![]() The only issue they could encounter is the pegs scraping and hearty cornering be a bit nervy, let’s face it only the best riders or nutcases are capable of throwing heavy cruisers into corners like they are on sportsbikes, so that doesn’t matter too much. The bikes wheelbase is pretty long which is great for stability at speed, it is also suited to riders who like to test their limits somewhat aggressively. All riders should be able to get both feet down to paddle the bike around the drive and do so with relative ease. Centre of balance is low and central which makes movements at low speeds pretty easy. Suspension is good, soaking up the road bumps and carrying the bikes weight well. It isn’t a bike for shorter riders on this basis without some modifications first. The bars are pulled back, high, wide and footpegs far forward, in a typical cruising rider position. The front forks were long and raked as was the style, the seat low slung, passengers accommodated but not necessarily cared for, although you could add a much needed passenger backrest. The bike is big and heavy at 777lbs roughly ready to ride, despite this you could still consider the bike fairly quick and it wouldn’t struggle to carry a full load, there would be no notable power difference whether you rode solo or with a passenger and luggage. Housing the big motor was a tubular steel frame with a twin sided swingarm. This even filtered down to a relatively light clutch lever and silky smooth gear shifter more on par with Japanese sportsbikes. However, it was just a really good engine, one that made for a comfortable ride and a capable one in all circumstances, so there wasn’t too much more you could ask for. The power was more than enough, adequate and delivered extremely well, arguably the only downside or note is that it wasn’t mind-blowingly fast. Triumph utilised a six speed gearbox, with the sixth gear being the overdrive, for when the rider is soaking up long distance cruising miles. It is smooth and linear but not lacking in character in fact the smoothness is achieved by the placement of two balances in front and behind the cylinders along with the advanced fuel injection system. The engine pulls very strong and sounds awesome, it is a thundering rumble, usually only found on big V twins. A great improvement over the smaller 865cc Bonnie engine that graced Triumph’s other cruiser type bikes.ġ2,000 mile service intervals and 2,500 mile belt inspections and adjustments were pretty impressive and fed into the low maintenance positives for the new bike. The 1,597cc engine produced 85 horsepower and 146Nm of torque which no small feat or something to be sneered at. This was the first time a belt final drive had been used since the 1920’s, but Triumph could no longer argue with the reliability, low maintenance benefits from using a belt over a chain. It was mated to a six speed transmission, fitted with quiet helical gears and belt final drive. However, as it turned out the only parts in common were the valves, the rest was all new a liquid-cooled, DOHC, four valves per cylinder engine. Initially the engine used in the new model was intended to be a modular unit essentially two out of three cylinders from the Rocket 3. The Thunderbird 1600 had a production run until 2016. The clear signal from Triumph Motorcycles was that the British are here with the new Thunderbird and we are not only going to compete but we are going to give you such a good bike it can’t be denied. The best way to do that was to take the idea of the Triumph America 865cc already in existence and make it bigger, a lot bigger.Īt the time of its release the Thunderbird 1600 was equipped with the largest parallel twin engine in production. In order to compete with the big boys like Harley Davidson in the cruiser world and target the US audience particularly, Triumph knew they needed a heavyweight cruiser that had impressive power, was rider friendly, looked the business and sounded awesome. The sole aim of the Triumph Thunderbird 1600 was to bridge the gap between the smaller 865cc America and the super sized 2,294cc Rocket 3. I don’t think Triumph care too much as they continue to produce unconventional cruisers and the public continue to buy them. For that we have to give them credit as let’s face it, the lack of a V twin will certainly prevent some very traditional cruiser riders from considering a Triumph. Triumph Motorcycles are one of the very few manufacturers to continuously produce cruisers without bowing to the pressure of using a V twin engine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |