.
Remember how we were all doing mods to flatten the seat on the Super Tenere? The Tiger also has high and low options, BUT you can flatten the seat simply by mixing so the front is high and the rear is low. So far I've found nothing wrong with the seats on the ones I've ridden but then I've only ridden for up to a half hour.
After seeing how the lighting is at night for a while I may try putting aftermarket lights where the beak is.
There's a 10A power outlet (BMW DIN style) just to the left of the instruments for GPS or other accessories, another in the back, and a phone charger under the rear seat. I really like having tire pressure monitoring built in and which will show an alert if a tire pressure falls while riding.
The stock windscreen is a bit small but no issues with wind. I like how easily you can move it up or down just by grabbing the little cross bar. Folks on the forums found a little top air deflector and there's a touring screen available.
It's quite narrow to stand across! (demo GT PRO)
Unfortunately it was delivered with street tires (Metzeler Tourance) so I'll be staying away from anything harder than easy gravel and dirt for now. Besides, I don't have bars or a skid plate yet.
So far the dislikes:
The TFT screen is great and very much like the KTM and BMW - however WHAT they display is stupid!!! This is the first bike I've probably ever owned that doesn't have an odometer on the home screen and I am starting to realize how much I refer to it. The odometer is on the service page (wtf??!!) and there are two trip meters just a couple clicks away, but the software engineers should be hung for how you need to keep searching for basic info.
The Triumph phone app can put turn by turn directions on the screen via BT but to keep the phone powered you need to figure how to mount it to the bars or need to lock your phone under the rear seat in the special foam lined holder. I've never liked turn by turn directions versus seeing an actual map and putting the phone in that holder is a hard no.
While the power is provided for a GPS they didn't give a nice convenient place to mount one, so the aftermarket has a number of solutions.
I haven't had my lady on the pillion seat yet but from my sitting there it is less comfortable than the Tenere. Gotta qualify this by saying that I flattened the Tenere rear seat with some custom spacers. The bar height, seating triangle, and seat height are near identical to the Super Tenere, but the Triumph is generally a bit taller and that rear seat is probably about 4 inches higher. It's a perch.
I think over time, the size of the fuel tank will be an ongoing issue because just like in the Goldilocks story there's a too little, too big, and just right. The Super Tenere 6 gallon tank is great for long distance and the 5.2 on the Tiger (according to forums) puts you on reserve at 180-200 miles. I really struggled with whether to get he 7.9 gallons on the Explorer but for most riding it's just always big and there.
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