2010 Triumph Thunderbird

[Hitcher]

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/20may...hunderbird.htm

[Bounce001]

Big, heavy, bugger all HP to weight ratio and speedo on the tank which means you need to take your eyes off the road to see it. Radiator is ugly. It's basically a Rocket with a cylinder chopped off. Not Triumphs best work!

[lyle]

Big, heavy, bugger all HP to weight ratio and speedo on the tank which means you need to take your eyes off the road to see it. Radiator is ugly. It's basically a Rocket with a cylinder chopped off. Not Triumphs best work!

Have you ridden one?

[Bounce001]

Waiting for them to come into the country. Just traded "slugmaster" and after talking to guys at dealer, decided to go for the speed triple as would still have same trouble (e.g. no power, too much much weight etc). Will take one for a ride when they get here out of interest.

[oldrider]

Big, heavy, bugger all HP to weight ratio and speedo on the tank which means you need to take your eyes off the road to see it. Radiator is ugly. It's basically a Rocket with a cylinder chopped off. Not Triumphs best work!

"Not Triumphs best work!" Really?

I don't know about that, I have been waiting for this to appear because I am shrinking fast and need a lower bike!

There is also that touch of "nostalgia" driving the curiosity along.

Does it have a belt drive? I didn't notice that!

Could be a problem, even if we minimise our gravel riding, it is still more than most Cruisers ride in a lifetime!

Thanks for the thread Hitcher.

[AllanB]

I've decided to reserve my judgement (I know - that makes me not worthy of KB).

I do however look forward to hearing one ride past my house with after-market pipes

[vifferman]

"Triumph is fortunate that its rich history allows it to design bikes without looking to outside influences."

What?

Waddaya call having belt drive, an instrument nacelle on the tank, and the ignition key on the side of the bike? I'm sure that's been done before....

[Bounce001]

As far as I know they are shaft drive (same as the rocket). The slugmaster handled well on the gravel so I guess these should as well. Will definitely need after market pipes to get some sort of noise out of it!

[Blackbird]

I don't know about that, I have been waiting for this to appear because I am shrinking fast and need a lower bike!

Me too John . There may come a time when I look for a cruiser and this is a refreshing alternative to the legion of lookalike V twins. Mind you, I grew up on Triumph parallel twins so I'm not exactly unbiased.

FWIW, I think it's bloody gorgeous (and the Rocket 3 is bloody ugly).

[Badjelly]

That's definitely not my sort of bike, but as an exercise in bringing the Triumph retro parallel-twin thing to the big-bore cruiser, it looks absolutely brilliant. It pushes all the nostalgic buttons in a functional (in a big-bore cruiser sort of way) package.

Hmm, perhaps Honda could do something similar with reference with the original CB750? Or perhaps something harking back to the Suzuki waterbottle? Or the Kwaka H2? Keep the engine configuration and appearance the same, double or triple the capacity, move the riding position lower and backwards. Now those would be interesting.

[Crasherfromwayback]

As far as I know they are shaft drive (same as the rocket). The slugmaster handled well on the gravel so I guess these should as well. Will definitely need after market pipes to get some sort of noise out of it!

Nah it's belt driven.

[Bounce001]

Me too John . There may come a time when I look for a cruiser and this is a refreshing alternative to the legion of lookalike V twins. Mind you, I grew up on Triumph parallel twins so I'm not exactly unbiased.

FWIW, I think it's bloody gorgeous (and the Rocket 3 is bloody ugly).

Yes Rocket is ugly too! The Thunderbird has lost the classic Triumph lines that the America and Slugmaster have. It looks like any other generic cruiser on the market.

[Hitcher]

I reckon these look pretty darned cool. I will be interested to see how the inline twin performs compared to similar sized cruiser Vs.

A 22 litre tank is a great idea. I also suspect that the mph/kph speedo may well be just for the North American market. Like most bikes, it takes a brief period of time to figure out where data you need can be found.

At least Triumph doesn't appear to have skimped on suspenders and brakes, but the proof will be in the riding.

Bring on the demos!

[Big Dave]

Big, heavy, bugger all HP to weight ratio and speedo on the tank which means you need to take your eyes off the road to see it. Radiator is ugly. It's basically a Rocket with a cylinder chopped off. Not Triumphs best work!

Speaking as a professional Triumph enthusiast and with all due respect:

Having followed it from the outset, spoken to some of the engineers, I expect it to be some of their most endearing work yet. Will be on my list of possible next bikes. Like the looks of it and the Rocket.

[Skyryder]

Big, heavy, bugger all HP to weight ratio and speedo on the tank which means you need to take your eyes off the road to see it. Radiator is ugly. It's basically a Rocket with a cylinder chopped off. Not Triumphs best work!

The Rocket was a bike that totaly new from Trump and as such could break the mold a bit.

I've no doubt this Thunderbird will get it's admirers but I just can not get my head around a Thunderbird with a radiator. Sports bikes with performance yes.

Cruisers.................??????



Skyryder