Riding the Triumph Rocket 3
Posted by Zac Kurtsmier on September 25, 2010
As a fifty year old man who enjoys good living, when the time came to change my bike recently I decided that sports bikes, or even sports tourers, were no longer for me.
Being a little larger in the tummy area than I would like, and not being as supple in the leg as perhaps I should be, raised foot pegs and a stretch to the grips, combined with the pressure on my wrists meant that I was going to look for a touring machine, like the BMW R1200RT.
I have had a couple of BMWs in the past, and always liked the flat twin engine, albeit that it was a little slow. However, I was very unimpressed with the dealer I visited, so left the showroom empty handed.
Over the past 15 years or so I have owned a number of Triumphs, (the modern versions), so decided to pay my local dealer a visit.
I was instantly taken with the Rocket 3. I have never owned a cruiser before, but have always had something of a fetish for big engines – and they don’t come any bigger than this is standard trim.
The dealer was the opposite of what I had experienced at BMW, friendly and knowledgeable, and sitting on the bike under their watchful stare, I was amazed at how big this bike is.
When pressed into life the engine gave that familiar Triumph sound. It was like a challenge, the bike saying “come on if you think your tough enough”!
As I slipped the clutch without adding any revs, the bike gently, but purposefully moved forward.
There was no drama as I added some throttle, just a touch. This bike lets you do what you want to do, not what you feel you have to do to keep it happy!
I decided to manoeuvre around the three long lines of parked bikes on display to find out how the bike handles at slow speed. The balance is fantastic, given that you have to physically turn the handlebars at low speed rather than just “push and lean”, you worry that the thing is going to topple over.
This took some getting used to, but it doesn’t take long to get the “feel” of the bike as to when to replace the steering with leaning.
What makes this machine so much fun is the power. There’s so much of it and it peaks way down the rev band, making the riders backrest option a good idea, because when you do open the throttle it’s like being hit in the back with a sledgehammer!
When travelling at speed, the bike feels completely at home and stuck to the road, and handles pretty well, big machine or not.
The fat rear tyre does mean that you feel every groove in the road surface, and it does mean that the back end moves around a little, but with the burble of the engine one soon gets used to it and it gives the thing some character – something I’ve always missed in the ultra smooth fours of today.
The brakes are top notch and well matched to the bike.
In fact, the Rocket 3 is the most fun I have ever had in over 45 years of motorcycling!
Zac likes nothing more than working on his pool of motorbikes. He understands the importance of having the right tools for the job, including storage, for which he uses genuine Harley Davidson motorcycle covers. Visit his latest site at harleydavidsonmotorcyclecovers.net.
categories: Triumph Rocket 3,motorcycles,bikes,automotive,bikes,riding motorcycles,2 wheels
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