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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
Welcome back everybody to another motorboat video where you join me again at triumph headquarters in Hinckley now this is a massive leap forward for this line of bikes the previous gem was starting to look a little long in the tooth and it was quite weighty but this new bike's been put on a massive diet there's more power a new distinctive character to the engine and across the bike, lots of tweaks and changes in terms of comfort safety and handling in fact triumph is so confident about this new update that they say is better than its closest shaft-driven competition in almost every department I'll leave it to you to figure that one out so in this video I'm going to go through all of the changes and if you watch it though I'd love to hear from you in the comments at the end is this a genuine gs killer.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
First up let me talk you through the lineup we've got a new naming convention roughly inherited from the tiger 900. so you've got the gts which are slightly more road-focused and then a couple of rally models which have an off-road bias spec the standard gt is the entry point into the lineup you've got a gt pro with a few more features and standard accessories and then at the top of the gts you've got the gt explorer that's got a 30-liter fuel tank as well as some other extra features we'll talk about later there's no entry-level rally you just go straight to the rally pro and then at the top of the whole tiger 1200 tree is the rally explorer that bike's a direct competitor for BMW's gs adventure it's off-road biased and has that huge range owing to that big fuel tank but what's interesting is there isn't really a cast wheeled lower-slung version of the gs adventure.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
So the gt explorer kind of sits in a field of one and it's a bit of a unique proposition and look depending on which version you choose the weight savings are massive up to 25 kilograms versus the previous generation and on the bigger models like the rally explorer it's up to 17 kilograms lighter than the equivalent gs huge weight savings so here's how they've done it so first up the frame and that's been completely redesigned with 5.4 kilograms saved a huge amount there and probably from the information we've had the biggest single saving so it's still steel at the front section here but we've got forged aluminium plates on the side and then aluminium tubing on the subframe there and it's also worth pointing out that you now get a bolt-on subframe moving on to the swing arm and we've got more weight savings here so the previous gen had a single-sided swing arm it looked great.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But this version now gets a dual-sided swing arm that saves you 1.5 kilograms and on top of that it's also stronger personally i love a single sided swing arm i think they look great on the rocket and the speed triple but on this genre of bike where you're more likely to have luggage you don't really get the full visual impact and so personally i take lightness and strength over looks and we've also got weight savings in the tank as well so the previous gem was made from steel this version is made from aluminium as i mentioned we get a 30 liter tank on the explorer models but it's 20 liters on these bikes so the base gt the gt pro the rally pro 20 liters and i think the fuel consumption figures are yet to be confirmed because it's being homologated but we're estimating around 400 kilometers of range here so about 250 miles on the explorer versions that 30 liter tank.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
I'm sure you can do the math but I'll do it for you any way you get 50 percent more capacity so 600 kilometers of range or about 375 miles that's really quite massive so if you're into your long-distance touring or riding in remote locations where fuel stops might be less frequent then it should certainly be on your shortlist now another feature that's changed is previously you did get an electronically adjustable windscreen on the tiger 1200 it's kind of an interesting inclusion there because it was pretty much the only adventure bike that got it really it's for big touring bikes like Harley's and Indians and gold wings and bmw rts tramford made the decision to get rid of it in favor of a regular manually adjustable screen in order to save weight and I've got to say that mechanism is absolutely brilliant even better I'd say than the tiger 900 which has a good adjustment mechanism.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But you have to push it a little bit you just go straight up or down and it holds its position it's just as quick and convenient I'd say as an electronically adjustable screen and then last up on the weight loss front we've got this new silencer which is lighter and slimmer so first up you to know this is held fairly high so reducing mass here helps to keep the center of gravity low and triumph have done that by removing the linkage for the rear shock which means there's more space for a big cat under here which means that this can be a little bit less substantial the other thing to point out is it's slimmer so if you do run luggage when you've got them fully loaded up the closer that they can be to the center of the bike the less you're going to feel the effects so low-speed maneuvers and that sort of thing you want that as close to the bike as possible.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
