Triumph Tiger Explorer

[nhbubba]

Nope. Wanted a cheap (eh-hem, affordable!) sport-tourer that weighed less than 600lbs. This is close enough.

I did do a duc-dave seacoast ride into VT once though, no shortage of dirt.. er.. adventure there!

[Kenn157]

Nope. Wanted a cheap (eh-hem, affordable!) sport-tourer that weighed less than 600lbs. This is close enough.

I did do a duc-dave seacoast ride into VT once though, no shortage of dirt.. er.. adventure there!

The Curtis Ribs ride? I know I saw you on one of the Seacoast rides.

[nhbubba]

Yep. I was in the back, hangin' with Sam.

[Kenn157]

Yeah gadget Sam is a great sweep! He does the sweep on my Collective rides.

[gadget]

[Kenn157]

Ok, except for the color... Which will be Sapphire Blue. Everything on this bike will be on my Explorer, including the Garmin GPS.

[markbvt]

Everything on this bike will be on my Explorer, including the Garmin GPS.

Might want to consider skipping the Triumph hard luggage, which has garnered more than a few complaints on the Tiger 800 (same luggage), and instead fit a good set of aftermarket cases. Jesse racks and cases are awesome, if you don't mind spending the money for them, but there are a number of good less expensive options too, nearly all of which will be sturdier and more durable than the Triumph cases.

--mark

[Kenn157]

Tiger Explorer Accessories
Adjustable Touring Screen
Adventure Fog Light Kit
Engine Protection Bars
Hand Guards
High Level Front Mudguard (they might mean mudguard extender)
Sump Guard
Textured Rubber Tank Pad
TPMS

[Kenn157]

I may need to get another bike once I land a job in May...

You land a job in May... The DucDave Newfoundland ride might not become a reality for you... Just sayin... Hopefully it won't be

[sveesix]

You land a job in May... The DucDave Newfoundland ride might not become a reality for you... Just sayin... Hopefully it won't be

Trust me, nothing is going to stop me from going to Newfoundland!

[Kenn157]

Trust me, nothing is going to stop me from going to Newfoundland!

YAY

[GearHd6]

I've got the Triumph hard luggage on my 800 and have no problems with them at all. I don't do much falling off in the dirt though. They probably won't take falling off very well. I have used them in a few monsoons and never leaked a drop of water in them. I don't think they're "true" adventure bags but they're good for the part timers.

[Kenn157]

On the way back from the IMS. Saw/sat on the Explorer. He's a big boy! I can pretty much flat foot it. But its awesome! Can't wait for Newfoundland! They wanted to make a deal right there! Lol

[Garandman]

But yet you have a 2011 V-Strom... Right thats not considered an "adventure" bike... Maybe its/you are a wanna be adventurer?

That's right. V-Strom riders are only invited on "adventure" rides to help the real adventure riders pick up their 575 lb steeds when they drop them. Otherwise they are never taken off-road. Ever. Can't be done: they land upside down!


Here are some "real" adventure bikes: four BMW's and a Kawasaki Ninja.


They can't even do the kind of light dirt trail riding that most adventure-touring bike owners consider their raison d'être. They just invited me to take pictures and to help pick up the "real" adventure bikes.


You'd never tackle even so much as a muddy trail by yourself.


In fact, Hell for Leather just reviewed the 2012 V-Strom and the review is entitled "Why you don’t want the best motorcycle you’ll ever ride."

Here's what the NY Times says about Adventure bikes:

Collectively known as adventure bikes, these motorcycles evince a Euro-butch aesthetic that slots somewhere between an espresso machine, an oil refinery and a mountain bike....

These bikes look ready to powerslide the Siberian Road of Bones, ford Chile’s Bio-Bio River or go mano-a-horn with an enraged Namibian rhino. In reality, their riders are probably lawyers, creative directors and investment bankers, headed out for nothing more exotic than Sunday breakfast.

