rocket3jjd

I went to my Triumph dealer today to get my first oil change on my rocket and I went out on the sales floor to kill time while waiting and my salesman came up and said hey Jeff whats up so I told him I was getting my first oil change and just killing time. He said well we got a black Thunderbird in do you want to kill some time taking it on a test ride ? Well seeing as I have nothing better to do sure, well keys are in it seeya later . Are you kidding I said and he said no seeya when you get back . So I took it and boy it is a fun little ride (only because I'm used to the rocket) it seemed small in physical size but most bikes do compared to the rocket. It has a nice thump thump to it and if they built it as a mid size cruiser they hit the mark it has nice power and it flickable compared to the Rocket . I brought it home and my brother went, what you bought another bike, and I said no there changing the oil in my Rocket and asked if I wanted to take it for a ride, and he just smiled . well to make a long story short I liked the new Thunderbird Im sure with the big bore kit it would be even more fun . I took it back to pick up my Rocket and they asked what I thought of it and I said it was fun but it's not a Rocket, thanks for letting me take it for a ride to kill time and he said no problem thats what we are here for . So I'm sorry to hear about all the problems people are having with there dealerships but I love mine . It seems all I have to do is sit on a bike and they say take it for a ride. I even tell them I'm not interested in buying one and they say thats ok take it anyway . I guess four Rockets in three years has its perks My two ,my brothers and our friends. Oh yeah first oil change and check $108.45 gotta love that.

xhdskip

congrats on that ride.
And on having a good dealer..

Sidecar Flip

..........and, a Reasonably priced oil change as well.

A new girl moved in across the street. I'd like to take her for a test ride but my wife most likely would not approve.

RocketDaryl

I went to local dealer tonight to check out the T-Bird. The Triumph rep brought two by for folks to check out. Nice looking bike for sure... It had a nice low end tone too. I'm think I'm pretty set on bikes for the time being, but I'd certainly give one a second look if I were in the market.

STRIPES

I am wanting to hear one run. I heard they have some sort of weird firing order like 270 degrees. Should make for a real nice potato sound.

Pig9r

Stripes - click this link but don't select your country until the sound loads.

Triumph Motorcycles - Thunderbird

Sidecar Flip

Interesting sound clip. The bike in the clip has a bit of decel pop, characteristic of the lean fuel injected emission compliant engines of today.

I see it has rather long intake runners and it looks as though the runners house the FI bodies unlike the faux carb bodies on the other vertical twins (Bonnie/Scrambler, etc).

Finally, it has a Gates Kevlar belt designed right here in Michigan north of Detroit at Gates' research and development center.

I'm not a fan of a cog drive belt. It's cheaper to produce than a drive shaft and without the inherent torque rise of a shaft or the maintenance of a chain, but I've never warmed to a belt drive. They all remind me of a Whizzer.

I think my Bonnie sounds better....and I have no decel pop.

RocketDaryl

They fired one of 'em up last night. It has a nice low end tone to it. There's no potato sound to it, however. It's basically the typical parallel (or vertical as some say) twin sound. The bike is layed out pretty nice. It seems (without riding it) to be very well balanced (I did mount the beast). One thing I noticed is the forward controls. I'm not a fan of forward controls as I feel it robs the rider of control the more forward the controls are (i.e. can't use the legs as much to aid throwing the beast into corners). That said, these were well placed for my size (5'10 with 32" inseam).

As far as belt drive, I prefer it over chain or shaft. Actually, shaft is my least favorite, although the final drive doesn't even enter the equation when I'm evaluating a bike, assuming it's well designed and works as it should. The only quirk about the Thunderbird drive is (according to the dealer) you have to have a special tool to adjust the primary drive. I'd like to tear into one myself, however, because what he described sounded like the typical HD adjuster (don't know if it's nylon like the HD or not, however). If so, any flathead screwdriver would work fine; just don't do what I did one time. I got in a hurry one night because I was meeting some fellas to go riding. I loosened the nut too much and it popped off as I was sliding the adjuster. I had to go fishing in the primary with the old telescoping magnet. It took me a while to fish it out; actually thought I was going to have to drain the primary and rip the cover off to locate it. Fortunately, I latched onto it about the time I was getting ready to give up.

Of course, I haven't actually seen the T-Bird adjuster so I could be wrong (wait, me? Wrong? Nah...) .

meanchuck

The 270 degree firing order is the same as a Ducati V-twin. Old Triumph twins are 360 degrees as were the 790 New Bonneville engines, the 865 New Bonnies and Americas are 270 degrees. The 270 firing order has a perfect primary balance (180 degree twins are as well) which will make the engine run smoother and have the ability to make more horsepower because you can reach higher rpms. Most of the Honda Shadow motors are like this as well and I think all the VTX are also 270 motors. The cylinders are set around 45 degrees but they use offset crank journals to get the other firing order.

Sidecar Flip

That explains why my '02 790 Centenial Edition sounds better than the '06 865. I knew there was a reason but I thought it had something to do with Taiwan and not firing order.

My 02 sounds sweet with '68 peashooters, no baffles and custom mandrel bent headers.