Just this weekend I got my first bike - a Honda XL750 Transalp. Winter is coming where I live, so when I saw a blue sky, dry roads and temperatures just over 0, I thought I could have a little ride. But that wasn’t the stupid, even though I forgot the keys after being completely suited up with thin jogging gloves and winter gloves.
There wasn’t any stupid during the ride, although I forgot the keys again after putting on the two pairs of gloves after a little break. Or that I kept hitting the hazard lights by accident, or the high beams.
The stupid was when I got back and rolled into the driveway. I wanted to slowly roll in and park in front of the wall of the garage. Had the clutch pulled and apparently twisted my wrist to get my thumb on the kill switch. The motor revved up so loud it scared the whole family out the house and onto the porch, where they witnessed me rolling towards the wall, bumping into it because I was so startled I didn’t remember to apply the brake and me falling very, very slowly and gently (almost with a certain grace, I hope) to the side.
As far as I could see, there’s only a few scratches on the bar end and the peg. Whew! But, I was told I bumped hard enough that the rear wheel lifted into the air! Hope that the fork and frame are ok!
Was a real downer after the nice ride, but I guess it’s true what I heard, that all riders fall at least once!
I’ve been riding about 20 years, last summer I had one of my kids on the back of my Rocket
3III, in a busy downtown tourist area with lots of people around. Got off balance starting from a stop at an intersection and it went over, also slowly. (No injuries.) Mistakes can happen no matter how much experience you have, pick it up and ride on.I have a rocket 3… That fucker is HUGE… Haven’t ridden it in something like 6 years but it sure does take up space in my garage nicely.
I’ve had to pick it up off the ground four times, the most notable of which was at the end of a 14-hour 800 mile trip. I believe it’s about 800lbs wet; thankfully I had already unloaded all my gear from it. Took me like two months worth of riding it before I felt confident enough to open the throttle more than 1/4.
The only time mine’s ever been laid down was in the back of a U-Haul after moving it halfway across the US.
I’d already unloaded everything else at a storage unit and was driving the bike (strapped in) to the house…
Well, I went around a curve a little too fast and the straps broke…
Bent my handlebars a little bit… I’ve actually only ridden it once since then to move it from one house to another.
Most memorable ride on it (so far at least) was white knuckling it from San Diego to the Inland Empire shortly after I got it at night without proper eye protection … That was … fun
If it’s 6 years old, or older, then you have a Rocket III. The Rocket 3 is the new more svelte version that came out around 2019.
I suppose you’re right, mine is a 2007. I was just shorthanding it.
You understand that III means 3, right?
It’s a branding change, he’s right.
Right or not, it’s stupid.
How do you think I’ve told people the name of my bike verbally all these years? “Rocket eye eye eye”? No… Because that would be fucking stupid.
The most hated pedant is the one who’s right.
They’re completely different bikes. So the difference in the names makes a difference in which bike you’re talking about. It may be pedantic, but it’s still significant. Verbally you’d say “old Rocket three” or something similar to differentiate that fact.
Just looked up the Rocket 3. A 2.5l 3 cylinder engine putting out freaking 221 Nm?? That thing is a monster! 😳
Mine is a 2007, so “only” 2.3L. Was riding with a friend this summer, headsets, told him I was going to pass someone. We were going about 60MPH, I just opened the throttle a little and went around. “Man, you just disappeared!” I didn’t even drop a gear. Later in the ride, I showed off and hit the rev limiter in 2nd and 3rd.