...Though these bikes are theoretically engineered for hard-hitting off-road exploration, only a tiny percentage will ever go more than a few miles off-piste. As any real dirt-bike rider knows, the next-to-last thing you want while traversing real mud, sand, rocks or water is a sharp-edged, $20,000, 500-pound motorcycle. The last thing you want is to find yourself alone, trapped underneath one.

But if it gets people off cruisers, so much the better!

On the way back from the IMS. Saw/sat on the Explorer. He's a big boy! I can pretty much flat foot it. But its awesome! Can't wait for Newfoundland! They wanted to make a deal right there! Lol

Are these bikes in dealer showrooms yet?

[Kenn157]

Explorers are not yet in the showrooms yet.. Mid May, maybe beginning of June... Not sure. Better be before the Newfoundland ride that's all I have to say.

[Garandman]

Personally I think the BMW F800GS and Triumph 800XC are about as big as you'd want to get if you were doing anything off-road (not including dirt roads, which are roads, after all).

Although I've seen a few owners take them some crazy places, bikes like the R1200GS and ilk are just too big and heavy. Lacking such talent, I've been able to pick up the V-Strom by myself when I've dropped it so far, but it feels all of the roughly 500 lbs.

Sounds like the Explorer will have plenty of power, though, so it may turn out to be an excellent touring bike.

[Kenn157]

Did anyone see MotorWeek last night? There was a segment on the Tiger XC. I recorded it and posted it to the Triumph Adventure group I have on Facebook.

[Kenn157]

Lol actually looking back at who posted here there are only a couple of guys that would have seen it. Sorry. I'll post hit here later.

[Garandman]

http://www.motorweek.org/reviews/two...ph_tiger_800xc

[nhbubba]

I feel so left out.
MotorWeek talks about motorcycles??? When'd that happen?
That's the super monotone show, right?

[Krazy Again]

In somewhat related news, trying to look at more details of this bike and others by going to http://www.triumph.com/ yields some great results.

Anyone else notice that this link takes you to a lingerie site?

[Kenn157]

MCN test ride on the Explorer

[GearHd6]

Hey Ken, do you buy all your bikes from Great Bay? I just noticed your sig.

[Kenn157]

Yeah so far.

[markbvt]

Personally I think the BMW F800GS and Triumph 800XC are about as big as you'd want to get if you were doing anything off-road (not including dirt roads, which are roads, after all).

Yeah, I agree. In fact, I don't plan to take my XC on true dual-sport rides; that's what I have my XR650L for. The reason I bought the XC was because I like to ride to remote locations where the roads can be dirt/gravel and conditions can be highly variable -- Labrador, for example. Sure you can ride a streetbike on a dirt road, but on one like the Trans-Labrador Highway it's really hard work and not much fun, and streetbikes are very likely to get dropped at least once on that road. That type of touring is perfectly suited to a bike like the XC, which can cover the distances and pavement without feeling stressed yet handle way better on the dirt than a streetbike would (or even a lower-end ADV bike like a V-Strom).

Where the Tiger Explorer would really excel (just like the other big ADV beasts such as the R1200GS and Super Ten) would be seriously long-haul touring, like riding to Alaska, when the roads between here and there could be in any condition from smooth pavement to potholed mud. Versatility is key here -- the gap between how these bikes versus sport-tourers handle shitty conditions is much greater than the gap between how sport-tourers versus ADV bikes handle paved twisties.

But if my barn burned down and I lost all my bikes, my insurance money would go into another XC, not a Tiger Explorer. It better suits the kind of riding I like to do, and I wouldn't hesitate to ride it to Alaska if I could get six weeks off work. I might install a bigger windscreen and add an Airhawk to the seat, but I certainly wouldn't have any concerns about the XC not being enough bike for the job.

--mark

PS: Got to sit on a Tiger Explorer in Montreal on Sunday. Really nice bike. Comfy, great presence, but doesn't feel anywhere near as huge and ungainly as a BMW R1200GS Adventure. Can't wait to test-ride one when they eventually make it to dealers.