Triumphrat

Hello all- new here. I am going to look at an '02 TBird tomorrow and would like to know if any of you all know of any "known issues" associated with that model year. Also I have been lurking here for a couple of days and found through reading some posts that parts and accessories can be potentially very difficult to come by. Is this the case for this model year also to your knowledge? The bike I will be looking at has no sissy bar (does have a grab rail) and I would really like to be able to purchase a sissy bar - what are my odds? Thanks in advance for your knowledge.

vwvectors

They are really trouble-free bikes although some riders have had issues with the coils . If u want a sissy bar u can wait for something to come up on ebay or u could purchase one from a dealer . I'm not sure of exactly how much they are but it's over 100 bucks . This 02 t-bird how many miles on her, what color ?

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UJMrider

Accessories are pretty difficult to find and expensive when you do. I paid $315 for a backrest/luggage rack and $275 for a center stand.

I can't really speak to long term issues, my '01 has 5500 miles on it, but 3600 of them are mine (put on in the last two months) and no troubles at all.

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Martin

08 Scrambler "Unscrambled": AI removed, Dunlop D404 street tires fitted, Bonnie Saddle, Slipstreamer S60 windscreen, Renntec Rack, JC Whitney top box and handgrips, Triumph C-Stand and number board kit, 1" handlebar spacers.

Miles somewhere in the neighborhood of 1800 and the color scheme is the Black and Graphite with red pinstripe.

Thanks for your reply btw.... I have been reading more posts and I found a dealer (from one of the posts) PJ's Triumph in NM I think - anyway I visited the website and they list a ton of accessories but I have fears that perhaps their website isn't up to date and/or they might not actually have access to alot of what they list. If so many folks are having trouble finding something as simple as a sissy bar then I can't imagine it is as easy as calling this dealer to get one. But then perhaps only folks with older model years are struggling to find what they need. /end ramble

UJMrider

Actually, finding the parts isn't terribly difficult. It's paying for them that hurts!

There are good online sources as well, most of which can be found on the links page here. Some of the ones that list a lot of Tbird parts are Arizona Superbike (AZsbk.com), Great Bay, and even Bellacorse, although they are mostly focused on the Bonneville series. Occasionally you find Tbird stuff on Ebay, but it tends to disappear quickly.

[ This message was edited by: UJMrider on 2005-06-04 21:44 ]

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Martin

08 Scrambler "Unscrambled": AI removed, Dunlop D404 street tires fitted, Bonnie Saddle, Slipstreamer S60 windscreen, Renntec Rack, JC Whitney top box and handgrips, Triumph C-Stand and number board kit, 1" handlebar spacers.

Rincewind

Hermy's has sissy bars with luggage racks for $299. If you get the bike, I'd kit it out with what you want pretty directly, just in case. The center stand is also costly, but it's sooo nice and it doesn't drag in corners.

I had a problem with oil leaking through the airbox, even after the oil level was corrected from dealer's overfill. One dealer replaced a centrifigal oil distributer thing in the crankcase under warranty, but the problem came back. It was fixed by another dealer who sealed the air box after installing a K&N air filter.

Also, my bird had the grounding issue where the speedometer started mimicking the tachometer. Fixed under warranty with a new wiring harness.

And I snapped the throttle cable once...

Luckily I have not had any coils go bad yet (knocks on wood).

I really enjoy riding my Thunderbird and think it's a pretty solid and handsome steed. Powerful enough not to be boring, ergo's of a standard, lighter than most cruisers, and full of character. Try to get a test ride on it and good luck.

Thanks for the info so far. I agree that getting the accessories I want and tricking it out would be better done sooner rather than later. I can see the writing on the wall.

Yeah let's hope this fellow is open to the idea of a test ride. Well time to hit the sack...getting up early to drive the hour and a half to see it. I will let you guys know how it goes and again thanks for the help.

Onlinemike66

I recently purchased a 2001 finding parts can be time consuming, as stated above paying for them is what hurts

MickMaguire

Parts availability and accessories availability are two totally different things.

Expect parts to be available (so long as Triumph is around) for around 10 years, though prices are likely to increase above inflation.

Expect accessories to disappear very soon. Accessory production will have stopped at the end of TBird/TBS production and availability will from now on depend upon what is left in the warehouse.

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Mick...

Just remember; an awful lot of the free advice you will get on forums is worth exactly what you paid for it. There will always be somebody trying to convince you to do something really stupid, just because they did it or want to do it.

mine had bad coils(2) bad oil seal (output shaft )bad internal oil breather seal(oil dripping from airbox)cracked tail light lense bad waterpump(leaked) very notchy transmission sometimes hung up between gears, short in temp light finally sold it when all was fixed .now looking for different bike all together :???: