Triumph 1200 Explorer

Adventure Rider Issue #3

• It’s What We Do
• Cape York
• The Adventure Challenge
• Mongolia
• Industry Players: Andy Strapz
• VSM DRZ400S
• Gear With A Story
• Reader’s Pic
• Motohansa R1200GS
• Ol’ Mate
• Kawasaki KLR650
• Triumph 1200 Explorer
• KTM 700RR
• Wish You Were Here
• Girl’s Talk with Karen Ramsay
• Packing For Adventure with Robin Box
• Suspension with Nick Dole
• How To Ride with Miles Davis
• Rules To Ride By with John Hudson
• Reader’s Ride: The Flinders Ranges, SA
• 20 Things You Should Know About: KTM’s 950/990
• 10 Minutes With: Sam Sunderland
• Reader’s Bike: Steve Evans’ HP2
• Checkout

Lay back and think of England

Did you ever dream of a chance encounter with a happy, young, British girl? She’d be playful, strong, and have a silky smooth complexion, a firm rear end, and the love of a shaft that would drive a man insane right up until he collapsed in an exhausted, pleasured-to-the-end heap. That’s what it’s like riding the Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer. British it may be, but it’s no bulldog.

From the ground up

The Explorer isn’t a new addition to the Triumph line-up. It was introduced in 2012 with a new three-cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuelinjected, 1215cc motor that was built specifically for this bike. What’s new for the Explorer is the spoked wheels. Previous models had mag wheels, and the new arrangement offers stronger and lighter tubeless units.

Although it’s clearly a ‘big brother’ to the Tiger XC, the Explorer uses an incredibly smooth shaft drive, driveby wire and cruise control. The bigger capacity offers 135 horsepower in its 258kg package, and there’s no doubt it bears more than a passing resemblance to the 800.

The horsepower is one thing, but the torque delivery is another. Around 121Nm is a lot of drive, but it’s the linear delivery that’s so remarkable. It’s astonishingly smooth.

A wealth of information at a glance. We weren’t really revving it to 12,000rpm for this pic.

The seat and cockpit in general are generous, and Triumph says the bike was designed with two-up, longdistance briding in mind. We can believe that. It’s a very comfortable bike under those conditions, and included bonus features as we write this are a tank pad, headlight protector, handguards, engine-protector bars and alloy bash plate. A two-box pannier kit goes to anyone buying an Explorer as well, but we didn’t have them on board for our test ride, and the promotion was expected to finish at the end of December 2013, so check with your dealer. The items are all available as optional extras as is an Arrow pipe.

Bashplate, tank pad, headlight protector, hand guards and crash bars are all part of the bonus kit included in the price. Panniers are included as well, but weren’t fitted for our ride. The promotion with the bonus gear was due to finish at the end of December 2013, but all the parts will still be available as optional extras.

First and second aid

We’re seeing a lot of electronic rider aids on the big dualsporters lately, and some companies have them better sorted than others. In the case of the Triumph, there’s a couple of traction control settings, switchable ABS, and it’s probably fair to include the cruise control in this category.

As usual, the default setting is with the traction control at its most aggressive and the ABS on. This isn’t a choice made by Triumph, but apparently an ADR requirement, and it’s a bit of a pest. Still, selecting the settings is easy enough. It’s the push of a button, a selection using a rocker switch, then pressing the button again.

It takes a few seconds, but it’s still a bit annoying to have to do it every time the ignition is switched off.

The default settings are fine on the bitumen. The ABS works well and seldom comes into play, and the traction control doesn’t matter much unless the road’s wet – or you’re a knucklehead journo trying to get all Marky Marquez with the horsepower. In either case it’s the best thing you can have going for you.

On the dirt the default setting for the traction control is just a touch intrusive, and it can be a real hindrance on any kind of dirt hill, even a gentle one.

The XC heritage is easy to see.

Flicking to setting number two gives a far more realistic dualsport result, and turning the traction control off makes the whole world a fun place.

We quickly settled on automatically turning the traction control off and leaving the ABS on every time we started the bike. If we found ourselves at the top of a hill, quietly soiling our Triumph touring pants because of the descent, it was easy to turn the ABS off. The rest of the time it was a welcome helper when things got tough.

An amazing shaft drive. Super smooth and pretty much undetectable from the rider’s point of view.

Take a seat

There’s a bewildering array of information available from the multi-function LCD displays, and getting to something as simple as the trip meter took a long session of study with the manual. Once we saw the flow chart it all made perfect sense, but until then we had no idea what the hell we were being told. But with that sorted the rider’s free to think about the more visceral, tactile aspects of the Explorer…the way it feels, if you like.

The first impression as the bum hits the very comfortable seat is that the tank is a tad wide. It is actually the tank on this bike, with the airbox underneath, and thanks to the sacrificial plastics on each side it seems to be broad. It’s a false impression though, and it’s heightened by the rest of the bike being so slim. The three-cylinder motor seems to take up less room than most twins we remember, and the bike feels very easy to move around and shimmy through tight turns.

Selection of the various functions and data displays is very simple and all done from the left-hand switchblock. The blinkers are self-cancelling, which is a nice touch.

