A couple of years ago, I loaded up my Victory Cross Roads with gear and supplies, and rode off to Colorado to camp for a week with my sister’s family at a remote camp ground next to a gorgeous lake, high in the Rockies. The week I spent there is among my most cherished recent memories, and most of the ride there and back was truly wonderful.

The last 20 miles, however, was not. The Cross Roads, like all bikes from Victory, is a pretty heavy cruiser, and not remotely suited for riding on rough, unpaved dirt fire roads. The camp ground was at the end of 20 or more miles of those. It was very nerve-wracking, to say the least, to wrestle my big 850 pound heavy touring motorcycle down those roads without losing control and dumping it at any moment.

Then there was the point where both of my saddlebags suddenly fell off the bike while it was moving, the quick-release latches having been shaken loose by the washboard finish of the fire road. And the terrifying barely-controlled slide down a mile of muddy downhill, desperately trying to neither go over the cliff, nor terrify the horse that was in front of me to the point where it bolted. I succeeded in the former, but failed in the latter. The horse bolted, the trainer proceeded to have to chase it down, then glared at me as I passed, as if I were the pure embodiment of evil.

I vowed to never again try to take a long-haul heavy cruiser out into an area for which it was plainly so poorly suited. However, I still love camping, and still want to go on long haul motorcycle trips to and from camping.

Last year, I traded my 2012 Victory Cross Roads in, and acquired a 2014 Victory Cross Country in its stead. As a long-haul touring bike goes, it’s exactly what I wanted, and I love it dearly. It’s got plenty of smooth power, it’s extremely comfortable, and surprisingly maneuverable for such a big bike. For a long road trip, where I’m staying with friends or in hotels the entire way, and keeping to paved roads, it’s pretty close to the perfect bike for me.

However, it still has the same limitation as the Cross Roads did: it would be absolutely dreadful on a stretch of dirt fire road, and thus I can’t use it to reach those remote camp grounds I love so much.

So, last week, I finally pulled the trigger on acquiring my solution to this conundrum: a 2020 Triumph Tiger 1200, Alpine Edition.

Some fool owned it for six months or more, and then traded it in with only 500 miles on it. I fell in love with it the second I saw it being wheeled onto the floor of the shop where I was having my Victory Cross Country’s new tires mounted. It was being offered for sale for $5k less than the retail of a brand new one of the same model year.

In short, I knew I was doomed.

I bought it, then I rode it up the street to the closest Triumph dealership and ordered the luggage set for it, and a set of 70/30 mixed-use tires for it, rather than the 90/10 tires that came stock.

Over the course of the five days I’ve owned it thus far, I’ve already put more miles on it than the original owner had in the entire six months they had this beautiful beast. I’ve absolutely *loved* every single one of those miles.

My next camping trip out to some gorgeous remote camping site way out on some unpaved dirt trail in the middle of nowhere will be considerably more fun, I think…