Today, while the latest Bonnevilles – all 10 of them, ranging from 900 to 1200cc and from Bobber to Scrambler to café racer and more – dominate Triumph’s range and form the backbone of its brand, the original Thunderbird 900 remains an in-demand used buy with good examples easily fetching £4K-plus. The T-bird had not only proven that retro Triumphs were a good idea – although Triumph can’t actually claim to have come up with the retro idea, per se, being predated by Kawasaki’s Zephyrs in 1990 – it had helped define the company’s whole style and attitude. A sportier version, the Thunderbird Sport, came in 1997 while the more basic, affordable Legend TT was introduced in 1998.Īnd although the Thunderbird 900 would live on for almost a decade, right up to 2004, as the new Millennium approached, with Triumph established in the US and profitability and the new Bonneville on the horizon, it’s job had been done. That success, plus that, to a lesser degree, of its more extreme cruiser sister, the Adventurer, led to further incarnations: in 1996 it got a cheaper, oval swing arm with other changes in 19. Although later versions showed signs of cost-cutting, the original 1995 T-bird boasted proper polished alloy engine cases rather than chrome and its wheel rims were pukka alloy Akronts not the later chromed steel.Īnd the result, as Triumph hoped for, proved a big success Stateside, fuelled further by its appearance in the Pamela Anderson film Barb Wire. Nor did Triumph scrimp on its new ‘baby’s spec. Classic ‘pea-shooter’ exhaust pipes were added there was a new, bespoke ‘teardrop’ fuel tank and matching bench seat while wheels were wires. Externally it was all new, too, with more curvaceous engine cases and cylinders which, while still water-cooled, were intended to resemble the air-cooled ‘Trumpets’ of yore. So, although the ‘T-bird’s basic frame and engine architecture were Trident, everything else was brand new: The 900 triple was not only detuned for more cruiser-style torque, it was given a lazier, five-not-six speed gearbox. It wasn’t a coincidence.Īnd although the Thunderbird would, like the Speed Triple, be based on Triumph’s already popular 900 triple, in this case the Trident 900, for this key model the Hinckley firm also went far, far further in terms of customising and getting the look ‘just right’. By 2000, with the launch of its second retro, the popular Bonneville 800, it broke even for the first time. By 1995, Triumph was making 12,000 bikes a year. Although Triumph’s relaunch was a success following John Bloor’s purchase of the name and manufacturing rights after Meriden’s collapse in 1983 and its subsequent relaunch with six all-new, modern, modular machines at the 1990 Cologne Show, in the early 1990s production numbers were still very small and its range of bikes conspicuously conservative – bland even.īy 1993 the Hinckley factory had yet to build its 10,000th bike (today it regularly makes 60,000 annually) and its Trophy, Daytona and Trident models, though worthy and robust, were considered fairly dreary – particularly in the vital overseas markets.īut a change in direction in 1992 plus important new facilities such as an in-house paint shop, would not only result in a series of more characterful models (first the Tiger 900 in 1993, then the Speed Triple in 1994 then, crucially, the Thunderbird in 1995) but would also help fuel a boost in sales and production that totally transformed the company.
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