heated rider and pillion seats, and heated
grips. Then you get cruise control, Hill Hold
Control, adjustable Semi-Active electronic
suspension, LED self-cancelling indicators
and Shift-Assist – honestly the list just goes
on and on. This new model is also 11kg
lighter which is no mean achievement when
you consider the addition of so many new
features.
Riding the 1200 Tiger off-road is not for
the faint of heart or inexperienced. It is
big, powerful and a serious motorcycle in
anyone’s language.
Its strength is as an all-roads touring
machine where it is highly civilised and
accomplished with amazing sophistication
levels. Its true strength is tarmac road work,
where it does a superb job. The handling
feel is light and agile for such a big bike and
the stability excellent. Then comes gravel
road work if you want to – yes sure, it’s
well capable, but not a particular strength
when compared to the opposition. In truth,
I wouldn’t be too interested in going too far
off road… even though in the dry with knobby
tyres it would be okay at a sensible pace.
The engine’s power delivery is surprisingly
mild off the bottom, but comes alive in the
midrange with decent excitement levels
over a wide rev range and has a quick top-
end. The overwhelming feeling is of very
controlled thrust almost to the point of being
too civilised.
For road work the chassis, handling and
comfort levels are absolutely first class.
However, pushing the Tiger into serious
adventure work will not be particularly
rewarding – as with all big adventure bikes
they have their limits off-road as is being
shown with the now strong trend back
towards smaller capacity adventure bikes.
JOCK MCLAUCHLAN
112 KIWI RIDER
Its strength is as an all-
roads touring machine where
it is highly civilised and
accomplished...