Triumph “committed to cruisers”

 At the recent Thunderbird launch, Motor Cycle Monthly spoke to Simon Warburton, Triumph Product Manager about Triumph’s attitude to cruisers…

“Our main aims were to increase the spread of Thunderbirds available, to cater for different tastes in the cruiser market. People tend to talk about cruisers en masse but they’re very sub-divided. To riders in the cruiser world the differences are huge, even between the Thunderbird Storm and Commander for example.

“We’ve been growing quite strongly in the US for the last year so, but it’s fair to say that we haven’t done as well in the cruiser market as we’d hoped. We’re finding it hard to get into. There’s a lot of inertia, and many motorcyclists in the States think that all Triumph builds is Bonnevilles. In terms of awareness it’s where we were in the UK 20 years ago.

“But we’re committed to cruisers. We’re having a real go at it, and we think it’s a good fit for us. We see cruisers as another classic kind of bike. The reason people buy them is that they’re timeless, classically styled machines. We try to make cruisers so you don’t sacrifice the riding experience, as you sometimes do with these bikes.”