| I must be cheating as I roar down Aylesbury High Street in Britain’s Oxfordshire on Triumph’s Thunderbird. Where are the big beard and belly? And surely I shouldn’t be a girl? You’d expect to see this 1600cc custom beast down Daytona Beach in the US,not in English suburbia.Yet although the Thunderbird looks intimidating check out the wide tank,acres of chrome and overall gigantic proportions jump on board and it’s a pussycat. The Thunderbird’s considerable weight is well positioned in the chassis so that it dissolves the second you lift it off the stand. The torque-laden engine pulls away smoothly, with the perfectly set up fuel injection we’ve come to expect of Triumph. The exhaust note is evocative; Triumph has played around with the harmonics to give it the loud throbbing sound of a custom, although it feels more refined than, say, a lumpy Harley-Davidson’s motor. The brakes are from a different league too compared to the usual dubious, single-caliper stoppers found on your average cruiser, which for some bizarre reason cruiser enthusiasts tend to prefer (apparently, dual calipers are for pansies. Call me old fashioned, but I’d rather have a bike that stops!).The Nissin twin calipers at the front and Brembo single caliper at the rear work a treat, stopping this big, heavy but powerful bike progressively and firmly. And ABS is available as an added safety feature. Cruisers don’t usually go hand-in-hand with good handling: the geometry’s all wrong for starters and they weigh a ton as I’m sure you’ll find out now that Harley-Davidson is heading for India! But the Thunderbird breaks the mould to feel agile, turning when you want it to, holding a good line and all the while feeling planted. I got caught out in a downpour but still felt safe as houses on the solid Thunderbird. The typically custom feet-forward and ape hanger arms riding position is laid back and comfortable, with the low, curved-at-the-back seat supporting the rider’s lower back. Unlike most custom/cruiser machines, the foot and hand controls are light, and at easy reach for my small hands and feet. The gearbox is smooth, but still gives out that satisfying clonk that cruiser enthusiasts cherish when you stick it in first. And I love the digital instrument panel positioned cruiser-style on the tank; you can flick through all the information (fuel gauge, how far you still have to go with the fuel left in the tank, mpg, trip meter and so on) via a super-handy switch on the handlebar. Then there are the unmistakable cruiser looks: Triumph appears to have erased any individuality in the Thunderbird’s appearance to produce an all-American style. And for good reason… Triumph is filling a hole in its range for 1400cc to 1700cc cruisers. You’d think that the world put together would prefer to ride the latest all-singing all-dancing ballistically fast superbike, or even a super-cool extreme naked with all its race-derived parts. But you’d be wrong. Lump together the European and American markets, and it’s the 1400cc to 1700cc cruiser category that’s by far the biggest selling. Of course it’s mainly thanks to the Americans, whom Triumph is targeting with its Thunderbird. |
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