http://www.classic-british-motorcycles.com/bsa-rocket-3.htmlAHEAD OF THE CURVE?
The story of the BSA's Rocket 3 & her sister-bike, the Triumph Trident, is one of the most interesting, and at the same time most exasperating, story in all the annals of Classic British Motorcycles. Interesting because the Rocket 3 & Trident might actually have been one of the few instances in which BSA might have actually been ahead of the curve with its planning. Exasperating because it took so many years to get from concept to prototype, then prototype to production, that the window of opportunity had closed. Now instead of an incomparably fast, radically new machine, by the time it launched in late 1968 (as a 1969 model), it had already been eclipsed by the world-beating Honda 750 Four.
HERE'S WHERE IT GOES SOUTH
Imagine, if you will, a BSA Rocket 3 750 Triple in 1966. What sort of impact would it have made in a marketplace filled with British 650 twins & a few 350s & a 450 twin out of Japan? Talk about being ahead of the curve! BSA would have had a bonafide hit on their hands & could have firmly established themselves as the preimminent performance brand. As it was, the Trident was the fastest production motorcycle in the world when it came out in 1968, even faster than the first Honda 750/4's. Imagine that kind of performance 3 years ahead of the big Honda.
INTERNAL SQUABBLING
Well...it didn't happen. Endless dithering on parent-company BSA's part caused the project to run on indefinitely until the news of the impending release of the Honda 750/4 forced them into hasty action. You would think that after several years of tinkering with the bike prior to this, that they would have had something ready for market. But alas, not even close. First off, BSA was feeling slighted by Triumph's popularity & success, and they wanted to do something for their dealers as well. So, the insisted that the new Triumph Trident triple also be made as a BSA, to be named the Rocket 3 (presumably to honor all those great pre-unit Rocket twins). But this wasn't going to be some badge-engineered clone of the Trident. No, that would have made too much sense. Instead, they took all the basic internals, put them into an entirely new set of engine cases whose only purpose was to provide a 12-degree slant to the cylinders, to make it look different than the Triumph, which had vertical cylinders. But that wasn't all. They dropped it into an entirely new frame, completely different than than the Trident unit. This ridiculous maneuvering slowed introduction even more & drove up costs.
After reading all of this I still see nothing about a superbike being made by them.
