Motorcycle Triumph Thunderbird 900 Sport 1998 review

This article is about the Triumph motorcycle, produced from 1995 to 2004.
For other motorcycles bearing the Thunderbird name, see Triumph Thunderbird (disambiguation). Triumph Thunderbird 900

The Triumph Thunderbird 900

A British motorcycle which was produced between 1995 and 2004 by Triumph Motorcycles at the Hinckley plant.
The Triumph Thunderbird 900, launched in 1995, was designed to give the appearance of an air-cooled triple combustion chamber, although the radiator at the front shows that it is clearly a liquid-cooled machine.[1] The engine was equipped with three 36mm carburetors with flat calipers, lively and easily handled all riding styles. In 1996, the rocker arm was upgraded to an oval shape; in 1997, chrome plastic radiator caps and grille became standard along with chrome engine covers. In 1998, the "king and queen" seat was added as an option, the Triumph 900cc Adventurer, the first variation of the popular Triumph Thunderbird 900 triple model with custom styling and additional chrome plating.
Several variants were released, namely the Triumph Legend TT, Triumph Adventurer 900 and the "classic" Triumph Thunderbird 900 and then the Triumph Thunderbird Sport, which produced 82 hp. (61 kW), had a second front disc and a six-speed gearbox. The engines are the same 885cc triples. The Thunderbird was produced until 2003 and the Thunderbird Sport until 2004.[2]

Triumph Thunderbird Sport

Introduced in late 1997, it was a sportier version of the Thunderbird 900 with power increased to 82 hp. (61 kW) at 8,500, with 36 mm Keihin flat-bar carburetors and a six-speed transmission.

There were also slight design changes, including a "cheese grater" air filter, dual front disc brakes and a fully adjustable sport suspension, as well as dual mufflers on one side. His style was intended to be reminiscent of the early 1970s. Triumph X-75 Hurricane.

A six-speed transmission was used on all later Thunderbird variants along with Keihin carburetors. Earlier Mikuni carburetors initially suffered from premature needle and jet wear in the first year of production; this was corrected shortly after the plant recall. All later model Thunderbirds with 150 mph (240 km/h) speedometers and Keihin carburetors were required to have six-speed transmissions and chrome engine cases.

Review of Triumph Thunderbird LT (2014)

Hi all.

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We will be talking specifically about the 1.7 L Triumph Thunderbird LT model.

Lately I've started to seriously doubt the meaning of writing reviews of cars. Four-wheeled vehicles, over time, become so faceless and identical in appearance and design that a simple understanding of this sameness is enough to easily choose a car. We just estimate how much money we have for this piece of iron with 4 wheels, and just buy what we like for that amount. Everything else is secondary or pure marketing and advertising. The problem is true when there is not enough money for “what the eye likes” or there is no understanding at all that the “eye” is simply looking at the wrong price segment of four-wheeled vehicles. But this is already from the field of psychology.

With motorcycles the story is somewhat different. They are still seriously different, both structurally and in their characteristics. And the most important thing is that you feel this difference literally immediately from the first meters of movement in a very important part of your body, and it is precisely for this reason that no reviews and reviews of numerous motorcycle bloggers will help you in choosing your motorcycle, no matter how diligently they swear or insert this idiotic “must have”, apparently hinting that they might ask you to smoke in English. This motorcycle is exactly the type that is impossible to choose for yourself based on some reviews - you need to try it on the move. It either suits you or it doesn't suit you at all. It either becomes a natural extension of your arms and legs or it doesn’t. I assure you, you will understand this quite quickly, after riding, and without the advice of various outsiders.

I assume that people lighter than 70 kg will not be comfortable handling it when maneuvering in place when parking, or rather leaving the parking lot. At low speeds (near walking speeds), steering control can be called somewhat difficult due to the wide front wheel, and therefore control in such modes will require a little more effort and skill, getting used to it. But you will feel how thanks to such a front wheel the moped is much more stable, for example, when crossing tram rails, even at an acute angle of direction of this intersection, and absorbs uneven asphalt much more comfortably.

On the way home, I have several places where I am forced to cross wide tram rails (the rails themselves are laid inside some kind of metal structure, which together makes it three times wider than the tram rails themselves) at an acute angle in a smooth turn of the road and even swerve the front wheel immediately before hitting the rails is often not possible - on other motorcycles with the front wheel, I already know that at this point I will already be habitually moved off the trajectory and am ready for this - this motorcycle passes absolutely stably as if there were no rails at all. This is a very comfortable motorcycle to ride and control. Most likely, this is its main quality - it just handles great in the city and is exceptionally comfortable and stable on the highway. Among motorcycles of this type, it definitely has one of the best, perhaps the best and most comfortable suspension for our poor-quality roads. But naturally, it will not perform miracles and will not make the dilapidated asphalt surface feel satisfactory. It is, after all, intended for driving on asphalt roads, and not in directions where islands of preserved asphalt indicate where the road once was. A very comfortable seat - you will immediately feel it. Served according to the manufacturer's instructions. Mileage is about 15 thousand. The existing cases with bags inside are quite convenient and can be easily removed (but for this you will have to heroically unscrew 2 screws). Among the design features would be the fact that there is no solid frame under the motor and you cannot place the jack anywhere; there are special places for this. This, to put it mildly, complicates the repair of, for example, a punctured rear wheel. Since, of course, there is no central stand and hanging the wheel without a jack, somewhere on the road it will be very difficult, but in an open field it is not possible. Spoke wheels are beautiful - but, in this sense, not practical. After all, they naturally have cameras. In the city, of course, there are no problems with a puncture - just take it to a tow truck and a tire shop. And in the open field, to repair a puncture, you need to remove the wheel. The alternative is to make it tubeless (there are special kits for sealing spoked wheels for this purpose), or use a repair spray supposedly intended for tube wheels. I haven’t used either one or the other - I can’t say anything.

