I spent some months in Scotland back in the Late 1970’s and it was a dreary place for sure. I cant believe that so many people are bikers in that wet and crazy weather environment. having been a biker since a young teen and 67 now, i still find it shocking that you guys are so committed to riding. Kudos to you for being bikers.
I just came back from the wettest tour of northern Spain and France I've ever had. The weather was insane. I took my 2022 Tiger 1200 GT Explorer which has been unbelievably troublesome, but survived the trip without further issue. I've now just changed to the 2024 Tiger 1200 GT Explorer and am hoping for better things. I was so fed up with mine I almost changed to a completely different marque, but most forum feedback suggested I probably just got a lemon. Here's hoping this one is better.
Nice one Chopsy. Thank you. The main difference that I find with these heavier ones comparing a 21 and 19 inch bikes is down to the thickness of the narrower 21’s as they don’t really feel more “flickable”, rather they seen to “fall” into corners quicker. For me I much prefer (on the sealed roads) the 19’s as you get more control and feedback which can take a bit more work which you’re rewarded with a higher sensation of your inputs basically due to the increased contact patch of the tyres shod on the 19’s. Interested in others views on this as I’ve spent the majority of my 46 years of riding, particularly as an adult on 17’s front and rear inclusive of over a decade racing in the Australian Superbike Series.
That rain brought on my PTSD from almost 40 years ago, riding to college in the rain - wet pants, socks, gloves 😮 You deserved a shot or two of Scotland's finest after a day of rain Chopsy ! 🥃
Loved that John - not least because I spent a great week up by Loch Katrin a couple of years back on my old Honda CRF (I have videos on here of that three Lochs ride for example).....it does look so much better in the sunshine! Looking forward to trying the big new Tiger myself...
Great video, you took to the weather like a duck to water. Not my thing big adventure bikes , but can appreciate why they are so liked. If I had to choose one then the GT for me . Great shot of the black cat in the coal bunker at the end 😂. CU soon .
"Looks like he shat himself"😂😂....Brilliant!! Great review as always. Was tempted to say, pity about the weather, but this added a real world dimension to the test ride. Thanks for the feedback on each bike. Loved it all. Time for that hot bath and a wee dram or two.
A little vibration through the pegs or bars is ok. The early versions of the t-plane bikes were far from that. Glad Triumph have sorted out the issues.
Bit big for me and my short legs and arthritic back, but a bit of a bargain in comparison with some of the opposition. I’m trying the 900 version next time as I ride primarily solo. Been to the Drovers, better weather when we were there, great roads…
Nice one chopsy , pity you brought the rain up with you 😁😁😁 was on the same ferry yesterday and it was 25 degrees and blue skies 😁👍 you came in at gourock I'm just a mile down the coast from there 👍👍 good to see you up this neck of the woods mate . Get up when it's dry next time !!! But I think you missed summer it was last week 🙁🙁 😁
Dam missed my chance for a selfie with chops. Nice to see my local roads on the channel. 😁. Good real world test there chops. 👊. Wish you'd got better weather, it's great when the sun's out. .
Great review as usual Lad i am looking for an Adventure Bike soon i test drove the 1290 sas but i think i would prefer a Tiger and i am caught between the 1200 gt-pro and 900 but wont know till av test drove them then i will make a decision.
That would be a good test for Greg and you, 900 vs 1200. Mind you could do that with any of the brands, one from the mid sized and full sized. Great to see Boothy. :)
At 19 minutes pretty sure that is Loch Lomond - it's a big Loch ! After you roll up to The Tarbet hotel and go right to Arroacher - up the old military road at the rest and be thankful (where you are escorted by hgwy maint- i guess the R&BT was flooded or blocked from slides) - not sure what ferry you got -looks like Dunoon to Gourock.
Nice review Chops. Looks like a decent bike although a jet ski would've been better for that weather! Triumph seem to be very nearly there but not quite in terms of their conpetitors. There's no ecxuse for a sluggish interface in this day & age bit a sorftware update can sirt that no time. As for their ride height function, it seems a bit like a token effort or after thought compared to other systems.
Hmm changed a bit since my 1200 explorer xc 10 years ago that was a smooth bike. Trust everything has now dried out,nothing worse than a damp moist helmet 😂 If you go with Bruce to try haggis, check the catching season because I think different areas have different seasons Great video 👍
3:01 that's the cycle of ALL 4 Stroke engines. 😕 All they're doing is unbalancing the order in which the 3 cylinders fire instead of having the combustion at even spacing. This gives tyres a little time to recover traction under hard acceleration...aswell as a sweet noise.
You're correct. It's a T plane crank. You've got to take youtubers with a bit of a grain of salt. Many of them have never cracked the spine of the owner's manual, nor have they even gotten a proper orientation of the operation of the bike. Add to that the lack of professionalism and product knowledge of some of the people providing these bikes to the "media" and you've got a vague review, at best. When they talk about handling, don't forget that a LOT of that is dictated by tire choice. Change the original tires of a Rally model to off road focused tires and you've got a very different handling bike. Caveat emptor.
