EP#68 - 2026 Triumph Tiger 1200 Test!

We gave a pair of Triumph Tiger 1200s to Jeremy Cowley from Dirtbike Burrito Podcast and his old man Nev to see how far they could go in a month. Turns out they squeezed 6000km out of them! After it was all said and done, we sat down with them around the fire when they returned to get some raw feedback on what they thought of the Triumph Tiger 1200. Here it is!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the ADB podcast where we talk all things dirt with your host Mitch Lee. Okay, that's it, we're done. Six thousand seven thousand Ks. Uh we're back here with Jez from Dirt Bite Breeder Podcast and his old man Nev. They have picked these bikes up in the bottom of Victoria and come up through kind of western Victoria, up through western New South Wales, into Canberra, then went back out to the western New South Wales and we've kind of been everywhere. They've put nearly 6,000 kilometres on these on this 1200 to try up the Tiger 1200, as we mentioned earlier. And so it's probably the best test that we'll ever get. As Journo's it's tricky to get that much time and put that many kilometres into a bike, but fortunately these two could do it for us over the space of a month. So we want to know what the bike's like to ride. Jazz, I'm gonna start with you this time around. Um you've ridden the Tiger 900, you've got a 950, you've ridden Beamers, you've ridden Tenar's, you've ridden kind of all of them. Yeah. Where does the Triumph 1200 sit in and amongst the adventure bikes you've ridden in terms of is it a road bike, a tour, an adventure bike, a dirt bike?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Well, I mean, we've had these conversations a lot. What is an adventure bike? And like even with Grambro, the his adventure and my adventure are very different. I think uh to put this into a category of its own, I would probably put it as a road adventure bike. Yeah. I mean, not saying that you can't do off-road things, and I think we've shown that we can do some pretty off-roady things with it. But this is a road adventure bike. We love sitting on you know 100 Ks, doing 800 Ks in a day. It just was awesome. You know, and um it not only did it easily, but it did it comfortably, reliably. I mean, everything that you want on a long touring adventure bike.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

This does it. What made it so good for touring? Like what aspects of the actual bike characteristics? We're talking uh seating position, where how how how where your handlebar sits, the screen, the motor. I mean everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Everything the seating position is fantastic. You're not it's not a tacky, but you're not like a low rider. The bars are really raked back, like they're so far back because there's obviously a lot of tank in front of you, so it sits you really nice in a very neutral position. The cruise control there matches with that as well, so it's it's really good for just long distance, it kind of gets you in a nice seating position. You're really tucked into the bike, the bike is so wide that it it really sits you in, you don't get buffered, you don't get anything. The screen sits perfectly. I'm about 6'2. I could ride, we rode in a horrific storm, and I put my phone kind of on the on my little mount, and it didn't get wet for the entire three and a half hours of the storm. Didn't get wet. It's big in the back, so you can put a big bag on the back and kind of have it all spaced out. The suspension is all electronic too, so it kind of sets and adjusts for your sag, which made it really nice to sit on, and then all the modes just made it super good as well. So you could change the power to make it a little bit more linear depending on how you wanted it to go, which then obviously equated to great mileage in the bike, too. I mean, five litres to a hundred is just crazy. So realistically, everything works on the bike, and for our first day, for our first big day as well when we got the bike, when we did about six, seven, eight hundred K's or whatever it was. I know Grahambro got off it and it was fine. There was no fatigue, even in the the hottest part of the day, it was it was still great to go. So I love the bike in regards to that. And then when we did take it off-road, you'd think something this big and kind of cumbersome would be really dangerous off-road. But I mean, I I think I could punt this through rocky kind of river banks a lot faster than the 900 that we have, just because it's a lot heavier and it squats a lot better, it sits really nice, it changed a bit, it changed a bit in the um suspension and the power, and this thing can do anything. I think there's a few hill climbs I've been hit with this thing, and it doesn't really uh it feel too horrible as you'd think, but at the same time, there's no need for it. Like this thing is just a beautiful cruiser to travel around Australia three or four times and it would be just fine.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

We saw you today, we're doing some filming, and we got you to come up a little four-wheel drive section that was you know pretty nasty to be low range in a four-wheel drive car and a little lip at the top to kind of boost off, and you did it first on the Tiger 900 and did it pretty easily, but then you took it on the Tiger 1200 and it got up it no problem as well. Maybe you could tell it's heavier and it sits like you know into the ground more. And what it still got up and still got up it.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

