Quote: They'll need to put a lot of work in to make the Thunderbird engine truly competitive in my view. Even allowing for the possibility that mine was an exception ( hmmm,) I think the engine is just too ' clattery' to appeal to the average buyer. I suspect the source of the racket is the decompresser bobweights on the end of the exhaust camshaft...mine simply rattled whenever the engine was revved..an irritating.horrible.unholy. row. Frankly this sort of thing isn't excusable on a water-cooled engine....other makers have been getting right for decades. I strongly suspect the factory road testers all wore well padded full face helmets.
I didn't notice any abnormal noise on the Thunderbird I test rode a couple of years ago but I wear a 3/4 helmets.
Tuck that radiator between the frame rails and really rework the style of the bike, give it 5 distinct models maybe even a softail version and deep rich paint with Triumph proudly and artfully displayed on the tank and hit the market. Well, maybe in America anyway I won't pretend to know what would work elsewhere. I'm telling you the Triumph brand has serious potential in America, more than Victory and possibly as much as Indian. The old timers who knew the original Indians have long since croaked or are well beyond their riding years (on average) not so the old Triumph fans. And honestly in the 60s if you didn't ride a Harley you rode a Triumph. The year I took my Triumph to Sturgis I got all positive remarks from some serious hard core bikers nothing negative, wouldn't try that with a Suzuki.
Oh, and Triumph has to do something about their dealer network in America. I don't know what the problem is but they'd better figure it out fast. I live near the largest military base on the east coast in a year 'round riding climate so the potential to sell motorcycles is huge. there are 4 Harley Davidson dealers (that sell bikes) 2 Polaris dealers 3 Honda dealers even the local BMW dealer sells only BMW motorcycles and is doing great. I'd have to ride 45 minutes away to get to the only Triumph dealer around and they sell 4 other brands. When I bought my TBA it was from the only Triumph/Harley Davidson dealer I know of and that was a 3 hour ride from home.
Last edited by outerbanks; 12/04/20161:10 PM.
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
