Earlier this week, we wrote about a recall in Canada for unapproved wheel bearings for the 2011-2012 Triumph Daytona 675 sportbike and its naked sibling the Street Triple. As expected, a similar recall has now been announced for the U.S., adding the Thunderbird and Thunderbird Storm cruisers to the campaign. The recall also affects the 2011-2012 Triumph Street Triple R but the Daytona 675R is not included in the recall.

According to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the wheel bearings on the affected models were provided by an unapproved supplier. The wheel supplier, Chinese company Jiangsu Zhonliang Aluminum Co., admitted to Triumph it used wheel bearings from a third party that was not the supplier Triumph intended. Continue Reading »

Triumph announced a number of new paint schemes for several of its models. While the new options are for the most part merely cosmetic, the lone exception is the new sulfur yellow 2012 Triumph Daytona 675.

We’re not quite sure it’s good marketing for a color scheme that reminds you of the smell of rotten eggs, but the sulfur yellow Daytona 675 also sports a number of upgrades. In addition to the new paint and matching pin-striped wheels, the sulfur yellow D675 gets new carbon fiber exhaust heat shield, cockpit infills and front fender like those on the Daytona 675R. The sulfur yellow model gets a quickshifter and billet levers.

The best news is the price, at least in the U.K. While the base 2012 Triumph Daytona 675 is priced at 8,599 British pounds (US$13,750), the sulfur yellow version with these upgrades is priced at 8,875 British pounds (US$14,200). A slight increase, but still less than buying those components separately. U.S. pricing is yet to be confirmed, but the MSRP is expected to remain close, if not level, at $10,999. Continue Reading »

Royal Enfield has unveiled a new 500cc Thunderbird cruiser at the 2012 Auto Expo in New Delhi, India.

The 2012 Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 is a larger displacement version of the 346cc Thunderbird which Royal Enfield first unveiled in 2000. The original Thunderbird 350 was Royal Enfield’s first model to use a unit construction engine. The new T-Bird 500 uses the larger 499cc UCE engine found on Royal Enfield’s Classic 500, which claims an output of 26hp and 30.5 ft-lb.

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Triumph Motorcycles is starting a recall campaign on certain 2010 Thunderbird cruisers due to a problem with the front fender fasteners.

On certain 2010 Triumph Thunderbirds, including some ABS-equipped units, the four screws on the front fender mounts may come loose. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the plating used on the fender mounting included friction modifiers which are not compatible with the thread lock compound used on the screws. As a result, the screws may come loose and the screw heads may come in contact with the side wall of the front tire, potentially causing it to deflate.

Triumph first received a warranty problem reporting the problem in May 2010. Physical checks identified the issue and a new component was designed, tested, and entered into production. No accidents or injuries have been reported relating to this problem.

Dealers will install new screws on the 1,955 units affected by the recall campaign.