SuperBike Magazine June 2020

31
I
mean, just look at the stance of the
Rocket 3R over the GT, it’s like the
full spec Mustang Shelby next to it
SUV brother. The one just completely
out poses the other, and that’s before
you even swing a leg over. So just
before Lock Down we had the opportunity
through Triumph SA to go for our first SA
ride on them. I’m not going to go through
the full technical specs on the bikes as
we already handled that in the launch
article from the UK in our Jan issue. But a
2,5 litre torque hungry triple will definitely
lift your skirt, the last model was crazy
and this one makes more, 221 Nm to be
exact. To make you realise how much that
is in motorcycle terms is it makes almost
double to what a V4 Ducati does which
is 112 Nm. Yes it is a heavy bike but it’s a
big muscle car kind of engine, for interest
sake, this bike is 40kgs lighter than it’s
predecessor.
So we met at the Triumph shop at
Kramerville just after peak traffic in the
morning and I immediately gravitated
to the Roadster R as keys were handed
out. It’s key-less so you just put it in your
pocket, push a button and you’re off. The
seating position is immediately more
cage-fighting ready than anything I’ve
ever ridden, it fits with the bike’s roadster
looks, I loved the feet position and the
stance leaning forward with the bar position
exactly as I thought or hoped it would
be. I immediately felt stylish and happy
as I was wearing my latest motorcycling
apparel.
Blimey, they not lying about the
torque, this 2458cc triple is a machine,
it’s a lot smoother than the old one and
it’s for sure got more poke. The old bike
impressed me with the absolute brute
force with which it could accelerate from
idle, it felt that the revs would pick up
with the bike in first gear as quick as it
would standing next to the bike and revving.
It was that hectic, the new one feels
exactly the same but even more so, it actually
pulls your arms longer. You cannot
accelerate fully if you have a pillion on
the back or you will lose her.
We headed out on the hi-way with
our end destination past Harties and past
Pellendaba to a great little lunch stop
called the Pastorie in Broederstroom,
en route there we had a great variance
of roads. The wind on the R at highway
speeds or a little above it is quite liveable
but at a bit more of a twist of the throttle
it gets quite windy, the quite sporty setup
on the suspension also had me longing
for a more adventure bike set up (I must
admit here, we are talking about the
worst road on the planet past Pellendaba).
As much as I loved the bike before,