In 2004 I did a 40-day 11, 000 km trip around the country on my Thunderbird. I averaged 275 km per day and didn’t have a single breakdown on the way. I got the oil changed four times, of course, and had to change a footpeg rubber. The case of the speedometer worked loose, but didn’t fall off. Other than that, no trouble.
I had a little trouble with the guys in Enfield, in particular with one V Vikram, the National Service Manager, who seemed to be unhelpful and pompous, but the bike was fine.
The bike was very comfortable. It’s not a proper cruiser, remember: the rider’s feet are in line with his knees, or behind them. In a proper cruiser the feet are ahead of the knees in the recommended riding position. On bad roads, a proper cruiser, such as the Avenger, will give the rider a bad backache. But not the Thunderbird.
The problem with the bike is the heavy expenditure on maintenance. It needs a lot of oil changes, chain and sprocket changes every 20, 000 km, and new tyres every 20, 000 km. If you have the model with disc brakes and you dent the rim, you have to change the whole wheel rim. I sold the bike only because it was too expensive to maintain, and the attitude of the National Service Manager was discouraging.
If only Enfield would work out the quality problems this would be the best bike around.
A small update. I regularly got 40kmpl on the bike in the city, and 43 on the highway, always travelling at fairly low speeds: under 70 on the highway. Fuel consumption really drops when you push the bike: at 90+, you only get about 28kpl.