Royal Enfield Thunderbird takes its own road home

Does the new Royal Enfield Thunderbird make you angry?

Royal Enfield's new Thunderbird, for sale now in India, gets the fairest sounding review I've read so far from Aneesh Shivanekar in the Business Standard, out of Mumbai.

Entitled "Angry Bird," it celebrates the Thunderbird as just what many riders in India want while admitting that its feet-forward cruiser styling is not the Brit-bike heritage that others venerate.

Also, it's a better motorcycle in many respects, he writes. It deserves respect, even if digital dash, projector headlamp and standard back rest aren't your favorite flavors.

"It's certainly not beautiful but then, it's not bad looking either, is it?" Shivanekar writes. He recommends improving things by finding the prettiest girl possible for the passenger seat.

Beautiful in their own way are the rear disc brake, improved forks, swingarm and frame. The tank is bigger, so the new Thunderbird can go farther at faster speeds.

"Let's not forget that the Thunderbird's primary role, still, is touring and a lot of changes on this new Thunderbird are tailored to improve that experience," Shivanekar writes.

Not improved over other new Royal Enfields are the motor and transmission, which carry the Thunderbird faster than the previous model but not nearly fast enough to match American cruisers.

Shivanekar judges it fast enough for its home market.

"For a considerable percentage of our buying population, they wouldn't want anything else."