I've ridden a V-rod. Being not too tall the bike have a convenient seat height, but the foot pegs were very far and had trouble reaching them. Also that made me rest all my weight on my butt, so it was a tiring 500 mile trip, I'm telling you.
The new one is the street rod. I had the chance to sit on one -not ride it- on a test ride day we had here in Madrid -I recall having posted about it before- The seat is much higher, to the extent that I had trouble putting both feet on the ground. The footpegs are now backwards, so the riding position is more upright. The rest of the bike is more or less similar -except the wheels and some other details- and they changed the linkages for the operation of brake and gearshift.
In my opinion, a long bike like the V-rod with a upright riding position is a nonsense. When I see the pictures in the magazines there is something odd on them, is like adopting an aerodinamic position on a Fat Boy. The Street Rod have all the performance of the V-Rod, but if they wanted a bike to use all that power they should have come up with a new design for that porsche engine.
Regarding the Rocket III, I love it. Actually, I would buy any Triumph anytime: Bonneville, Thunderbird, Bonneville America, Rocket, Speed Triple, you name it. My neighbour have a 1970 Bonneville but he gave up because of the lousy electrics and the vibration. He was loosing bolts and nuts all the time -literally-, and above 60 mph the mirrors were useless. You should have seen his face when he saw how my CB750 started and vibrated almost nothing...
Then he bought a new Thunderbird Sport. A very nice bike, but the engine sound is somewhat strange, something like a whining noise. The only thing I don't like it's fully black. I don't know why but I don't like black cars or bikes. Dust is easier to spot on them and actually you don't need a black vehicle to look mean...
I've ridden both a Bonneville and a Thunderbird (not my neighbour's but the normal model). I prefer the looks of the Thunderbird, but prefer how the Bonneville handles. It's lighter and in my opinion have a bigger turning radius, that makes it better for jammed cities like Madrid.
I think Triumphs are as exclusive as Harleys and have the performance of the japanese, with a price halfway between them. They have a legend behind them, and as John Bloor put his pocket money on that they deserve to remain. Look what happened with Indian, Henderson...