No, it did. You know, I mean, these I mean it's a motorcycle. Realistically, you could take anything like an MT09 or something and and do the same thing, just change the tires. I think we see that with any motorcycle, it's just how easy you can do it. I think this bike fits Graham Bro and everything like that perfectly. You know, the way we keep saying it is if you want to go to a pub or you want to go to a cafe. This is beautiful for cafe riding, and to be very fair, uh you know, talking to like Bernie and other professional riders out there, I think um this bike is what an adventure bike really is. It kind of is I can ride it anywhere I want to go, sit on cruise control, go and have an adventure, and then if I really wanted to, maybe do some fire trails. Yeah, I mean, it's not gonna be fun, but compared to like a little bike where it's not fun in single trails, it is fun on dirt, but it's not as fun on the highway as something like this because this you can just punch for hours and hours and hours, and it'd be good easy.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Uh Grandbro, then talk us through. You have never had never ridden a 1200 in the four. No. Uh how did it feel hopping on a bike this intimidating? Very intimidating because the size, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Um we were lucky we've got the Explorer with the big tank. Yep. Um, they come in various um forms, so just the mere size of the the unit. And like you said, you sit behind it and you're totally encapsulated in it. So, yeah, size does make a big thing there. Um I was lucky that I didn't take it through the tough stuff for this. So, but with my ability or inability, it did fine, it did really well.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Um do you find when you're getting it through the dirt stuff, standing up, sitting down? Um, you obviously pick the off-road mode, so you drop your track control, drops out the ABS, correct, get through that stuff. Sitting down, standing up, if you're paddling with your feet, did it feel comfortable enough to get your feet on the ground without feeling like it's gonna fall over or it's too tall or it's too heavy?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Oh no, it is heavy. So if you are going slow, you yeah, you you you're gonna get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

It really helps you develop your riding skill though.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Yeah, because I didn't didn't rely on on paddling, you had to stand up, you had to balance, you had to position your body. Yeah, so that and clutching as well. That's another form of bike riding I've never been that competent with, but on the big bike you've got to.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

And I think the same as like the little 900, they're heavy no matter what you're gonna do. I think for the 1200, it is incredibly heavy though. You really do feel turning around as at some point, like I've you know, it's just been easier to dismount it and turn it around because you can't flick it around like the little bike. And I think you did struggle with that or anything at slow speed off camber. Once it hits a tipping point, it it's gone. But there yeah, I said when we done like an 1190 and things like that, exactly the same problem. As soon as you got a little bit off camber, it's going over there. Unless you've got you know, unless you've got big old quads that ain't coming back, you know, like it's not happening.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

And so so why would that happen? When when you guys are trying to do a U-turn on a bike like this, is there enough low-down torque to like you know how we have we have some adventure bikes where you where they come out uh you know, mapped for ADR compliance or for whatever reason it is, and you've got to like rev them and clutch them just to kind of get off the line or turn them around. The torque, the clutch, the friction point for guys out there that are like, oh, that does sound a bit tricky being big and cumbersome. Is there an issue outside of the weight, or is it pretty good the motor for the slow stuff? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

I would say the the the mechanics of it's it's fine, it's the ability of the rider that that more comes into it.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Because I can do it, I can flick that in a 180 on the spot like you do with like a dirt bike. Yeah, but at the end of the day, it takes a lot and you've got to really use the bike. You can't just rely on you to pull the bike. This here, I found because it's also um is what it what's it called? Um, drive shaft or whatever shaft drive, the power is just so different to a chain bike, and I didn't expect it. For me, and I was explaining this to before with Granbro, the power on this, even when you kind of got out of shape, I can just quickly snap the throttle and it stands up. This bike just loves the inertia of the motor, you can feel it flick up. So even when I would be getting really out of control, whether I'd be going through some rocks or even some um washouts I was kind of following through, if it started to step out, or if I could feel it kind of leaning over, you could just blip the throttles, jump the clutch, and it would just stand up again. And I think from my perspective, the power on this is perfect for the weight. Yeah, okay. But for probably Grambro, it's probably like a bit unpredictable.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah, it's the it's more the weight, not the power. Okay. So definitely on that, it's more the weight.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

