I bought a used 2012 Thunderbird yesterday without test riding it, partly because I've read all the stories that it's a heavy "different" bike. As with my Speedmaster, I bought 2 years ago and adapted, mainly because after not riding for 40 years I had nothing to compare it to. With the Thunderbird I figured it would feel different to the Speedmaster so what was the point of a test ride. I would adapt to the bike instead.

So with the Thunderbird, I just "jumped in" and rode 50 miles home. Man was I impressed. And today I rode around the area, some twisties, and around town.

This thing is a dream. It just feels right, great cornering, obviously lots of zip, decently comfortable, and the speedo on the tank didn't even bother me and I can live with the stock suspension.

I did a lot of add ons to my Speedmaster including suspension and seat just to feel good. But the Thunderbird just amazed me. It feels so grounded, and "engineered" I guess the word is.

So needless to say I'm pretty happy, and it only had 1200 miles on it.

Last edited by blansky; 08/12/2015 2:54 PM.