The tank-mounted instrument cluster displays speed prominently, a good thing in our repressive world. Standard warning lights are also present, as is a small tach for occasional consultation - you ride this baby by ear, leaving prominent rev counters and shift lights to a sportier world, thank you!

Speed is prominently displayed on the analog dial, with the smaller tach display at the bottom of the dial. The high mount means that you can check your speed by simply glancing down rather than leaning your head forward.

The slightly feet-forward position means that you cannot easily take your weight off the seat when going over bumps, but it does leave enough leverage on the bars to allow you to jump up a little and take the edge off a bigger hit on really bad roads. The obligatory low look means that the seat is down there, a mere 700mm off the deck, which in turn means that mounting the steed does not require the flexibility of a high kicking Thai boxer.

I found two small faults in the seating arrangement. My legs ended up splayed enough to catch too much (Cold) wind during my day-long country ride. Second, the rear of the seat turns up at a gradual angle that places a little too much weight on your tailbone and not enough on the more padded part of my tush and upper thighs. Triumph offers different seats as bespoke accessories for the T’Bird, so help is at hand if you need it.

Effortless ride
My 500 km ride on smooth French roads turned out to be a delight, despite the 14oC weather. I stuck to secondary roads to validate the handling and performance of the bike, and found nothing wrong, other than the issues regarding the seat, which did feel a little better at the end of the day…

The engine turns a lazy 2000 rpm in 6th at an indicated 90kph, with enough grunt to pull out and pass easily without having to downshift, especially if you open the throttle quickly and get the benefit of the more aggressive mapping. For normal or sportier riding, torque flowed freely, pushing the 308kg (Dry weight) bike with no bucking, hesitations or undue vibrations.

The front brakes felt a little glazed at the beginning, but some serious squeezing on my part cleaned them up nicely, yielding progressive stops without undue effort on the lever, more so when the rear brake was called into action, as on all cruisers really.