First ride on a rocket what were your impressions

[1olbull]

Reminds me of a girlfriend I had once.........

My first ride was on the first Rocket in Canada and it was mine to ride home. That was in July 2004. I had ordered it the year before based on a rumour and was busy on the net finding out anything I could about the beast, spy shots etc. The official introduction of the Rocket III was to be at the Parry Sound Sport bike rally July 10th and there was no sign of a Rocket in Canada 2 weeks before. Then a pre production bike was sent over for the introduction and before I got a look at it a reporter wrote it off at a press intro. Panic ensued as there was now no bike for the official intro. Triumph America asked who the nearest dealer to the rally was and would he put a Rocket together in time if one was sent up. Next thing I know I got a call from my dealer and she tells me there are two Rockets on the truck! I ended up riding my new bike to the rally before the official intro and as soon as I parked there was a crowd and guys were running from all over for a look. It so happened that the marque of the year was Triumph so the local RAT group were to lead the "Thunder Run" through town and I was invited to lead the parade as I was riding the big new Triumph. That was a blast leading literally thousands of bikes through the town. My fifteen minutes of fame?

Pretty darn cool story, Duk!
Not sure what you mean by "marque"; however, most of the motor mags chose the 2004 V2K as bike of the year over the Rocket.
Twas that that swayed me to buy the Kaw V2K over the Triumph Rocket. I remember preferring the sit of the Kaw and feeling more on top of the Rocket.
Had I taken the time to ride the R3, likely things would have turned out differently. Now I have both beasts, and the R3R definitely gets the nod!

 

[Triple Trouble]

Pretty darn cool story, Duk!
Not sure what you mean by "marque";

Triumph was the marque of the year at the Parry Sound Sport Bike Rally. Or did you need the Oxford English dictionary definition of marque,Little Bill?

 

[Bertrand Saugnac]

It impressed me enough to buy it.

Same for me: test drive at the dealer, drove back, signed.
Then had to wait the longest 3 weeks ever !

 

[Mike]

I saw the dealers web site ad and rode my up 05 Tiger to take a look. Liked it, made a deal without riding it, and headed home. The R3 was the dealers owners bike, just shipped it back from Arizona after living there for a few years. Heading out of the parking lot and for the 1st few miles I only thought...WTF did I do!! Such a total change from the Tiger. Now, I would not want the Tiger back.

 

[captain jack]

I took me about two days to finally just unbolt the whole heel shifter thing from the shifter and it was a huge relief. All that floor board space recovered, and no more temptation to stomp on the pedal instead of more delicately use the toe to click up or down.

I keep thinking of cutting the heel bit off, never use it. Have you found a different gear change as replacement?

 

[ozrider]

Well I had only ever sat on a couple of R3's at dealerships and never ridden one........ I brought mine from Interstate with only pictures and phone calls back & forth, the bike got delivered and I got straight on it and it wouldn't start and I thought I had been stitched up big time, lucky the delivery driver was still there and he said "pull the clutch in and try" haven't stopped smiling or tinkering since

 

[captain jack]

Well I had only ever sat on a couple of R3's at dealerships and never ridden one........ I brought mine from Interstate with only pictures and phone calls back & forth, the bike got delivered and I got straight on it and it wouldn't start and I thought I had been stitched up big time, lucky the delivery driver was still there and he said "pull the clutch in and try" haven't stopped smiling or tinkering since

Yea same problem here but I thought he said "******" so I gave him a smack for calling me a wanker.

 

[Mittzy]

I saw mine on the internet for salest a dealer on the sunshine coast, it was the Demo bike. I rang the owner and negotiated a deal and paid a deposit via credit card - then i thought what am i doing so while the rest of the finances were being organised i went to another dealer and rode a standard the a new Roadster - the dealer did not want my YZF600 (rather did not want to give me enough $ for it) so i had two road bikes momentarily (and 4 off road bikes) as it turned out i could not get a lift to the dealer 90 minutes drive away. So i borrowed a trailer and towed it home (torture). Finally got it home and dissapeared for a few hours - almost speechless when i got home.

 

[Blackthou]

Having had many sports bikes i wanted something that had plenty of torque and a good top end without the need for 140+. Decided to test drive a Roadster after watching the video

thought that looks interesting.
Booked a test drive, treated the bike with great respect gradually playing more as I'd covered more miles. The grin factor and arm ripping power was amazing. Went back and acted real cool while negotiating a new one.
Love it.
A superb bike.

 

[1olbull]

Triumph was the marque of the year at the Parry Sound Sport Bike Rally. Or did you need the Oxford English dictionary definition of marque,Little Bill?

I thought you may have been referencing the term "marque" as synonymous with "bike of the year" and I merely wished to prevent you from embarrassment as the V2K was!

Put that in the watch pocket of your vest!