Triumph Rocket - Experiences

[happy1]

Hi,
I found one of these at an auction, and got it at a good price, so looking forward to motorbiking again, this time with a 2300 cc 'bus' of an R3.

Its ready to licence, but haven't got the plates on it yet, so I haven't had much of a test ride other than a few k's on a back road behind my house.
Surprised how well engineered it is, despite dragging along over 100kgs more iron than other bikes. Almost feels like a Gold Wing, a little bit of a 'bus' maybe, but not bad at all :confused:

Anyone else that has tried one, or anyone seen the factory movie at U-tube, 'How an R3 is made'. Increadible how that stunt driver drives on one wheel with it.. hahah.. I haven't quite tried that yet.

So what do you think, is it a 'bus' / a 'brick' or an 'touring' cruiser?

Cheers

[Rors]

I'm a little biased to Triumph's as I have a 2010 daytona 675 but I quite like the look of the rocket III's (as a cruiser). Sat on one with the touring pack at Peter Stevens a while back tho and jesus.... what a monster. I'm 5'11 and 95kgs and found it was massive and a little intimidating. :confused:

I'm sure it's fine once you're moving and probably a lot better without the touring pack screen, side boards, million other accessories this bike had but it certainly was a very large, very heavy bike. Stellar grunt tho....

[steve_t]

Looks awesome! But weighs nearly as much as a goldwing! If the weight doesn't faze you, go for it. :goodjob: No experience on one - I still have a young enough back for a sports bike :eyes:

[SLugg]

great open road cruiser , but id be getting into the Gyn for some upper body training ....:eyes: .... a mate of mine has one but hes a big lad and it looks normal under him ...:goodjob:

[markols1]

Hi went on the rossco dice run on the weekend and one of the guys running the show had a turbo on his cost 10-15 gs piece of art so well done 240hp @ the rears sounds great cheers.

[happy1]

Thanks for reply guys.

No accessories on my R3. I've installed an aftermarket T-handlebar, and I it had the noisy Jardine exhaust kit, however I had to fit back the stock exhaust in order to pass the licensing. Oh by the way I managed to retain the Yardine exhaust header, and welded an adapter to the original catalyzer/muffler.

I'm thinking if I could fit a tow bar and have a trailer in the future. Would it be allowed to have passengers in a trailer? (same way as a side car) I have two small kids, and would be great if I could custom build a trailer where they are strapped in kids harnesses, and could come along motorbiking.

[Firebug]

CvjOZV7i3lY

:drool:

[SLugg]

Thanks for reply guys.

No accessories on my R3. I've installed an aftermarket T-handlebar, and I it had the noisy Jardine exhaust kit, however I had to fit back the stock exhaust in order to pass the licensing. Oh by the way I managed to retain the Yardine exhaust header, and welded an adapter to the original catalyzer/muffler.

I'm thinking if I could fit a tow bar and have a trailer in the future. Would it be allowed to have passengers in a trailer? (same way as a side car) I have two small kids, and would be great if I could custom build a trailer where they are strapped in kids harnesses, and could come along motorbiking.


id probably leave the kids home , risking their lives in a motorcycling lifestyle should be left until they are old enough to understand the implications of the lifestyle. Ive never understood why you want the freedom of a motorcycle ruined by by trailers and sidecars. There are enough wankers in cars trying to kill us when where on our own...let alone when when you lose the mobility of the motorbike and turn it into to a roofless car...

[Bling Bling]

Yes i have riden one not nice around city but great on the highway, not a town bike unless you are 150kgs cheers Nav.

[knute]

bit off topic, but

i'm currently restoring a '69 BSA RKT III

lotsa money, but most parts easy to come by and not too exy ;-)

[markols1]

Had my fatty next to one the other day the Harley looked like a postie bike next to it huggge bike.

[mickfx]

My dad owns one, they are awesome. You cant go wrong with a trumpy!

[happy1]

Have noticed one thing: Starting a 2.3 litre from a MC-battery is 'touch and go'. Had to put a new battery in it the week before licensing, and now 6 months later that battery has a busted cell, so need a new battery again. With the alarm constantly using power, and a 2.3-litre starting from a bike-battery isn't the best. I will make a power plug somewhere, so I can attach a maintenance charger every time when not in use.

[happy1]

Oh, by the way one more experience too:

Until now i have never used rear brake on bikes, as any racing bike use 95% front wheel and 5% rear brake anyway. Before the R3 my last bike was VFR800, which even had some cross connection in the brake calipers, so front brake also used one piston in the rear caliper, and rear pedal used some front caliper pistons too.

Then I was driving my R3 behind some cars in a 80-zone, and suddenly the traffic packed up in front of me, I was a little distracted and suddenly had to stop a bit harder than normal.... My R3 locked the front wheel without much speed reduction of the rest of the 'monster'. It felt like driving a train...haha..Just kept going with a locked front wheel... So I almost rear-ended the car in front of me.. not good.. Certainly will do some driver training soon, to see where the stopping limits are. And I can understand why the new R3s come with ABS as standard. Shame it looks like ABS can't be retrofitted without a whole lot of parts and brackets etc.