Phantom

Greetings from Wyoming.
Not new to the Forum, but new to the Rocket...

A new 2011 R3T has been seen in Crook/Weston Counties, NE Wyoming...That would be me.

Long awaied the upgrade from a 98 Valkyrie Standard. The bike is most impressive as is the powerband. Was dedermined to purchase a Roadster, came home with the R3T.

The R3 motors the road with authority, and certainly turns heads along the way!

Welcome from Georgia, I have family in Jackson, and Sheridan. Great riding out your way.

Welcome to the RIII land of the constant question. Yesterday I stopped in to Walgreen's for some pharmaceuticals and was told "great looking bike" on the way in. On the way out a guy getting into his car next to my bike said "beautiful bike" and I said "thanks." Before I could get my helmet on an older guy comes out and says "I didn't think they still made those." Which had me doing my 30 minute history of Triumph. When I rode Run For The Wall in 2009 it was the same every day. (My favorite comment was at a fill-up when the fuel crew guy handed me the hose he looked at my oil tank emblem and exclaimed "140 cubic inches! You gotta be ****tin me!").

Welcome from Molino, FL and Afghanistan. Good choice in bike...I'm hoping that I'll be able to add a 2011 or 2012 R3T to go along with my 2010 Thunderbird late this fall or early next year.

Enjoy the riding.

Dennis

54 dtg Dubai
55 dtg Home for good!

Welcome from chicago. Would love to ride out your way sometime.

Welcome from Downunder. Good to see you've upgraded. Enjoy the ride.

Welcome from Antioch Ca.!

A big Texas welcome fellow phantom rider.

I'm curious Phantom, I've always lusted after a Valk as a second bike (no, not to replace the R3) but have never ridden one. Can you give me a side by side comparison to the R3, both pros and cons.

Thanks

I actually own both a 99 Valkyrie Standard, and an 05 Rocket 3.

The pros of the Valkyrie is that it is a tried and true motor, same motor that was put in the older gold wings, with the exception of having 6 carbs and more power. The engine is silky smooth and has plenty of power and was dubbed the worlds first power cruiser. I am pretty sure it also took cruiser of decade honors at some point.

Cons is it is carbed, and if you put pipes on you can not just hook it up to a computer and tune like you can the rocket. You have to change needles in the carbs which is really not that hard, I did mine myself.

The only problems I have had with mine is a starter switch, I now carry an extra in my bag and it can be changed in about an hour. I have 70 thousand miles on mine and would not hesitate one bit to hop on it and ride it across the country tomorrow.

It is a super reliable bike, and the only catastrophic failure I have ever heard of has to do with the petcock failing and causing the engine to hydro lock. This of course is a huge problem if it happens, but very few have actually had this happen.

You can put a pingle petcock on it and manually turn off if you want to cure this, and some people have. I have a belly tank on mine so it is not subject to ever having this problem with my current setup.

Gas mileage is about the same between the 2, and riding the Rocket is like riding a supercharged Valkyrie.

If you want to see how smooth the Valkyrie motor is, check out this link

YouTube - Honda Valkyrie Nickel Test

It is called the nickel test. Pretty impressive how well built the motors are on the Valks.