I did it. I swung a leg over the biggest engine production bike of all time (so far).
I dropped my bike into NV Motorcycles in Morrinsville for its first service and took the demo Triumph Rocket 3 GT out for a spin with the missus tucked on the back.
How was it then you might ask?
Grab 100 frisky bulls and join them all together into one, then kick it in the nuts really hard and well..... just hang on.
Footing it around the yard makes you aware of the 350'ish wet kilo weight but the weight is well down low, so once you let out the clutch and its rolling, it's just like any other bike.
Walking around the bike you become aware of its awesome presence and how much work has gone into creating a static motorcycle work of art. Pictures do not do it justice. This is a thing of beauty and amazingly crafted and the ergonomics are perfect. The GT has its foot pegs well forward to what I'm used to but they are fully adjustable and can be brought back to a more upright position. The bars on the GT are angled back further and slightly wider than the R model and also has a pillion back rest. (more on that later).
I love the look of this beast. If you owned one you would just park it in your lounge and look at it rather than your favourite movie. It looks really, really good and the attention to detail is obvious.
Once up and rolling it become super light and easily flicked around from side to side and very well balanced. It corners amazingly well considering its size and bulk. The view over the fuel tank would be similar to a captain on the bridge of an oil tanker. It looks huge but holds around 18 litres of fuel which is 4 litres less than my last GSX1400. Because I am used to an upright riding position on my recently purchased speed twin, I had trouble locating the forward mounted pegs but once found the position becomes quite comfortable and I'm not into cruisers at all.
Once we hit the open road marker, I crank it up and roll on the throttle in second. 221 NM of torque backed up by 165 ponies kicks in and my arms are six inches longer. I'm used to generous amounts of low-down torque and acceleration as the GSX1400 was no slouch but this has been taken to a whole new level. The linear pull just keeps on delivering to the red line and doesn't let up. It's brutal, exhilarating, exciting, awesome but all very much controllable. You could quickly get into big trouble on this machine and it would require massive amounts of discipline to own and ride one. The exhaust sound is stunning once on song and the desire to open the throttle to experience the forward rush is a constant temptation
For a large bike the handling and corner transitions are solid and spot on and the brakes certainly haul this thing up real quick.
I reluctantly returned the bike and asked my wife how she found it and the ride. She was very happy with the sitting position for the pillion and mentioned that it is just as well it's got a back rest, otherwise I would have spent the rest of the day looking for her in the bushes on the side of the road. She wasn't able to actually hang on and relied very much on the pillion back rest as a back stop.
I love this machine. It's a definite on my short list...... in fact..... I want one!
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