The pullback tubular handlebar positions the grips high, wide and a bit forward, enough that even though the footpegs are well forward the rider is still braced against the wind at normal riding speeds. The Thunderbird’s seat is wide and low at 27.6 inches, and at first seems uncomfortably hard, but that supportive density actually allowed me to spend many pleasant hours in the saddle without a break. That’s partly due to twin gear-driven counterbalancers-without them, as Triumph has solidly mounted the engine in the Thunderbird’s double-spine frame as a stressed member, it would probably shake the rider unacceptably. Even then, vibration in the machine is limited to some pulsing in the grips and seat that’s never really bothersome, and the decent mirrors always stay at least usable if not clear. At cruising speeds the bike has a wonderful rumbling feel and sound even with the stock 2-1-2 pipes and slash-cut mufflers, and doesn’t start to feel too busy until well over 75 mph in top gear. Triumph calls sixth gear an overdrive, and upshifting into it drops the revs to just 2,200 rpm at 60 mph, only 500 rpm or so below its torque peak. Power is delivered smoothly but strongly without any fuel-injection abruptness, though it does start to drop off before the engine’s 6,500-rpm redline-most of your riding will be done at engine speeds well below that number.Įven with cable-actuation for the clutch rather than hydraulic, shifting is quiet and silky, more like a Japanese sportbike than a cruiser. Fortunately, those 93 pounds of torque still get the solo rider down the road in a hurry, and even two-up it’s not a stretch to call the Thunderbird fast. The accessories bring the Thunderbird up to a chunky 770 pounds fully fueled, with a generous 464 pounds of remaining load capacity. Since it shows tremendous promise as a touring cruiser, we requested our Thunderbird with Triumph’s accessory quick-release Roadster windscreen and bolt-on leather-covered saddlebags. Belt final drive inspection and adjustment is called for every 2,500 miles, but no lubrication is required, of course, and a replacement interval isn’t called out in the manual.Īlmost everything that looks it on this bike is steel or aluminum the only faux covers to be found are the plastic sidecovers and radiator shroud. Along with oil and filter changes, inspection of the shim-over-bucket valve-lash adjustment is required every 12,000 miles, along with new spark plugs (two per cylinder), coolant, air filter and fuel filter. Engine management for the ignition and EFI with twin 42mm throttle bodies controls each cylinder separately, and at our 42.0-mpg average the bike seems more fuel efficient than most. Power flows to the wide rear 200-series radial from the liquid-cooled, DOHC, four-valve-per-cylinder engine through a six-speed transmission with quiet helical gears and belt final drive, Triumph’s first belt since the 1920s. Triumph focused on elemental sound, power and simple rider-friendliness in designing the new Thunderbird. And if it’s still not enough, Triumph offers a road-legal 1,700cc big-bore kit that it claims is good for 5 more horsepower and 7 more lb-ft. That’s some nice rumble indeed, even compared to much larger V-twins. On the Jett Tuning Dynojet dyno, our 2010 Thunderbird cranked out 74 horsepower and 93 lb-ft at the rear wheel. That’s a big leap from Triumph’s original 649cc 1950 6T Thunderbird that Marlon Brando rode in The Wild One, or even the reborn 1995 Thunderbird 885cc triple, which made about 70 horsepower and 53 lb-ft of torque at the crankshaft. In fact, it’s now the largest parallel twin in production.

Well, if you want something to rumble when it rolls and it’s not a V-twin, just make it bigger, right? Enter the 2010 Triumph Thunderbird, at 1,596cc nearly double in engine size over Triumph’s other twin-cylinder cruisers. Although the 865cc America and Speedmaster have 270-degree crankshafts instead of the Bonneville’s 360 crank for an offbeat, gruntier sound, they’re still known more for power and smoothness for their engine size rather than the traditional “rumble” that cruiser riders crave. Yet Triumph’s year-2009 cruisers are all powered by either an enormous in-line triple (Rocket 3) or the ducky parallel twin from the Bonneville.

If that’s not indicative of what the American cruiser rider wants, I don’t know what is. lineups, you can count those with something other than a V-twin engine on one hand. For example, among the nearly 100 cruisers in the other manufacturers’ U.S. Despite competing head-to-head with much larger makers for a slice of the American motorcycle market, Triumph has always gone its own way.

2010 triumph thunderbird reviews