You and I want the same bike! Just exactly what I would like.
Triumph 2009: Thunderbird med 1600-twin
- Thread starter DaveM
- Start date
Help Support Triumph Motorcycle Forum:
I just wish they'd have copied my speedy tank shape and paint scheme. It looks sleek and fits well into the cruiser scheme, and even tho it has a tank console or nacelle whatever it's called it still looks british and it has the speedo up front. They could have done that and pleased all the current triumph cruiser owners. But it's just further proof we aren't the demographic they Are targeting.
But this is kinda funny because of all the "oh it looks like a HD" comments.....consider this...theres a couple things i'm happy about tho which i never cared much for on my speedmaster. They did away with the HD looking battery sticking out one side and put a side cover there. That pleases me to no end. Always felt the side with the side cover looked much better, plus the less it looks like a harley the better. And tho i kinda liked the looks of the fork shrouds, they did look too HD to me and i'm glad to see the 1600 has none.
So think about that ! Here we have a ton of people complaining about how HD it looks over at the BA forum especially, yet everyone there owns a speedmaster or america with both those HD style details that the 1600 DOESN'T have ! i think personally the 1600 looks LESS HD like than the 900 cruisers overall. They both look a bit that way, but the shrouds to me scream HD as does the battery sticking out the side. The tank to me doesn't really look HD except for the console. the shape if you look at it from the rear tapers down so that at the seat it's very narrow. HD tanks are wide all the way to the seat, barely tapering much at all. In short, i think a nice brit looking paint scheme like the speedys would make it look less HD then a 900 cruiser.
But this is kinda funny because of all the "oh it looks like a HD" comments.....consider this...theres a couple things i'm happy about tho which i never cared much for on my speedmaster. They did away with the HD looking battery sticking out one side and put a side cover there. That pleases me to no end. Always felt the side with the side cover looked much better, plus the less it looks like a harley the better. And tho i kinda liked the looks of the fork shrouds, they did look too HD to me and i'm glad to see the 1600 has none.
So think about that ! Here we have a ton of people complaining about how HD it looks over at the BA forum especially, yet everyone there owns a speedmaster or america with both those HD style details that the 1600 DOESN'T have ! i think personally the 1600 looks LESS HD like than the 900 cruisers overall. They both look a bit that way, but the shrouds to me scream HD as does the battery sticking out the side. The tank to me doesn't really look HD except for the console. the shape if you look at it from the rear tapers down so that at the seat it's very narrow. HD tanks are wide all the way to the seat, barely tapering much at all. In short, i think a nice brit looking paint scheme like the speedys would make it look less HD then a 900 cruiser.
Maybe we just have a different take on HD this side as we see so few of them but I did not even notice those factors about my Speedy. For me it is the way I feel when I look sit and ride a bike. I don’t care if people think it may look like something else. It is what I like that counts.
Absolutly. I was never really bothered much by the shrouds because i think they look good. But because they are a HD detail on some of those big ol' hogs, i would have preferred it not have them. The battery thing however is one of the few speedy details i never liked. But yeah, even if either bike looked a lot like a HD to me, all that really matters is how i feel about it. And the speedmaster talked to me right from the start. I'm mainly just commenting on how hypocritical those guys at BA are and some of the RAT people too.
It does not look like my HD. To me it looks a lot more japanese cruiser
http://gallery.me.com/gplapple#100209
http://gallery.me.com/gplapple#100209
The first thing my buddy who doesn't even ride and was puzzled when i showed him the pic and told him people are saying it looks like a HD was, "the Effing thing has a parallel twin !!! It looks nothing like any V twin". Well, i think he's right on. I think the rest has a few details that look a bit like a HD and a bit like a jap cruiser, but only because it IS A CRUISER ! Like someone said, "it's a cruiser....you can only go so far in making it look unique before it's no longer a cruiser". someone at RAT tried to make the point by saying to draw a silhouette around the 1600 and a HD and the silhouettes will look the same. My response is so will most every sportbike including a triumph if you did the same thing. I just don't think it looks any more like a HD or jap cruiser than any cruiser looks like another. sailboats will always look more like each other than cabin cruisers too untill you jam a sail in the cabin cruiser. But then it won't be a cabin cruiser.
