tastie new bits from milan show

grampi said:

V-Rods are cute little women's bikes...

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Yeah well in my neck of the woods every Triumph but the Rocket is a girly bike but hey what do they know right...

Here in the USA when folks think of motorcycles they think Harley Davidson. The Harley company has marketing genius's that has managed to keep brand awareness at an unbelievable level. They make good bikes, not great bikes, with beautiful finishes. They automatically enroll the new owner in the HOG club. They have more clothes and accessories than a department store and they display them well. Real motorcycle enthusiasts are more knowledgable about the different brands and know the good and bad points of many brands. Triumph would do well to at the very least cater to those in the smaller "knowledgeable" group with more info and accessories for all their models. Personally I think they make great bikes, but it will be many years if ever before the general motorcycle public gets that message. The Rocket is a unique bike and should be marketed as such.

Dave hit it on, marketing. The HD crowd buy into the marketing, in particular in the USofA, and want to have what their "neighbor" has. Pathetic in 2015 that "keeping up with the Joneses" is still a thing, but it is. This is why I have a deep rooted hatred for anything that is HD and stock, older gentlemen excused, but when I see a 20 something on a Ultraclassic commuting 5 miles to work, I have an immediate urge to punch them. They bought that bike for all the wrong reasons, because frankly, there is not a single HD made that other brands dont have faster/more comfortable/more capable versions of, they are a 2nd class product at a 1st class price.

This, don't buy the hype, mentality is actually a huge issue for big companies trying to market to Gen X and Gen Y, we don't respond to it as well as previous generations. There has been a massive amount of research to figure out how to market to people between 26 and 40 since the traditional methods don't work as well as they did with the Boomers etc.

All that might be true about gen x and y. But look how many of us Boomers own RIII on this site. We have come from a time of standard bikes before the sport bike craze started. As I've said before Triumph has missed the boat on the "could have been" with the RIII. Just like their new plan for the new Bonneville series and the Thunderbirds. Triumph could have easily made the RIII into 4 styles. The Standard, Street Fighter, Light Tour, and full blown Cross Continent touring machine (like a Gold Wing). With todays electronics and EFI there is no reason at least some of these models can have cruise, multi mode power bands, ABS, Traction Control, self canceling turn signals, radio, infotainment, ect... And a 6 speed tranny with an overdrive that lowers the RPM significantly for long haul miles at free way speeds. Something like about 500 to 800 RPM drop over the current 5th gear. While having a conversation with my local triumph dealer owner last week about the new Bonneville not being released until April, he casually mentioned in passing that Triumph's line up will be totally revamped by the end of 2018.

I'm 73 years old, I stared riding big bikes when I was 15 in 1957 (HARLEY KNUCKLEHEAD) and WHIZZERS, CUSHMANS, and MUSTANGS and finally a TRIUMPH TIGER CUB before the HARLEY. I bought a new TRIUMPH BONNIE from BUD EKINS in 1959. I've had every Harley model made that had rigid frames. I finally bought a new Harley FXR in 1990, the first swing arm Harley I ever owned. They are good bikes but they have not changed much since the first KNUCKLEHEAD. The bikes have not evolved like others have but the marketing has left ALL others in the dust. They now have a cult. You can buy USED LOW MILEAGE Harleys all day long from original owners who will most likely never own another bike. I've owned and ridden all the old British makes BSA, TRIUMPH, VELOCETTE, MATCHLESS, ARIEL, VINCENT, and in my opinion the Triumphs back in those days were the best. I sw a new Hinkley Triumph Bonnie the first year they came out. I went to a Triumph dealer here in Las Vegas and bought one. I beat the **** out of that bike for almost two years but never did hurt it. I once rode it twelve miles at 100 MPH with out a whimper. I sold it to a guy here in town that still rides it to work. When a guy pulling a trailer came around me at a light and his trailer ran into me on my BOSS HOSS last August while I was in Montana I knew it would take a while to fix my bike. I decided to buy another cruiser as I am in a club in California and we have at least one ride every month so I needed a cruise for that. I considered many bikes including Harleys since they are fine for cruising, not great but still good. The turn off for me was its just another Harley, nothing special, nothing new. I looked at BMW's as its one of the few bikes I've never owned. They seemed to me like a new car with to many gadgets and electrics for my taste, plus I don't like the way they look. I had never seen a Rocket but I remembered how impressed I was with my Hinkley Bonnie so I stopped at a dealer in So Cal who still had one in stock and bought it. Next to the other bikes it was cheap but thats not why I bought it, I liked its looks and I liked its engine. I sat on it and it felt pretty good. I really like the bike noe that I've ridden it a while. Many riders are missing the boat on on this one, its a great bike.

