Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes See a Tbird in person...

Anyone in range of Triumph of Windber (PA). The owner Tim T. told me (around weds June 10) that the buyer of a Thunderbird is alowing him to keep the bike for a week to show folks.
So, if your interested in seeing it in person, here is your window of opportunity.
Tali

No tbirds in texas yet....

It's not even dove season much less T-Bird season.

Funny you should mention that, Dick! My friend Elmer is STILL confused and wants to know once and for all if it's wabbit season OR duck season down there in Texas right now???

(though he's pretty sure you guys won't have T-Bird season until sometime next month in July)

I saw and heard the bike on saturday. Looks much nicer in person than in photos. The sound is great for a stock exhaust. Acording to the mechanic the engine is designed with extra......'spaces for the oil to fill' (?)..... so that the engine sound is deadened more and you only hear the exhaust note. I did sit on it. Little too heavy for my bad knee, but many folks will enjoy and love this bike I'm sure. I was impressed after seeing it.
The bike was a pre-order, that's why it showed up in PA.

There will be one arriving in Highspire PA at Capitol Area Triumph this week as well, it's the one I ordered to replace my America.

Saw an article in Cycle World when I was in VA where they called it the Underbird, did have time to read it so not sure why or what they meant.

That must have been a old issue of Cycle World.They were the first mag to run a complete story on the Superbird,I mean Thunderbird.....lol

Must tell ya, the one that arrived in Highspire has been relocated. It left with me last night!

WHOA Mike!!! Congrats!

I have too many questions to ask, so I expect a full report!!!

I hope you give us a owner ride report.I've seen two so far and they have been nothing but completly positive.

I went to get a new left header pipe today and the dealer ordered 2 (two) T-birds, one for a customer and one for themselves. I got a ride on it today, blue w/white stripe. It is a very nice bike! I was asked not to take too far so I only put a couple of miles on it, but the grunt that thing has is impressive and the transmission is smoooooth as silk, all six gears. I wish my bonnie had that trany. It feels light for it's weight, but that's because it has all that torque and even still, it turns very well. I didn't have a chance to wring-it-out in any twisties, but one curve and several intersection turns and about six 360* turns in the parking lot. The CG. is very low and inspite of being a tad heaver in the handle bars, it still turns with ease. I'd say if you like riding your America, or your Speedy, and you can afford it, you'll love the Thunder Bird. One thing I didn't like was, I thought the seat was a little hard. For a "cruser", the seat should be a little more inviting. It has a nice LOUD horn though. Anyway, It's always nice to ride another bike to get an appreciation for what I have and in this case My TBA., is more flickable, and gets better gas milage, and I think it looks better. No denieing that the T-Bird has muscles, and that trasmission.

Thanks for that report. I dropped by Engles in Kansas City at lunch today, They had a silver/black and a blue/white on the floor. Didn't have the time to demo, but did sit on one and crank it over, nice sound. You are right very low CG and didn't seem that heavy. Was told that the T-Bird engine is only 7lbs. liter than the Rocket engine.

I was suprised that the radiator wasn't that obnoxious. Still not wild about the curve on the bottm of the tank, but the rear fender didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Not wild about the shape of the mufflers. The fit and finish was superior to our bikes, the package was tight and built well.

I agree with what you've said except the fender. The rear fender looks like a giant dirt bike fender, did someone say Preston Petty? And even though the muff's stick out a bit, they do sound nice, even when going down the road.

You're right, but the rest of the bike sort of discounts that negative. If this bike sells like Triumph hopes someone could get rich producing an after market full rear fender.

X-Choppers said he will be making custom fendors among other parts for the T-Bird.He does mostly custom parts for the Honda VTX and once he receives his new T-Bird, will start designing custom parts for it also.He seems to have quiet an opperation going on and thinks the T-Bird will be a big hit among the customizer group.

Wish I would have seen this sooner i would have loved to checked it out. I live about an 45 min away . Wonder if there will be any at thunder in the valley.

Rob most Triumph dealers should have the T-Birds in stock with in the next 2 weeks.

Tbirds have landed in Houston, TX.

Looks better in person than pics.

Will try to take some pics tomorrow.

I just called my dealer here in Little Rock, and they are uncrating their forst* Bird today. I hope to see it tomorrow in person.

