12/29/2023 0 Comments 2014 triumph thunderbird![]() ![]() One of the advantages to the parallel twin is its ability to manage heat, for both the engine and the rider. The engine also adds to the riding comfort. It truly is amazing, thanks to a dual-foam design that keeps things squishy on top but supported from below. La-Z-Boy couldn’t have made a seat more comfortable. Best of all, neutral was easy to find at a stop, and the clutch was pliable enough that my hand wasn’t sore at the end of an eight-hour ride.Īfter 175 miles, I wasn’t even remotely tired, which brings me to one of the most remarkable aspects of the new T-birds: the saddle. I’m a bit of a speed freak, but I rarely even got the bike into sixth. The power delivery was smooth, strong, remarkably vibration-free and easily accessible with a six-speed transmission that offered plenty of off-the-line grunt and enough room within the gears that I didn’t feel like I ran out of them at cruising speed. A seat height of just 27.5 inches, coupled with an engine that is employed as a partially stressed member in its twin-spine steel frame, made this 767-pounder easier than anticipated to fling around the canyons or keep steady at slow speeds. Overbuilt like a classic Bonneville on performance-enhancing drugs, everything – from its broad 5.4-gallon gas tank to its baseball-bat fork and twin-eye headlamp protruding from a battering ram of a front end – is intensely Industrial Age.īoth are as big as an “Apocalypse Now”-era Brando, but their handling defies their heft. I was thoroughly impressed, especially by the stalwart Commander.Īesthetically, the Commander is more appealing, largely because it is so basic. I spent a day last week putting 175 miles on the $15,699 Commander and followed that up this past weekend roaming Southern California on its more touring-oriented sib, the $16,699 LT. And, being liquid-, rather than air-, cooled, it even further assaults the American cruiser stereotype in its effort to distinguish itself from You Know Who. It does, however, “do” big.Īt 1,699cc, the new Thunderbird engine doesn’t just beat Harley’s stock motor by 11 cubic centimeters, it pummels the rest of the planet with the largest production parallel twin in the world. It doesn’t “do” V-twins, according to its product manager, Simon Warburton. Whether it’s Harley, the recently rebooted Indian, or the many Japanese wanna-bes, cruisers have long been defined by a red-blooded American V-twin. New for 2014, and available in March, the classic, stripped-bare Thunderbird Commander and Thunderbird LT touring bike are both pow-ered with something unusual for the segment: a parallel twin engine. The go-to motorcycle for those with a predilection for riding herd, the 111-year-old Milwaukee manufacturer is so dominant and stereotyped that it’s become caricature.īut Triumph Motorcycles hopes to steal a little of Harley’s thunder with a pair of new cruisers aimed at riders who appreciate heritage but aren’t afraid to buck a cliche. The word “cruiser” conjures exactly one brand: Harley-Davidson. ![]()
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