Yeah +1 on Art's sentiments, as tactless as he is
I am also one of those who put a (€1000) deposit all the way down on a TFC, after seeing the "leaked" pics of a Rocket that looked like what I always wanted my own to look like, and rumours about world beating performance, I was imagining a King Kong 2.5L sportbike spec engine which would embarrass the 200hp that modern sportbikes & hyper/sports tourers have.
In fact I was the first in this country to deposit, and as far as I could see, the first on these forums and fakebooks etc. That's how **** keen I was.
But then in May 2019 the bike spec came out. For such a special bike (talking primarily about the TFC still), they really let us down with the straight line performance. This size engine is capable of much more, and still be Euro 17 or whatever.
180hp was a bit underwhelming, but I threw the toys out of the pram when I saw the torque was the same as the old bike (and also much higher in the rpm).
This size bike is never going to handle or stop like a litre bike, but it easily had the potential to destroy them in acceleration and speed.
And they really missed the opportunity with the 6th gear, that was facepalm.com
Dealer had promised me TFC #111, but when push came to shove, they said they couldn't guarantee it, so that was the last straw and I bailed.
For a while I was worried for the future of the new Rocket, seemed that everyone was also pulling deposits from disappointment, but as it turns out it appears the new bike (across the 3 submodels) has sold quite well.
Seems we were led on or even blatantly lied to by Triumph, with the world beating performance and largest most powerful motorcycle engine etc etc.
Whatever about beating hypersportbikes, it should at least destroy its supposed classmates like the Diavel and the Vmax, but from the accounts I've seen, it comes 3rd in that race.
They lie a little about the engine size too, ok so it's forgivable to have 2500cc on the badge when it is in fact 2458cc (2.5L would be ok, because that is true). But it's ok as all manufacturers do it.
Anyway despite all this bad mouthing the Rocket 3, I still wish I had one, really.
By all accounts it is an excellent motorcycle.
But it's just not worth that much to me, right now at least. My plans involve the old Rocket III.
I'm super jealous of all you guys with a GT, R and especially the TFC. But I will take refuge in the fact that (wait for it...) MINE IS THE BIGGEST
