TRIUMPH ROCKET 3 GT

WHEN TRIUMPH RELAUNCHED THE ROCKET 3 A COUPLE O’ YEARS AGO, IT WAS OFFERED IN TWO FORMS – THE R AND THE GT. WE LOOKED AT THE R BACK IN ISSUE 443, BUT IT’S TAKEN THIS LONG TO GET A SPIN ABOARD THE OTHER VARIANT, THE GT, AS THE PRESS BIKES’VE BEEN ALMOST CONTINUALLY OUT ON LOAN!

Okay, so that’s not strictly true – yes, it did take a long while to get a GT as they were, indeed, continually out on loan, but it didn’t take quite this long in reality. I did these pics back in September last year but, due to the way magazines work, and the need to keep everything balanced (otherwise there’d just’ve been Triumph test after Triumph test after Triumph test), means that it’s only now the feature goes in. Ho hum. The difference between the R and the GT, although they’re essentially the same bike, is in their styling. The R is, you see, as I said at the time, the more ‘normal’, the more ‘naked’, of the two, with its flatter ‘bars, while the GT, with its higher ‘bars, scooped seat, and passenger back-rest, is more of a cruiser. The seat height of the GT is nearly an inch lower (750mm, 29.5 inches) than the R (773mm, 30.4 inches), so you do sit lower on it, more ‘in it’, and that’s kind o’ how it should be with a cruiser, isn’t it? The one thing that hits you every time you go anywhere near the Rocket, in either variation, is that it’s a bloody big bike – you actually forget (well, I did anyway) how big when you’ve been away from one for a while. It’s not so big that it’s intimidating, you understand, just something you have to be aware of. I found that in my time with the bikes I couldn’t just do my usual ‘abandonment parking’, just rolling up somewhere and parking where the hell I felt like (years of rat bike ownership, y’see, it’s part of the ethos of rat) – no, aboard a Rocket, you have to give it a little thought; you don’t want to park somewhere that has an off-camber, or has an up-slope behind you, ‘cos red-facedly trying to lift, or push backwards, the world’s biggest production engine motorcycle (and one that weighs an elephantine 294 kilos, 654 pounds) can seriously damage your ‘cool’ status, y’know?

Actually, I say ‘elephantine’, but it’s really not that bad – you wouldn’t want to drop it and have to pick it up, granted, but riding is nothing to worry about. You can feel the weight on slow-speed bends and in roundabouts, and the size of the 240 rear tyre too, but it doesn’t take very long to get used to it, it really doesn’t. Ten or so minutes aboard, and you’ll kind o’ forget about it, and it’s only when you park and some adventure bike Charlie (I call all adventure bike riders Charlies, ’cos they’re, in the main, not cool enough to be Ewans) comes over and expresses concern about it (before having to get out a set of steps to climb aboard his Himalayan height plastic motorcycle…) that you even think about it.

What you will think about is the fact that such a big motorcycle accelerates so damn hard. Yes, yes, I know the 2.5-litre motor puts out a heady 165hp at 6,000rpm, and a mammoth 163lb-ft of torque at 4,000rpm, and Triumph quote a 0-60mph time of 2.94 seconds, but things like that’re just numbers on a page – it’s not until you actually feel it for yourself that you get some understanding of what they mean. The stretch of road I usually use to give a bike its head has a set of fairly low-speed corners just before the straight, and exiting them and whanging the throttle is an experience.

The big Triumph leaps forward instantly thanks to its perfect fuelling, and the digital speedometer almost trips over itself trying to keep up. Thanks to the onboard rider aids (ABS,

THE TRIUMPH ROCKET 3 GT COSTS FROM £20,900, AND YOU CAN GET MORE INFO FROM YOUR LOCAL TRIUMPH DEALER OR WWW.TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES. CO.UK

Traction Control, Hill Hold, etc.), there’s none of the sideways twitch wheelspin you used to get with the original Rocket of the early part of this century – no, the new bike just goes, bang, instantly.

Your arms stretch, your head’s pushed back, and you can really feel the wind trying its best to force you off the back. Yeah, yeah, I know speed isn’t everything, but you’d have to be incredibly mean-spirited, or perhaps clinically dead, not to have this thing put a grin on your face.

As I said, though, speed isn’t everything, and the fact that you’ve got all this power, and all this torque, means that the GT’s heavenly to ride day-to-day. Putting a pillion aboard, pretty much has no effect, nor loading it up with luggage, and you can growl around in a higher gear along country lanes or through town traffic with nary a care. The seat’s comfy, and the back-rest makes taking said pillion a lot less traumatic affair for them than aboard many other bikes, and the ‘bars’re perfectly positioned for laid-back ambling. The forward ‘pegs, slightly oddly situated on the R, are just where they should be on the GT and, although I didn’t really do a long run aboard it during my time, it felt as though you could easily climb aboard and head for the coast or the Highlands or across to Wales or down to the South West happily. The under-seat USB charging point, and the conveniently positioned 12v socket in front of the

‘bars, will power your sat-nav, or keep your ‘phone charging while you’re using it as a ‘nav, and the low, deep growl from the ‘pipes is nice without being obtrusive. The brakes (megapowerful Brembo Stylema Monoblocs) are single-finger pull, and ABS’ll save your blushes if you do grab ‘em a little hard at slow speed. It’s everything a cruiser should be, with the additional bonus of having rocket (sorry) ship performance under your right wrist should you need it.