So clearly that weight loss is going to benefit the acceleration and the handling but it's not just that there are plenty of changes to the engine suspension brakes and wheels that should also aid the performance first up the engine and it's a bit like a combo of something like a speed triple and the tiger 900 so it's got the same bore and stroke in there for the 1160cc capacity as the new speed triple engine it's pretty closely related but of course, it gets its own power delivery and characteristics that better suit an adventure bike is so more mid-range focus than top-end sportiness so yeah not quite as powerful as a speed triple but still 9 ps more than the previous generation so it's now 150 at 9000 rpm and you've also got 130-newton meters of peak torque so that's seven up on the previous generation trying to also point out that it's now 14 ps more than the gs now admittedly that bike makes more torque and makes it lower down.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But if you hang on to the gears especially with the weight loss I'd say this is probably quicker in a straight line now the thing about the tiger 900 i mentioned is that it inherits the design idea of the t-plane crank previous generations of this bike and pretty much every other triple have even space in between the cylinders where they're attached to the crank there so 120 degrees it gives you a really smooth sounding bike a smooth feeling bike and almost a revvy sportiness what triumphs seem to have wanted to do with the tigers is give them a bit more guts and roughness lowering the revs that talky sensation and to do that they've made the first two cylinders that fire closer together and then there are bigger intervals either side of the third what that gives you is something that's a little bit more like a twin or a v twin lowering the rev range so more of that sense of torque a really nice growly exhaust note.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But you still get the triple top end so you can rev it out a bit more it really does work very well on the tiger 900 a very versatile engine and i just can't wait to find out what it feels like on a bike with 50 more horsepower actually 56. we've also got a big update to the suspension so you did get semi-active wp suspension on the previous gen but this new system from showa is much more advanced so you've got a chunky 49 mil upside-down fork and a Showa monoshock at the rear as well 200 ml of travel on the gt models 220 ml for a bit more off-road capability on the rallies now what you get with the electronic adjustment and semi-activeness is that you get automatic pre-load adjustment that means that whether you're riding solo or to up or with luggage it's quickly adjusting the preload to ensure that the bike sits level and maintains its handling characteristics the other side of it is the damping so you've got nine steps of adjustment here from one to nine with one being more comfort-focused and soft.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But then it firms up at nine to make it more sporty and agile feeling these are tied into the riding modes which we'll talk about a little bit later but also it's constantly adjusting based upon the imu which measures all sorts of lean angles feeds that end so that the bike in real-time is making adjustments to get the best out of the suspension we've also got an update to the braking so the previous generation did get good brakes they were four-part radially mounted Brembo but these are theirs dilemma calipers so really top-notch stuff you also get bigger discs for this year so 320 ml as opposed to 305 on the previous-gen.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
So that should help with braking power and you also get a radial master cylinder at the lever there courtesy of megura so you should get a nice crisp feel at the lever at the other side of the bars we've also got a matching master cylinder for the clutch a hydraulic clutch and then on the rear brake it's still a 282 mil disc but instead of a nissin caliper you now get a one-pot brembo obviously i'll reserve judgment until i've ridden it but from previous experience of braking setups similar to this like the tiger 900 you know that bike's very good on the brakes now we've also got new wheel sizes on this bike so previously you had a 19 front for a little bit more off-road ability and then a 17 on the rear and that's the same across the gs lineup as well so a 19 front 17 rear on the gt this time you still get the 19 front but it's an 18-incher at the rear and then on the rally we get proper off-road spec 21-inch front and 18 rear so yeah that should mean much better rolling over rougher surfaces.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But also a better choice of off-road tires we've got more road-focused or adventure taurian focused tires on the gt so mex the Toronto on the rallies you get Metzler to carry streets and if you want to take it up an extra notch you've got the Michelin anarchy wilds as Hamburg approved options so look lots of changes that should make it better on the road and off but realistically a lot of people buy these bikes in either spec to do a lot of touring miles and that's where you appreciate creature comforts safety features and personally for me I like quite a lot of tech as well let's talk a bit about the ergonomics first so seat height-wise you still get an 850 or 870c on the more road-focused model here the gt you just adjust that with a little bar on the seat it's very quick to do on the rally it goes between 875 and 8.95 so quite a tall bike there fortunately for us shorter riders there are a couple of provisions that might help you.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