I don't know where you got your information about the haggis but I think they were pulling your leg. It is in fact a game bird and depending if it goes clockwise or anticlockwise around the hills will depend on which leg is longer than the other. As for bagpipes..... 😱🙉
Never been a mahoosive fan of Truimph but really found the review very informative Chops, I expect you've been away working on your secret moussaka recipe.......lol.😂😂👍👍👍👍👍👍
Was soooooo close to buying one. Picked up my new ATAS DCT ES last weekend. Cracking range of bikes though, and a great video Chops. Spain v Scotland… no contest for a launch event. Scotland all the way. 👍👍
I can’’t get over how expensive the Triumph Tiger 1200 is here in Spain. In the U.K., it starts at £17,295.00, but in Spain it starts at €22.845,00, a €5500 difference . Even allowing for the best exchange rate it should be no more than €3000 difference.
@@stuleonard6496 the difference isn’t proportionally the same on other models. For example the Speed Twin 900 starts at €1000 more so is slightly cheaper here when you convert
@@shegocrazy base price Multistrada V4 standard in the U.K. £16995 in Spain €21990 so €2000 more than the exchange rate should be. Maybe there’s an extra tax on bikes over a certain size
Makes one wonder who the design engineers talk to when deciding new features. Why would you not have the suspension lowering automatic ? The seat height is a game changer for many riders who like everything else about that style bike. Myself included. BMW knew this long ago when they offered a "lower" suspension version of the GS. That simple omission might actually cost Triumph sales of this bike. Your SACKED !!!
It was an afterthought, and the lowering feature works nothing like the system on the beemer. The Triumph version is purely preload dependent, i.e., null preload. In other words, they created the new feature with a very simple software update. Perhaps it's not automated for reliability reasons. The mechanism wasn't designed for frequent preload adjustments.
Great real world review. My major dislike of Triumph is that within 6 months the models will be tweaked again. Just too big and heavy for a wimp like me. 👍
Looks like you were setting off from Gleneagles Chopsy. Very nice. Just along the road from where I live, Strathallan and Strathearn form part of the lower uplands, lowlands is to the south, yer still about 1000 feet above sea level before you start climbing and you are surrounded by Ochils, Breadalbanes, Trossachs, Cairngorms, some amazing roads up here 🏴 🏍️ Always good to get a wee run over the ‘Dukes tho the old military road past Faslane or the Ben Lawers road even more fun, Lochearnhead loop great too but the wee gem nestled in the middle is the Braco-Comrie Glen Road 💡 Q. Would you say Triumph are upping the sport across the Tiger range and push comes to shove would you go 900 or 1200?
Hmm I don't think it's more sporty than the old bike, I would also probably take the 1200 rally out of the range. Just because of how it handles and performs. It's a huge bike though is the only downside. Thanks for info too, the hotel was Mar Hall where we setoff from 👍
I test rode a 2023 RallyPro 1200 and heard some weird noises from the engine. Did they address those? And which would you rather buy, the Tiger12 or GS13?
Thanks for the vid. I wish there were some hard facts with these bikes. My guess would be that 0% of buyers would use them on any challenging off road paths. That is, lanes that someone on a normal road bike would worry about. The review really confirms this. Who cares? Good luck to the, money-rich, purchaser; the green looks nice
Seems to me Triumph are always playing catch up, rather than leading the field. The ride height reduction is another half cocked idea which needs to be automatic like the competitors, it's the same as when they put keyless on their bikes but you still needed the key to unlock the filler cap where as the competition was fully keyless. I do wonder if the super smooth suspension on these big ADV bikes is actually a good idea as you tend to go faster than you really should on the crappy surfaces.
You don't need a key on the filler cap. Re the height reduction...It's the new GS that copied the Multistrada but yes you could argue that Triumph should have made the lowering automatic, but then again, sometimes you want it and sometimes you don't. To turn it off in the GS you have to go into the settings (unless you can assign a shortcut?).
My reference to the fuel cap is about previous Triumphs not the current line up to show this isn't the 1st time they've only come up with a partial solution. My own personal opinion is that the ride height reduction systems in general are over complicated and have a flaw in that none of them (to my knowledge) will reduce the height quickly enough if you need to do an emergency stop, so just when you potentially need it most it's not available. Both BWM and Triumph did low chasis variants in the past, these were cheaper and simpler as well as not having the potential flaw mentioned above and having had 3 BMWs with it for me it worked and they were very sought after compared to standard height bikes on the used market. I wonder why they decided to change something that worked perfectly well before for riders like me who are less tall. Those of normal height and above will probably be ok but I can see occasions when shorter riders could end up dropping the bike when having to stop quickly/in an emergency, especially if they've got luggage and a pillion. @@shegocrazy
@@Bazza47 Fair points. I do think that shorter riders should choose bikes they are comfortable with and not rely on electronic gizmos. Doodle on a Motorcycle (YT Channel) would disagree with me lol. I'm pretty tall at 6'1" and "could" have decided on the 1200 Rally but decided that the slightly lower GT would be a safer option as I often have the missus on the back. I liked the Rally better but was worried about plodding on tip-toes in heavy traffic with a top heavy bike.
