Bedouin, Cycle World's article states it weighs 650 pounds compared to 497 of our bikes. That's 295 kilos for the Thunderbird for you Metric folks. Wheelbase is apparently shorter at 64.6 inches versus 65.2 for the America. I wonder how the overall length will compare.
I hope "very compact" doesn't mean too small to get the job done. I should say I'm happy with the size of my America both solo and when 2-up so I'll probably be happy on the T-bird too. Shorter bike = better handling!