I need a very straightforward answer. I do not want to have a repeat

[Micksan]

Some years ago I purchased a used 2005 R3. I did not know it for a couple of weeks. Enjoyed it. Then I found out it had more problems than a preacher arrested in a whore house on Saturday night. Some were the fault of the previous owner. He had spliced in wires, then removed w/o resealing the wires. I had to get an aftermarket circuit for the ignition, or the switch would burn up. After it got warmer I burned up a voltage regulator. Where the factory placed it, there was no airflow to speak of. The next one shorted out and the unregulated juice went straight to the ECU. Of course, it was on a busy road at lunchtime. Could not get anyone to stop me get it back up on the pavement and across the street. Along come two members of the Outlaw club, both the size of two linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys.
This was only a sample. I have worked on my bikes since 1961 and love a challenge. Not so here. I tore it apart and parted it out. The parts went all over the world. Now comes my question that needs a hard answer. I am looking at a 2023 R# GT. I have looked as well as I could, about finding weak points like the early R3 models had. . I am getting too old for those types of surprises. From my experiences when I was hanging out on this site, the members were as honest to the point of pain. Especially the Aussies, ( Must be the Irish in them. Well thanks in advance for your input, plus for putting up with my tale of woe.
Russ Marooney OKC

 

[Dave Cadden]

Some years ago I purchased a used 2005 R3. I did not know it for a couple of weeks. Enjoyed it. Then I found out it had more problems than a preacher arrested in a whore house on Saturday night. Some were the fault of the previous owner. He had spliced in wires, then removed w/o resealing the wires. I had to get an aftermarket circuit for the ignition, or the switch would burn up. After it got warmer I burned up a voltage regulator. Where the factory placed it, there was no airflow to speak of. The next one shorted out and the unregulated juice went straight to the ECU. Of course, it was on a busy road at lunchtime. Could not get anyone to stop me get it back up on the pavement and across the street. Along come two members of the Outlaw club, both the size of two linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys.
This was only a sample. I have worked on my bikes since 1961 and love a challenge. Not so here. I tore it apart and parted it out. The parts went all over the world. Now comes my question that needs a hard answer. I am looking at a 2023 R# GT. I have looked as well as I could, about finding weak points like the early R3 models had. . I am getting too old for those types of surprises. From my experiences when I was hanging out on this site, the members were as honest to the point of pain. Especially the Aussies, ( Must be the Irish in them. Well thanks in advance for your input, plus for putting up with my tale of woe.
Russ Marooney OKC

Many people on here with way more knowledge and experience than I. All I can say is, I have heard from numerous people, many problems with early Rockets. I bought a 2016 Roadster, sight unseen from an old friend 2000 miles away. The bike was three years old with 1200 miles on it. I had never even heard of Triumph Rocket. Since, I put 23,000 miles on it. Zero issues of any kind. Dealer scheduled maintenance only with zero work or parts not included in the manual. I have installed after market heated grips, pannier brackets and changed the oil. I just recently went down to buy my girl a speedmaster, I did just that and could not leave the 2023 Chrome GT sitting there. It now has 412 miles (would be more, but winter here in Reno). All three bikes a dream to ride. Will never sell any of them and will never buy another brand in any class Triumph offers. Matter a fact, Im going to buy a Tiger at some point without even test riding BMW adventure bike or anything else.

The Triumph Connectivity Module for the Rocket does exactly what it is supposed to do. After you read and understand blue tooth host VS client. Follow directions on connecting. Get that GT and love it.

 

[Dave Cadden]

I guess I should say, I did not hesitate buying the 2023, I have had the pleasure of watching the "new gen" rocket guys on here for four years. Now I can stop with all the painful envy.

 

[Jagster]

Mine has approximately 8,000 miles on it. It's an early 2020 model and has been well cared for.
It's out of warranty now, of course so I have to be careful not to say anything that could jinx me, but it's been trouble free so far except for one thing that's not yet fixed but that I can live with reluctantly, providing it doesn't get any worse. My intention is to take up the issue directly with the factory in the coming months if the dealer doesn't get to the bottom of it.
It's a randomly occurring problem and so far I haven't been able to show the dealer the fault directly, and it hasn't triggered a fault code that they can react to.
Basically, the TFT display goes blank (i.e. black - like no power to it). It seems to only occur when the bike runs hot in traffic on hot sunny days. The bike still runs fine. It's only the display that's showing any fault is there. If I switch the bike off and wait a little while (presumably to let the bike cool down a bit) it powers up fine again and it's as if there has never been a fault.
It's done it about half a dozen times in the past 12 months, but only whenever the bike is running hot if stuck in heavy traffic on hot sunny days. Never any other times.

Apart from that it's been fine, so far.

