Sunday Jan 27th 2008 is a special day. It really is. B'cos that was the day that I stopped day dreaming, fantasizing that SOME DAY I would have a Rocket 3. Sunday Jan 27th was that SOMEDAY. 4:30 PM and I'm doing my weekly browse of cycletrader.com and I see the posting for a NEW 2007 Triumph Rocket 3 Classic with $2000 of accessories free. 20 minutes later, Doonga and I are furiously racing up US 101 to Hattar Motorsports in San Rafael (45 miles away from Redwood City). 5:05 PM and I stand breathless in front of what will be my bike - she is magnificent. A finer steed was not hewed out of steel. A dual tone (white/black) paint, massive engine block, 2294cc Displacement, 3 Cylinder, 140 Horsepower - behold the MOST POWERFUL CRUISER IN THE WORLD.
Prior to riding a Triumph, my riding experience was limited to the Royal Enfield Bullet (One of India's greatest national treasures right up there with the Kamasutra and Aishwarya Rai!). Now the Bullet is massive by Indian Standards (mine was the somewhat exotic 550cc engine) and has a gutteral yet bassy exhaust note (If James Earl Jones was a set of exhaust pipes - he'd be on a bullet). The bullet has a dry weight of around 380 lbs, the Rocket 3 in comparison is 705 lbs and close to 4.5 times in engine displacement. This looked like a machine that I MUST treat with a lot of humility and respect.
Valerie, the finance manager (turned sales person) seemed even more nervous than I was about (me) riding the bike home (it was raining 2.5 inches that weekend). Michael the chief technician gave me a short seminar on breaking the engine in and asked if I was nervous. I lie and say "Nah! course not". In Michael's own words - "anyone who doesn't get a little bit scared about riding this bike must be crazy". I sheepishly admit to be being a "little nervous".
I buy my gear (riding jacket, gloves, boots) and get ready to make the 45 mile ride home. The heavens are pissing down. I decide to do a practice run in the parking lot. I fire up the 2.4L engine. It seems kinda whiny (not throaty and gutteral) and my buyers remorse kicks in (for the record that was the one and only time I ever felt like I did something stupid). I click into First Gear and Ease the clutch on the horse and she takes off (Oh my fckg lord I've never felt torque like this). I ramble around the parking lot several times trying to build my confidence and courage to ride this monster of a bike home. Doonga suggests its time to get the show on the road. I ride the bike out of the lot onto the main road in second. Make a turn on to the freeway entrance, say a little prayer and twist the throttle. Immediately I know that I don't have the highly developed and fine motor control over my nerves needed to handle this throttle - a single degree of extra twist and she pounces ahead.
10 minutes later I'm on 101 South bound on the Golden Gate Bridge in complete awe of the sheer brilliance of the folks at Hinckley and my profound privileged life to own one of these utterly magnificent machines.
Its been almost 3 weeks now since I brought her home. In those 3 weeks I've ridden all over the San Fransisco Bay Area and done a 1200 mile ride to Death Valley, CA and back (A ride report soon I promise). But every time I sit on that saddle, every time I flick that ignition on, my heart starts to beat faster, my forehead gets sweaty and I breath shorter.
Its truly awesome when you realize a dream!.
Prior to riding a Triumph, my riding experience was limited to the Royal Enfield Bullet (One of India's greatest national treasures right up there with the Kamasutra and Aishwarya Rai!). Now the Bullet is massive by Indian Standards (mine was the somewhat exotic 550cc engine) and has a gutteral yet bassy exhaust note (If James Earl Jones was a set of exhaust pipes - he'd be on a bullet). The bullet has a dry weight of around 380 lbs, the Rocket 3 in comparison is 705 lbs and close to 4.5 times in engine displacement. This looked like a machine that I MUST treat with a lot of humility and respect.
Valerie, the finance manager (turned sales person) seemed even more nervous than I was about (me) riding the bike home (it was raining 2.5 inches that weekend). Michael the chief technician gave me a short seminar on breaking the engine in and asked if I was nervous. I lie and say "Nah! course not". In Michael's own words - "anyone who doesn't get a little bit scared about riding this bike must be crazy". I sheepishly admit to be being a "little nervous".
I buy my gear (riding jacket, gloves, boots) and get ready to make the 45 mile ride home. The heavens are pissing down. I decide to do a practice run in the parking lot. I fire up the 2.4L engine. It seems kinda whiny (not throaty and gutteral) and my buyers remorse kicks in (for the record that was the one and only time I ever felt like I did something stupid). I click into First Gear and Ease the clutch on the horse and she takes off (Oh my fckg lord I've never felt torque like this). I ramble around the parking lot several times trying to build my confidence and courage to ride this monster of a bike home. Doonga suggests its time to get the show on the road. I ride the bike out of the lot onto the main road in second. Make a turn on to the freeway entrance, say a little prayer and twist the throttle. Immediately I know that I don't have the highly developed and fine motor control over my nerves needed to handle this throttle - a single degree of extra twist and she pounces ahead.
10 minutes later I'm on 101 South bound on the Golden Gate Bridge in complete awe of the sheer brilliance of the folks at Hinckley and my profound privileged life to own one of these utterly magnificent machines.
Its been almost 3 weeks now since I brought her home. In those 3 weeks I've ridden all over the San Fransisco Bay Area and done a 1200 mile ride to Death Valley, CA and back (A ride report soon I promise). But every time I sit on that saddle, every time I flick that ignition on, my heart starts to beat faster, my forehead gets sweaty and I breath shorter.
Its truly awesome when you realize a dream!.
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