And don’t insult the Swiss by comparing that beast to a Swiss Army knife. They should send the German engineers for a little R&R at, say, Porsche-or perhaps even Ducati or Triumph! Those aluminum saddlebags? Give that farmer back the toolboxes for his tractor.
#HOTSHOTS DORSETT MOVIE#
What’s the price, $6 grand twice?ĭid someone on the BMW motorcycle design team smoke too much dope and then watch the Transformers movie before coming up with the R1200GS Adventure? That bike (“Gelände Strasse,” CW, November) is just plain ugly. The blurb on the cover, “What’s the Word? Thunderbird!” conjured up memories of two-day hangovers from that hideous, glycol-laden concoction of the same name. I’d just received the November issue proclaiming the arrival of the new Triumph 1600. The new T-Bird looks like a stunner, but Triumph should be who they are and lose the 270 crank.
If you’re looking for that old familiar potato-potato-potato sound, go out and buy just about any other cruiser on the planet. That cadence is one of the things that I imagine Thunderbird buyers would want in a bigbore cruiser: a unique throwback to the Edward Turner days. One of the essences of a vertical-Twin with a 360-degree crank like older Triumphs is that staccato beat. Here’s an idea: Put the pegs under the rider where they belong and then fit highway pegs (preferably removable) for those who feel like they have to sit in their La-Z-Boy even when they are on the road. The Triumph T-Bird is a great bike except it has forward-mount footpegs. They were not too successful even though they built a better bike. I love Triumphs, but I seem to recall that the last time they tried to mimic Harley, I was hoping for the reincarnation of the trusty Bonneville with much more horsepower and conventional footpegs, something that would be comfortable both for short rides and cross-country hauls. Another sign that Harley was used as a pattern are the footpegs, out front cruiser-style. A 1600cc motorcycle that produces just 80 hp? From the article, it would appear they were more interested in how it sounded than power.
There are a couple of things, however, that I find disappointing. I found the 1600’s styling very appealing, if conservative. I was very interested in the new Triumph Thunderbird, as I am looking for a replacement for my aging 1985 Yamaha V-Max. That bike is stupid-ugly and answers the ques tion no one asked: "Who wants a gigantic version of the Kawasaki Vulcan 500?" OldRoadload fattatboy Thunderbird? More like Blunderbird. Now if they can keep the price in line, it should be a good seller. Just enough chrome to show off the lines with out being overdone. Has nice clean lines without looking too gaudy. pipda I like the looks of the new T-Bird.
What the Forums at are saying about the Triumph Thunderbird Pretty sure the Honda dealership down the road from the Triumph factory is going to be upset someone glued that Triumph badge to a VTX1 300C. I think the bike looks great and that you have just shown me my next new bike, much like your pictures of the then-new 2001 Yamaha FZ1 motivated me to purchase that motorcycle. Thanks for revealing the new Thunderbird from Triumph. It’s all I could afford right now, but that Triumph Thunderbird 1600 featured in your November issue has me drooling. It’s just like old times: I like my Suzuki, One of the first things I did afterward was to re-subscribe to your great magazine. Egan for President! William GreenĪfter a long hiatus from motorcycling (my last bike was a Kawasaki H2 750, circa 1974), I recently jumped back into the ring with the purchase of a used Suzuki VL1500 cruiser. Umn on the next page, which praised 500cc British standards, brought some sense of reason back to the entire situation and restored credibility to one of my favorite publications. Luckily, Peter Egan’s brilliant “Imperial Gallons” col. The Editor-in-Chief’s support of these uninspired, overpowered, fuelsucking ego-feeders had me ready to cancel my subscription. I’m tired of seeing the OEMs decide that Americans need more cruiser models with huge engine displacements. It breaks my heart to see a company with so much tradition and a history of making beautiful and innovative bikes rely on the tired old theory of just making another random, Harleyinspired, big-displacement cruiser. How in the world could an accomplished rider and writer like David Edwards praise Triumph’s new 1600cc Thunderbird (“Anglo-American,” Up Front, November) when it clearly represents everything that is wrong with motorcycle sales in America?
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