VOL. 51 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 25, 2014 P63
contrived as competition for the
Harley Fatboy and Wide Glide.
Coupled with a more aggres-
sive marketing push to let poten-
tial customers like Caleb know
that, hell yes, Triumph does in-
deed do cruisers, it's a crucial
roll of the dice by Bloor and his
boys to try to carve out a slice of
the cruiser market with a range
of parallel-twins. If this doesn't
work, nothing will.
That's a feeling borne out by
two days of riding the new duo
through the mountains and des-
erts of Southern California be-
cause these are indeed prime
contenders for customer dollars
as they go up against Harley-Da-
vidson, Indian and Victory.
The LT variant I started out rid-
ing is particularly adept, a cool-
looking custom tourer complete
with semi-valanced mudguards,
dual spotlights, look-over poly-
carb screen, twin leather panniers
and lashings of chrome. Rakish-
looking but rational, it has genuine
presence when you see it in the
metal, especially in the brighter
blue/cream Fifties Streamline
duotone color scheme.
And it lives up to its looks.
You feel in charge of the LT,
and likewise its Commander kin,
a part of it rather than merely
perched aboard it, for these are
cruisers with sporting overtones.
Sling a leg over the low-slung
