Triumph Explorer 1200 vs. BMW R1200GS

Can't make up my mind. Both water cooled. Both have heated grips, ABS, TPS, Shaft drive. Explorer has cruise control, throttle by wire, more horsepower. Any input is appreciated.

R1200GS water cooled?????? :huh

Not unless you're talking about the as yet to be released water head.



Sorry, man, just busting your chops.

Street guys will like the Triumph and dirt guys will prefer the GS by miles. If you are just doing street there are 100s of choices. The GS does everything well. The new one is going to be awesome. I looked it over carefully at out last Bike Show and was very impressed coming off an 08 GS12. The new one is a totally new bike from the ground up. The Triumph is, well a top heavy pretender adventure bike. Good street bike though with good power and reliable. I prefer my Super Tenere but at least the new GS tempts me.

They're both awesome bikes.

The triumph has got optional heated seats.

The GS has electronic suspension.

It's pretty cool to have that kind of choice! And we don't even mention KTM, Aprilia, Ducati, Guzzi...for my money, the japs don't get a look in (maybe the tenere).

I will be in the market soon, and I'm dreading it at the same time as I'm looking forward to it!!

What are you going to use the bike for? If it's for pavement only, both bikes will be great. If it's important to you how it works off pavment, get the GS. The Triumph wasn't designed for getting dirty.

If you are really talking about the new GS, it has ride by wire, cruise control, more horsepower than the old one, might be close enough, electronic suspension, and weighs about 60lbs less ...

What it doesn't have is a triple engine.

You should test ride them both, and combined with the purpose you will see right away which one to get.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
That is how I got my Explorer. <o></o>
<o> </o>
P.S. Due to the new GS engine - If I had to make decision again I would ride both of them again. <o></o>

I would also add that Triumph is introducing a more dirt oriented version this year. I would wait for both the new GS and the new Explorer XC to be released and ride both. If the Explorer XC is decent in the dirt then it's gonna be hard to beat the reliability and triple engine of the Triumph.

A quick note on that: the only thing more dirt oriented on that bike is spoked wheels. The rest are already available accessories. Nothing else.

So as a very newly minted Explorer owner I can assure you it is the best thing ever, after all I bought one!

Incorrect. The suspension is also more suitable for dirt. And even if the rest was accessories that are available, by putting them on the XC edition would indeed improve it, no? Kinda like a 800 roadie with all of the XC stuff.

Where did you get that from? Triumph lists EXACTLY the same suspension for both models. If there was a difference, they'd put it on their website ...

Oh, and about that part: it depends on your perspective whether something is an improvement or not.

Damn, dude. Have you ridden one? So I guess when they say it will have improvements for offload use it will actually be worse? And how much worse offload could it be than a GS? I wouldn't exactly call the GS "nimble".

Hey, Triumph Master, the internals are set up different. Just like the roadie vs. the XC. Get the shop manual out for the XC or the roadie and it has the info side by side. If you want to call someone out for an argument at least know what the hell your talking about, Boy Genius.

Power corrupts. The triple is smooth, powerful and sounds terrific. The boxer engine feels a bit agricultural by comparison. For mostly street riding, the engine of the Triumph alone be a reason to recommend it.

That said, the BMW seems to execute a lot of the details better, and seems to be a better off-road choice.

As long as you can't point out where Triumph actually says the Explorer XC has different suspension than the standard Explorer, I go with the normal Triumph website that lists no differences in suspension between the two.

And for the Roadie vs. the XC - I've never said that these two weren't different. If you're too lazy to read, you shouldn't respond. I said that it's a matter of perspective whether the differences between the XC and the Roadie are improvements over the Roadie. For lots of folks they aren't. And yes, I have ridden one.

Cug, aren't you healed up enough yet to stop ???