Get your feet on the ground firstly they are very narrow in the waist here they're narrower than the previous-gen and that really does help with standover even in this high position and I'm five foot nine I could still touch the floor either side just about so in the lower setting it'll be very comfortable indeed the other option is a low seat accessory so that takes 20 mils off the seat height on either bike now this update gets 20 mils more padding than the previous-gen so it's a very comfy cushy seat the lucy option removes that so you can forego a little bit of comfort in order to reach the ground more easily in terms of the rest of the rider triangle we've got a new footpeg position and then the bars are varied depending on the intended purpose of each bike all of them are 20mm wider so you've got more leverage over the front and a more commanding riding position.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But take the explorer models for example with that big 30-liter fuel tank obviously intended for lots of long-distance riding and so both bikes get bars that sit 16 mils higher for a more upright and sustainable riding position another change in this model is that the big traditional slab of a radiator behind the front wheel there has gone in favor of a split design up inside the bodywork here not only does that let you position the engine lower and further forward to get that center of gravity low and also aids cooling efficiency but I've put it in this comfort section because trying and say that it directs more of the airflow away from the rider and so that means in hotter climates you're not going to feel quite so bothered and then like I say I absolutely love having loads of tech on my bikes and this is a great example of it well implemented.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
So we've got a new headlight it's led there's a daytime running light across the front there but also it's tied into the imu so it's lean-sensitive you've got cornering headlights so as the bike banks over additional lights come on and that illuminates the inside of the turn you also get a new 7-inch TFT display so nice and big plenty of screen space for managing all those riding modes so you've got rain road and sport as standard across the range as you move up you get off-road and rider configurable and then the two rally models both get off-road pro which is where the abs and traction control are fully disabled so you can properly get a good slide on each of the rally modes affects throttle response cornering abs and traction control intervention levels and then also the damping on the semiactive suspension not only does it change the level of damping.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
But you've got two ranges of damping that are different for road and off-road elsewhere we've got hill hog controls so obviously great if you're loaded up with luggage and a passenger heated grips across most of the lineup heated seat on the explorer models there's a quick shifter up and down which has been improved for this generation tire pressure monitoring system a keyless ignition system that's tied into the steering lock and fuel filler cap and look you get varying levels of spec based on the different bikes it's worth having a look at the website to figure out what features you like the look of and therefore which bike might be best for you.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
You also get electronic cruise control across a lot of the bikes, not adaptive cruise control which you may or may not have expected try and say they spoke to some of their customers and the feedback on that particular feature was quite mixed and I've experienced that myself as well in the comments of my videos and trying to also say it would have added massively to the cost of the bike but not really giving any value to the customer because it wasn't a feature they were looking for interestingly though on the explorer models you do get a rear-facing radar and that enables blind spot detection so we've got a couple of lights up on the mirrors here if someone sat in your blind spot there it's going to illuminate to give you a warning and then if you put your indicator on it's going to give you an even more prominent warning to discourage you from moving out a great feature and something.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
That in those same feedback sessions was widely wanted by the customers loads of great technical updates then but visually i think it's a stunning evolution as well this particular rally explorer in this mac Karki finish which you might recognize from the tiger 900 i believe it was a good seller there i think this is the best looking of the lot very modern and quite muscular it really does bring the tiger 1200 right up to date but I'd love to know what you think of it down in the comments below pricing varies from 14 600 for the level gt right up to 91 for this fully kitted out top-spec rally explorer obviously that's going to be a price increase on the previous gem but there are so many more features that I'm sure trying for pretty confident that it's worth it they also pointed out that if you compare it to the equivalent spec of gs take the rally pro for example if you added all the packages on the bmw configurator to bring the gs up to a comparable spec it comes in almost a grand cheaper.
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| www.triumphmotorcycles.com |
And for the rally explorer against the gs adventure it's still over 300 pounds less and that's with the rear radar and the dedicated off-road wheel sizes and whatnot certainly looks competitive to me but like I said at the top I'd love to know what you think of it down in the comments so let me know have they done a good job and does this stand up to the gs let me know what you think and if you're new here and you want to see more videos like this hit subscribe and I'll see you next time hopefully reviewing one of these all right thanks I think that's it.