But you get used to it.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Oh, yeah, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

You you give us for another month, we'll tell you. Power is linear, it's linear. There's not enough bikes, you don't feel not really much below like a road bike, there's not much at the bottom, then all of a sudden the mid and the top here.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

No, it's like not.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

It's linear of the get-go.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

There's more power you need, I think.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Well, I mean, we said about this in the 900. The 900 is silly fun because it goes from nothing to 100 straight away. This, it's beautiful, and you don't have to worry about it. Just if you did panic rev, it's not gonna go rhum like it. It's not gonna snap. Nice and smooth, which gives you enough time to clutch it and save yourself. But even that initial drive is enough to pull you out of problems.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Um, okay, so then let's talk then balance because everyone looks at these things and thinks they look big, they've got like you said earlier, Grandbro, they've got big, heavy tanks, they look heavy. But when you're standing on it, you're riding on the dirt, balance-wise, how does it feel? Even if you're now maybe down to first gear to get through a few little sections.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Well, again, balance for my inability, um, it takes a lot. But body positioning, as we all know, body positioning and balance, um, they all come into it. Um, so but the yeah, it's something you can you can adapt to and learn. So I think on the 1200, it's just something the new riders or the riders have got to either be aware of or are able to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

I've been saying that though, this is the first time Grambro's ever been on a big bike. He's only we've only done what about 10 or 11 actual dirt road rides now. Yeah. And um it's been great to watch him, especially transfer onto something like this. We we've done so much riding and and uh Grandbro's been great at kind of figuring out how the bikes work. And even today we we joked when we were coming up this kind of out of this kind of bypass or causeway or whatever it is, you could feel the difference between the 900 and the 1200 when you got onto the dirt. You really felt the difference between the bikes and how it kind of went round corners and things like that. Yeah, yes. And you feel a lot safer on the 1200 because of its size and because of the way the powder levers round corners. On the on the 900, you could kind of get a bit sketchier, it's a bit more kind of um snappy, and the front end really does like to wander a little bit. Sporty. Where this it kind of is it's like a train. It's today, it's just chips in the corners, it goes around, and so even when the hill was getting really steep and real wind and real loose, Granbro looks way better on this.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Yeah, I I feel better on the 12, ironically, than the 900, because I know the 900 is far more responsive, yeah, and I could probably get in a lot more difficulty on the 900, whereas the 1200, it's less snappy. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, uh it's more sedate. But saying that you could make it really snappy.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Oh yeah, and you could absolutely rock it. Shaft drives traditionally are quite linear and they're quite smooth uh as opposed to a chain. Um, and I and uh I know what you mean, Grandpa. Every time I've ridden gone from a 900 to 1200, the 1200s feel more planted because it's just more weight. I find the weight's also lower. A lot of the 900s, the weight can be a bit there, they've got longer travel suspension, more ground clearance, so the weight all of a sudden comes out. So yeah, your balance comes out, and these can be so planted. We were coming through a creek section today on them to do bits and pieces of video, and I was saying it's I'm like, so many people need to realise that these things are so well balanced and so competent, the suspension is so soft and plush. Plow through that creek bed with the cricket ball, with the football rocks everywhere, and just try not to uh fight the handlebars and let it deflect its way through. Yeah, it's not like a two-stroke where you've got to attack it because if you get it wrong, it'll go ding out that side. They're really well planted, and that's probably what you're saying, Grandbro. Yep. Um all right, let's talk suspension on these things. Now they're big, big heavy bikes, these, and they're not designed to take big erosion mound jumps and hits, and that's not what they're designed for. But uh if you load it up, you know, top box uh saddlebags out the side, tank bag, and you just took off and you're hitting Aussie corrugation and the odd like little creek section you've got to get through, and maybe a bit of a water crossing, you're gonna run into issues with stock suspension.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

No, no, no, it's all electronic too, so once you get on it, you can feel it adjust the sag. It's um I mean you've run you've probably run heavy, not super heavy yet. Like we haven't done we've never done anything. Fully loaded, fully loaded, but I mean we'd still probably like 30 kilos probably in the back on some of the couple of the bags, and um and then ourselves, and then and a fully loaded tank as well, which can be really heavy. And I mean, yeah, we hit everything, and nothing, nothing would stop it. I'd you'd bottom out mainly because it's so low, not because of suspension. I mean, if you stiffened it up, it would just really mess with the ride, I think. And because it's all electronic anyway, you can just muck around with it on the screen to kind of suit what you want. I mean, the 900 definitely needs suspension work, I think, but because this one's so advanced and all the electronics, for me I didn't need to change any other. Did you change it?

