Triumph Tiger 900 to R1250GS Adventure

[Overstrider]

Hi All

 

Been riding my Triumph Tiger 900 GT for just a year but already wanting something a bit bigger engine wise, more room for my legs and with less depreciation.  Great bike but the depreciation is really putting me off tbh.

 

Bought it and added full bars with luggage for around £11.5K 12 months ago, now getting offers around £8K at best for trade in from both Triumph and BMW.  I know you always loose out on trade in but £7.5K from Triumph I thought was a huge loss and a little pi$$ed.

 

I only ride road but have daft long legs of 36" inseam, so been looking at the R1250GS Adventure as it gives me more room.

 

Being patriotic I suppose when I went for the 900, and still love it tbf, but like I said above want something a bit bigger ergonomic wise.

 

Whats peoples valued opinion please as the R1250GS Adventure is a big unit but, is it correct to say the weight is low down?  Is it vastly heavier to the Triumph?... I will take one out for a test ride but just want input from you first.

 

Also, is the Adventure suited to road only riding?

 

Thanks

Edited October 16, 2024 by Overstrider

[S-Westerly]

I suspect 99% of BMW  GS bikes never go off road. As to weights and handling there's going to be a difference obviously but only you can tell which you prefer. Don't think the depreciation on a GS is going to be any better especially if it's new. Good luck choosing. 

[bonio]

There are a lot of bikes out there than would be a great match for you and would outshine the Tiger: the 1250GSA, 1250GS, 1200GS (2015 bikes and later are excellent), the Africa Twin, Versys 1000, the new Versys 1100, VStrom 1000 just to name a few.

I'd suggest taking your time over making a decision. Go and test ride them all and find out which of them make you smile. You're not in a rush - you've taken the big hit on depreciation when you rode the Tiger away from the dealer, and another 6 months or a year won't make a lot of difference. 

[AstronautNinja]

I'd be buying a used one with all the mods and tackle already on and saving myself a hefty chunk of brass. 

 

I think they're pretty cool tbh. 

 

As said, most may of seen a gravel track at best most of their life. 

[Simon Davey]

I currently have my heart set on the Honda Crosstourer. AKA the VFR 1200 X. It has the sport bike V4 engine, but re-tuned to give adventure torque low down in the rev's. 

Take a look, it might be just up your street, or it might not

Edited October 16, 2024 by Simon Davey

[Steve_M]

I owned a Tiger1050 

11 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

I suspect 99% of BMW  GS bikes never go off road. As to weights and handling there's going to be a difference obviously but only you can tell which you prefer. Don't think the depreciation on a GS is going to be any better especially if it's new. Good luck choosing. 

Mine’s in the 99%, apart from short stretches of gravelly bits around Kielder and my drive which has been described as a pseudo rallycross course.
 

Based on my experience of moving from a Tiger1050 to a R1200GS (via the  FJR1300), my GS is substantially heavier than my Tiger but the weight is not noticeable once above 5mph or so. It does carry its weight lower then the Tiger: part of the reason for changing from the Tiger was the fact it carried its weight high, not helped by luggage - topbox particularly- that was a hazard to low flying aircraft. 
 

The only time the weight is an issue is pushing it around our gravel drive, and when it’s fully laden with luggage for our tours. 
 

Using the GS I have taken part in a Motogymkhana tryout day, done five half hour sessions with Hopp Rider Training around Cadwell Park, participated in a machine skills day at Carlisle Airport, and toured many of the lumpy bits of Europe two up. It’s an amazingly proficient bike. I’m a big fan of its capabilities - I’m not so keen on the cost of ownership due to a couple of reliability issues which include:

 

•  front and rear suspension replaced. Rear done under warranty. Front cost around £1000 to sort. I could have got it rebuilt cheaper but I needed the bike for this year’s tour. On the other hand, it now has a two year warranty.
• Cruise control switch failure. Required the whole switch mechanism replacing. I didn’t get this fixed straight away but it’s such a useful function on long days on autoroutes etc. £450 
• Throttle body replaced. €660 and bloody inconvenient while touring.
• i’ll add in the Motorrad Navigator IV satnav. Not so much that it broke, just that it was bloody useless in the first place.

I bought it at 4years old with about 8,000 miles on the clock. It’s now  9 years old and has done 42,000 miles. I expect to keep it as long as I’m physically able to manage it or my eyesight packs in (glaucoma is a bitch).

