Boog
Traveling Story Teller
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2013
- Messages
- 8,487
- Location
- Dumfries, Virginia
- Ride
- 2014 R3T, RAMAIR, Full Viking Dual exhaust
I recently had the opportunity to ride the 2014 Thunderbird Commander. I spent around 8 hours in the saddle over two days time, which equates to a full tank of gas and right at 200 miles. I rode in the city, on the freeway and on the back roads around Northern Virginia. During the day, the temperature rose to 100F and the humidity was quite high yet the seat was comfortable. I did not get the chance to ride in the rain but I did get to ride after dark with good illumination. Overall, I give this bike a solid “A” for a grade as it is powerful and fun to ride.
My chance to ride this bike came when I needed to get new tires for my Rocket III Touring. Triumph Manassas loaned me the Commander, (any bike would have been fine but happily they gave me this new model). My first impression came at how similar the bike is to my Rocket; the grips and buttons are the same as those on my Touring model, the tank is only .1 gallon smaller, and the driver floor boards are the same. That is where the sameness ends though as the T-bird is quite a bit smaller, lighter and shorter than the R3T.
Since the Commander and the Rocket are not in the same class, I will compare the T-Bird to the Harley Davidson Road King. At 1700cc, the Commander matches the Road King’s displacement of 103 Cu In. The RK is a “V” Twin, but with the 270 degree crank, the Thunderbird sounds and feels like a “V” with its parallel twin. That ‘feel’ is nicer though as the T-Bird at idle does not have the same rough vibration that the 103 HD has. At city - highways speeds, I noticed that the mirrors on the Commander were slightly ‘buzzy’, which is consistent with what I have seen on the RK, so no difference there. Both bikes feel smooth on the road but the Commander feels tighter in the curves and feels like it pulls harder at speed than the Harley does. To be fare though, I have not road an RK without a windscreen and bags and this T-bird has neither, so the feel will be inherently different. The newer Harleys have a much-improved chassis from the ’07 and older models, but the Triumph still feels more solid. When it comes to stopping, both bikes are good, but I think once again that the T-Bird feels better than the current Road King.
The Road King and the Thunderbird have six-speed gearboxes but the T-Bird’s feels very solid and easy to move through both ways. The RK is clunky which has its own bit of character and both are easy to find neutral. Coming off a dead stop, I first thought the Commander was slightly weak, but with just a few revs, the 1700 cc parallel twin comes alive. The Harley has nice torque off the line but seems to lose its punch before the Triumph does. The T-Bird’s power band seems strong throughout. I do not have any scientific way to measure the seat-of-my-pants, but I believe that the Commander has a slightly better power to weight ratio than does the Road King.
This T-Bird is very fun to ride and is a tight little cruiser. Once I found the right feel for RPM, (there is no tachometer on this model), I found that I was smiling a lot; especially on the Virginia Byways with all their curves. I did not find its limits before reaching my own.
When I took my pretty pillion out for ice cream, I asked her what her thoughts were as compared to my Rocket. First, she needs the backrest to feel safe and the Commander hasn’t got one. (Bonus for me as this makes her hold on tighter to me). She didn’t like the passenger pegs since she has become accustomed to the floorboards on the R3T. And she felt they could have made the seat bigger for the passenger. (It fit her tiny derrière quite well in my opinion). In addition, she learned very quickly not to slide off when dismounting, as the exhaust pipes are unshielded as they are on the Rocket. With that said, she did admit that it was fun to try a different bike and that she thought I rode it faster than the Rocket, hmmm… She asked why the front-end came up so much as we took off each time; (I promise I never pulled the front wheel off the ground, but I bet it would come without too much effort).
As for the riders seat, I thought it was fantastic and fit my bum perfectly. I felt ‘planted’ and it kept me from wallowing around when switching from left to right in the twisties. With the temperature being so dang hot, I expected a good case of ‘monkey butt’ by the end of the day but it never happened; another hmmm. Maybe they could fit one to my bike later…
So far I have sang the T-Bird’s praises, but to make sure I don’t over do it, there are a couple of slight down marks. First, the left side transmission cover sticks out like the HD does. This gets hot after a few minutes and heats up the inner ankle area; maybe not as much as the HD, but it is not an issue on my Rocket. And, when one is walking the bike during stop and go traffic, that darn cover hits right on the calf muscle letting you know that your nervous system can still detect pain. Second, behind the headlight plate, I can see all sorts of colored wiring. I realize this is a small thing, but maybe they could hide them a little better; (the Storm has no such aluminum plate and no visible wiring). I have read a few folks do not like the front end look and have likened it to a ‘smashed crab’. Well, yeah it does have that look. However, from the rider seat, I love the view and frankly do not care what it looks like coming at folks as long as they can see me. If I owned this bike, I would paint that darn cover to match the bike though.
As evening fell, I noticed that the dual bug-eye headlights illuminated the ground a few feet in front of the bike, making me think they misdirected. However, as the darkness set in, I realized that the headlights actually reached out fairly well. Moreover, the bright lights did an even better job of showing the way further than the speed limit allows, thus I am pleased with their means of lighting my nighttime ride. I do believe I would go for the fog light addition I have on the Rocket, as they are great at pointing out deer in the ditches.