The plastic protectors that add the width to the tank are clever work on Triumph’s part. They’re intentionally wide enough to protect the steel tank, and when they’re eyed in, they’re no wider than other fairing parts around the front end. Even though all the bikes on our ride were dropped, there was no damage to the tanks on any of them, and to be honest, we couldn’t see any damage that would justify replacing the plastics either. If that were necessary, the protective panels are around $20, and that’s a whole lot cheaper than even a small repair to a tank.

The seat has the easiest height adjustment in the known universe. Just flip the two rubber-strapped stops to the alternative notches to gain or lose 20mm, and there are accessory seats that’ll give taller or lower heights for those who need them.

For most riders the seating position will have backs fairly straight, the cockpit nice and open, the rider himself well sheltered behind the screen and flared design of the front, and anything from a run to the servo to a run across the Nullarbor will be a very pleasant and low-fatigue exercise.

Less wire

Ride-by-wire might seem a bit of a gimmick, but on this bike it’s a big asset.

Overall the bike feels very slim, and that makes the tank seem a little wide. It’s not, though. Plastic ‘wings’ on the side are there for protection, and after some real-life testing, we can say they work well.

We mentioned earlier how the torque delivery from this motor was so remarkable. It’s incredibly linear, and the motor is wonderfully responsive and predictable. Rolling on the throttle from around 2000rpm feels the same as rolling on the throttle from 4000rpm or 6000rpm. It’s all amazing, seamless drive, and when there’s that much horsepower churning the rear wheel, having a throttle as exact and responsive as this one is awesome. AdvRider Mag’s staffers were able to hold some impressive corner speeds and tackle some perilously loose surfaces thanks to the precise and predictable nature of that throttle.

The cruise control is true cruise control, and by that we mean it slows the bike on downhills and speeds it up on ascents, and that makes freeway running a piece of the proverbial.

While we’re talking about varying speeds, braking is good both ends. The Nissin four-spot at the front was a little aggressive at the first touch of the lever, but it was never a problem, and the rear is strong with good feel.

Bouncing back

KYB suspension front and rear was interesting because our first impression was that it’s too soft at both ends.

The test ride started off-road, and with genitals fully engorged thanks to the fabulous motor and final drive, we slammed the front into every tree root, rut, puddle edge and log on 300km of dirt.

As we settled into the bike, we began to take in the scenery and without realising it we slowed down to a realistic dualsport pace. The front still had a tendency to bottom out on hard edges, but in general, we’d say the suspension was good for the way this bike is intended to be used. It kept the backroads smooth and allowed the rider plenty of control, but most of all it was a very plush ride. There was no wallowing or unexpected behaviour, and by the end of the ride we thought the suspension was actually pretty sensible for the bike’s intended purpose. Personal tuning aside, it’s a good set-up for a dualsporter expecting to do plenty of dirt road and big distances.

The adjustment on offer is preload only, but we think that’s sensible, too. Preload is the adjustment everyone should expect to play with as loads vary, and both forks and shock are dead easy. There’s a winder on the top of each fork leg and a big knob to twist for the shock.

All up

We could go on about the Explorer for a long time. It’s super smooth, the motor and drive train are sensational, it’s comfortable and a rage to ride.

The shaft drive hasn’t come in for a mention because it’s hard to remember it’s there. There wasn’t a single moment where we felt the bike’s behaviour affected by the final drive. If we hadn’t seen it, we’d’ve assumed a chain was doing the bizzo.

It’s a big bike, but so are all the other bikes in this class.

The motor is a gem, it handles well, the comfort level is extremely high, service intervals are a whopping 16,000km, and let’s not forget it’s a Triumph. That alone will be recommendation enough for most buyers, and after the XC and now the Explorer, it’s enough for us too.

Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer
Web: www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au Rec retail: $20,990 plus ORC

Engine Type: Liquid-cooled, 12 valve, DOHC, in-line three-cylinder

Displacement: 1215cc

Bore/Stroke: 85.0mm X 71.4mm

Compression ratio: 12:1

Rated output: 137PS (135hp) at 9300rpm

Maximum torque: 121Nm at 6400rpm.

Engine Management: Ride-by-wire fuel injection

Exhaust: Stainless-steel, three-into-one, side-mounted, stainless-steel silencer

Final drive: Shaft

Clutch: Wet, multi-plate

Oil capacity: Four litres

Starter: Electric

Fuel tank capacity: 20 litres

Transmission: Six-speed

Frame: Tubular-steel trellis frame

Swingarm: Single-sided, cast aluminium-alloy with shaft drive

Front suspension: KYB 46mm upside-down forks. 190mm travel

Rear suspension: KYB monoshock with remote oil reservoir, hydraulically adjustable preload, rebound damping adjustment, 194mm rear-wheel travel

Length: 2248mm

Width (handlebars): 962mm

Height (without mirrors): 1410mm

Seat height: 840mm/860mm (adjustable)

Wheelbase: 1435mm

Brakes front: Twin 305mm floating discs, Nissin four-piston calipers, Switchable ABS

Brakes rear: Single 282mm disc, Nissin two-piston sliding caliper, switchable ABS

Wet weight: 258.5kg