The Tiger Feat
15 YEARS OF THE TIGER 1200
It’s coming up to 15 years since the debut of Triumph’s flagship adventure bike, the Tiger Explorer – and it’s been a go-to for mile-loving RiDE readers since. We ride the latest Tiger 1200 uphill to see if its still relevant
Words Simon Hargreaves Pictures Jason Critchell, Bauer Archive
15 years of Triumph’s big cat prowling the UK – and the latest is the best yet
But despite the murk, the 2026 Triumph Tiger 1200 Alpine Edition looks inviting. It glows with a big-bike aura of competence, confidence and comfort – exactly the kind of two-wheeled environment you’d want in dodgy conditions. Heated grips, a very heated seat with its height adjusted to its 870mm high setting for maximum legroom and visibility – yet the bike’s waist is slim enough for my 6ft bulk to get both feet flat on the floor. I tug the adjustable screen up for optimum wind deflection, check the brimmed 20-litre tank, give panniers and top box a safety wobble, then slither gently away into the damp light. We’re heading north, exploring what the Tiger has to offer in 2026, 15 years since the bike was unveiled at EICMA in 2011.
Started life in the Speed Triple. 2024 update was a big leap forward
Back then it was called the Tiger Explorer – a 1215cc, 120° triple designed from a clean sheet to compete with BMW’s R1200GS, complete with ride-by-wire throttle, shaft drive, cruise control (the GS didn’t get it until a year later) and a claimed 134bhp (more than the GS), although the triple was pegged back in the top two gears to 105bhp at the wheel to limit top speed to a stabilitypreserving 133mph. In fourth gear it peaked at 111bhp – still a step ahead of BMW’s 95bhp at the wheel.
A year later Triumph launched the XC, – a more off-road-styled version with wire-spoke 19in front instead of 19in cast rims, a bash plate, green paint and crash bars. I rode one around the Scottish Highlands; it was a tall, bruising, weighty beast with a ride-by-wire hair trigger – the throttle spring was too feeble, so when cruising on part-throttle, bumps fed through the bars to create an involuntary jerk (I’ve been called worse). Stretching your right thumb to set cruise control speed without rolling off or speeding up was impossible.
Alpine Edition for tarmac; for off-road jaunts you’ll want the Desert Edition
No such issues today – the latest Tiger 1200 is a sorted mix of potency and manageability. Throttle control is pitch perfect in Rain or Sport mode, always feeding engine drive in with the faintest damping ramp to ease the transition. On a sportsbike 20 years ago we’d wonder why it was so laggy; in 2026, half-asleep in our dotage, it’s just what we need. The big Tiger prowls and growls through a stream of vans and cars mid-conga-commute, sliding in and out like a snake down a ladder, overtaking at will with crushing roll-on midrange and rarely needing to tap around on the seamless quickshifter. Every time we find a gap in front, the Tiger sits up on its springs and lopes away like a galloping Fen wildebeest.
Imposing styling, but no front radar cruise control… yet…
Plonked amidships, behind the tank with knees clamped round the tall, three-cylinder motor, I’m cocooned in a warm, dry, comfort zone (admittedly augmented by Rukka Gore-Tex and Keis heated kit). Progress is monitored by the beady red eye of the central dash – it’s dated compared to the latest BMW and KTM displays, and looks a bit too much like the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings for my liking. But everything works in relative harmony; backlit switchgear glows in the dim light, wide mirrors flash warnings as the blind spot radar picks up overtaking cars (not many of them, ahem). Odd that Triumph haven’t extended the radar to the front as well, and connected it to cruise control like everyone else. Tech progress is rapid in the adventure bike world. The first Tiger Explorer was a sales success initially – it was the UK’s bestselling 1000cc-plus bike for a few months in spring 2012. But problems soon developed; as mileages climbed beyond 25,000 miles, it turned out under-hardened valve guides could lead to dropped valves and total engine failure – and the Explorer was quickly nicknamed the Exploder. Funny, but not if you owned one. Triumph didn’t issue a recall but did carry out extensive remedial work under warranty, but it wasn’t a matter to be taken lightly by dealers or owners – it was an engine-out job. Even today you’d check the VIN number and history before buying.
