to the forum from the UK, enjoy the new bike 

Picked up my 2023 GT Explorer yesterday. 100 and some miles later I had it at my current residence and this morning I cleaned the bugs off it from the trip. Sure are a lot of places that catch Grasshoppers and such.

The bike had just under 600 miles on it before my test ride. Apparently someone thought they wanted it, but after a few months of not riding it they brought it back. The shop did the 600 mile break in service just before my test ride and on the bill of sale it showed 600 miles. It's closer to 800 now.

I rode a 900 Rally Pro over to get it and shouldn't shade the original owner of the 1200 too much . I had just put the new license plate on the 900 when I found the 1200 for sale. I did buy it from my Son though and he knew it was a stop gap until I found the 1200 I liked. I tried the Rally Pro, but it was just too tall and I'm a road rider mostly anyway.

Well that's it for now I'm on a lunch break and need to get back to work.

Rod

No, no, it's not that. The barends are screwed on tight at home.

 

Sorry your dealer sucks so bad.

I don't want to overstep my bounds here but you will love your Tiger 1200 GT Explorer. 

I first sat on one last summer and the bike had a full 8 gallons of gas.  It felt no heavier than my very problematic R1200GS that has long since been sold.  Knowing I have a 300+ mile range on a bike that doesn't feel uncomfortably heavy is just mind blowing to me. While I have yet to load the bike up with gear, it will then be heavy; like all open class bikes.  The only way for me to judge a bike's weight is full tank of fuel with no gear on the bike. I can go showroom to showroom and see which bike I like best.  After that, it is up to me to deal with however heavy the bike becomes once I have my gear on the bike.

The power and throttle response are truly impressive and the bike gathers speed in 3rd and 4th gear at an astonishing pace.  Maybe 6th gear roll on isn't GS like but I don't like to load an engine in a tall gear as that is really hard on the bike.  It isn't as bad as the days of carbureted engines and you may know as much or more than I do.  But if you go wide open throttle at 2,000 rpm in sixth gear at say 40 mph, the engine really has to work hard to gain revs.  At that taller gear ratio, the pistons have an incredible load on them to push downward as driven by combustion pressure but tall ratio makes gaining rpm really tough.  Downshift to 4th gear and those expanding gasses have a much easier time getting the pistons to move downward and accelerate.

Modern EFI systems are better than carburetors which were strictly mechanical and would dump lots of raw fuel into the combustion chamber creating massive heat as the pistons could not move quickly enough to do their job.  That heat has to go somewhere.

So while I won't run an engine at 8,000  rpm in first gear while cruising around town, I certainly won't lug the engine and demand that I can pass a motorhome in 6th gear starting from 45 mph.  Downshift and let the engine do what it is meant to do.  It is much easier on the engine this way.

Point is I love my Tiger 1200GT Explorer and cannot imagine a better bike.  The new GS has a little bit smaller fuel tank and the GSA's of old did feel really top heavy when fueled with 8 gallons of gas.

Looking forward to your first impressions.

NC