SPEAKER_02 13:54

No, no, not at all. No, no, first of all, this technology is new to me and I don't need so no, yeah. But it's there to it's there to to certainly um use and um grow into.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yep. Um I'm only thinking of it because I'm looking at it, the fob. There's always a little bit of uh concern around a fob rider. You've got a million pockets, you've got saddle bags, you've also got the middle of the bush. Had that any problem had that, we had that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

FOB problems, the fob never failed. No, it did. It did at the start because you had any error. Any rider can do it because if you put pressure on it on the triumph patch, it resets it or it does something and reconfigures it. So it doesn't work. Yeah. So you're sitting there all of them have it in some reconfiguration form somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

I think good or bad thing, is it? Do you think it's a good or a bad thing? Yeah. I don't see the point in it. How hard is it to send a key up to this never manufacturer?

SPEAKER_01 14:48

It's like, I hope. Well, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's also silly things like we couldn't we like even today, it was the first time it really noticed it. When we'd swap bikes, you'd walk off the key. You'd walk off the key. You'd be like, Can you move the bike jazz? And I'd waddle over and I'd be like, oh, where's the key? And it's in your pocket 50 metres away. It's it look it doesn't, it's not a it's like a first wheel. Yeah, it is. You know, like it's it's it's an inconvenience, I don't see the point of it. Yeah, and I mean other people have had issues with it, but we we never had anything.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

No, no, apart from our our own era that time. I mean, I mean I suppose But it's technology, it's all electronics.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, and I suppose if you have it in your pocket, you know, as long as you don't throw your jacket in the wash or something and forget about it because you don't take it out, it's it's the only good thing. But the um the fuel caps part of it too, isn't it? Yeah. So if you lose connection, you can't start it and you can't fuel the fuel up.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

So the fuel cap comes out with a little key to pop the fuel cap open, or the fuel cap needs the fob to the fob to open.

unknown 15:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

It's keyless.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Um there is a key on it, but I don't know where the key is. I never noticed anywhere where the key is. So it's got a little quick action thing. Yeah. I don't know where the key goes. So I just feel like just poking things on the bike to try and start it.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Uh okay, mapping modes between the rain mode all the way through to the enduro pro mode. Is there a big difference and what's the difference in the mapping?

SPEAKER_02 16:06

I've never done no, I've never done, didn't do any of that. I did it all. I did it for the set and forget. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I would change things and he wouldn't notice and he wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

He would have no idea. And I would just think it's my ability. I nailed that. Yeah, the bike sitting. Bike sitting.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Um heaps. So much. There would be. There would be. So much. Yeah, I think um between even just off-road and off-road pro, worlds of difference. Um, the rain mode, as I said, this one I got caught on a massive storm, and um the wet mode was like as safe as driving riding on a dry road. You've ridden this through the heat, heat, and did a big um silo run through New South Wales, and that the modes were perfect for you. Yeah, absolutely. Even in the hottest temperatures, you were still doing good case.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

So uh overheating. I mean, you guys were in 40 degree heat, you're in and out of it. 45 degrees heat all day. All day. There's gonna be a lot of guys. Well, I think 1200 should be ridden around Australia. They should be attacking roads that you know your four-wheel drive through. It's gonna be hot when you go up the top.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

That's what all your grandbrother said. Oh, this is what it's made for.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

This is what it's made for.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah, yeah. Any any overheating drums? No, that's fine. Oh, I don't know. I would say there was some issues because the oil got hot as hell.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

And when he did, when you got Canberra, it was but the heating the no, you definitely it sounded like it was it sounded like there was just pure water in there because it was the other But I've I've been riding for 11 hours. Full day, 11 hours, and most of it was in 40 degree heat, like 40 plus.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

It was a good test because we really want the grandborough really wanted to test like its limit.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

