CHAMP:t
.020 Over
Well I wrote a big post on the forum for my intro, so I'll copy and paste.
Well hey all! First time Triumph and R3 owner here, just wanting to say hey. I've pretty much always been an R3 fan cause I like big bikes that can scoot. Been riding a Boss Hoss and a Honda Valkyrie for 13 years, almost my whole riding life of almost 19 years on the street. Was never much out there to replace those bikes, so naturally an R3 has always had my attention.
I came across my 2005 in a unique circumstance. My dad was on a charity ride in Edmond, OK and saw this R3 and a few other bikes for sale, fairly well equipped for quite reasonable prices. He had learned the bike was a one owner, raffled off in a charity, less than 1700 miles on it. He sent me a few vague pictures over the phone but I could already tell it had a LOT of extra chrome and accessories on it... for $7500. In an effort to keep the story short, I sat on it for about a week, talked price (which was already a spectacular one), came to a conclusion on it, and setup a road trip from KC back down to pick it up the next weekend.
I sat on it for a week cause I wanted to make sure I did my research, and learned of issues of high idle, timing chain tensioners, etc etc, all the things most of know of as old news with the earlier R3's. Even at a good price, I wanted a bike that could run, cause if it blew up on me on the ride home, any price would've been to much IMO. But in the midst of talking to the dealership, I had learned it wasn't the previous owners bike I had thought it was, it wasn't even their bike they were selling, they were just the middle man... it was actually given back to the charity by the previous owner so they could sell it and make a profit on it for the charity.
The charity being the O.K. Kids Coral founded by Toby Keith. I'm not a big country singer fan myself... but I'm military, and those of you who are know what I mean when I say Toby Keith. I'm a T.K. fan. HUGE military supporter, pays for his own concerts over seas for Soldiers, has some pretty good tear jerker songs of the military in support of them. Much less, my own personal memories seeing him in concert in Baghdad with incoming alarms and all. (yes during the concert, lol) At that point, I felt like crap for talking down on price not knowing at the time the money was going to charity. And at that point, I thought to myself it didn't matter what the price of this bike was, I was buying it, even if it did blow up on me on my ride home.
Glad to say, it didn't, lol... it runs just fine, and after a bit of metal and chrome polish, the beaut shined right up like a brand new motorcycle with just a little TLC. I feel pretty lucky to have this bike. It seems every bike I've ever owned has had some sort of sentimental value to it, and this experience has reaffirmed that notion for my R3. This one I'll be keeping for a while.
2 weeks later, I've already almost doubled the miles on the bike, and I've enjoyed it ever since. I have a big future for this bike, I can't ever leave anything stock, this bike being no exception. I'll have to throw up some pictures of it later.
Looking fwd to meeting many of you and networking. Thx for reading!
Well hey all! First time Triumph and R3 owner here, just wanting to say hey. I've pretty much always been an R3 fan cause I like big bikes that can scoot. Been riding a Boss Hoss and a Honda Valkyrie for 13 years, almost my whole riding life of almost 19 years on the street. Was never much out there to replace those bikes, so naturally an R3 has always had my attention.
I came across my 2005 in a unique circumstance. My dad was on a charity ride in Edmond, OK and saw this R3 and a few other bikes for sale, fairly well equipped for quite reasonable prices. He had learned the bike was a one owner, raffled off in a charity, less than 1700 miles on it. He sent me a few vague pictures over the phone but I could already tell it had a LOT of extra chrome and accessories on it... for $7500. In an effort to keep the story short, I sat on it for about a week, talked price (which was already a spectacular one), came to a conclusion on it, and setup a road trip from KC back down to pick it up the next weekend.
I sat on it for a week cause I wanted to make sure I did my research, and learned of issues of high idle, timing chain tensioners, etc etc, all the things most of know of as old news with the earlier R3's. Even at a good price, I wanted a bike that could run, cause if it blew up on me on the ride home, any price would've been to much IMO. But in the midst of talking to the dealership, I had learned it wasn't the previous owners bike I had thought it was, it wasn't even their bike they were selling, they were just the middle man... it was actually given back to the charity by the previous owner so they could sell it and make a profit on it for the charity.
The charity being the O.K. Kids Coral founded by Toby Keith. I'm not a big country singer fan myself... but I'm military, and those of you who are know what I mean when I say Toby Keith. I'm a T.K. fan. HUGE military supporter, pays for his own concerts over seas for Soldiers, has some pretty good tear jerker songs of the military in support of them. Much less, my own personal memories seeing him in concert in Baghdad with incoming alarms and all. (yes during the concert, lol) At that point, I felt like crap for talking down on price not knowing at the time the money was going to charity. And at that point, I thought to myself it didn't matter what the price of this bike was, I was buying it, even if it did blow up on me on my ride home.
Glad to say, it didn't, lol... it runs just fine, and after a bit of metal and chrome polish, the beaut shined right up like a brand new motorcycle with just a little TLC. I feel pretty lucky to have this bike. It seems every bike I've ever owned has had some sort of sentimental value to it, and this experience has reaffirmed that notion for my R3. This one I'll be keeping for a while.
2 weeks later, I've already almost doubled the miles on the bike, and I've enjoyed it ever since. I have a big future for this bike, I can't ever leave anything stock, this bike being no exception. I'll have to throw up some pictures of it later.
Looking fwd to meeting many of you and networking. Thx for reading!