The 1,597cc engine produced 85 horsepower and 146Nm of torque which no small feat or something to be sneered at. This was the first time a belt final drive had been used since the 1920’s, but Triumph could no longer argue with the reliability, low maintenance benefits from using a belt over a chain. It was mated to a six speed transmission, fitted with quiet helical gears and belt final drive. However, as it turned out the only parts in common were the valves, the rest was all new a liquid-cooled, DOHC, four valves per cylinder engine. Initially the engine used in the new model was intended to be a modular unit essentially two out of three cylinders from the Rocket 3. The Thunderbird 1600 had a production run until 2016. The clear signal from Triumph Motorcycles was that the British are here with the new Thunderbird and we are not only going to compete but we are going to give you such a good bike it can’t be denied. The best way to do that was to take the idea of the Triumph America 865cc already in existence and make it bigger, a lot bigger.Īt the time of its release the Thunderbird 1600 was equipped with the largest parallel twin engine in production. In order to compete with the big boys like Harley Davidson in the cruiser world and target the US audience particularly, Triumph knew they needed a heavyweight cruiser that had impressive power, was rider friendly, looked the business and sounded awesome. The sole aim of the Triumph Thunderbird 1600 was to bridge the gap between the smaller 865cc America and the super sized 2,294cc Rocket 3.
I don’t think Triumph care too much as they continue to produce unconventional cruisers and the public continue to buy them. For that we have to give them credit as let’s face it, the lack of a V twin will certainly prevent some very traditional cruiser riders from considering a Triumph.
Triumph Motorcycles are one of the very few manufacturers to continuously produce cruisers without bowing to the pressure of using a V twin engine.
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