Why did Triumph strangulate the early Roadsters?

Mine's a 2012 and I have always thought it felt a bit flat compared to my previous 2009 plain Rocket 3. Which is strange of course because on paper it produces more power and torque. And I guess I always knew that Triumph had torque-limited the first 3 gears.
But I guess I didn't really understand what that meant until I started thinking about putting the latest Roadster tune into my bike (the latest map has no torque restrictions on first 3 gears).

So today I thought I would experiment and see if I could tell the difference between the unstrangulated 4 th gear and the lower ones. (You need to be aware that I am fairly unsophisticated and insensitive to changes in my bikes and also that I don't ride particularly fast so I have never experienced 4 th gear power much.

Anyway to cut a long story short - wow - even I could tell the difference. If you have a 2012 Roadster try this. Ride along at say 3000rpm in 3rd gear then open the throttle pretty hard. The result is OK-ish after a bit of a wind up period the bike surges forwards quite well. Now riding along at the same road speed pop it into 4th - this will drop the rpm down to low 2000's so now if you open the throttle in the same way it will bog down before it builds up to higher revs and takes off won't it?........ Wrong...... As soon as you crack the throttle the bike is off like a maniac. This is what it's supposed to be like in all the gears and why Triumph produced a class leading engine then throttled it I have no idea.

I am even more baffled why - having realised their mistake and scrapped the idea of the torque limiters on 2013 Roadsters, they have prevented dealers from offering this simple upgrade to older Roadster owners.
Mike

Because they did not want new Captains killing themselves; until they learned the manners of the beast?

that is a good and interesting way to put it.
They tweak it back until a little respect is earned, and then, at say the 10K tune check, they unleash it.

It would certainly keep the smile fresh.

Not that they would do that but a thought.

The litigious society we live in. Why did the EU adopt a 184 mph restriction on motorcycles? Same reason (that and the Honda Blackbird XX that cut a compact car in half...)

I wondered at the time if Triumph was still taking a wait and see approach on drive train durability after warranty claims on previous models.

RocketEd said:

I wondered at the time if Triumph was still taking a wait and see approach on drive train durability after warranty claims on previous models.

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I guess that makes more sense (to me) than them being 'nannying'. I mean if you are worried about people hurting themselves on your bike why produce the biggest engined bike in the world.
I think another reason that has been proposed is that they can make more sales by people with 11/12 Roadsters upgrading to 13/14 models. but that would be a very cynical apparoach that I am sure Triumph wouldn't stoop to.
Mike

So more importantly, have you figured out what is needed using TuneECU to unleash the ponies? It's just an ECU thing holding it back right?

kaivalagi said:

So more importantly, have you figured out what is needed using TuneECU to unleash the ponies? It's just an ECU thing holding it back right?

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Still thinking about it. The 10k service due soon has the dealer checking the bike with the diagnostic tool. I may wait until after the service to install the new tune.
Mike

Oh right, still in warranty right now then?....best doing it once the warranty is over. You could always put the original map back in if a problem occurs and you need to take the bike in under warranty but it could still create unnecessary bull**** I think (they can find out if you'd edited it I think)

I'm not changing my bike from stock anything until mine is up....bloody long wait but atleast the map is not restricted anymore

kaivalagi said:

Oh right, still in warranty right now then?....best doing it once the warranty is over. You could always put the original map back in if a problem occurs and you need to take the bike in under warranty but it could still create unnecessary bull**** I think (they can find out if you'd edited it I think)

I'm not changing my bike from stock anything until mine is up....bloody long wait but atleast the map is not restricted anymore

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C'mon Captains. I was tearing into my Rocket WHILE it was under warranty. If it's not going to break on you in the first year of ownership (providing that you have been riding it) chances are likely that it's not going to break. First year ownership normally works the bugs out.

Don't hold back. Taste the power. You know you want to.

I have sipped from the offerings of this marvelous powerplant beneath us; and I just can't get enough.

Do it.