Triumph’s Harley-Davidson clone war

It will always be a balancing act. Triumph needs to stay in business so must move with the times. We love our Rockets and enjoy the uniqueness of them so really want Triumph to sell just enough of them to want to keep making them. Selling more T'Birds/taking share off HD could reduce Rocket volumes too and they become non viable. Tarting up a T'Bird could be both a blessing and curse.

My advice: look after your Rocket - it may be the last one you ever own - or choose your moment to upgrade to a newer one carefully as you might not get another chance.

I'm all for Triumph expanding their lines and taking a firmer hold of existing markets, but I feel like they would have a stronger market presence engineering more unique configurations. The current Thunderbird, despite generally holding to standard cruiser lines, has a character unlike its cousins in the Harley and Victory lineups, and I respect that.

I don't hate the idea of Triumph making more money, it's just a shame to think that duplication rather than innovation may be Triumphs new revenue building strategy.

As for the Rocket, I could possibly see Triumph boosting the MSRP and perhaps justifying it with some added features or power, but I doubt they'll abandon the R3 altogether anytime soon. It's one of their big show ponies and the MC press have given it a lot of love in shootouts and reviews.

My first disappointment with Triumph, was when they came out with the "new" twin engines, and changed the cranks, to give them a more "hardly" sound. Had no purpose other than that. Did nothing for performance. Ever notice that most of the hardly clones sound like a 2 cylinder briggs and stratton lawn mower engine. And when they first came out with the Rocket, yes, I too thought it was about the ugliest thing I had ever seen, Then I started seeing the youtube videos, etc. and thought, hummm, this "thing" looks VERY interesting. And after the price came down, I became VERY interested. I bought one! And there is nothing else out there like a Rocket, and I hope Triumph realizes that.