When legendary Lotus car designer Colin Chapman was asked what his secret was, he said: “Simplify, then add lightness.”
Triumph has certainly taken the latter on board, since the Tiger 1200 GT, the lightest version of its biggest adventure bike, is 240kg, which is pretty remarkable given that the original Tiger 1200 in 2011 was 267kg.
Even the Rally Explorer I was about to ride, with a 30-litre tank instead of the GT’s 20, is 261kg.
As a result, walking up to it is like running into an ex-girlfriend who was lots of fun, but a bit, er, chunky, and has now been to the gym. A lot.
“Wow, you look great,” you say, while a small part of you wishes that she could have done that when you were going out with her.
But boy, is it tall. The seat height of 895mm meant that I dislocated both hips and a knee swinging my leg over it. And I’m 6ft 7ins.
As a result, anyone under 6ft can stop reading now and go and make a nice cup of tea.
Either that, or invest in one of Dr Ernst Furtwangler’s clever folding stepladders (patent pending).
Once on board, and with my joints painfully popped back into place, I was greeted with a lofty and commanding riding position and excellent mirrors, in this top-of-the-range model with blind spot indicators which light up if an old dear in a Nissan Micra whose just been to see Top Gun: Maverick tries to sneak up from behind and kill you in a stealth attack.
The 7in TFT screen, meanwhile, has all the info you need and then some, including the time of high tide in Hong Kong if you know which buttons to press, and more importantly which riding mode you’re in – Rain, Road, Sport, Rider for bespoke tweaking, Off-Road or Off-Road Pro.
Thankfully, these are easily selected using a couple of idiot-proof buttons on the left bar.
Start up and, as in the Tiger 900, Triumph has used a T-plane crank, whatever that is, and changed the firing order to turn the engine sound from the traditional smooth triple whine into a gnarly snarl.
The company claims it also increases tractability at low speed off-road, although using my incredible bloke superpowers, I estimate that the percentage of riders who actually take these big adventure bikes off-road is 0.0000000001.
Some riders complained that the resulting vibrations made the mirrors useless at speed, but I thought they were fine.
Browse more than 19,000 new and used bikes for sale at Autotrader.co.uk/bikes
Mind you, I ride an ancient BMW which at anything over 50mph, turns everything in the mirrors into an amorphous blob.
Rather worryingly, it happened the other day when I was parked in the drive. Until I realised that the blob in the mirror was our cat.
Ride off, and that weight loss is immediately apparent in handling which is a doddle even at walking pace - so much so that for a laugh I had a contest with myself to see how long I could avoid putting my foot down when I stopped at the first set of lights.
Four seconds, since you ask. I know, I’m very sad, so whatever you do, don’t tell anyone.
Progress, even in Road mode, is gloriously swift and smooth, helped by a featherlight clutch in first and second gear, and after that a beautifully slick quickshifter which works best at speed.
Handling on Triumphs is always a joy, and with neutral balance and high, wide bars, this is no exception, to the extent that before long you’re at one with your inner Zen, soaring through corners by instinct rather than actually having to think or do anything.
The brakes, with Brembo calipers and twin 320mm front discs, have exquisitely progressive feel and bite, as does the rear for trailing into downhill corners.
The only minor glitches were the quickshifter refusing to play ball twice, at which point I had to call on those incredible bloke superpowers and use the clutch, and a couple of hiccups in the fuelling, although that could be down to that crappy fuel with ethanol we’re forced to use now to stop whales eating polar bears. Or something.
The self-cancelling indicators also got bored cancelling after corners and decided a couple of times to cancel before. I don’t blame them – if I was an indicator I’d get bored doing the same old thing day after day as well.
Switching to Sport mode adds a delightful urgency to progress, although unless you’re running late to get to the off-licence before it closes, Road is entirely adequate for brisk but relaxed touring, especially with a pillion on the back.
With that 30-litre tank, range is 300 miles or so, and 200 or so for the 20-litre GT, and they’re both shaft drive to avoid pesky chain lubing.
And now for the $64 million dollar question – is it better than the BMW GS Adventure, for so long the world’s leading big adventure bike?
The answer is yes, thanks to 14bhp more power than the current 1250 GS, 7kg less weight, sharper handling and a slicker quickshifter. It’s not as lunatic as the 170bhp Ducati Multistrada V4 or the 160bhp KTM 1290 Super Adventure, but it would be a much more sorted package to live with.
However, I was just about to have a revelation in the manner of St Paul on the road to Damascus. If he’d been a biker, that is.
For Joe back at the dealers handed me the key to the Tiger 1200 GT Pro version, and it was lower, lighter, sharper and significantly better than the Rally Explorer. It’s also 4kg lighter than the standard BMW 1250 GS, as well as 14bhp more powerful.
The seat’s 850mm, so you feel in the bike rather than perched on top of it, the weight’s 245kg and the front wheel’s 19in compared to the Explorer’s 21in, making it an absolute joy to fling around bends with the precision of a surgeon’s freshly-sharpened scalpel.
It’s also cheaper at £16,700, or even less for the £14,600 base model GT, the cheapest in the six-model range. Three are road-biased GTs with 19in front wheels, and the rest Rallys, with 21in front wheels and long-travel suspension for off-roading.
So the GT Pro would be my choice over the Rally Explorer unless you’re 8ft tall and plan to ride across the Atacama Desert, and I’ve already done that, thanks for asking.
* Test bike supplied by Phillip McCallen Motorcycles, phillipmccallen.com.
Browse more than 19,000 new and used bikes for sale at Autotrader.co.uk/bikes
