Back at the arse-end of last Spring , Triumph Motorcycles NZ had a momentary lapse . The kind of lapse that needs to be instantly snapped up for fear of it being withdrawn . This particular lapse was to offer us a spanking-new Tiger adventure bike as a test bike . Not just the normal ‘ ride it for a week or so ’ test , but a full-on ‘ go ride it for months ’ kinda test . Clearly , we weren ’ t going to turn that down . And we didn ’ t . So , I rode from the GS Rallye in Rotorua , up to Auckland and picked up a shiny , barely run-in khaki green Tiger 1200 Rally Pro . Very low kilometres and very clean and shiny . In fact , the only person to have ridden it before us was Triumph ’ s National Sales Benevolent Dictator , Mike Cross . My first ride was from a rain hit Auckland , down to get the Wellington ferry via a mix of motorway , back roads and gravel . It took a few hours to get used to the new-to-me bike , but not long at all in the grand scheme of things . That ride also included a trip out through the tightly twisting seal and gravel of Port Underwood , and a blat over the Whangamoa Range to Nelson . It proved itself over that 1000km ride to be comfortable and smooth on the motorway , agile and punchy like a Sumo Supermoto on the tight twisties and surprisingly competent on the gravel . Since that initial ride , we ’ ve done most things an owner would do , maybe more . There have been two-up rides , twisty road blasts , Summer evening