| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
And there's some important stuff on the facing page!  | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
It just has to be all about YOU, doesn't it... hehehe  They've been running the ad here too. The decals on the bike say 1125RS, but when I spoke to dealers last week they knew nothing about it... typical HD/Buell Australia P/L...  Nice work on the Trumpy test, did you like it? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
You, You, You! | ||
| Glitch |
Are those angel wings? As in dead? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I still dont understand why they killed the ULY down south a year ago. That bike was BUILT for a ride about down there. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Didn't sell, Slick. NZ is made for the Uly or vice versa, true, but the country's entire population is smaller than a big city. 'Most' of Aus suits a Road King better. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Aye Glitch - As in Erik's Angels. | ||
| Mikej |
I think I need to buy a couple motorcycle magazines. | ||
| Danger_dave |
This was my draft of the Tbird bit. Mag isn't out yet. ---------------------- As luck would have it, I’d lined up an ‘Editorial meeting’ with The Ed at the Café. The deal was to hand over a disc containing images and a bike test, have a cuppa, plan our inevitable takeover of the world’s motorsports media and yack about motorcycles. He was in the KR truck; en-rout to pick up the Triumph Thunderbird and the Aprilia Mana. I was only trying to help the man out, honest. ‘Oh, can I do the Thunderbird bit for you?’ All nonchalant like, trying not to let any bung fizzage show. An hour later I had been home, changed into my olde School No.9 Triumph riding kit and was pushing the silver and black beastie out of the Triumph depot with as much calm disposition as was possible. Keen as. The Stretch and Big Dave show had done the original shake-downs and run-ins on the first batch of press bikes, but this was my first chance to have a fang on a ripe, ready to rev motor. And what a peach it is. I also have a feeling that blokes like me have been saying that about Thunderbirds for a very long time. As many KR readers would know, the first Meriden Triumph T’bird was introduced in 1950 and since Marlon Brando rode his own 649cc twin in the Cinema Classic ‘The Wild One’ the name has had significance in motorcycle lore. ‘The Fonz’ even rode a modified T’bird for a few seasons of Happy Days. The US version, the ‘toughened up’ Blackbird, was a huge seller. Even the totally weird models from various later releases were surprisingly popular. Nacelle, and even the Bathtub versions of the machine, sold in bigger than you would expect numbers. (I mean c’mon you old boys, what’s up with the instruments mounted in a nacelle? The only other vehicles to embrace it are small capacity scooters!) However trippy they went in the 50’s & 60’s the first Thunderbirds evolved into the very capable forerunner of the Bonneville. One of the greatest bikes ever. Streamliners that broke land speed records also started life as T’birds. Hop online, Google and bookmark ‘Ian Chadwicks Triumph Timeline’ for a more in-depth look at the period. See also British Motorcycle Industry: Decline and fall of. Fast forward a generation and the second incarnation or the T’bird was from the third Triumph factory. Hinckley’s first T’bird, the 1995 Triple displaced 885cc and was also significant as the new firm’s first departure from the ‘modular approach’. Up until the release of its more traditional lines, the early Hinckley rage had consisted of virtually the same machine dressed in different clothing or added an extra pot. The 885 T’bird won several bike of the year awards and made numerous media and film appearances as well – although Harry Potter and Pamela Anderson’s Barb Wire ain’t exactly the Wild One! One still resides in my shed, so I better disclose that bit of prejudice as well. I’ve has a lot of very special rides on a T’bird. The 3rd from the 3rd. Have a quick look at the specification sheet from Hinckley’s third incarnation of the Thunderbird and at first glance it looks almost conventional. ‘Get on a legend reborn’ proclaims the web site. The big twin has a twin spine tube frame, a Liquid-cooled, DOHC, Parallel-twin with 270 degree firing interval. If you physically look at the bike, before reading the specs, there isn’t anything to give you much of an indication how radical it really is. It’s just very handsome in a stiff upper lip, understated kind of way. ‘It hasn’t even got Thunderbird written on it anywhere’ quizzed Osborne as he was taking the detail shots. ‘In the Speedometer, old boy’. It was the only place we could find the model designation. It’s when you ride the bike and study the numbers more closely that the link to the past becomes entirely romantic. Just say we take the first two T’birds – 649cc Twin and 885cc Triple and we average the capacity: 790cc. The 2010 incarnation displaces 798.5cc in each of its twin spark plug cylinders! The 1597cc twin has a bore and stroke of 103.8 x 94.3mm and is a delightful engine. It is more conventional in character than Triumph’s other heavy artillery - the Rocket III. Although both machines are agile T’bird hides its 339kg wet weight well. The 6-speed constant mesh gearbox and belt final drive are geared tall. It doesn’t trundle along at 1,100rpm in top gear like the Rocket, but it has bundles of torque nonetheless. 