The foot pegs are pushed forward a bit, but not too far to cause one to reach for the brake or shift levers. The seat height is a low 27.5” off the ground, but it doesn’t require your legs to be splayed out, so it is even easier for short legged riders like me to put both feet flat on the pavement. The Storm is a large motorcycle, yet is an outstanding choice for smaller riders because of its compact nature when compared to other motorcycles with similar displacement. The 63.5” wheelbase is shorter than other bikes in the class, which adds to its nimble feeling, and the stiff chassis adds confidence to the rider to push it. But the Storm will track nicely throughout the turn, and the bars provide excellent leverage to lean the bike into the corner, and the engine gives you all the grunt to power out of it. And the lean angle is about average for a cruiser, and most riders will never need to scrape the pegs. The beefy 120/70/R19 front tire, and the 200/50/R17 rear provide good grip, and you will run out of lean angle before grip. Overall it’s a comfortable cruiser, even on the winter ravaged pavement we call roads in Chicago, and is capable of providing the rider with long hours in the generously sized and comfortable saddle. And even with the powerful front brakes, there isn’t excessive nose dive. I didn’t play with the settings on the 5-way pre-load adjustable shocks, but they have a nice amount of travel, and the front Showa set up felt compliant but not sloppy. The overall ride quality is firm, but comfortable. And the pounds melt off like a bulimic supermodel once under way. But it’s easy to tip off the side stand, because of the excellent balance and low center of mass. with all the fluids and ready to ride, which makes it a bit lighter than most of the competition. And the flatter drag bars, which combine with a set of black risers, make the set up even more comfortable than the T-Bird’s. So do the dual bug-eye headlights, a la Rocket III and Speed Triple models, in place of the single headlight on the T-Bird. It gives the Storm a more rugged and sinister look. I usually don’t care for matte finishes, but seeing both bikes side by side, I liked the matte better. And you can have the tins finished in either matte or shiny black. The Storm uses liberal amounts of black paint to cover the engine and transmission cases, the cast aluminum 5-spoke wheels, the fork lowers on the 47mm Showa front fork, the coils on the rear shocks, the swingarm, radiator shroud, tank top gauge surround, headlight bezels, turn signals, handlebar risers, and switchgear, and more. What sets the Storm apart from the Thunderbird, beside the bigger engine, are some of the cosmetics. ABS will be available as an option in the future. The rear offers a single disc of the same size, with a Brembo 2-piston floating caliper. Not only is their stopping power strong, but they have excellent feel, and two-finger operation. Up front you have dual 310mm floating discs, with Nissan 4-piston calipers instead of the usual 2-piston set-ups on most cruisers. The brakes are excellent, and compared to other cruisers, outstanding. The clutch action is smooth with a nice take-up range, and each gear shift is a short throw, and with just the right mechanical feel. You won’t need 6 th gear until you reach 75 to 80 miles per hour on the highway. The power reaches the rear wheel via a quiet toothed belt, spun by a six-speed transmission with helical cut gears from 2 nd to 6 th, for quiet operation. The engine is happy to rev, and that quick throttle opening rewards the rider’s ears with a menacing cruiser-like growl from the 2-into-1-into 2 chrome megaphone pipes on each side of the bike. The power comes on with immediate throttle response and there is a wide power band. You can feel the extra thrust when you pull out to pass on a two-lane road, or highway, or just want to scoot into that opening in traffic. And the difference can be felt from the seat of your pants dyno in real world riding conditions. That pumps up the performance volume to 98 horsepower 5200 RPM, (from 86hp) and the torque jumps to 115 ft.-lbs. While it shares the same chassis as the excellent Thunderbird, a few tweaks here and there create a whole new motorcycle and a different riding experience.įirst, they took the standard 1597cc, fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, DOHC parallel-twin powerplant with a 270-degree firing interval, and installed their optional big bore kit right from the factory to boost the displacement to 1699cc’s. Borrowing a page from the Harley-Davidson playbook, Triumph has created its own “Factory Custom Dark Series” with the 2011 Storm.
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