Breaking the Ice Took the green machine out for a 50-mile ride late last week. Weather same as decribed above. Nothing to report... other than what started out as a chat with two elderly Road King owners while I was on my way to my favorite pit stop along the lake. They had questions about the Rocket (price, accessories, reliability, serviceability, my sources for custom mods, etc. ). They both lamented the fact that they had been unable to find a Triumph dealer with a demo unit (I doubt that they had tried hard enough, though...) .
Of course, I also had to endure some --inevitable-- sarcasm (
for the price, I could have a top-notch custom Harley
, how many times I have had to resort to road assistance 
,
was the size of the Rocket denoting some... self-doubt on my part 
, etc.).
I invited them to join me for a cup of coffee. Having made it clear to them that 1) I was a former, repentant HD owner (amongst other bikes) and 2) I could take as much static about the Rocket III or even myself as they had in store, we ended up having a one-hour conversation. To cut the story short, we switched from "hey you" to first names and from coffee to white wine. They eventually invited me to their annual "touring association" (mostly Harley and... Gold Wing owners) dinner Saturday night. Which I attended, only to discover that they had already registered me as a member. And I got a very warm welcome from all 40 participants

. Jamie