Triumphrat

robertrichhart

Ok, so the lucky few who have had their new TBirds this summer have got to have some stories of interaction with HD riders over the season, like them drooling over the new Bird when parked amongst a group of bikes at the curb, stoplight to stoplight performance comparative evaluations (I really wordsmithed the term "speedcontest" there huh ) or just general "awe" from the occasional HD owner passing by? Com'n, spill it ... you know you want to share......

engage

I've been to a few motorcycle events that are predominately Harley riders.

When I ride in, people look, but then they try to ignore me (the bike). I think some know what they are looking at and don't want to acknowledge it and others may not even know its a Triumph.

I've had many people pull up next to me at intersections and ask about the bike. A few of them knew it was the new TBird and wanted to see it and ask about the ride. Most just love the look of the bike and asked about it in general.

At one intersect a guy rolls down his window and says "Nice bike, does it go?" I said, "its the new Triumph 2010 Thunderbird", he says, enthusiastically, "I know, does it go?"

A few weeks ago I was come home from Wisconsin. My wife was with me, so the TBird was on a trailer, and we passed a guy on a BMW while on the freeway. I look in the rear view, and the guy speeds up to the bike and looks at it for awhile. He then comes up along the passenger side of the car (I was still in the left lane) and motions my wife to roll down the window. She does and he flips up his modular helmet and shouts "Is that the new TBird". I answer yes and we talk for a bit (as best one can at 75 mph) and he falls back. I get back into the right lane and he comes up next to the Tbird in the left and stares at it for a good few minutes while giving me the thumbs up a few times.

His exit came up a few miles later and he waves at us and gives us another thumbs up as he exits.

Dutch IH

As part of the background for our article in the current issue of Iron Horse, I rode the 'Bird to a local HD enthusiast clubhouse.

These guys are pan and shovel diehards, can build bikes from dirt and know what they are doing around a bike lift and a beer fridge.

The bike was met with lots of interest and some skepticism (it was a stocker after all..). The torque blew them away and had them grinning from ear to ear.

Lots of questions about the parallel twin. These are after all bike guys - not just HD guys. It ain't no shovel, but got an overall thumbs up when I pulled out.

cheers

dazco

I had a crowd of guys around mine, many or most HD guys at a hang a while back. They seemed real interested and also dropped thier jaws at the torque spec. They liked it, but it's true real HD guys don't care how nice it is, it doesn't matter because it's not a HD. Listening to people like that, one thing that makes me happy about myself....i'm sure glad i have good reasoning and common sense. But heck, i gotta hand one thing to them, and it makes me sad....the HD guys have always treated me better than triumph guys. Don't understand that at all

DruAde

When we no longer worry what Harley or indeed any other riders think of the TBird will be the day it takes its rightful place at the top.

I just wish I had mine so I could show her off

dazco

Oh, we don't WORRY about what they think....we look forward to being entertained by it.

Thatch

I did a benefit ride last weekend. Most of the group were on HDs. There were a few passing comments by some of the guys. The best one being from the 'leader' of the group stating that the bike looked really good going down the road. It was a nice compliment but for the most part it was all pretty understated and nothing much to talk about. (though there were a few jaw drops when I discussed what the soon to be torque and hp specs would be after the bb install).

What was interesting was when we got where we were going. We pulled in, all the bikes were lined up and we were sitting and eating BBQ (mmm eastern NC BBQ) with the bikes lined up ahead of us. I noticed that everyone that entered the crowd of bikes moved to a middle huddle of people. This huddle continued to grow, but never moved from the middle of the bikes. About this time I realized that it was my bike they were all surrounding. After a bit one of the guys came over and while I didn't hear it, obviously asked the leader, who owned the Triumph. 'That man right over there' was the reply. I spent the next 20 mins or so fielding questions from a group of people about the bike. A lot of very animated folks were interested in the bike and there wasn't a single question asked about any of the other bikes (that I heard). There were plenty of $30k+ bikes there and the Triumph by far got the most attention.

bikebudha1

I'm going for a 'compliment record' here. I went a whole .6 miles from purchasing at the dealership to the nearest gas station (which is another story entirely) and the first guy to pull in stopped me and said how nice the bike lookd. (To beat this record, we are not counting compliments recieved while at the dealership the day of purchase - I think all the t-birds sold in my area were pre-ordered. Some loon actually returned my t-bird after only 1600 miles. (another story entirely) Fortunately I was first on the dealers list to call about any t-birds in the shop. He had put it on craigs list for 6 hours and had 47 hits. While I was purchasing the bike, two guys came in and gave my dealer a hard time because there was a shiny silver t-bird out in the parking lot and they had not been called. They looked very sad when the dealer pointed in by direction and said 'that guy just bought it'.

robertrichhart

Ok, c'mon...don't leave us hanging... Where's the rest of those stories ???

dazco

This reminds me that i had a first ride compliment on both my speedmaster and Tbird. That is, first ride after taking delivery and riding straight home. Both encounters were guys driveing cars but both said they have harley and both dropped jaw when i told them the price. First time i got on the speedy to go for a ride i stopped at a place where a guy came up and started asking about it. All the normal "thats beautiful" remarks and the jaw drop when i mentioned price. Then the same thing happened on the Tbird. First ride, stopped to get some water and a guy comes up and tells me how "gorgeous" it is, tells me about his HD, then the jaw hits the floor when i tell of the cost. He said his HD was almost $30. He sounded really sad as tho had he known he would have bought the Tbird. i was all smiles thinking about how this seems to be becoming a tradition. If i ever buy another bike, which would always be a triumph, i'd be disappointed if the first ride doesn't stick with tradition. But of course all i'd have to do to make sure it does would be to make sure i stop a few times.