This is what it was designed for.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Hot. It was ting tinging hot and the oil got hot, but then to be honest, that oil we've kind of looked at now and it's still fine. It's fine. We're just following the service history anyway.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Yeah, um and this is what these are designed for.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Never overheated, but it was hot. Oh, but it was both bikes got on, and we all got hot. It was way worse. Yeah, we love this bike because the radiators are mounted on the side, so when the air comes through, it comes through and then funnels the heat out, and then the heat goes around you. Yeah. So you don't feel anything. Yeah, and um. So even when you were doing your your stupid hot run, you weren't heat radiating from the motor was never initially.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Never initially. Never feel like your old triumph.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

You can feel it through every part of the room. Unfortunately, yeah, yeah. So and this one cooks your knees and boils your kneecaps.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

So, with regards to the 1200, heating was not a problem at all.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Okay, but it as I said, it on the day when you run it, 40 to 45 degree heat, and the road was like 62 or something, yeah, the bike got hot. There was no way to get away from it. But it didn't cook the bike, it didn't change any of the moments. And the other thing that's what I'm trying to say, the the mat that got put onto it, it still used the same amount of fuel that temperature. It didn't start use the the the fuel didn't start boiling and then you start losing fuel, it just used the same amount of fuel the whole way.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

And it ran perfectly for the for 11 hours.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

For 11 hours at that temperature, no excess oil, no excess fuel, and it was perfect.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I left home before seven in the morning and I got the camber 5, 5.30, and running all day.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

It was it was a bit of a shell of a man. It was a bit hot and bothered, but uh he got there. Big ride.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Our grandbro wins, it was it was an early night for old Grandbro. So let's talk then. So you did a lot of K's and a lot of big K's in a day. What did you say the fuel consumption got down to? I think on the computer it says 5.1. Yeah, 5.1. Okay, that's pretty good. That's amazing. And and I mean uh we'll have to go back and check the specs on the fuel tank. Um 30 litres? 30.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Yeah, it's a big tank, too.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Well, yeah, because it was on the flashed half today, we filled it up, and that was 15 litres we put in. So if you're doing 5 litres per 100 and it's got say 30 litres, 25 to 30 litres, you should you're getting over 500k. Easy, yeah. Easy, easy, easy. So so it'd be a fantastic bike if you're gonna loop Australia. You don't want to go through the Simpson because you're gonna bog it and leave it there. You don't want to go anywhere that's maybe super, super hardcore off-road, but you've got big fuel gaps. Yes. Fantastic, and there's a bit of dirt, that's alright, it's big open dirt roads.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I mean, you could take it to the Flinders, you could take it to really anywhere. The Vic High Country, I think the problem would be the brakes on it, yeah, because it is heavy. Well, I'm just thinking the brakes got hot. There's a fair few times that I'd get the brakes hot because you'd ride you ride them. On the really big downhills, I think maybe some riders, because it's so big, and like probably Grambro would find his limit on that going down some steep stuff. Because as you said before, on the slow stuff, it is it's heavy. So when you started going down, like you gotta commit. Like it's there's only one way down, and you can't kind of ride it, yeah, or balance yourself really easily to then go down. Like on a smaller bike, you can you kind of can just hang on the pegs and static balance a bit. There's no stat balance on this, you're either going or you're stopping. Yeah, and it's I think the Vic High Country would really find the limit on this a lot a lot harder.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Okay, that's probably a good indication. Things like Undata track, big open flat roads, that's all good. Yeah, uh steep up and down Vic High Country could be challenges on a on a Big 12.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

If you can ride, you'd have to be honest with yourself. And I think even like um if you were to say even the back of Griffith, like on those dirt roads out there that were kind of they're very undulating because of all the washouts and stuff, I think you could probably fall a foul there. I mean, crossing some of those big rutouts would be quite difficult on that if you were you ground bro, like going through just because you can't do anything really slow and technique unless you've got a good amount of skill behind you.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Okay, last thing I'm gonna ask you a favourite thing about the 1200, you 6,000 Ks. What was the favourite? What was your best aspect of it?

