Triumph Rocket III Test Ride

My dealer, Big Twin Cycles, was holding
a Triumph open house today and so I went down
on my Tiger and parked it for
a test ride on the new 2005 Rocket
III.

I don’t know what the blokes in England were thinking, but they have created a monster. 
I am no stranger to big cruisers, having ridden a Intruder 1500 LC for a year or so,
but I have never sat on anything like the Rocket III.  The shear size of the
machine is the first thing I noticed, followed shortly by the stark instruments and
lack of creature comforts.  I fired up the bike and it literally rumbled under
me like a V-Twin.  “This feels weird,“ I thought.  My Tiger
has a triple, but not like this one.  My triple revs to 10 grand, this one goes
to seven.  That’s a hint of what’s to come.

It took some getting used to the foot placement on the forward controls as I wobbled
the hulking machine out of the parking lot.  by the time I reached the first
stop light, I was used to it.  The riding position felt a bit cramped to
my 6’1“ frame, but nothing intolerable.  The clutch engaged quicker and
later than any bike I have ever ridden, which is a little scary when there are 147
ft/lbs of torque waiting to bite in.

If this bike didn’t look so cool, it would feel agricultural.  It will pull from
any gear and by the time you hit 100 mph in 3rd gear, you realize that there is just
too much motor there to actually find the other side of its range.   The
weird clattering noises let you know that this is no Japanese 4, but the thing just
won’t stop pulling.  The roll-on action in any gear is amazing and you can feel
that there’s more torque there than one needs on a tractor winch.  I actually
had to hold on to the bike as it accelerated through 70 mph.  It wasn’t
enough to just sit on it.

The horrible lack of any wind protection means that at 120 mph, my helmet was floating
up on my head and being held on only by my neck strap. Wow, that’s fun.

I have always thought my Tiger to be an ungainly cow in terms of handling, but after
riding the Rocket, it felt positively nimble.  If you can turn this beast,
and don’t plan on doing anything but zipping around town and looking cool, this is
a neat bike.  God, it is big, and oh man, is it fast!  I wouldn’t want one
for myself, but that sure was fun.