Ok, with that all said, time to come to Jesus. I dropped off the Commander and picked up my Rocket; oh, how sweet it was to climb aboard a big bike again. The power surged as I started it up letting me know that my soirée on the T-Bird was over. Slipping the clutch out and rolling away, I had to fight the urge to twist the go handle hard. As much as I enjoyed my ride on the Commander, I really did miss my Rocket.
My chance to ride this bike came when I needed to get new tires for my Rocket III Touring. Triumph Manassas loaned me the Commander, (any bike would have been fine but happily they gave me this new model). My first impression came at how similar the bike is to my Rocket; the grips and buttons are the same as those on my Touring model, the tank is only .1 gallon smaller, and the driver floor boards are the same. That is where the sameness ends though as the T-bird is quite a bit smaller, lighter and shorter than the R3T.
Since the Commander and the Rocket are not in the same class, I will compare the T-Bird to the Harley Davidson Road King. At 1700cc, the Commander matches the Road King’s displacement of 103 Cu In. The RK is a “V” Twin, but with the 270 degree crank, the Thunderbird sounds and feels like a “V” with its parallel twin. That ‘feel’ is nicer though as the T-Bird at idle does not have the same rough vibration that the 103 HD has. At city - highways speeds, I noticed that the mirrors on the Commander were slightly ‘buzzy’, which is consistent with what I have seen on the RK, so no difference there. Both bikes feel smooth on the road but the Commander feels tighter in the curves and feels like it pulls harder at speed than the Harley does. To be fare though, I have not road an RK without a windscreen and bags and this T-bird has neither, so the feel will be inherently different. The newer Harleys have a much-improved chassis from the ’07 and older models, but the Triumph still feels more solid. When it comes to stopping, both bikes are good, but I think once again that the T-Bird feels better than the current Road King.
The Road King and the Thunderbird have six-speed gearboxes but the T-Bird’s feels very solid and easy to move through both ways. The RK is clunky which has its own bit of character and both are easy to find neutral. Coming off a dead stop, I first thought the Commander was slightly weak, but with just a few revs, the 1700 cc parallel twin comes alive. The Harley has nice torque off the line but seems to lose its punch before the Triumph does. The T-Bird’s power band seems strong throughout. I do not have any scientific way to measure the seat-of-my-pants, but I believe that the Commander has a slightly better power to weight ratio than does the Road King.
This T-Bird is very fun to ride and is a tight little cruiser. Once I found the right feel for RPM, (there is no tachometer on this model), I found that I was smiling a lot; especially on the Virginia Byways with all their curves. I did not find its limits before reaching my own.
When I took my pretty pillion out for ice cream, I asked her what her thoughts were as compared to my Rocket. First, she needs the backrest to feel safe and the Commander hasn’t got one. (Bonus for me as this makes her hold on tighter to me). She didn’t like the passenger pegs since she has become accustomed to the floorboards on the R3T. And she felt they could have made the seat bigger for the passenger. (It fit her tiny derrière quite well in my opinion). In addition, she learned very quickly not to slide off when dismounting, as the exhaust pipes are unshielded as they are on the Rocket. With that said, she did admit that it was fun to try a different bike and that she thought I rode it faster than the Rocket, hmmm… She asked why the front-end came up so much as we took off each time; (I promise I never pulled the front wheel off the ground, but I bet it would come without too much effort).
As for the riders seat, I thought it was fantastic and fit my bum perfectly. I felt ‘planted’ and it kept me from wallowing around when switching from left to right in the twisties. With the temperature being so dang hot, I expected a good case of ‘monkey butt’ by the end of the day but it never happened; another hmmm. Maybe they could fit one to my bike later…
So far I have sang the T-Bird’s praises, but to make sure I don’t over do it, there are a couple of slight down marks. First, the left side transmission cover sticks out like the HD does. This gets hot after a few minutes and heats up the inner ankle area; maybe not as much as the HD, but it is not an issue on my Rocket. And, when one is walking the bike during stop and go traffic, that darn cover hits right on the calf muscle letting you know that your nervous system can still detect pain. Second, behind the headlight plate, I can see all sorts of colored wiring. I realize this is a small thing, but maybe they could hide them a little better; (the Storm has no such aluminum plate and no visible wiring). I have read a few folks do not like the front end look and have likened it to a ‘smashed crab’. Well, yeah it does have that look. However, from the rider seat, I love the view and frankly do not care what it looks like coming at folks as long as they can see me. If I owned this bike, I would paint that darn cover to match the bike though.
As evening fell, I noticed that the dual bug-eye headlights illuminated the ground a few feet in front of the bike, making me think they misdirected. However, as the darkness set in, I realized that the headlights actually reached out fairly well. Moreover, the bright lights did an even better job of showing the way further than the speed limit allows, thus I am pleased with their means of lighting my nighttime ride. I do believe I would go for the fog light addition I have on the Rocket, as they are great at pointing out deer in the ditches.
Ok, with that all said, time to come to Jesus. I dropped off the Commander and picked up my Rocket; oh, how sweet it was to climb aboard a big bike again. The power surged as I started it up letting me know that my soirée on the T-Bird was over. Slipping the clutch out and rolling away, I had to fight the urge to twist the go handle hard. As much as I enjoyed my ride on the Commander, I really did miss my Rocket.