SPEAKER_02 21:43

For me, it's got to be comfort. Yeah, okay. Comfort. I mean, you could ride all day and get off and not feel it like you've done it. Done a hard day. Oh, absolutely. Um, the fuel range, like you say, you're not checking re next fuel stoppers. You can even miss one if you wanted to. You could even miss one.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah, on the 900s. And say move on. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

We were we we were getting close on a couple times.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Well, I think I made it in twice with less than 10k of skill. Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

So they would be the the the biggest um pluses for me.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

I think I like the size of it I did for for cruising. It was nice. You could spread out, I could move around. There's enough space in there for your partner to go on the back too, which I've got to do. Oh yeah, oh well yeah, that's right. And then if you don't have your partner, there's not a lot of room there to put a bag. So I could just strap a full bag to the back and just hang down. I think I just loved I loved yeah, the comfort, but also it's it's just a really I don't know, I must be getting weird, but like a really pretty bike.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Like I just I just like looking at it and riding at it and the sound of it. It just was like a really you know, all the other bikes I've ridden have been fun, but this is the first time I've actually just enjoyed enjoyed it. Like it wasn't like this is cool, I'm gonna give it some throttle and be a little bit of a dick and do stuff like that. This was I could just sit on it and ride and just I had a good time. So yeah, I I um I did like I did like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Uh sounds like the road presence to it is probably its best attribute. I did see it at A2 jazz for video, able to flick it almost opposite lock, opposite lock, opposite lock as we came out upper roads. It's still agile enough to do drifts and bits and pieces through corners. Allegedly, you saw that.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Allegedly you saw that. Yes, it is like I can still do some silly things on it. Don't get me wrong. And as I said, you you rot you can ride any bike hard and get something fun out of it. This is this, I mean, I find I can ride this worse than I can ride that. Like I can be an absolute ding-dong on this. Because as we said before, that throttle and the way the motor works and the drive shaft, it just pops you straight back up. That I can get out of shape a lot easier and have some closer moments. This, yeah, I mean, I want to see that footage because I want to see, because it felt like I felt like I was facing the road, it's the other road, but um I um I liked it, and um, as I said, we we laughed because I didn't think I'd like it at all. And I think at one point on the first couple of days, I said I'd rather walk than ride. I think I looked at him, it was hot, and I was like, I'd rather walk than drive that. You were adamant. I was like this, I've not having left. Not like this. Like I think I was on a few.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Everything about this bike was against you.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

100%. I I mean I won't be, I was like, this is stupid, this is old man stuff, and now after about the following two weeks, I was like, okay, I'm gonna have to buy one now. I even went, I went to Joe's motorcycle camera and got one priced up because I was like, I'm gonna need to buy one. Yeah, because I think they're they're it's it's crazy because we we talk about like do you want to go to a pub or you want to go to a cafe? And you know, I said with Bernie, I think this is just this is the adventure bike. This you can put it on cruise control, you can tuck yourself in behind the screen, tuck your legs in, and you could you could just I mean I'm not endorsing it, but you could watch Netflix and just do 200Ks. Yeah, yeah. You could ride this to Melbourne to to watch Wildwood and you'd be able to get off and be completely comfortable. That's what I mean. Even Grandborough, I mean you're you're pushing the rife old age of old. And um, we did the big day from Philip Island all the way through Madura, and we still got off around. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

And that's that's why I say comfort, comfort, and then got up and did it the next day.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Did it the next day? Another massive day, another 600k the next day. And then got did another four or five hundred day K day. Like every day, dad who's got no like season riding body on him, was able to get up every day and do over 500k. And then and then I said the the 1100k day when you did 11 hours, yeah, you were tired, but got up the next day with the grandkids, did everything. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

So I mean you didn't feel as though you'd just done it.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah, the body hadn't packed. No, that's that's what the adventure bike should be. And not only not just do it on the road, but yeah, if you were to sit and did the Yonadad track, Grandbro would ride that now to Burzville.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yeah. Yep. That's a good idea. Hey, I've to Burrsville! Woo! Why not? It sounds like it's they're the you know, American truck, they're the Yank tank of the Ute World now, where you can hop in those big, huge, you know, full drives and get from A to B over eight hours and feel like you haven't really gone anywhere as opposed to hopping in your 1996 Hylux and like shaking, rattling your teeth down to Melbourne.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Well, heated seats, heated grips, everything's there.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

It just um it just works.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Okay, that's it. That's a wrap for us on the Tiger 1200. Uh, it's been an awesome machine. These guys have, like I said, done the 6,000 K's on it, they've got a really comprehensive review.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