That's everything I can tell you about my bikes reliability.

Electronics are a PITA but they're all using that kind of voodoo these days, so I suppose you've gotta roll the dice to play the game.....unfortunately.

 

[2023R3GT]

1 year old 2023 gt from new and no real issues after 9000km. rear brake even after recall goes soft after a few months. finding tires currently is problematic, especially here in South Africa. Avon no longer makes tires - new Storm is coming with Metzeler Cruisertec but they are on backlog mostly everywhere, hopefully this changes soon. Need to plan parking more carefully when about as no reverse gear - manageable pushing around of level-ish surfaces.

this bike will put a smile on your face every day. best wishes

 

[stollydriver]

Mine has approximately 8,000 miles on it. It's an early 2020 model and has been well cared for.
It's out of warranty now, of course so I have to be careful not to say anything that could jinx me, but it's been trouble free so far except for one thing that's not yet fixed but that I can live with reluctantly, providing it doesn't get any worse. My intention is to take up the issue directly with the factory in the coming months if the dealer doesn't get to the bottom of it.
It's a randomly occurring problem and so far I haven't been able to show the dealer the fault directly, and it hasn't triggered a fault code that they can react to.
Basically, the TFT display goes blank (i.e. black - like no power to it). It seems to only occur when the bike runs hot in traffic on hot sunny days. The bike still runs fine. It's only the display that's showing any fault is there. If I switch the bike off and wait a little while (presumably to let the bike cool down a bit) it powers up fine again and it's as if there has never been a fault.
It's done it about half a dozen times in the past 12 months, but only whenever the bike is running hot if stuck in heavy traffic on hot sunny days. Never any other times.

Apart from that it's been fine, so far.

That's everything I can tell you about my bikes reliability.

Electronics are a PITA but they're all using that kind of voodoo these days, so I suppose you've gotta roll the dice to play the game.....unfortunately.

Sounds like a short on a stat grounding out and loosing earth from the cluster.

 

[Jagster]

Sounds like a short on a stat grounding out and loosing earth from the cluster.

I'm not entirely clear about what/where you are suggesting.
One thing I can say is that I have used some electrical grease on the multi-connecter that goes into the display unit, but it hasn't solved the issue.

 

[Tal]

Some years ago I purchased a used 2005 R3. I did not know it for a couple of weeks. Enjoyed it. Then I found out it had more problems than a preacher arrested in a whore house on Saturday night. Some were the fault of the previous owner. He had spliced in wires, then removed w/o resealing the wires. I had to get an aftermarket circuit for the ignition, or the switch would burn up. After it got warmer I burned up a voltage regulator. Where the factory placed it, there was no airflow to speak of. The next one shorted out and the unregulated juice went straight to the ECU. Of course, it was on a busy road at lunchtime. Could not get anyone to stop me get it back up on the pavement and across the street. Along come two members of the Outlaw club, both the size of two linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys.
This was only a sample. I have worked on my bikes since 1961 and love a challenge. Not so here. I tore it apart and parted it out. The parts went all over the world. Now comes my question that needs a hard answer. I am looking at a 2023 R# GT. I have looked as well as I could, about finding weak points like the early R3 models had. . I am getting too old for those types of surprises. From my experiences when I was hanging out on this site, the members were as honest to the point of pain. Especially the Aussies, ( Must be the Irish in them. Well thanks in advance for your input, plus for putting up with my tale of woe.
Russ Marooney OKC

Fwiw..I'm thinking youre gonna have to ride both the R and the GT b4 you make a decision as they both have different riding positions. In saying that you can turn an R model into a GT and vicky verco...just need to spend some coin on parts.
The GT has some extra's the R dosnt have...Heated grips, flyscreen, passenger backrest and forward controls. The pannier brackets and bags fit both the GT and the R.
I had a 2020 GT..loved it...no problems other than the rear brake going soft but there was a recall on those...sold the bike to buy a Triple Black GT when they came out...once again , no problems....sold that bought a Tiger 1200 which didnt fit me that well ...knee operations didnt help there..and sold that on and bought a 2021 Rocket GT...did the big circle and spewed alot of cash but i'm happy with this bike...Keep on top of tire pressures...get the suspension right for you..(it takes some fiddling..)...keep the good oil in it and youll love it im sure.

 

[Jay]

I had the 2013 R3T previously and put 22k miles on it before selling it earlier this year. Been riding my 2023 R3GT and have just under 500 miles so far. No issues with either bike. Don’t plan on splicing, but I am good at making connectors and tying into the wiring harness without causing electrical issues. I have an extended warranty and don’t expect to need it per say given all the positive experiences of other owners with the 2020+ generation. I got the warranty though for peace of mind up to 7 years of ownership. I expect you will be very pleased with the latest generation.