Rocket III vs. Suzuki M109R

Hi,
I've been a member for a while but I guess this is my 1st thread!! This site is the best source for RIII among other sites! Thank you for that.

OK... I've been considering either Rocket III or M109R for quite long time. I guess lots of riders had same thoughts before making up their mind to either one. So I was wondering if you could provide me some reasons why you chose RIII over other M109R if you considered M109R when you purchased RIII....

For those who didn't consider M109R, I would appreciate if you could also give me reasons why you would not choose M109R over RIII.

Thank you for your comments!!!

Aviator_JPN

Prior to "discovering" the Rocket, I had considered the M109. I believe I had visited a local Kawasaki/Suzuki dealer here in Pensacola and actually laid eyes on a white one in October of 2006 while on R&R.

Having already had the Gold Wing in my possession I wasn't in a real hurry yet but I was considering a different type of motorcycle for a different type of ride. The one thing about the M109 was that big headlight cowling it just didn't do too much for me, other than that it overall didn't look too bad.

Going back overseas to Afghanistan for four and a half more months I started going to different motorcycle sites and stumbled upon the Rocket. I decided, at the time, that since I could afford it I wanted the biggest "stock" bike I could get. Harley's obviously were out and I had ridden Honda's, Yamaha's and one Kawasaki already...it seemed almost logical to give Triumph a try because of this "beast" of a bike.

I'm not sorry I did.
Dennis

To me, the M109 just has too much plastic on it. Many of the chrome pieces, even on the engine are chrome plastic. I think the M109 is a great looking bike.

The Rocket is also a little more versatile. It can be a sport cruising bar hopper like the M109, but it also can be a sport tourer (hauling ass with fly screen and luggage) , or even an interstate touring barge (seeing the country with barndoor Roadster screen and luggage), and can be change to any of these configurations in a matter of minutes.

A good example is this picture with my RIII and Mark's (snuffcityrider's) RIII. Mine is the blue with flames (Dang, I'm getting fat!), Mark's is the RIII Classic. With 4 bolts I can swap my fly screen out with the Roadster screen and be touring ready like Mark's.

I also think about those bikes, I ride Suzuki one week and after that I ride Rocket, after one day I call my dealer and say I take Rocket,put it redy.

Those bikes is totally differend feel, Suzuki is custom bike and R3 is more Normal bike
Driving whit Rocket is all the time experience. Take Rocket you dont bee sorry..

The M109 is quite sporty looking. For a bar hopping poser I'm sure it's get alot of the same interests as the many HD wannabees.
The RocketIII is uncomparably phat! The only real down side of such a huge phallus is the cost of rubbers These beast will eat up a back tire in short order

how do they perform in comparison

Just wondering if anybody had raced a with a m109r!!!!!!!!!

The M109 was just another v-twin cruiser for me. When I first saw one, I tapped all of the chrome and found it to be plastic, that was another turn off. There are some similarities between the bikes, USD forks, 240 rear, two plugs per cylinder.

I got my Rocket dyno'd at a Suzuki dealer and M109's with the same type of mods, PCIII, exhaust and K&Ns were still about 25 hp less than my Rocket. I have gotten a hold of one on the street and the Rocket is definately faster.

From everything that I've read, the m/c rags all say that the Roc has a slight edge over the Suzi in performance, problably not enough for the average rider to make a significant difference.

From my perspective, it comes down to your preference in the look and feel of the bike. I don't know how old you are but you may be able to remember back when Yamaha first introduced the V-max. It was the first true power cruiser. It had the massive engine look and high bars with the low rear-end. Much like a pony car of the mid 60's with the front end lifted. Gave it that "big-shouldered" look. The Roc follows that mold.

Not long after Mr. Max's debut, Kawa introduced the Eliminator as an answer to the Yam. It took the route of big ass rear end on a lowered front much like a jacked-up hot rod in the late 60's. The Suzi reminds me of the Eliminator. Plus it looks like it could be in a Jetson's cartoon.

I prefer the "big-shouldered" look since it fits me better. Also, like TxRIIIRider said, it's a lot more versatile. I've got mine set up for touring but in less than an hour, the windshield gets shorter, the bags come off, and the touring seat goes to a single, thus completing the transformation from Joe Comfy to Billy Bad-ass.



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Aviator

I was going to buy a M109 when a freind told me about the R3. I was ready to buy the blue w/ white strip. I started comparing them side buy side and like a couple people have said plastic chrome, frot head light was a bit much. I also got on the M109 forum and look around. Seemed they were having vibration problems along with some other things. They are quick and fun to ride but once you ride the R3 there won't be anyone questions..

Wow.. I just went to the Suzuki web site to check out the M109R. I really liked that blue with white stripe combo. They now have an M109R2. You guys thought the original headlight was ugly? (I actually kind of like it) You should check out this M109R2 thing. I was going to check on the price difference when I found this. The M109R is considerably less expensive than the Rocket MSRP.. Which is something to consider. Despite it's "plasticness" I'm sure it's a powerful, fun bike to ride.