* Technically, not really a word, but it should be, so I left it uncorrected...

Stopped at kissell motorsports today where i bought my bike didnt have any yet they said about mid july.

The guy at the Wilkes-Barre PA dealership (Thursday) just laughed and walked away. Those folks are douche-bags, that was my 3rd, similar and last visit.

Well, saw my first one in person yesterday. It is the first delivered in Little Rock, and it was just about to be test ridden by the guy who put it together. Silver with black stripe, and I must say it really does look better in person than in pictures. The rear tire is a lower profile Metzler, and the stock exhaust sounds just fine. Overall, I'd say materials used are a couple of notches above what's used on the SM/America and the parts seem pretty robust. The onl;y things I didn't really care for were that the headlight seems a bit too far forward, but the guy said there is a fairing you can buy to fix that. I also didn't care that the VIN is so visible on the front neck. Very distracting.

Overall, though, I have to say the new Bird is a winner from first appearances.

BTW, the guy at the shop also said there is a factory big bore kit that adds 10 bhp and tons of torque to the stock bike. He said it would be about $2200 upcharge to get it installed.

more pics here
http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm39/roundy77/

If this thing hand any more tourque it would rinckle tarmac where ever it went.For the money you can't be getting that much more.It's like putting nitress on a Boss Hauss,Whats the point?

I was in Johnstown this week inspecting an Aviation unit and stopped by Triumph of Windber and got to sit on and look at the new Thunderbird and I must say that I was impressed. The bike looks well designed and the bike is all metal except for the 2 sidecovers below the seat. The turn signals, both fenders, the dash panel, it's all metal. The one that I seen is the blue with a white or cream colored stripe down the center. The only thing that seemed a little disappointing was the seat in that it felt wider or something. In the speedometer it has an information window that will give you fuel level, remaining miles, trip meter A and B all with a flick of a switch on the right throttle boss. I would definitely take one but I have not ridden one yet. The front end is done up very nicely in that it is all polished up, just a nice clean look with the turn signals mounted on the fork tubes.
The owner of the shop said that the torque that the bike produces is very impressive!

Well, saw one here in person in Albuquerque at PJ's Triumph... Sat on it, did not get to hear it, say nothing about riding it.... I did however love the seating position, really easy to pick off the side stand etc... Actually like the rear fender, like the exhaust.... Only thing that I might have issues with would be the headlight, but it looks much better with the light bar in pictures I have seen.....

Test drove one today. I must say the power is outstanding. Almost twice as much torque than my 904... However the overall impression (apart from the fantastic power) was more of an "OK" for me. The bike felt smaller than the TBA and my long legs could have wanted a little more forward position of the pegs. One thing that actually irritated me was the speedo placement on the tank. It made the front cleaner but having to nod to see the speedo seems a little off. In short: Well balanced and powerful. Nice lines and overall design. Do I feel the urge for one? Nope, not really. FWIW...

Just back from a Thunderbird testride, been keeping my thoughts of the design pretty much to myself since i think that it´s sad that the Thunderbird have gotten a more "generic" (Yamazukihonda) look and not so much "go your own way" as i would have hoped for and i wanted to ride it before having an opinion about it.

That said the engine is close to perfect, the paralell twin caracter is there and the power and Tourque is great.

The gears are smooth as silk and the fuel injection feels smooth and nice

It handels great and as Piper says it actually feels smaller than the BA to ride...

I think Triumph have done a good job and after the testride i would say that it´s a winner and Triumph will sell a lot of them....

To me?.......... not in the near future... but who knows in a couple of years the design might grow on me


Johann

no chance in UK, new Thunderbird will be shown in all dealers exactly that weekend I got my test ride booked

So...you're sayin' the "flag thing" here probably wouldn't confuse those boys there in Hinckley then, huh?!

(well, you're probably right...those boys do seem like a pretty smart lot over there, don't they?!)

Well, there's a couple of 'em at South Bay Triumph here in SoCal...both of 'em with that reeeeeally nice "Shelby Cobra-esque" blue with white stripes. Good lookin' machine! They didn't have a demo model there yet, so all I could do was throw a leg over it to see how I liked the riding position.

Well...it seemed pretty comfortable for all of my 6'2" and 33" inseam!

(and yep, I have to say that lack of "fin-age" isn't all that off-putting in person...but still.......)