So uh we can tell you the bad things though. Yes, yeah, we can tell you the bad things, you know. We're not gonna skimp on that one because there are bad things. Well, no, no, what would you change? The gear shift is in a position, yeah. It's really close. Yeah, if you look at where it is, and because it's kind of pops out and sits down, man, the amount of missed gears I had. You've got to be very positive with standing both, it doesn't matter. And because of where it is, and then I've started looking at changing, I even looked at buying them online. You can't buy them online, you can't extend them either. So, where it is, you've got maybe 120 mil between your peg and the foot in, and and so holy dooly, the amount of gear shifts that they're so even today, like if you stand up and try and get the foot under it, I've got a big foot, like I'm a 14. So like it just wasn't working half the time. So did not like that at all. But that's I mean, that's I mean, you could change that if you've found someone who've got to find a lever long a lever. Yeah, just or you just cut it and get some boiler shot to weld up another one. I mean, it's not that hard.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

You've seen that Japanese thing where they wrap their feet in plaster to shrink them.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Yeah. You could try that. Yeah, okay. Well follow you. Uh 100%. Yeah, you just you lead by example. Grandbro, um you could change something. Ah, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

He doesn't it's my dream bike, so I don't want to change anything. I don't care.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

You don't want to you don't want to shit on it. No bike is perfect in this.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

No, but there are but there are there are some things you just live with with the bike. Oh yes, there are little things, but they're not big, big things. You have to ride out there. No, no. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

It's really wide. And I mean, but I mean, it's it's a pro and a con. I mean, you saw today on that fire trail kind of hill climb, whatever you want to call it, four-wheel drivetrack. If you're in a wheel rat, you're too wide for the wheel rat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, the the four-wheel drivetrack.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

But you've got to understand the geometry of that bike. And the geometry is it's wide.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah, but if you're going down a track, say you're gonna go do and it narrows and and yeah, okay, all right. Full drivetrack. Yeah, well, not even that. Like, say you want to go do like a track in the Kimberley or something like that. There's so much overgrowth, you can't stick to one side. You can't go in the middle because there's overgrowth, there's rocks in the middle. If you go to the outside, you're gonna start clipping shit.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

That's that the canning stock route is a prime example that you have.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

But it's something you can't change, though. So when you say something that you don't like you can't change, you've got to be aware of the geometry of the size of bike, the weight of the bike. Um it it's a startup. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

That's a 10-second startup.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Which you'll probably get changed, I'm not too sure. You know what it is? Half the time it's a welcome to ADB magazine.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

That's what it is. When I was moving around today, if you hit the button, you can hit it again to start straight away.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Yeah, it can't, not all the time though. Uh that only happens if it's like a hot start or something. We figured this out, date.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

I've got in with kilometers of testing. Walking straight up to it.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Somebody be like, oh yeah, you gotta pull the clock four times and double hit. I don't care. It was always caught us at every bakery we went to, I know it. You jump on it and you got that.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Yeah, you gotta wait.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

The grip taken off and you're like, Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

It's always a sequence.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

All these things are less. It's gotta be a sequence, we couldn't figure that out. Um I don't really know.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

No, that's that's gotta be the only things.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah, I'm everything else is no one thing, the racks on the back. So the racks on the back, right? They um it comes with this rack system where your ta your um tower light and everything hangs off. It comes up with some grab rails on the side. Yeah. Unless maybe Adventure Onstall or somebody can tell us, you can't mount bags on this easily. Because those handrails sit out really wide, there probably is a way, but the bag that I had wouldn't fit on it because it would kind of hang over the side and there was nowhere to go. You you'd have to go either a panier, like a hard rack panier, or there's be s there would be some special bag out there that would fit, but just the bag that I had wasn't gonna work because those handrails just sat out so far.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Alright, I think that's that's done. Um that's the Tiger Troll 100, guys. Uh lots of kilometres into this thing. Fantastic bike. Yeah, great bike. Um uh you're really interesting to hear uh from Granbro actually that it was his favourite out of the two, the bigger bike. Uh coming from uh not uh off-road background for adventure, so that's an interesting observation as well. That's it for us for now. We're gonna be back with more adventure bike testing, so stay tuned. If you want to hear more about the bike, check out Dirt by Breader Podcast. They're gonna do some audio on it, what they thought, and they're actually gonna uh talk about their entire trip through Western Victoria and New South Wales and everywhere they went to visit it, so check out the Dirt by Breader Podcast. For now, that's it for us, and we'll see you next time.