The 1200 Tiger Explorer Mega Thread

I have the original Enduristan Sandstorm. Used it on my 800XC and now on the Explorer. Fits great. I use a piece of styrofoam cloth between the base of the bag and the tank because one of the materials on the bottom of the TB seemed to rub on the XC tank and leave small scuffs on the paint.

The revised Enduristan TB looks great, but my original is as good as the day I bought it, so no need to upgrade.

Well I traded in my Sprint and Tiger 800 for the Explorer, bought the Tiger 800 and Spring for my sons to ride when they come home from military and school to ride with me but they just hang out with friends or at home so I traded them and got the Tiger Explorer.










While I was there they were doing test rides on the new Trophy

Very nice. Share your impressions of both of them with us?

Cant on the Trophy, did not ride it, did check it out and sit on it though, the front end is big, stereo is nice, all the comforts, cruise control, heated seat grips etc, electronic suspension and shield, biggest thing on both bikes is the self cancelling signals, finally caught up with Harley technology hehehe. I already bought the Explorer so I did not really want to ride the Trophy, wife was with me so I had to keep my head straight. The power is the same on both bikes, massive power compared to the Sprint 1050 or the Tiger 800. Only 200 on the Explorer so far, will update at 1k miles.

Congrats on the nice new Tiger! I'd be curious to know why you chose the 1200 over the 800 tiger. I was just at the triumph dealership today and found them both fairly comfy, but the 800 seemed to be more "managable" for a lack of a better word. The 1200 seemed just sooo BIG...

You cant go wrong with the 800, its a great flickable bike, seat sucks wind protection sucks but very easily curable, madstad shield and saddlemen seat. I ride long a lot so I like the cruise control, my other two bikes in the garage are a 12 Busa and a 12 Ultra, being an old man I like riding in max comfort with max power available, Ultra can wheelie, busa dynoed at 201 mph, Ultra has Cruise and radio, Explorer has mega power and cruise great wind protection. #1 reason for trading the Tiger 800 is for cruise control though, I am a lazy old bastarge with many bones hurting from prior adventures so every little bit of extra comfort will help extend my riding life. Cant go wrong with a Tiger 800 so don't fret.

Congrats on the new bike MasterBlaster! great choice! I just got the same one in black two days ago. Traded an 06 GS for it and I don't think I'll be looking back. Once I rode the Explorer demo at the dealership I was done. I've only been able to get 100 miles on it since it came home, cant wait for the break-in period to be done so I can use all that power your talking about!
I liked the 800 a lot but I ride 2up w my girlfriend a lot and the bigger bike will make it much easier. Plus I am a sucker for power, sounds like you are too with a Busa in the garage.

What do you think of the factory seat? So far I am not impressed with the factory seat on mine. I'm already scouting about for an aftermarket. Had a Sargent on the GS and once it was broken in it was awesome.

The seat is hard right now, I have old man ass (none) so I will give it a few K miles to break in, if it still feels bad after that I will send to Mean Citry Cycles to get redone for $100 or so.I am spending all my motorcycle money on gun stuff right now so need to be a little frugal, plus this bike does not seem to need much, wind protection is great stock, have the bags, fog lights and my zumo mount being installed next Saturday morning, part of the purchase deal..I ride 25 - 35 k miles per year so the bike will be well broke in soon enough. Only other accessory I want on it is the engine guard, don't know which is available yet or which one but other than grip puppies and bar ends I don't think it needs anything else.

A little TEX porn from today's quest to get it beyond 100 miles.






Gotta say 5000 rpm is a whole lot more fun than 3500!

Good taste

Congrats, very nice. Ride safe.

Congrats on the TEX! I've been on the big graphite cat since mid June. It's a hoot. Check out the Tiger Explorer Forum for all things TEX related - like the current hoopla over the cam bucket service bulletin. Maybe check to see if your VIN is within the range of the affected machines. Mine's smack dab in the middle. My dealer ordered the parts earlier this week, and will do the upgrade as soon as they arrive.

I'm just making a SWAG, since the picture indicates a German-sounding photographer name, that the tires are German-sourced--not necessarily the ones available in the USA and presumably DOT-approved.

I know exactly what you mean by this. When I traded in my 800XC, I found the bigger bike less nimble, which it obviously is -- as though the bike had more control than I did. That feeling persisted for 200 or 300 miles, but then disappeared. No question the 800 is more agile, but after you adjust to the size and power of the Explorer, you find it's a very responsive ride.

Two words: shaft drive.

I have had my fill of chain maintenance on street bikes. I also like the side benefit of the single-sided swing arm.

I was hoping to get mine early this year (got plans for the rascal), but dealer is now telling me April. That's a little too far out to help me, but I was wondering if anyone has gotten or seen the 1200XC model in the U.S. yet.
Thanks!

I know there was one a week or two ago at The Motorcycle Shop, Anchorage, AK. Just saying.

I've been thinking on how to power the electronic gadgets I would like to run on the front on my TEX. I will be using a GPS unit and a radar detector, and I would like to add a USB charger as well. I see 3 possible ways to set this up.

1. I could get a Powerlet spliter and plug this into the socket that is by the ignition. Simple to do but would remove that outlet for other uses. Doesn't provide a solution for the USB charger.
2. I could run a fuse block and power each item individually but this would require removing the tank and running lines up front. This is probably the smartest/most correct/cleanest approach.
3. Or I could tap into the line feeding the Powerlet socket by the ignition and run two additional circuits in parallel. Has anyone taped into this power source? Seems simpler/cleaner than running additional lines. Both the radar detector and GPS are low current draw compared to heated gear. Does anyone know what the fuse in line to this socket is rated at?

I was also going to run a USB charger into the top box on the back of the bike but I think I will use the passenger power port for that since my wife took one ride on the back with me, decided just sitting there was too boring, and then went out and bought her own 800XC.



In a related question, can anyone describe the process of removing the tank? I need to by the shop manual but have not done this yet.

Don't need to remove tank to run cable from battery to upfront. I hard wired the GPS and ran the cable through left side and stock the cable together with the bunch going back - you can fish out from left/behind - just remove small plastic covering...


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Nova Scotia on Explorer

Fuse block is the best idea, but I don't think you need to remove the tank to do it. Seems to me people have found it easy enough to feed wires through to the back of the bike by removing only side and front panels.

Run a search at www.tiger-explorer.com

ALternatively, if the radar detector and GPS can both be powered by USB, then a Powerlet-to-double-USB will take care of it. You could then install the pre-wired OEM Powerlet plug at the back of the bike to take care of other things. This will be my approach and will leave my SAE line from the battery for heated clothing, etc. I would go with the fuse block if I were more capable/less lazy.