The appearance of the motorcycle fully corresponds to its essence - the only modern systems are ABS and fuel injection (for some, liquid cooling is also possible). For a person who has experience in servicing at least some motorcycle, it will not be difficult to service it himself. With only modest advice - if this service experience does not have an established habit of using torque wrenches, it is better to start it and tighten EVERYTHING with the torque according to the table from the manufacturer's manual. In all other respects, this is really just an iron, heavy, simple motorcycle with the appearance it could have had 100 years ago, and something your grandfather could ride on. Everything that still comes to mind about this motorcycle is rather biased personal information of an emotional nature only confirming doubts - discussing motorcycles is like discussing young ladies (well, for young ladies, respectively, their men), it’s pointless. If this is YOUR motorcycle, here and now in every sense - accept our congratulations and no discussions are needed! If you haven’t found it yet for some reason, congratulations, being on a search of this kind is often no less interesting.

Good luck to everyone on the roads!

References

1. Kemp, Andrew; De Sete (2004). Classic British Bicycles
   . Mirko. Bookmart LLC ISBN 978-1-86147-136-9.
2. "Triumph Thunderbird 900". Retrieved September 1, 2008.
3. ^ a b
   “History of Motorcycles |
   Hollywood". The Ultimate Motorsport
   . February 3, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
4. "BBC News | ENTERTAINMENT | Fat women's bike sold." news.bbc.co.uk.
   _ Retrieved January 7, 2021.

One of the most... long-drawn-out upgrades to my Thunderbird is the front brakes and forks, but in order. The front brake on the Triumph Thunderbird 900 is only one 320 mm, two pistons. Both Russian-language reviews note the insufficiency of this. The bike was in “replacement brake discs” condition.

Having slowly skated last summer, I began to think “what to do.” There were two options: 1. “collective farm” something not native: selecting a disc for the Triumph hub, a brake support for mounting on the feathers, a car.

2. install brakes from Triumph Thunderbird Sport, which had two 310 mm discs in its arsenal. It was immediately clear that at least a replacement would be required - the front wheel or its hub - the front fork, at least the lower part of the stays

Since I am a very inexperienced “mechanic”, I didn’t want to make irreversible changes, i.e. “sawing down” the original feathers was not an option. The projapan review did not like the appearance of the plastic expansion tank from the sport at all. An additional factor was that aluminum, incl. fork feathers, looked very tired. Some of the parts were clearly painted with silver spray.

The case was resolved; feathers (bent crowbars) and a central hub appeared for sale on eBay at the same time.

Total purchases for the start - wheel hub - used stays with damaged TTSport crowbars - two brake discs + pads - a set of new bolts (the easiest way was to order titanium ones from the UK) - twin brake calipers with a splitter and a TTSport machine - fork repair kit - traverse repair kit

The total is less than the assembled fork, but not significantly.

We get the components, re-spoke the wheel (a more experienced comrade swears dirty at the “weaving” pattern of the spokes, which is different from the Japanese ones he’s used to)

We disassemble the stays (the TTSport has a cartridge-adjustable one, unlike the original one), adapt the original crowbars to the TTSport mechanisms, grind the “stay cups” (and the rest of the aluminum), cover them with aviation varnish (about this in a separate post), assemble them, we remain unsatisfied with the travel and stiffness of the suspension

we redo the wing mount (TTSport has a diameter of 17" as opposed to 18" for TT900, the height of the cups is accordingly different), we buy crowbars from the XJR1200 (TT900 620 mm, TTSport 630 mm, XJR 640 mm), we sort out the feathers again

we assemble it, we find that the length of the speedometer cable is not enough, since the TTSport has a “snail” on the right, and the TT900 had one on the left, I buy it from some Honda (?VTX), print the screw mount on a 3D printer, glue the cable

I screw it on, the speedometer works, but it doesn’t quite rotate in the other direction

I assume (consulting with English speakers) that the problem is in the speedometer itself, and not in the snail, I order from Trophy, it doesn’t fit, I order the snail, I install it.

Finally, everything works, albeit with an error (Trophy has a 17" wheel)