Sorry, great reviews aside, the T'bird just does not compare and I believe that it will not handle as well as the Rock when equally tossed around.
I agree to a point with the Rocket handling better than the Thunderbird in most situations.
I rode both the Rocket Roadster and the Thunderbird (standard. non-big bore) the day I bought my Roadster. It's been about three months, but since I don't have much to occupy my down time, I think about it often. I tested both bikes for several miles even on the freeway for a mile or two. No supervision. I flogged them both. Here are my takes:
The Thunderbird:
First, GREAT bike. Feels smooth, more power than I expected, and more ground clearance than expected. I was not able to get the nerve to go wide open in first on the test for two reasons. One, I was used to sport bikes and it hit redline too quick to hit WOT and still be smooth about it. Didn't want to break traction or tear my hands off the bars. It's got enough power to do that. Two, I didn't need WOT in first. It got up to speed fast enough to quench my desire. Still, the power would not last as well as hoped in later gears. Not that it felt anemic, just that I hoped for that same torque to be linear through the power band. As I've heard before, the brakes ARE a little on the soft side. It just didn't have the bite I had hoped for. I wasn't really riding it to write a review, so that's all I remember about the brakes. The cornering was enough to only scrape the pegs in parking lot quick turns and coming out of driveways onto a busy street. Didn't feel I needed to lean it far enough to scrape on normal right turns on main streets. Either I didn't have the chance to carry enough speed to scrape or the corners allowed for enough run out. The one significant gripe may have to do with the suspension set up. When exiting a corner with a lot of lean angle, if you then quickly change to the opposite lean angle, you tend to feel like the front tire was going to jump off the ground. Don't know how else to describe that. In conclusion, I'd call the thunderbird a great bike with everything you'd expect and more. I would, however, go for the big bore, just to have the most power possible. The power may not offset the price, but for me, I'd add more power to it until I couldn't add parts anymore and wish I had the extra cc's to get the most power possible.
The Roadster:
I fell in love with it when I first saw it. Flat black. Less Chrome, Classic twin headlights. I followed the Rocket from the first spy pics back in the day. Loved it, but never saw myself owning one. Just too much money. I thought it would be a fun novelty, but not much more. I can't remember ever seeing one in person. Seeing this one in person changed everything. Even though it has what looks to be radar absorbing paint, it caught my eye. I pretended not to be interested, but the salesman knew I was taking it home from the minute I saw it. He convinced me to take a test ride even though they usually only allow that if you've already done the credit check. Ok, that is a free ticket to floggingsville. I was immediately put off by the exhaust tone. (It opened up the more I rode it, but brand new it sounds like it's being strangled.) But that's easily fixed with aftermarket. The next most noticeable quirk was how much the torque was translated into bike roll when reving it while stationary. The bike counters that while moving, but it's fun to rev and make the bike rock at a light. It made me giggle on many occasions. There is more ground clearance on the roadster than the pre 2010, but I had no problem taking about 30% of the feeler off within 10-15 miles. Not that I kept scraping due to clearance issues, I would scrape only because I was trying to feel the difference of that fat tire "rolling" into tight turns. I was able to scrape so much due to the confidence the bike gave me. It feels very planted to the ground no matter what the angle. I did not experience the same "jumping" feeling when transitioning from one lean to the other rapidly Like I did on the T-Bird. Most likely due to the weight of the bike, or the suspension being set up more for my body type. I don't have to write much about the power of this thing. Let's just say you won't have more fun in a straight line on any other bike from Triumph (or HD, or any cruiser, or anything less than a purpose built drag bike). Conclusion for the Roadster. I bought it within an hour of seeing it. And I didn't even know the Roadster existed before I got there.
One more note. I am 6'8". Even with the sportier set up on the Roadster, I was able to fit comfortably. Again, may be due to my sport bike roots. The thunderbird would have needed forward controls beyond stock for me to be interested in owning it.
I hope everyone else's experiences are as good as mine.
Vink