146Nm / 108ft.lbf @ 2750rpm. Yeah – peak torque at 2,750rpm. Fellow members of short-shifters anon. This is an engine for you. There’s a Norton Commando’s worth going up and down in each of those combustion chambers. But it does rev out quite nicely too. When I eventually found the Tacho in the tank mounted instrument cluster it made sense of the claimed max power output of 86PS / 85bhp / 63kW @ 4850rpm. Sweet, big motor. The 1615mm wheel base is supported on Showa 47mm forks with 120mm travel. The Rear Suspension is Showa chromed spring twin shocks with 5-position adjustable preload, offering 95mm rear wheel travel. It merely confirms how much of a fan-boy I am for Showa suspension. It makes it a very tidy handling unit within the constraints of it being a feet forward, cruiser style motorcycle, and the cornering clearances that entails. Combined with the delightfully easy-going nature of the engine in cruise mode it’s very easy to ride around grinning like the Fonz. See: Shark, Jumped. If you take it out of cruise mode and get into some more sporting road conditions the engine is also an absolute delight to just leave in third gear and ‘pin it’. It has quite a large gap between 2nd and 3rd ratios and the effect is like riding a sports V twin in the way you leave it in three and hammer. The engine isn’t without vibration either; you can feel those big pistons going up and down. It’s not like a big Vee-twin vibe here at all, quite big parallel twin unique. Neither did I find it intrusive or annoying, quite the opposite – I enjoyed the feel of what is going on with each rotation. The sure-footed of the handling package helps as well. Remember when Cruiser style motorcycles were all a bit vague in the handling department? Now I’m comfortable calling it sure footed. Put it back into ‘cruise’ mode and it purrs along with just the slightest tick evident from the engine. I quite enjoy the note from the standard, upswept pipes too. It’s got some lovely lines, as in Geoff Osborne’s Beach Café pic, I found myself enjoying the classic swoops of the bodywork and chrome and the comparatively Spartan appearance of the engine. There is a liberal application of chrome to the engine and the view from the rider’s seat is of one of the nicest looking front ends on a motorcycle. Yanking the handlebars up a few inches from standard helped them fit me nicely too. I had some of the air cooled V-twin crowd complain about the look of radiator. It’s one of those things that looks bigger in the pictures – I rarely notice it when I look at the bike and I found stopping to look at the bike was almost as pleasurable as riding it. The stopping is taken care of by a combination of Twin Nissin front and Brembo rear brakes. Good brakes. I put them and the rest of the package through their paces on a very enjoyable run through my standard Bombay Hills & Hunuas test loop. The open road manners are very pleasant. The machine is happy to just trundle along, or be ridden a little more aggressively – that leave it in third and hammer thing. It got quite a workout doing laps of Geoff during the photo shoot too. Pin it, ride past photog, brake hard, U-turn, pin and repeat. ‘It’s a happy sounding thing too!’ he said. It also makes a good urban weapon. It’s not as narrow as a Speedmaster for lane splitting duty and the handlebars are quite wide, but it’s manners are like the Speedmaster on steroids. Very comfortable to bang around town and I had some excellent waterfront cruises as well. Physically it’s more Speedmaster than Rocket III. It’s a low machine and the seat height is a mere 700mm. A big part of the marketing approach Triumph have taken with the bike are the customisation and accessory options. It almost harks back to the original Hinckley theme of turning one platform into several different bikes. There are full touring options, gel seats, luggage and screens available. Or you can turn it into a power cruiser with the factory 1700cc kit, which ups the power output to 100hp. The full range of accessories and options are on Triumph’s funky ‘Create my Triumph’ web site. You get there from triumph.co.uk/nz. I’m also keen to try on the new ‘Brando replica Jacket.’ Crossed pistons and all. After a week putting the bike through its paces, put me down as a big fan of the new T’bird. I understand why Triumph are crowing about all the awards and accolades the machine has won. A bit like the classic shot of Brando with that Trophy. Don’t jump on one thinking it’s a sports bike, it’s still has cruiser clearances, but it’s very tidy and very trustworthy till it reaches them. It’s great looking and a great feeling bike to ride – both physically and emotively, its original namesake is steeped in bike lore. Black is $29,990, Blue and White or Silver & Black are $24,590 and ABS adds about a grand. Check with your dealer for availability. I was talking to Patrick at AMPS about that, and we also talked about some of the history and the ‘greatness’ of the Thunderbird name. ‘You know, at it’s peak the Meriden factory made around 49,500 bikes per annum. Last year Hinckley made 52,000.’ That’s great for starters. I also think the Silver T’bird is one of the bikes the Fonz would ride today. He’d customise it a bit and strip it down some but this is one coooool bike. Demos are at your local Triumph dealer now and I thoroughly recommend a spin. I wonder in 59 years time will they be saying ‘Big Dave rode a T’bird’? See: Aussies, deluded. | ||
| Sparky |
What does the fine print say at the bottom of the Buell Wings ad? | ||
| Danger_dave |
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