One month with a… Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Explorer

In all forms Triumph Tigers are there for the long-haul, and my journey through the range from the 660 and 800 Tiger Sports and Tiger 900 to this, the boss level 1200, feels suitably epic! A 2024 model year update of a the version first launched in 2021, the Tiger 1200 is up there in the big league of powerful, high-tech and expensive premium adventure tourers and competes with heavyweights as diverse as the BMW R 1300 GS, Ducati Multistrada V4, Moto Guzzi Stelvio and Harley-Davidson Pan America to name but a few. Talented, charismatic bikes all of them, against which the Tiger 1200 offers a powerful and characterful triple engine, a choice of road-biased GT or proper adventure spec Rally versions and all the tech and gizmos you’d expect in a bike of this level. Time to find out if it really is king Tiger!
Skip to: Month 1 – The big beast

40-something (just) new convert to motorcycling making up for lost time and trying to figure out what kind of rider I am. With riding still at the novelty stage every trip out is a blast, whether it be the regular commute over the hills to the office or days out on the brilliant roads around my Yorkshire home.

Dan says: “It’s a lot of bike, with a suitably over-engineered sense of substance through its sturdy steel frame, ‘tri-link’ rear suspension and shaft drive”

As you’ll have seen, I really enjoyed the Tiger 900 and found its combination of size, weight and performance a winning balance of adventure bike stature and all-round usability. Would the 1200 build on that, or just be too much? Certainly, when it arrived I could trace the resemblance in spirit, looks and style to the 900. It was just … more so. A lot more so in this GT Explorer trim, adding a bigger 30-litre tank, heating for seat and grips and tyre pressure monitoring for the extra grand and a bit you pay over the regular GT. Add in the Trekker Pack with the suitably chunky three-piece aluminium luggage set and you’re north of 20 grand. A lot of money. But it’s a lot of bike, with a suitably over-engineered sense of substance through its sturdy steel frame, ‘Tri-Link’ rear suspension and shaft drive. 2024 model year changes included tweaks to the engine to increase internal inertia with the aim of improved smoothness, this also addressing a reported tendency to stall at inopportune moments. An Active Preload Reduction system was also added, capable of lowering the bike by as much as 20mm to help in low-speed situations. Which, given the size and stature, was a reassurance! To be fair, the GT versions like this with the smaller ‘road’ wheel combo are slightly less intimidating than the full off-road Rally spec ones like I rode (and fell off, in spectacular fashion) on the Triumph Adventure Experience in Wales but, all things relative, the 1200 remains a hefty lump of motorcycle. It was, at least, familiar from the 900 in terms of the screen, the switchgear and everything else. Which gave me one less thing to worry about as I got to grips with it. And like the smaller one (we’re talking relatively, here!) the 1200 has that same sense of mechanical toughness, the clanks and clunks through the shaft-driven rear end feeling suitably burly. After my issues with the panniers on the 800 I was glad to see the luggage set on this one looked a good deal chunkier, though I immediately removed it all for the commute for the fact the side boxes stick out too much for filtering. Still turned out to be a lot of bike for that but hitting the ‘Home’ button to drop the preload helped, knowing that my feet would be flat on the ground if I did have to stop. And the engine? Seemingly much of the same growly character as the 900 but just a lot more of everything, the 150 horsepower putting it mid-pack in comparison to the BMW GS, Multistrada V4 and others. These Triumph triples are all brimming with charisma, and the big Tiger is the same, just with the sharpest claws of the lot! Back to top