Everything is relative. The Thunderbird is an upgrade in at least three things: Engine size, number of gears and belt drive. Now that may not be your cup of tea, but it's perfectly valid for someone to call it an upgrade. And doing so doesn't imply our bikes are inferior. They are just fine for the market segment they're intended for. There is another market segment for the Thunderbird, and Triumph is free to advertise it however they want. There is yet another market segment for the Rocket III. Do Thunderbird riders get upset when someone "upgrades" to a Rocket? The Rocket is still much bigger yet than the Tbird, loses a gear but "upgrades" to shaft drive. By all accounts it's worthy of the marketing description "upgrade."

I think people are just afraid that our bikes will start to be considered the "Triumph Sportster," a disposable little bike that is merely a "gateway drug" to bigger and more expensive things.

Don't take it so personally. I personally don't call the Tbird an upgrade, it's just different. And bigger. And requires less final drive maintenance. So what? I still love my bike, but if I could afford more bikes I'd have one of each.

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