Today was another perfect day for riding, and we saw other motorcyclists everywhere. In fact our first stop was at Sunrise Cycles which is the local Triumph dealership, and we saw eight other riders. According to Cycletrader, an online motorcycle sales site, there were four Triumph Rocket 3s in stock. Since we hadn’t visited for several months, we decided to stop by on our way over to ride.
Inside we saw the same Rocket in Cranberry red that has been on the showroom floor for a year at least. But I was still hopeful that the Triumph dealer showroom might have the other three. No luck, though we did see the pretty Baja Orange Scrambler was still there. We did get to see the new Triumph Tiger 1200 adventure bike series. They had four of the five bikes in the series: the GT Pro, GT Explorer, Rally Pro, and Rally Explorer. These are designed to compete with BMW’s R 1250 GS and GSA motorcycles. Bill got on the Rally Explorer, the large competition for the GSA and wasn’t able to flatfoot the super tall motorcycle. I played it safer and sat on the GT Pro which I could flatfoot. I immediately felt the weight of the bike, all 540 pounds of it because the weight sits up high. I liked it better than the KTM Super Adventure, but I didn’t like it better than the GS.
We had fun with the little Triumph Speed Triples. These small motorcycles carry a large punch—1160 cc engine with 177 HP at a weight of 437 pounds. Talk about a zippy little bike! But we were disappointed not to see more Rockets. Heading back into the main showroom, we were meandering toward the door when I saw Duck, the Triumph salesman. I decided to check with him on the arrival timeframe for the 2023 models and confirm that my name was still at the top of the contact list. It was lucky I did so for two reasons: 1. My name had been accidentally erased from the top of the board during a misguided cleanup session and 2. There was a 2023 Triumph Rocket 3 GT in Carnival Red/Sapphire Black that had arrived a week ago.
I told Bill to follow us because there was a surprise. Duck took us back to the arrivals garage where the motorcycles are unboxed and assembled. Hiding in the corner like a naughty child was the glorious motorcycle. It was love at first sight for Bill. He has been admiring the Rocket for almost three years, but it was the Carnival Red/Sapphire Black color combination that pushed him over the edge into possible ownership. Duck kindly allowed Bill to sit on the motorcycle, and he even pushed it outside into the glorious sunshine where the motorcycle looked truly spectacular.
We asked Duck to work up a quote for us as we headed over to ride. Bill has told me several times that sometimes when you see a motorcycle, you just know that it’s what you want. I hoped the quote would be to Bill’s liking and laughed a little inside thinking on the irony. We’ve been discussing and looking at possibles for my next motorcycle, but it looked like the next bike purchase would be for Bill.
The day was glorious. I had on my longer motorcycle socks, so the wind chill didn’t ride up my pants leg. Before we headed out, Bill installed the baffle inside the LeoVince LV10 exhaust to tame the volume. The baffle slipped right in, but the exhaust would not slip back onto the pipe. Instead of being perfectly round, either the baffle or the exhaust pipe has a slight elliptical to it which blocked part of the pipe. Eventually, Bill was able to jerry-rig a setup using a shoelace that allowed me to ride the Ducati, but the frustration of the assembly took a little shine off the Rocket glow.
But once the Scrambler was up and running, the glorious exhaust sound soon returned the smiles to our faces. With the baffle in, the engine noise was now tolerable, and I could truly enjoy the rumble, grumble, pops, and roar from the exhaust. I found myself particularly enjoying the downshifts as the grumbles and pops are at their acoustical best. I don’t think the Canadian Geese care for my new exhaust, but the sound does help get them out of our way.
We rode most of our usual route though there was a lot more traffic we had to navigate around. Bill led us into a new parking lot that I liked a lot because there was lots of shade. I was fine cruising and doing our U-turns and figure 8s in the courts, but when we hit the hospital overflow lot for our straightening and stopping drills, I finally felt the engine heat and became uncomfortably warm.
So we didn’t stay long in that parking lot. As we headed over to the field for my R Nine T practice, we ran into traffic trying to turn onto the school’s road. So Bill led us up a little further and we turned into the office park and rode through the parking lot to get to our route. I had a glorious ride on the R Nine T with no stutters or stalls. I was having such a good time, I found myself hoping the deal on the Rocket worked out because then the R Nine T would become my next motorcycle.
We finished the ride and headed home. The quote came and it was over what Bill is willing to pay. But now that we know what he wants, we can keep looking until we hopefully find the right deal on the beautiful bike.
Flutterby Biker 