Hello, here is my story

Lets keep it short and sweet, I am 44 and have logged over 600k miles. My riding covers everything from a turbo busa, ktm 950sm, Victory XC, Victory Hammer S, GSXR1000, DRZ400sm, zx14 and the list goes on and on and on...the ones mentioned are currently sitting in the garage (minus the gsxr1000, and busa they have been sold)
Riding has always been a grounding factor in my life...lousy day..go for a ride, bills come in stressed out..go for a ride, you get the idea.
At this point in my life while I appreciate the race replica liter bikes and Ducati 1298's and similar from Aprillia and others, I dont have the desire to drag a knee on my local back roads.
Riding for enjoyment is what I do now, I have not visited the drag strip in years, yet my Vanson one piece suit still hangs with in line of site within my man cave. I have always enjoyed massive power which should be evident from the turbo busa, zx14 and 106 Victory's (ok not massive but decent) to this end the Rocket has my interest. I am looking for the stripped down version as I have a bagger with my Victory XC.

My questions are, between the 2005 and later years (not 2010 or newer, not in the budget) what are the differences between the engineering of the bike? example better clutch, better brakes, different design of the internal engine-valves, crank, bearings etc.

Is there a 'best year" when they got it right?

Thanks in advance
9secondsflat

Welcome aboard.

IMHO, it seems that 2007 was when Triumph resolved most of the nagging and infrequent issues. Some early models, particularly the silver engines, had issues with the output shaft bearing and the cam chain tensioner. Triumph also updated the Primary Throttle Position Sensor which was a more frequent issue but, again, not that common.

Unfortunately, a very common issue up through the 2010 model year was failing ignition switches. The headlight circuit carried the full load of the twin headlights through the ignition switch and many (including mine) failed. There is a H4 Relay kit available that takes care of the issue. It's just something for you to be aware of.

If you are looking to really satisfy your need for speed, you should also look at the Carpenter Racing modification kits.

I am very familiar with Bob Carpenter, he is only a few hours away. Over the years many of my friends had him build 1397 and 1420 busas...100% bullet proof results that dominate the street wars and dragstrips...I have read over his mods to the Rocket and followed his improvements in the past few years.

tdragger said:

Welcome aboard.

IMHO, it seems that 2007 was when Triumph resolved most of the nagging and infrequent issues. Some early models, particularly the silver engines, had issues with the output shaft bearing and the cam chain tensioner. Triumph also updated the Primary Throttle Position Sensor which was a more frequent issue but, again, not that common.

Unfortunately, a very common issue up through the 2010 model year was failing ignition switches. The headlight circuit carried the full load of the twin headlights through the ignition switch and many (including mine) failed. There is a H4 Relay kit available that takes care of the issue. It's just something for you to be aware of.

If you are looking to really satisfy your need for speed, you should also look at the Carpenter Racing modification kits.

Click to expand...

Hi 9
O8,09 would be my choice, possibly earlier if update kit has been done.
MTC for clutch parts, Pretech for 6 pots. But stock is ok for most.
Power I'm not into much, so I'll stick with my ole 04

Welcome aboard 9,
glad to have ya with us.
Ride safe whichever bike you're on.
skip in Oklahoma U.S.S.A.

Welcome

Welcome to the site. I take it u havnt made the commitment yet? I see you have a need for thrilling stress relieving power. I see pony power (HP) has been in your history. Dont let the muscle of torque pass you bye; or a well appointed Rocket III.
Ignition, output conversion, and paint color have been issues. tdragger has done pretty well with his blackie. pig9r has a brute. Somewhere BusaJack's "Spike" is on the road. It appears black is faster.

And as you might see even '07 models have silver engines. This limited model, i believe, utilized marginal silver 05 engines left in warehouses. A USA only Tourer was let out with 05 engines, imo. No confirmations or denials that I know of. Even so, my silver engine has held up to my minimal stresses. Except ignition switch early on and an entire gauge assembly most recently. But its all new and for sale. I leaning toward a T-Bird ABS. Either that or I convert to 3-wheeler with hitch and a house trailer

3rd ed. disclaimer: I see the above "ignition switch" is a link. I do not endorse ebay nor have I made the link. I see no reason the website shouldn't see a return. Clearly, such is the way.

If its in your budget I would lean towards a 09 Classic or at least an 09 standard as you can always put the floor boards on them. Do not let these fellers fool you on black being fastest as they all have slow bikes no matter what the color

As you already know Bob Carpenter can eliminate the color racist around here and can give you that 9 second bagger.

U got us there warp all our machines are like mopeds compared to yours lol . Have to disagree on the floorboards though horrible bloody things


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Welcome. Just look for a clean bike you can afford. If you don't intend on modifying it to do warp factor 6 between stop lights, they're all pretty competent machines. I should know I wrote the book on incompetence.

Echo echo echo

While many have 05's and later experiencing no problems, the real deal is the tranny update kit, available from 08 if memory serves. Other than that everything's relatively minor. Some had timing chain guides fail as well...not sure if they ever did anything about that. Some advocate a manually adjusted chain. Headlight relays are needed, but that change didn't come till the roadster 11 I believe. Other than that, it's all about pegs or floorboards, handlebars, suspension (Roadster is better) and other personal fit issues.