 

 

 

[Steve_M]

6 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

I currently have my heart set on the Honda Crosstourer. AKA the VFR 1200 X. It has the sport bike V4 engine, but re-tuned to give adventure torque low down in the rev's. 

Take a look, it might be just up your street, or it might not

I really wanted to like those a few years ago. I even took a few  out on CJ Ball (Norwich) test days - I was ride leader/tail end Charlie so got to ride a wide range of bikes over the day. Two of them had serious fuelling glitches on a steady throttle opening. I took to the DCT, which didn’t have the fuelling issue but it really put me off the bike in general. I’m a big fan of Honda’s  V4 engines having owned VFR750, VFR800 and an ST1100 so you can imaging my disappointment. 

[Simon Davey]

@Steve_M That's a great "heads-up".  Many thanks.

[Steve_M]

51 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

@Steve_M That's a great "heads-up".  Many thanks.

I used to be on the VFR forum and a few of the guys on there had the VFR1200F which has the same engine and never had any complaints. I may just have been a bit unfortunate with the fuelling issue.

[Ian Frog]

For what little it`s worth my experience was buying a Tiger 1050 and touring France in 2021 then deciding in consultation with my passenger that we would like to try the bigger Tigger with shaft drive we purchased a 2022 1200 Gt Pro new and toured Northern Spain and into France over the Pyrenees (great trip and thoroughly recommend it to others).

In March this year the occasional hesitancy to get going from a standing start caught me out with passenger and luggage and like a twat I tried to support the bike while giving my passenger time to hop off.

Epic fail ! 7 broken bones in my right foot and the following week Triumph announced updates to the Tiger 1200 in the press and reports said they had addressed stalling issues.

I know I have gone on about this before but Triumph`s staggering lack of help for the people that did their road testing with the first iteration of this potentially great bike has left a really sour taste in my mouth and I traded the Tiger for a BMW R1250 GSA which is a fantastic piece of kit and one I feel I can trust.

Unfortunately after over 40 years of buying motorcycles I can guarantee after this I will never buy another Triumph or ever recommend anyone else does either.

I know there will be loads of people saying that Triumphs are great and they have had no problems, and I respect that ! However I can only speak from personal experience. 

Sorry for ranting.

Cheers

Ian

 

 

[Fiddlesticks]

4 minutes ago, Ian Frog said:

For what little it`s worth my experience was buying a Tiger 1050 and touring France in 2021 then deciding in consultation with my passenger that we would like to try the bigger Tigger with shaft drive we purchased a 2022 1200 Gt Pro new and toured Northern Spain and into France over the Pyrenees (great trip and thoroughly recommend it to others).

In March this year the occasional hesitancy to get going from a standing start caught me out with passenger and luggage and like a twat I tried to support the bike while giving my passenger time to hop off.

Epic fail ! 7 broken bones in my right foot and the following week Triumph announced updates to the Tiger 1200 in the press and reports said they had addressed stalling issues.

I know I have gone on about this before but Triumph`s staggering lack of help for the people that did their road testing with the first iteration of this potentially great bike has left a really sour taste in my mouth and I traded the Tiger for a BMW R1250 GSA which is a fantastic piece of kit and one I feel I can trust.

Unfortunately after over 40 years of buying motorcycles I can guarantee after this I will never buy another Triumph or ever recommend anyone else does either.

I know there will be loads of people saying that Triumphs are great and they have had no problems, and I respect that ! However I can only speak from personal experience. 

Sorry for ranting.

Cheers

Ian

 

 

 

Completely get it Ian. Triumph dropped the ball badly with this one. My 2013 Explorer will be pushing 70k miles by the time I want to upgrade it next year (it also stalls if you dump the clutch in second under heavy braking - which I've learned not to do). The newer model, maybe 2-3 years old, out of the question. Brand new? Too pricey. GS? Probably.

 

The Thunderbird is lovely though. I keep vacillating between selling it to raise some funds and fitting straight through pipes in place of the cat to give it a deeper rumble and really committing to using it a bit more.

[RideWithStyles]

Depreciation is always going to happen and to a large degree only a problem if you change your bike every few years, well if thats the case and your bothered about it you might aswell just buy the dealers pcp returned bikes (px’s).

They'll be a lot cheaper as someone else lost worst of the money and still like new… win win.

 

only HD and BMW dealers are prepared to take a bit of a hit (which is low as their prices are overinflated to start with) to get you on board with their bike and keep you returning to the brand/dealership.

