Triumph Explorer....test ride

As a long term Triumph rider (now Explorer owner) I'm just calling by, from "the other side" to broaden my horizons a little! :D

Just interested to see what you make of the Explorer over here....

John.
 
Hello to the other side Redmerie. I have often read your posts on the Tex forum.

Anyway. I don't think you will find many here that really rave about the Tex. If they did, they would have saved money and bought the cheaper machine. I nearly bought a Tex last year, but the test ride put me off (only slightly). You can read my findings on it in another Tex thread here. I found the riding position stretched, ride harsh and throttle too light. I liked the engine. Overall, not bad and well priced.

I however changed the RT I had at that time to a GS as the deal was better from North Oxford BMW (they offered more for my Part Exchange). The GS (twincam triple black) was, for me, much better than the Tex. The overall package seemed to work coherently better, more so than the Tex and the riding experience is great (for me). Now, my mate and your forum member Upthepalace, hates the GS engine (I adore it) and thinks his machine "dances" all over the GS. It doesn't, he is deluded.

So. For what it is worth. The old oil cooled GS is the better machine IMO and the new LC variant probably has the Tex beaten in every department inc engine performance. I will find out tomorrow as I am test riding one.

That said. A Tex with revised ergo's, better suspension (with electronic adjustment and integrated with engine mapping etc), the new 120/170 tyre sizes and tweaks here and there might get my money. After all, it is british............ish.

Oh, and I am not new to Triumph having owned a Tiger 955i for some time.
 
As a long term Triumph rider (now Explorer owner) I'm just calling by, from "the other side" to broaden my horizons a little! :D

Just interested to see what you make of the Explorer over here....

John.

You're brave:eek::D:thumb
 
It's okay, I wasn't expecting any rave reports of it here :D But I was curious to find out what people thought from the other side.

It's no secret that I took a test drive on a GS and it didn't work for me, but it's easy to get stuck in a narrow point of view and wanted to look from the other end of the telescope! From my experience of the GS, it's not easy to really like them both - they couldn't be any more different.

Only one point I might take issue with is that, for what it's worth, I can't see how the Explorer is any less British than the BMW is German! :augie

A little, erm, surprised to find an Adolf smiley in the Smilies file though!
 
As a long term Triumph rider (now Explorer owner) I'm just calling by, from "the other side" to broaden my horizons a little! :D

Just interested to see what you make of the Explorer over here....

John.

Good Evening Redmerle...GeoTiger here from your parallel universe. Stick around, its a lively place.
They even let me turn up at the odd do with the Trumpet :beerjug:
 
Popped into Fowl-ups in Bristol at the weekend and saw this chap picking up his new 1200 EXP with £1400 bespoke paint job (I think they called it 8-Ball and he got it free in the deal). Very nice looking bike and I had to stop and take a couple of pictures as it was so eye catching.
Personally I do like the lines and look of the EXP but I'm still trying to work out why manufacturers need to make such fast 'Adventure' bikes. I remember when people were flooding from sports bikes to GS's to keep their licenses. Seems a retrograde step to me.
 
8-Ball is Triumph's preferred supplier of custom paint jobs and quite a few dealers sell new bikes with an 8-Ball paint job

Some look very good and others look shit :blast
 
My mate knows Paul at 8 ball as had his Spondon Turbo painted by him. OK so a paint job is very subjective at the end of the day.... beauty is in the eye of the :blagblah:blagblah:blagblah

The design may not appeal to some but the quality of the work is excellent!

As said 8 ball does all the specials for Triumph.

Not sure the martini colours look right on it but still at least it is going to stand out and not look like all the rest :D
 
Paul came over to my place on Tuesday and took my Explorer away for a complete respray, it should be back around Tuesday week.

The quality of their work is superb and the things that they do can be amazing, check this link out to see their other Triumph work:

http://www.8ballcustompaintwork.com/#!__triumph

Here's are some pictures of one of Paul's own bikes that very first caught my eye at The Ace Cafe this summer:

4a5p.jpg


7jxy.jpg


shd1.jpg


Although this is a 1050 Tiger, rather than the Explorer, the style should be similar, although, it'll be that red, pearl white and gold (instead of blue!)

He showed me the picture of the one on this thread on his iPad. Not for me, but someone obviously liked it enough to buy it :thumb2

John.
 
As some have said already the quality of the paint job was very good. I like it because it stands out from their normal schemes. I just get a tad 'browned' off with BMW's boring colour schemes. The 1150 GSA SE was a turn-up for the books and I really like the Boxer Cup Rep S bikes but I remember when they did a dirty, shi**y brown colour for the GS 800 or was it the GS650 (quite forgettable) and the brown for the new 800 Adv isn't that appealing or are all you old farts dulled into BM's offerings?

There was also a new Tiger 800XC in their showroom in a really bright orange with some 'Icon' logos all over it. Not my choice but different enough to stand out from the crowd.

Maybe we should start a BMW best colour scheme thread. I bet there won't be too many postings :D
 
As some have said already the quality of the paint job was very good. I like it because it stands out from their normal schemes. I just get a tad 'browned' off with BMW's boring colour schemes. The 1150 GSA SE was a turn-up for the books and I really like the Boxer Cup Rep S bikes but I remember when they did a dirty, shi**y brown colour for the GS 800 or was it the GS650 (quite forgettable) and the brown for the new 800 Adv isn't that appealing or are all you old farts dulled into BM's offerings?

There was also a new Tiger 800XC in their showroom in a really bright orange with some 'Icon' logos all over it. Not my choice but different enough to stand out from the crowd.

Maybe we should start a BMW best colour scheme thread. I bet there won't be too many postings :D

http://www.hughendenm40.co.uk/locat...ph-explorer-explorer-xc-explorer-1200-xc.aspx

Don't forget the infamous:

http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/photos/photophotos/K1- 3.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/BMW_K1_blue_1993_r_TCE.jpg

Credit where credit's due for pushing the boundaries :thumb
 

Yep the 800XC in Fowl-ups was the same colour scheme but totally orange! I do like that one though. Clearly must be some thing wrong with me :rob

If my six numbers came up I'd hunt down that blue K1 and give the owner whatever he wanted for it. A true classic and so ahead of its time. Thanks for those pictures. :thumb2
 


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