Being from the younger gen myself (I'm 24,) most of people I talk to that are my age are concerned with two types of bikes, [insert Japanese 600cc/1000cc here] and anything HD. When I was looking to get into bikes a few years back, I just went online and browsed every single motorcycle manufacturer's website I could think of and when I found the R3 on the triumph website, I knew this was my dream bike. A few bikes later, the dream became a reality and I couldn't be happier.

Idaho Red Rocket 3 said:

All that might be true about gen x and y. But look how many of us Boomers own RIII on this site. We have come from a time of standard bikes before the sport bike craze started. As I've said before Triumph has missed the boat on the "could have been" with the RIII. Just like their new plan for the new Bonneville series and the Thunderbirds. Triumph could have easily made the RIII into 4 styles. The Standard, Street Fighter, Light Tour, and full blown Cross Continent touring machine (like a Gold Wing). With todays electronics and EFI there is no reason at least some of these models can have cruise, multi mode power bands, ABS, Traction Control, self canceling turn signals, radio, infotainment, ect... And a 6 speed tranny with an overdrive that lowers the RPM significantly for long haul miles at free way speeds. Something like about 500 to 800 RPM drop over the current 5th gear. While having a conversation with my local triumph dealer owner last week about the new Bonneville not being released until April, he casually mentioned in passing that Triumph's line up will be totally revamped by the end of 2018.

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I really hate to predict it... but the R3 will be dead by the time they are done, and considering it's existence is only as a Halo product, and not as a leader in sales. I doubt, but hope, it gets an update rather than just killed off outright.

The bikes as great as they are, are incredibly behind the times. They were never diversified, as you mention, into a platform for a family of bikes, but left to rot with 3 versions of the same bike bearing different names and incredibly minor tweaks over he years + a tourerish version. I just can't see the company that outright killed the Daytona 955, then built a 1300 cc Daytona prototype capable of over 200mph, then killed the program and stated there will never be another big daytona again refreshing the R3.

I don't know much about what they did in the past. Can you tell me if they gave a reason why they killed the 955 and why they said there will never be another big Daytona. My hunch is that they may just keep making the Rocket without doing anything to it. The bugs have been worked out of them at least good enough to survive the warranty period and the bikes are now made in India where the costs are less than most places. The profit is probably good enough to keep producing them just as they are. If Triumph has some extra money maybe they will upgrade the Rocket but if sales are just adequate they will probably upgrade the models that sell the best. What month do the new models usually come out in?

Triumph usually announces new models a few months after the Japanese bikes, they avoid getting drowned out in the press that way, at least they have done so the last few years.

The D955 was killed off because of slumping sales and it was not a viable competitor to the Japanese 1000s, at least that's the public line. Personally, I think it was more a combination of having a phenomenal 675 motor, a unmatched chassis to put it into, and the incredible market reception all lead to making the D955 obsolete, more so than anything else. They have started and stopped development on a new big daytona at least twice, probably more times that are secret. At least 1 bike was finished, over 200whp and capable of over 200mph in street trim, but they backed for some undisclosed reason. The reason it's super odd they haven't filled the gap, is that they already have a big bore Triple motor to use as a basis, the Trophy motor. The very thing that made the D955 the best liter bike made since the year 2000 in my opinion, is the thing that made it flop publicly, more focus on Streetable power (midrange) than top end, and on paper it lags behind the japs badly. In reality, I have yet to have anyone on a jap liter bike run away from me at any time except on i95 at over 170mph. Publicly they have never said why they refuse to do another big daytona, but they have stated there wont be another.

I hope the R3 is made forever, but I doubt it will be. Though, a thought just came to me, from what I understand all R3s are still assembled at the Hinkley factory, not in India like their other bikes. The jobs is provides might guarantee the R3 a very... very long run.