The next-gen Tiger Explorer had no such problems in 2016, expanding the range into XR to denote road-based 19in front models with cast wheels, and the more offroadstyled XC with wire spokes. Then in 2018 the Explorer name was dropped entirely, to just Tiger 1200.
Meanwhile we’re away from the Fens, beetling up the A1 – rain has stopped, and the 2026 Tiger 1200 is purring at 4500rpm at 80mph in top. At this pace we’re showing 41mpg and tank range is a rather meh 160 miles with only 10 left in reserve. It’s comparable to the current BMW R1300GS, but it ain’t great for racking up big miles when – unlike the stock GS – the Triumph’s seating arrangement could carry you a lot further before a stretch. But that’s why the 30-litre GT Explorer exists, with its 250-mile-and-the-rest range.
More meow than neow, but that’s the point – big distance is effortless
After a Scotch Corner rip-off refuel that lightens my wallet by the same weight as 16 litres of fuel adds (and say hi to my man with the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT behind the counter), we peel off the A1 at the next junction and boogie on to the B6275, then left on to the B6279 through Staindrop. It’s a much better way of getting into the Pennines than the shit-show along the A66 to Barnard Castle – the narrow B-road arcs and twists with a delightful yaw across fields and farms, the damp tarmac rewarding the Tiger’s sure-footed suspension and steady steering. The bike is making a decent pace far too easy.
And for me, that’s sometimes been a problem with Tiger 1200s; in 34 years of so-called professional road, track and even marginal off-road bike testing – pulling stunts above my pay grade along the way – the Tiger 1200 is the only bike to ever break a Hargreaves bone – a fibula, when I jockeyed a 2022 1200 Rally Explorer into a ditch. Obviously it wasn’t the bike’s fault because I was riding like a dick, as usual – but it’s enough to make me wary of 21in-front Tiger 1200s ever since; you can’t take the same liberties going into corners that you can on a GS. Thankfully, the GT Pro is on a solid 19in front, so I ride my normal ride.
Showa semi-active set-up is well balanced
That first 21in front appeared on the third-generation Tiger 1200 in 2022. The 1251cc motor was dropped for the smaller, lighter, more compact 1160cc engine from the Speed Triple. With wider bores and shorter stroke, power went up to a claimed 148bhp and weight came down to 245kg. Suspension went from WP semi-active to Showa semi-active, the seat height got taller, but centre of gravity got lower. The XC and XR designations turned into the off-road Rally – with that spindly 21in front – and the 19in on-road GT. The Explorer versions of each got a 30-litre tank and the Pros got 20 litres. But all the motors also got Triumph’s lumpy T-plane crank, as used in the 900s – and it vibrated enough to loosen bar ends. The motor was easy to stall, too. A rebalance in 2024 softened the vibes and solved the stalling.
Tiger stole a march on GS with cruise control
And so, as we reach the Pennines and spiral between gorgeous hillsides, swooning and swaggering with the road as it curls up like an orange Fortune Teller fish from a Christmas cracker, the 2026 GT Pro Alpine edition is the best Tiger 1200 yet – its motor is creamy smooth but has just enough pitter-patter to feel like an internal combustion engine, not a soulless turbine. Suspension is supple, in a good balance between control and comfort – and electronic adjustment goes softer and bouncier, or harder and tighter at the push of a button. Outstanding Brembo Stylema calipers and Magura master cylinder let the front Bridgestone A41 chew the road under braking, while the double-sided shaftcumswingarm doesn’t overpower the Showa unit at the back on the gas.
The Tiger romps up to Alston, glides down its cobbled main street, then battens the hatches on the run up to Hartside, high up and surveying the broad sweep across the Vale of Eden down below. It’s super-cold and windy up here, blowing a gale, and eerily desolate as the sun, hiding all day behind clouds, peeps out in great shafts of shifting light, stalking the landscape like a Martian’s heat ray. Ooo-laah!
We haven’t exactly climbed a mountain on the Tiger, but we’ve run it up that hill, with no problem.
We’re sure plenty will be seen scaling Alpine passes