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2011 Triumph Thunderbird Storm Review
 

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2011 Triumph Thunderbird Storm Review

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Gee a new 1700cc motorcycle that manages to look like a 1972 Honda CB350 in 1 & 1/2 scale, painted with a flat black rattle can. The boys from Hinkley have another winner!

Bah! You haven't met a new motorcycle you've liked since 1979! ;)

Interesting it gains 12hp with a mere 100cc bore job and a cam swap. I bet there is more going on - my guess is the stock T-Bird's narrower bore "shouds" the valves a bit. The DRZ400 I own has the same phenomenon - a small bore increase to 435cc on that bike frees up quite a bit of power.

In the end who cares why (except geeks like me). 97hp is pretty darn impressive and meaty. No doubt this chunk of cruiser is a solid and satisfying ride. It is a comparative bargain too.

I looked over a T-Bird in a parking lot. The engine is quite an impressive thing to behold. Liking the twin headlight carryover from the bad boy Speed Triple too. Now that is a bike for me to drool over.

Well played Triumph!

Well, it ain't no 64hp Fatboy........

No, that's not true Mr. Duke, I loved my '87 CR500R (the BEST year btw).

My '05 City X was OK when it wasn't wet fouling spark plugs....

And my '10 Honda Chair is thrilling to say the least...

A 2010 Honda Chair? Haven't you come up with a tweaked and BNG'd '11 version yet? :)

Thank you for tossing in the Gratuitous Burnout Photo. No cruiser review is complete without one! But, the photo of the bike at angle with it's undercarriage exposed shows your clear sportbike bias.

Any idea how many of these beasts Triumph hopes to sell here? If I were looking at a "cruiser" from them, I'd be much more interested in the Bonneville or it's bretheren. They're true to the Triumph heritage, and not a HD knock-off/wannabe.

"...The handrails are made of magnesium; giving the chair a 1/2-ounce weight reduction for better cornering..."

"...The front wheels demonstrated a great deal of 'grocery-cart jittering' until we bolted on some custom steering dampers..."

Yes, the front casters did the "shopping cart jitters" when coming back down from a wheelie, so I just snugged up the bolt a bit, no more "shopping cart flop". You must be a mind reader....and the chair is Ti, not Magnesium. I can get a good hole-shot on any motorcycle across an intersection, since 7 horsepower in a 13 lb chair is about the same power-to-weight ratio as an M8F Maclaren.