Triumph is redesigning a legend

It shouldn't a surprise so far to any of us that Triumph has created a brand new bike for 2010 that will shut some mouths but that will also create some controversy around it. This is the bike, the 2010 Triumph Thunderbird.

It sports an engine capable of crusing and dragging as far as I can see from its numbers. The biggest parallel twin in history is a 1600cc with 84bhp that can be even increased up to 1700cc by a kit also designed by Triumph.

With this move, Triumph has clearly gone to the Harley Davidson range as producing a bike so similar in numbers can only lead to an attack to the USA market, which is a piece of cake to everyone, that's for sure. But this model has existed for far longer that the new parallel twin as it was Steve McQueen's bike in The Great Scape. The bike has obviously had many changes since them.

For many Triumph fans, the name Thunderbird, however, refers to a more sporty bike rather than a cruiser and there were instant reactions on the web whether the guys form Hinckley have gone mad or something like this. To see what are their base we just have to look the Thunderbird before this new one.

From my personal point of view, I think the bike is superb. Despite the fact of the name, the bike looks awesome and I'm willing to ride it. To be honest, it could become my next bike as it is in the exact range that I am looking for and the price is not a Harley price. It seems this bike is one of the most well balanced cruisers in the market and it allows cornering easier than others. The parallel twin will also be noticed in a cloned V-Twin bike world. Wanna see some more, you can check Triumph's site.

The bike mounts a 200mm rear tyre, lots of original accesories and looks pretty well. As I see it, it would be more authentic to have a Bonneville, but with my great passion for the Bigger is Better theory, and having the Rocket III so far out of my reach this bike could represent the best of the old café racers -never forget is a Triumph and even being a cruiser, it will be one of the fastest cruisers- and a Harley without their typical problems.