I think Triumph has a great lineup. I would consider trading my Nightster for a Street Triple, especially if it had the Arrow 3 into 1 exhaust and a Tuneboy. Awesome little streetfighter.
As for triumph cruisers I have heard good things about the Tbird. The Rocket has plenty of torque but its a little heavy for me.
The Sprint is a great sport cruiser as is the Tiger. I wouldn't mind having either one. I don't think theres a Harley, except for the Vrod that will run with either of them.
That being said if i had a Night Rod SE I wouldn't trade it for ANY other bike.

 

Edwin,

Triumph hasn't made a 650cc Bonneville since the early 1970s. If your Bonne had fuel injection, it was probably an 865cc engine (2009 model, or thereabouts). And...plastic? What plastic are you talking about? I've always thought that bike was a very cool retro remake.

 

I know what you mean. I grew up riding Tigers and Bonnies. So that kind of established my mental image of what "motorcycle" is. Thus, my Harley of choice is a Sportster, which is as light and nimble as Harleys go.

Still have a '71 XS650, which is a Yamaha copy of a Tiger (and designed by ex-Triumph engineers). In many ways, the XS650 is a better Triumph than a real Triumph

But now that I'm older, I appreciate the stretched out cruiser. I'd really like to add one to the stable.

As much as I like the RKC, that Thunderbird looks nice. Get the 1700 kit, ABS, a windshield, backrest/rack, and leather bags, and then it costs about what a RKC costs.

But I've never seen one in person

 

I've ridden a few Triumphs. They're good, just not my preference. Too smooth, no excitement.

 

You are right about the 865CC. I can not remember what year it was; but compared to a Sportie, it didn't have any soul. Plus, I like belt drive better

 

Well the old trumpets used british standard, or "Sir Whitworth" hardware. My last Triumph was a Hinckley Triumph, 99 T-Bird Sport. It was certainly metric. Meaning the hardware, etc was metric. I think to some the term "metric" means Japanese bike.

 

Bonnevilles where made up till 84 when Truimph finally clossed it's doors and sold the rights to a new company . I had an 82 or 83 Triumph Thunderbird which was a single carb 650 twin at that time . It was the same color as the one in the pic I'v included . At present besides my Harley I have a 1970 BSA 650 dual carb model . Triumphs where and are nice bikes and I wish I'd kept mine to have along with my Harley . The problem with them is the same as with Indian and some other brands , although they are nice bikes and good bikes there is no dealer networks for support if you are touring and have any problems . There are so many dealers and also a strong network of GOOD backyard mechanics for Harley's that touring or traveling anywhere with one means you have the greatest chance of getting repairs or parts IF needed . Any bike no matter what make CAN have a breakdown and to me being able to deal with that when far from home is VERY inportant .

 

Actually, with all that, a Thunderbird costs $16,700, according to the Triumph USA site.

 

I like the "new" Bonnevilles and TT models. The 3 Cylinder is just too ugly for me, but the comparison to a Boss Hoss is appropriate.

If I was looking for a little bike, I'd consider a Bonneville, but I'd probably buy a Sportster for about the same money.

 

Interesting note on the Triumph 800cc p-twin used in the Bonneville and Triumph's small cruisers like the American. They use a balanced crank shaft (cylinders are 180 opposite one another) in the version of the engine used on the Bonneville lineup (each cylinder fires every 360 degrees opposite of the other) but in their cruisers that use the same engine, the crank shaft is modified to an unbalanced configuration (cylinders are not quite 180 opposite of one another (i think the ignition sequence is something like ~280 degrees). This is done to give the exhaust note a more HD Vtwin sound at the cost of increased vibration and slight loss in power. Like some things Harley do function is less important than style