I really don’t get this Harley thing with this new bike and that lot. So if it were a direct copy of one of the Harley bikes if you like it you like it so what does it matter in any event. If Triumph had to come out with a V twin like Harley to me it would still be a British designed bike and if I liked it I would get it. When will some people realize it is not that make of bike but what runs in your blood. I bet there are plenty HD riders that are more hard core bikers than a lot of these guys that are shouting the odds about it being a HD clone. If they are so worried about it being a clone then I would suggest they all sell there parallel twins as they are all in fact a clone of an original Triumph in any event.
OMG I ride a clone
I will just have to sell and get a Honda 
:y24:
OMG I ride a clone
I will just have to sell and get a Honda :y24:
Lets face it, the people i'm talking about are so mindless they really don't know what they want. They are controlled by what other say and they look at the bike and see the console and hear another guy ion their forum say it looks like a harley so they follow that lead and start bashing it. You watch and mark my words....once this bike hits the showroom floor and these morons get a close up look and a ride they will all be singing a different tune and many of them will buy one and eat their words. It happened with the R3 to a degree, and this bike is a lot easier to swallow than the R3's incredibly different looking engine. mark my words. I should start copying and pasting their posts into a text file to save right now so i can shove their words in their faces in a year or 2 when many of them own the "harley/jap/boring" bike they are now slamming left and right ! 
It is going to be an interesting time until it finally hits the showroom. Plenty of time for people to rip it apart and as you say the stories will all change then.
My dealer went to England for the meeting and took a whole bunch of photos of the 1600 but I couldn't talk him out of the disc. But I did see some pics of the 3 versions. One was a solo seat set up with drag bars. the other had pull back relaxed bars and more chrome and the third was set up sorta like the R3 touring. He took pics of the 3 prototype engine serial numbers, somebody might run into one of those some day and wonder why it say's prototype 1 instead of a serial number. Unfortunately they had the bikes fastened down so you could not balance them or rock them to get a feel. The seats did sit lower that the 900's and were definatly smaller than the rocket but would not give specs, seat heights, weights or anything specific. He joked that the engines could of been modeling clay or something like that, for all they knew. Like Dave said, time to wait.
mike
mike
Wow, great info, thanks !!! I especially like the part about there being 3 versions, something that has been speculated on many forums but this is the first non-rumor version of that i've heard. The one with drag bars and solo seat is especially thrilling to me because drag bars would have been the first thing i would have done to mine, and a solo seat too. Of course that just entails removing the pillion unless you mean a gunfighter or something other than simple pillion removal. anyways, this has me really excited. But what i wouldn't give for that disc !
I don't think it looks like a HD at all, Triumphs have their uniqe look.
[quote author=dazco link=topic=766.msg5177#msg5177 date=1217480961]
The first thing my buddy who doesn't even ride and was puzzled when i showed him the pic and told him people are saying it looks like a HD was, "the Effing thing has a parallel twin !!! It looks nothing like any V twin". Well, i think he's right on. I think the rest has a few details that look a bit like a HD and a bit like a jap cruiser, but only because it IS A CRUISER ! Like someone said, "it's a cruiser....you can only go so far in making it look unique before it's no longer a cruiser". someone at RAT tried to make the point by saying to draw a silhouette around the 1600 and a HD and the silhouettes will look the same. My response is so will most every sportbike including a triumph if you did the same thing. I just don't think it looks any more like a HD or jap cruiser than any cruiser looks like another. sailboats will always look more like tire each other than cabin cruisers too untill you jam a sail in the cabin cruiser. But car then it won't be a cabin cruiser.
[/quote]
[quote author=dazco link=topic=766.msg5177#msg5177 date=1217480961]
The first thing my buddy who doesn't even ride and was puzzled when i showed him the pic and told him people are saying it looks like a HD was, "the Effing thing has a parallel twin !!! It looks nothing like any V twin". Well, i think he's right on. I think the rest has a few details that look a bit like a HD and a bit like a jap cruiser, but only because it IS A CRUISER ! Like someone said, "it's a cruiser....you can only go so far in making it look unique before it's no longer a cruiser". someone at RAT tried to make the point by saying to draw a silhouette around the 1600 and a HD and the silhouettes will look the same. My response is so will most every sportbike including a triumph if you did the same thing. I just don't think it looks any more like a HD or jap cruiser than any cruiser looks like another. sailboats will always look more like tire each other than cabin cruisers too untill you jam a sail in the cabin cruiser. But car then it won't be a cabin cruiser.
[/quote]
