Did you know that September, 2021, is apparently Flying Tiger 1200 Month at Triumph Motorcycles? Neither did we, but that’s what the House of Hinckley has been showing us since the month started. On September 1, Triumph started the month off right with three Tiger 1200 Testing Prototype photos. Then, on September 16, it released three more photos and a video, showing us how gracefully this Tiger can fly.
It’s now September 23 as I write this, and today Triumph released a video of supercross and motocross legend Ricky Carmichael putting the new Tiger 1200 prototype through its paces. His opinion? “It’s like a Tiger 900 on steroids!”
Naturally, you get to see Carmichael rip it up in the dirt, as well as soar through the air almost effortlessly on the back of this particular big cat. Now that it’s official fall in the northern hemisphere, it’s also spooky season—so maybe this is how Triumph interprets flying cats? If it is, we are here for it.
Tiger Here, Tiger There:
While the video is sadly just over a minute and a half long, you do get plenty of action crammed into that relatively short time span. We get to see Carmichael at the start of a purpose-built off-road course, and then several highlights as he makes his way around. Hopefully, there’s a longer video featuring at least one full and uninterrupted lap planned somewhere in the Triumph YouTube channel’s future.
Apart from showing us what the bike can do and letting it speak for itself, Carmichael said that he likes how well it handles. He said the engine placement and design make it feel much lighter than it looks, which can only be a good thing for both experienced riders and those who are new to a big ADV bike like this.
We’re hip-deep in new model teaser season, so naturally Triumph isn’t telling us much of anything with regard to specs, or even an official launch date for the production version. The company is planning to attend EICMA 2021, but here’s hoping we don’t have to wait quite that long to find out more.