 

its not the seat height that you need to solely think but the peg to seat height or its actual placement.

Just something else to consider maybe?
people ideas are good but have you thought of something else?
So would a triumph rocket (pegs forward or lower down version) , a ducati Diavel (same), HD something around that type? They hold good values and more than accommodate tall people…
might be worth looking at if you can get your head outside of the usual box you might be thinking of?

[manxie49]

As @S-Westerly said, the vast majority of GSA riders never venture off road with them, although designed for the adventure rider, for most, they're just glorified touring bikes.  As for depreciation, my mate had one, a 2019 model which he bought from new.  It was 3yrs old when he tried PX it and nearly collapsed when he seen how much it had depreciated in value.  There are a lot of other bikes out there to consider.  IMHO, if it was me, I'd do my research and make up a short list of bikes that would suit my needs, I would then source what interested me through local dealers, go for a look, and most importantantly, before parting with the coin, test ride, test ride, test ride, until you find what's right for you.  Remember these forums are great for advice, but we're all different, what suits one person may not suit another ....... Good luck with the hunt.

[Steve_M]

2 hours ago, manxie49 said:

As @S-Westerly said, the vast majority of GSA riders never venture off road with them, although designed for the adventure rider, for most, they're just glorified touring bikes.  As for depreciation, my mate had one, a 2019 model which he bought from new.  It was 3yrs old when he tried PX it and nearly collapsed when he seen how much it had depreciated in value.  There are a lot of other bikes out there to consider.  IMHO, if it was me, I'd do my research and make up a short list of bikes that would suit my needs, I would then source what interested me through local dealers, go for a look, and most importantantly, before parting with the coin, test ride, test ride, test ride, until you find what's right for you.  Remember these forums are great for advice, but we're all different, what suits one person may not suit another ....... Good luck with the hunt.

Spot on. 
 

One observation -stating the bleedin’ obvious - on depreciation being that buying new and changing within three years or so is a good way of burning money. 

[Stu]

You can get some fantastic deals on the 1250 at the minute due to the 1300 coming out! 

 

The dealers are just getting rid cheap! 

 

I saw a really nice low mileage 2 year old on for 13k

 

I was half tempted myself 

[Ian Frog]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

You can get some fantastic deals on the 1250 at the minute due to the 1300 coming out! 

 

The dealers are just getting rid cheap! 

 

I saw a really nice low mileage 2 year old on for 13k

 

I was half tempted myself 

Thats precisely why I bought mine!

Cheers

Ian

[Pie man]

Lets face it, the beemers have probably been one of the best do it all bikes for over a decade. I've had 6 BM's, the last one being a 1200GS, so not new, it was solid, great handling, but a bit pipe and slippers, not totally useless at commuting but there are better bikes for that. Would I have another GS, No. Would I have another BM. Yes. Only you can decide, good luck with which ever option you chose. 

[Gerontious]

On 16/10/2024 at 17:05, Overstrider said:

 

I only ride road but have daft long legs of 36" inseam, so been looking at the R1250GS Adventure as it gives me more room.

 

Whats peoples valued opinion please as the R1250GS Adventure is a big unit but, is it correct to say the weight is low down? 

 

Also, is the Adventure suited to road only riding?

 

Thanks

3 questions.

 

im basically the same shape as you and yes, it will be a good fit. And easy enough to make a perfect fit as there is a massive industry devoted to making ergonomic parts for BMWs - so anything that isn’t quite perfect can be fixed.

 

the weight of every boxer tends to be low down that’s inherent to the design. Only offset by a full fuel tank.. which is what you need sometimes. But not all the time. Of course.

 

Because these bikes have been around for so long… going back to 1993 (and ignoring the older G/S) you can buy tyres for them for any road condition. From smooth as silk German roads to potholes from hell.. something we now excel at… even better than the Belgians. So full on road tyres. And nobody is forcing you to add corned beef can style panniers. You can have virtually any style you want. Make the bike your own for your specific purposes.

 

best to go used with all the toys and accessories. They don’t add much to second hand value but they can be quite expensive adding them yourself after the fact.  And if you can - get the BMW warranty and extend it when it expires.

Edited October 17, 2024 by Gerontious

[manxie49]

17 hours ago, Steve_M said:

on depreciation being that buying new and changing within three years or so is a good way of burning money. 

Couldn't agree more.  Brand new is great so long as you intend to keep hold of it for a good period of time to offset the eye watering amount of money you're going to lose.