Triumphrat

mstrmac

My rendition of a 1600 Thunderbird. I dont have serious photo editing software on my puter, so you use imagination. America rear end and TB tank then add the 95 Thunderbird pipes and presto.

[IMG][/IMG]

Bilbo

Shame, that really is a nice looking motor...........I know, wait for a smashed one, buy the motor, de-chrome it and put it into a featherbed chassis

tridentt150v

Why is it that Triumph decided that the world needed another cruiser............this is the most disgusting piece of 'engineering' I've seen.

As I've already stated:

"There is nothing classic in that motorcycle".

That motor in a T100 format frame would be another thing entirely - and uniquely Triumph.

It will probably sell to the fringe jacket fingerless glove 'biker' [and I use the term biker very loosely].

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tridentt150v,
Great Southern Land.
(Where women blow and men chunder).

Vertigo1

Vertical twin that is. Unless you consider the Bonneville a "0" or 360 degree V-Twin.

I realize we're off the 885 Classic style topic here. But this bird doesn't land cleanly in any forum yet.
But if not the current Bonneville, what was/is the largest vertical twin ever produced?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they give it a Retro look in the next year or two.

gregp

[quote=Vertigo1;1086333]But if not the current Bonneville, what was/is the largest vertical twin ever produced?
QUOTE]

I'd have to say the Neander 1400
http://big-diesel.blogspot.com/2007/...l-monster.html

Petrol

I really don`t know what Triumph are playing at.It looks like it was put together by a first year engineering student, to use the name Thunderbird for that piece of junk is a travesty.The best thing that seperated Triumph from the masses was that torquey triple engine..No triple...........no style........no market,nuff said

Tbirdnz

To be fair, there's a guy on another forum, there's so many threads on this subject that it's difficult to know where all the info comes from, but he said he has sat on this new bike and the photo's do not do the bike justice, and that the build quality is superb.

I think we all need to wait until we can see this new machine before we can give final judgement on it, but without doubt it is a bike that has achieved what it has set out to be, a cruiser, to take on Harley and others and it will be in my mind a successful one.

We triple Thunderbird riders do not have exclusive proprietary rights on the name of Thunderbird, it originally belonged to a Twin, the parentage of our bikes is the Trident !

Putting my own disappointment aside, I wanted, along with many others a new Triple Thunderbird to continue the bike line that we have. All I can say is that our present machines are even more valuable, I'll certainly never sell mine.


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Ride on !

tridentt150v

All my life I've been riding Triumphs [well all my riding life], I rode them through the '70's and '80's when everyone laughed at you and wanted you to break down and tried to out ride you and picked on every oil leak/vapour/smear or stutter. Nobody could understand why you did it when there were modern bikes everywhere. They told me that I'd mature and buy a Harley when I'd grown up. All this time I stuck it right up to them, I'd overtake the Shovell's and Evo's and Sporties on my '75 Trident, I'd pull over on my '82 TSS 8 valver and help push Harleys onto trailers, I'd be a lone Triumph rider in a sea of badass HD riders. I'd have to listen to every excuse they had about some mechanical problem, why they couldn't beat me at the lights even though I was two up, or how I could ride for an hour at 140-160km/h and the Harley's would literally shake themselves to peices. I had no excuses, to everyone but me, my bike was junk. I'd ride in snow and 45'C scorchers, through wind and rain hail, and lightning and fog. I'd ride 100's of km in a day and not complain once that I was on an 'inferior' bike, because I knew that I wasn't. They'd tell me that my bike wasn't meant to be ridden like that, they'd say that the bike wasn't designed for it, it couldn't last. But my inferior Triumph's that magazines called a joke, that had Lucas electrics and Girling shocks and Smiths speedo's and all this other stuff that was just wrong or useless on it, kept going. Every 'used to own' expert would tell me that they were no good, everyone had an opinion even if they had never even been near one. At rallys and shows, I'd be lost in a sea of Harleys and Harley look a likes. And all the time I'd stick it right up 'em, I'd come back at them with the line that I'd buy a Harley one day, when I lost my nerve for leaning it over and hammering it around corners, then I'd get a cruiser. There was a time that if I'd had a million dollars I would have bought Meridan and Small Heath - it meant that much to me. And I'd have to put up with their narrow minded arrogance. I'm not trying to brag, I'm not trying to beat my on drum. I'm sure there are other diehard pigheaded Triumph riders out there just like me that can relate to this. They lived and rode like the wind through those dark years, trying all the harder to dash the myths and lies that abounded. They can say thats me, I did that.
And that is how I came to hate cruisers, and that is why I especially hate Harleys and Harley look alike cruisers, and that is why I don't want to own one, and that is why I'll never ever buy one. And above all, that is why I'll never ever, never forgive Hinckley for taking the kernel of such a great idea and and bast@rdising it by making a cruiser, a bl00dy stupid lump of useless cr@p, a ships anchor, that I totally and utterly detest. It's just not British. Triumph have finally lost that essence, and its a sad day, a day for flying the flag at half mast, another setting of the sun on a once great empire. When the new Thunderbird, Bonnie and Thruxton came along, Triumph were reborn, but now the pheonix is more akin to a griffin and I am truly worried that this once great company has - to me - again lost is way.

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tridentt150v,
Great Southern Land.
(Where women blow and men chunder).

triple3john

I think everyone needs to get this into perspective. Cruisers are not my cup of tea but there is a big market out there. I assume Triumph have done their market research and have produced a safe design to appeal to the masses. It does nothing for me and it looks like a generic jap cruiser design from the 80s. But anyway for a small company Triumph have come a long way. They have class leading bikes with the Speed Triple,ST,Tiger and 675 and the classic range is the bread and butter stuff. OK they could have been more adventurous but maybe they couldn't risk getting it wrong as much as one of the majors. Triumph is the only brand in the UK which is growing its market share so they must be doing something right. If they brought out a retro triple with 100bhp then I would want one but there must be a reason why they haven't. Don't forget that after the initial interest the Tbird was not a good seller,only gaining popularity in the secondhand market after production ceased which is perverse. My Tbird is the favourite of the 6 Hinckleys I've owned and will never be sold but I can also appreciate the other good bikes in the range (excepting cruisers which don't interest me but each to their own eh ? )

Monty

Looking on the positive side, we can only hope that Triumph will not just use this 1700cc engine for this cruiser and may hopefully design a classic style traditional Triumph or maybe a Hurricane...

I was hoping that Triumph wouldnt follow the big fours way of copy cruisers and try to be more original and unique, whilst providing your traditional Triumphs.

But having said that, i would have thought the Thunderbird/sport were what people would want, a modern motorcycle with essence of traditional classic 60's style, these are the good points, where it went wrong, in my opinion, they were too top heavy for the type of people this bike was meant for, 40-50 something, havent ridden a bike for 20 years, my first impression of riding the TB was of its top heavy feel, however once rolling above a fast walking pace and well above that i found its handling exemplary.

When i saw the TB in the bike mags when it first appeared i thought it was quiet ugly but fell in love with it when i saw it at the NEC bike show, i'm hoping Triumph will not follow the also-rans with these copy cruisers and one day produce the 'AHH!...now THATS! a Triumph' with modern sleek and futuristic looking design with essence of 50s-60s style, a future classic.

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Just remember Gramps!, motorcycles are meant to remind you of your youth, when you last remember being happy, so at least try to relive some of that memory.