Honestly, I don’t want to lift my tank to change an air filter. I don’t want to need multiple tools just to remove the rear wheel, or simply adjust the shift lever. I’m sure it’s nice, but it’s just harder to live with than some of its competitors.
Hi Chops, I do really appreciate your channel and have followed you for a few years. It seems you are doing more manufacturer launches of late which I find less enjoyable to watch than your personalised content reviews, together with Greg. Perhaps it’s essential you attend the launches or you enjoy the free hospitality, either way, this is not intended as criticism but just my feedback 😉
The launches are great as its basically free content as they pay for all fuel and provide video resources etc too. Launch season is finished now so expect normal service to resume 😁👍
@shegocrazy I've tried that a long time ago. IMO it looks horrible with that big gap it leaves between the seat and the gas tank. Also raises the seat hight by a bit
21:07 If you turn on subtitles it says... It's a coup.... It' a coup...😂😂😂 It sounded like it's a cew.. it's a cew... 😱😱 Actually, perhaps it's a cow..🤔🤔🤔
What is with your swaying all over the road? When I rode my bikes years ago, including my Norton 850, I neve moved all over the road like you are doing. Is the bike difficult to ride or are you driving all over the road?
Was so close to buying one a year ago, but I ended up with a BMW. Almost everything was better on the Triumph apart from the vibration. I know that everyone is different, but I had numb hands after 20 mins on the motorway and I just couldn’t buy one
Being a long distance machine I would be more interested in the navigation on this bike, this is something that everyone that road tests it on youtube doesn't review...you need to be the first that does chopsy!
They are Metzeler Karoo Street. Decent traction on dry or wet roads. Downside is that they howl on the highway and they're terrible off road. Mine weren't even half worn before I switched to Motoz Tractionators. Massive difference off road and very capable on road.
@@shadowred1980 must have missed that, thanks for the answer. Tyres in the wet, for me, are as important as all the rest. Had a bad experience with Bridgestones on the K1300GT, now running Michelin road 6's and very pleased with the Metzeler Roadtec 01s on the XR, even in Belgian wet and cold.
Chops your were Lowlands then in highlands the drovers inn is more for the tourists the road next to Loch Lomond is something else and it’s a A road what haggis did you have as there are two different ones Lowlands has 4 legs all the same length for level ground or Highlands has 4 legs but two are shorter on one side for walking round mountains 😂 oh and you murdered loch Katrine it not pronounced the way it’s spelled 😂 shame about the weather as it’s a beautiful place to ride 🏴
It’s shocking that 2 years into a complete new model they released a “improved” version as the original was pants. Not a great advertisement for Triumph who seem determined to ruin what should have been a silky smooth triple, if I’d bought last year’s model I’d be pissed albeit it’s still a half hearted attempt to sort it out. Triples should have even firing orders it’s what they’re about so why try to make it feel like a V twin 😢 additionally don’t get me started on Triumph service costs, if it needs valves checked be prepared to remortgage.
'22s and '23s are hardly "pants" lol. I've had a '23 Rally Explorer for a year now, and I love it. There are people that are extremely affected by vibration of any kind. The vibes on the Tiger don't bother me in the slightest. I've ridden hundreds of kms at a time and been quite comfortable. I do agree with you about the air filter access, although Triumph is not the only company doing this. Honda, Ducati and others are guilty too. They could at least have included a pre filter. I ended up making my own. Valve checks are expensive, as they are on other bikes, but overall, the cost of ownership is cheaper than with the Multistrada or the GS. These were some of the many things I took into consideration before buying.
Bikes used to allways have a two year refresh cycle. They would be completely new though in two years time not just updated. If it had been 6 months I would understand your comments but 2 years is perfectly acceptable. The original wasn't terrible, I rode one several times and the vibes never bothered me at all
The 2 explorer models always had the anti-vibration mounts on the handlebars whereas the pro versions didn't. I think that's one reason why some complain about tingling fingers and others don't. The bigger crank to increase inertia seems to have reduced vibes even more.
I can't believe people are so concerned about screen speed. You shouldn't be fussing around with the screen options anyway...you should be looking at the road! At startup you don't have to wait for the screen to complete animations.
In all fairness, tigers have never been as exciting as its namesake. They should give it a more realistic name. The Triumph Hippopotamus sounds better.