I would seriously question whether someone who took 3 hours to move a photo from his iPhone to a post on R3 owners.net should be allowed to handle sharp objects. Tribal this is a shot of the Odometer. 38,061 miles. Its the real mileage. Even the times I ran it at El Mirage I left the Speedo and Tach in place. HOWEVER this bike, while it will run good, (if I can start it,) it has been handed some tough jobs in the last 15 years. I have always felt I was trusting my life to the machine and the people who worked on it. Accordingly I don't believe I have ever done anything mickey mouse. That being said, if I were looking at my bike through someone else's eyes, there are a lot of flaws. Anyone serious to buy I will go over every scratch, but it still sells as is where is. The history might put some people off, but the bike has never caused me any regrets.
History:
Arrived at SoCalTriumph in '05 with the first deliveries of the Rocket 3. The Factory demo bike was at the shop for it's two week visit at the same time. (When the R3 first came out Triumph of America made one bike available and sent it around from one dealer to another for 2 weeks loans. People signed up in advance to demo the bike during the two weeks) I wanted to ride the demo to see what all the fuss was about. I really believed the bike was the ugliest thing I had ever seen, but it has since grown on me. I did the demo ride and was astounded at the torque and low speed ease which you all know about. I thought this might be the bike for my wife and I. She had been a good sport on my 1970 T120, but it doesn't really have any comfort nor does it have adequate braking power for frequent rides. She also rode the '01 Speed Triple, but not comfortably. So I thought maybe the Rocket....
I spoke to the store owner who I have become friends with, and asked if I might take the demo for a full hour one time during the two weeks, so that I could bring it to the house, surprise my wife and take her around the block for a little sales pitch on the smooth ride, and comfy seat. Tom said, "I can do better than that, I have the press bike". At that time his shop provided maintenance to the press fleet for the Triumph bikes that are loaned to the journalists. Those bikes need a quick 500 miles, oil change and cable adjustment before they go to the magazines and I was a sometimes go-fer who put on some miles on some bikes. I said, "Great when will it be here?" He said, "It's here now". I said "when will it be out of the crate?" He said, "It's out now!" I said "When can I ride it?" He said. "here are the keys." I left the shop that morning and hurried home to take my wife for a ride. Then I left home to go get lunch at a local restaurant called Neptunes Net. I went the long Way. I got back to the shop at closing, with 200 miles on the brand new bike.
The following Monday Tom found out two interesting facts. The press bike had already gone directly from Triumph America to a Magazine, and Tom now had a brand new/used R3 at his store. He made the best of it by providing the bike to Jardine, for them to make up the headers that they later put on sale, and after that the bike was sent to Las Vegas where Power Commander fitted a magic box and tune to make the bike run right with the Jardines. The bike then spent the next two years at SoCal Triumph as a Demo. I rode it almost every week. During those two years I believe the bike was dropped by customers twice. The bike had so many Dyno pulls on it that the front brake lines were blistered from the heat. I bought it as a used bike in, I think, '07. I believe it had about 6,000 miles on it. They put new brake lines on it for me. It had the crash bars, fog lights, rear package shelf and rear Gel seat and Jardine headers at that time.
There is a lot more history to tell, but I should probably make a different thread on some other forum and just refer to it? That way real shoppers won't have to waste time looking at a long story. I don't know the etiquette here so someone will have to direct me to the best way to tell the history of this bike.
As for the price, I would like what someone is willing to pay, but I don't think it is going to bring much, which is why I am reluctant to spend time and money chasing a broken wire and agreeing to ship the bike all over the place. I expect it will go cheap enough that someone could afford to bring a trailer and come and get it. I will wait and see if anyone is interested enough to make an offer, if not I will hang a number and see what I can do.
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