Triumphrat

atlantaallen

Are there screw holes under the stick on tank badge like the Bonnevilles?

I'm a Bonny owner, but very tempted to trade one of my other bikes in on a Tbird.

AtlantaAllen

whysoserious

I'll probably be corrected here but the reason the Bonnie has them was because of the transition from the carbs to EFI (different tank and model years). Since the T-Bird is brand new, I doubt it will have them. I did sit on one last night at a dealer and I have to say the pictures just don't do it justice. It has metal fenders too if that's a concern.

dazco

I would doubt it too, however i read an article where someone, possibly a triumph rep, said there will be alternative badges available. Don't recall where i read that, don't recall if they said the alternatives will be traditional, and there are none listed in the accessories so far. Just stating what i know, but it's not something anyone is likely to know for a while. If you want to call the triumph USA HQ and ask they may possibly know. i would but i've called them too many times already. 678 854-2010

atlantaallen

I may be wrong also, but I don't think the Bonneville situation has anything to do with carbs/efi. Just the cost of production

Early Bonnies had a heavy metal badge held on by security torx screws. Newer ones have a much lighter(possibly plastic) badge that is a stick on.
HOWEVER, there are still screw holes under the badge on the the Bonnie so you can use older, better looking tank badges and their screws.

I'm sure you know where I was going, hoping I could put Bonnie tank badges on a Tbird.

Dazco, thanks for all the Tbird info and pics you've posted. Although Triumph USA is only about 30 minutes from me, I won't call them. The tank badge info won't be the deciding factor in whether I get a Tbird or not.

I sat on one at the M/C show down here last week end and I hope to demo one tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks.

AtlantaAllen

whysoserious

Doh! I'm sure you're right. It probably just came down to a cost issue.

dazco

One reason i DO however think it may be a possibility is that triumph w/o a doubt as far as i'm concerned does things like this to be able to sell the bikes cheaper and recoup the difference in selling paerts aftermarket. A great example is the tbird itself. The BB kit is EPA compliant, so why was the bike not built as a 1700 100HP bike in stock form? they figure people will buy far more of these bikes at a price thats more than competitive, and sure enough we seem to be grabbing them up quick. But they know that later on many will want the BB kit and pay the $2k for the kit and labor which brings thier profit per bike up and make the dealers that much more likely to push them knowing there will be a lot of service profit potential. Not just with the BB kit but the EXTENSIVE range of chrome and other accessories. In other words, they build a bike that is fantastic stock, but offers so much more that people can and will buy later on that the REAL cost of the bike is far more than the initial $12.5k. It's just a way to fool the buyer into paying more in the end than he may have been willing to initially and may therefore have passed. It's marketing just as saying a item is $9.99 lookes better to the buyer than $10.00

If the logic as it applies to the tank badge was lost to you in that, what i'm saying is triumph may well have put threads under that badge in order to sell after market badges. Did you know that the traditional style screw on metal triumph badges are as i recall around $100?! doesn't it make sense? Look at the Tbird badge.....granted most guys that come to the Tbird from a HD which IMO will be relatively few, won't care and are fine with it. But look at how us triumph guys are buying tbirds left and right, and almost to a man i' say we would all love the more traditional badge. so do the math ! To me it would make no sense for them NOT to have threads under that badge. So we will have to wait because as a rep told me on the phone yesterday, a lot of accessories and the info regarding them will take a while to come out because the bike was actually slated to be released in september, 3 monyhs before they actually released it. So as with many things regarding this bike, we will have to wait to know. but if i were to wager i'd say there are threads inder that badge. It makes no sense that there wouldn't be.

Dr. Kaos

Odds are the current tank badge is held on like the side reflectors, with the super-duper 3M adhesive from hell. Easiest way to remove without messing up the paint is with dental floss BTW. If there are threads below the badge, they will be a royal pain to get clear of the adhesive. It was bad enough cleaning up the junk from the reflectors.

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atlantaallen

Nearly all manufacturers do this to make more money, but it is a benefit to us consumers as well.

No need to pay for something we don't really care about. Different strokes kind of thing.

Thatch

So you stripped your reflectors Dr?

Got a pic of the stripped bike?

dazco

I did that too, tho i left the rear ones. If no one posts a pic i'll do it when i get home, as i have none with the reflectors removed at work. I always pull them off because i feel they make a bike look cheaper. You just pull them off and use some WD40 to clean up the foam sticky tape. I will likely pull the rears too, but they are much less obvious and red instead of those "sore thumb" obvious yellow ones on the front.