2 Cylinders better than 3?

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim:

I had an original Rocket 3.  It was a BSA, not a Triumph, back then.  It had 
a red line around 8,000 with pushrods.  If you added double valve springs, 
you could get over 9,000 out of it.   Lots of power, but needed a balance 
shaft or something...vibes at cruising speeds were pretty objectionable. 
Still, the bike was a lot of fun and very fast.  Handling was decent.  Mine 
was set up as a cafe type bike...painted all white with a one piece 
fender/seat affair, a really large rear tire and a standard type fork with 
disk brake from a Honda 750 instead of the stock hinge type fork and drum 
brake.   It also had a flat black, 3 into 1 GP race pipe on it with a token 
baffle inside.  It sounded extremely serious.

I wrecked it eventually.  Went over a back road hill and discovered an 
unmarked T-intersection on the other side.   I was passing my riding friend, 
who said he was going 80 or so.   I laid the bike down in the street and 
both the bike and I went into a vacant lot missing a tree by inches.  I was 
wearing thin sneakers, thin jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of sunglasses.  I 
should be dead.   Instead, my back was open and full of asphalt and I got a 
pretty bad bang on my left elbow.

I was thinking about getting on another bike, but my friend was rear-ended 
the next week by a sedan while he was stopped for a left turn.  I sold my 
wreck for $25 and the guy came back 3 years later asking for his money back.

I didn't ride for 25 years after that incident.   I finally fell for a '99 
RT with 5,000 miles on it.   I put on another 60,000 and traded for a new 
'04 last summer.  They're great bikes.   How much power do you need on the 
street?   I'm able to keep up with all but the completely irresponsible 
idiots on the street.  I have embarrassed many sport bike riders with my RT 
as have many other BMW riders, because of the confident handling and 
controllability of the bike.  You can go faster when you can sit up straight 
and see what's going on around you and when you know that you can always 
trust what the bike is going to do in a given situation.   That's every bit 
as important as power.

The link you left was of the new Guzzi, not the Triumph.   Whatever.   I 
looked up the new Triumph launch on the site and can understand your 
comments about handling quirks.  The thing is immense!   Think Boss Hoss, 
then you appreciate how sophisticated this bike is by comparison.   Bikes 
with lots of power and not much handling are not for me.  I can't be trusted 
with them!

- -TB 

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