Finally saw a T-Bird this past weekend at the Brit Bike show in Manassas, VA -- while it's prettier in person than in the pix, well... it's trying too hard to be a Harley.
Too big. Too "generic," which is surprising given the engine config. Still, it reinforced my preference for the (old) Speedys and BAs. Triumph would've done better to just take the Bonneville engine and bore it out to a 900cc or 1,000cc displacement.
Triumph's original pitch was "performance through minimalism." Keep the bikes smaller, lighter, quicker, and squeeze as much juice out of the engine as you can. Instead, they're drifting into the "there's no replacement for displacement" school, which is unfortunate.
That said, I really dig the matte-green scrambler with the blacked-out Arrow pipes -- those things are gawjus.
--Jaeger
