Test rode a Rocket 3

[Bigdog]

Some of my buddies and I went to Smokey mtns. over the weekend. ( AWESOME ROADS )
Anyway 5 out of us 7 were harley guys sooo off to marysville to the HD dealer.....Then on to Knoxville to the Triumph dealer.  Really nice ppl there. 
They took their 2011 Rocket 3 tourer off the showroom floor and after I signed my life away, they let me have it for a ride......
I was very disappointed in its performance......I guess I was expecting it to be better than the Valk....and it was NOT!   It was a lil noisey and shifted tight but noisey, but what really surprised me was the fact that my Valk feels alot stronger than the R3 tourer .  It has the detuned motor, & I know that the Roadster has the most HP  about 140hp  What I rode was suppose to be 105hp but it did not feel like it at all.   
Anyway I'm done thinking about the Rocket 3,  Now I'm going to spend all myattention into fixin up and spending my $$$$$$ on my awesome Valkyrie
    Thx again to JimL for putting me on this beautiful bike.  I'm planning some changes to my 99 tourer for next year. Should be fun this winter....Thx for taken a few minutes to read this........Bigdog

[old2soon]

This reaffirms something a lot of us know already. Honda pretty much got it right with these fine machines we are fortunate to be a part of. Thanks for the report. RIDE SAFE.

[Thunderbolt]

I put D&D pipes with the full power tune in it.  Both have their good points, but for power the RIII wins any day.  For comfort and long rides the Valkyrie Interstate wins hands down.

[Wetrudgeon]

We have not ridden a Rocket Tourer, but we traded our 1999 Valk on an '08 Rocket III (standard) last year, and we can tell you that the power advantage of the RIII Standard over the Valk is measurable, but not huge.  The Rocket seems a bit more torquey than the Valk, but (as all Valk riders know) once you get the rpm's on the flat 6 motor up around 3K, things start happening pretty fast.  The Rocket is just that; but the Valk is a powerful performer by just about any standard one cares to apply.

The RIII Standard is also not as comfortable as the Valk, but then what bike is?

We like the Rocket a lot, but we miss "Big Mama" some times.  Wish we had the $$$ to have kept her.

We trudge on. 

[Hog Killer DS0048]

A couple years ago took a Rocket III  out for a test run. Very powerful, but didn't seem to have the quality of the Phat Lady. As far as comfort goes, the 08 Vision I have now is the most comfortable bike I've owned. I had my 2000 Valk for eight and a half years and never regretted a minute of it, but with arthritis in my knees I had to get something that didn't lock my legs into basically one position.