I have belatedly discovered (after 2 years) just how strangled my standard R3 Roadster is in the first 3 gears. I don't normally ride my bike hard but since I had had an 09 R3 previously I knew the Roadster felt flat in comparison. I also had read that Trimph had left 4th gear alone and that 5th gear was simply limited for top speed rather than torque. So yesterday I did an experiment - if you have a 2011/2012 stock Roadster it's worth trying.
Ride at 3000 rpm in 3rd gear and crack open the throttle - it's OK-ish - better than my Honda NC700 X
- but nothing to write home about. Now ride at the same road speed in 4th gear (so your revs are probably just over 2000rpm. Now you would imagine that the engine will 'bog' a bit when you open the throttle in comparison to what it did in 3rd gear. But no - the bike shoots off like a maniac machine. What possessed Triumph to do that to the first 3 gears?
Back to the original idea for the thread. It is interesting to understand that the Rocket beats some of these bikes, but I have been demo riding some superbikes recently whilst considering swapping the Roadster. I test rode a BMW S1000R (the street version of the recent superbike). There is no doubt this bike blows the Rocket away - and just about any other bike you could think of. Maybe even in top gear roll-on. But to me that's not the point. It's totally impractical - I don't think I got out of 2nd gear on any of the roads I normally ride, and if I want to tootle it, it's not a pleasant ride.
The Roadster (which I have decided to keep) on the other hand is a *****cat to ride slowly round the countryside but if I want to open it up it gives me more thrills than any cruiser. Problem is that's only true in 4th and 5th so my next task is to put in the latest Triumph Roadster tune to cut out the torque limiters in the first 3 gears.
Mike