When the Rocket 3 was first released in 2004 with a 240/50-R16 rear tyre (wider than the tyres on my turbo Subaru GT) Triumph had to have them specially made, by Metzler. The front is a 150/80-R17 which I think Harley may have been putting on their big cruisers by then, but unless you wanted to put car tyres on them (it’s common, called “Dark siding” and is kind of stupid, for obvious reasons) You don’t have much choice but to pony up the dough. Now Avon have come to the party (but for around the same money) as have Bridgestone. (a bit cheaper but N/A when I bought these tyres a couple of years ago during Covid)
Due to the weight of these bikes (around 800 pounds) and the huge torque of the 2300cc (or 2500cc in the post 2020 models) the rear tyres can last as little as 3000 miles, so people doing big miles on them (where they really shine as a “Power Cruiser”) are constantly replacing tyres, hence the temptation to put car tyres on the back, which of course are made in much larger numbers so a fraction of the price.
I was able to get 9000 miles out of my first set on my “In the family from new” 2007 Rocket 3, but they were pretty well buggered by then, and I only felt confident riding it on dry days. The second one I bought cheap had a car tyre on the back, and riding it 10 miles to the shop to have these tyres put on took 10 years off my life, it was “Dangerous at any speed”. With good (although expensive) tyres on one though, they actually handle pretty well for what they are. Brakes are another issue, while the Brembo brakes work very well to haul such a huge bike down from the insane speeds that they’re capable of, a set of discs and pads are shot after around 50,000 miles if regularly ridden in anger.
Spotty and I swapped them out from my red bike and we noticed that both the front and rear discs and pads from that bike had been changed, whereas the discs and pads on the black bike (with only 40,000 miles) were pretty bad. Luckily the discs and pads aren’t as ridiculously expensive as the tyres. (Unless you buy genuine Triumph/Brembo items of course)
As the red bike is a longer term project I’ll replace the brakes as the bike is closer to being finished, and eventually the tyres which are still ok for an occasional ride, but I wanted to make sure the black bike is Roadworthy both for my own personal safety, and to ensure it gets through its Roadworthy Inspection for registration.
