2020 TRIUMPH ROCKET 3 R & GT
FIRST REVIEW
P72
Given the
641 pounds
dry weight,
it's genuinely
surprising
how hard you
can hustle the
Rocket 3 R
around.
rocket forward, but they'll cer-
tainly build momentum in a very
decisive yet controllable way.
There's an optional two-way
powershifter in the Triumph
catalog, and I'd say this would
be a must-have fitment to com-
plete the ease with which the
Rocket 3 can be ridden, either
model, too.
But that huge hit of torque,
which makes a Harley
LiveWire's 117Nm seem practi-
cally wimpish, though a Zero
SR/F's 190Nm is getting there
Testing the 2020 Triumph
Rocket 3 R & GT
Riding the pair of new bikes for
half a day each along a 125-mile
route winding around the island
of Tenerife, underlined the new
bike's effectiveness. Whereas
the old Rocket III engine's
torque fell away quite sharply
above 3000 revs, this new
cubed-up version is so much
punchier all the way through the
rev range that you can ride it any
way you like. If you fancy chilling
out, just leave it in a higher gear
and surf that massive wave of
grunt—it will literally pull from the
1500-rpm idle speed in top gear
all the way to the revlimiter with
zero transmission snatch—and
surprisingly smartly, too, thanks
to the new motor's fatter, flatter
midrange power delivery.
But if you fancy being a little
sportier, use the sweet-action
gearshift to flick through the six-
speed gearbox, though if you
rev it out beyond 5000 rpm you
must use the clutch to make
clean upwards shifts—below
that, it's fine, though.
However, adding an extra
ratio to the new transmission
is completely unnecessary,
and only done for marketing
reasons—the five-speed gear-
box in the old Rocket III was
already one too many. More
cubes, more power and more
torque do not dictate the need
for an extra gear ratio!
Despite their meaty weight,
the Rocket 3 duo will not exactly
