2020 Triumph Rocket 3 - Jay Leno’s Garage

Jay loves the Triumph Rocket 3 so much that he had to get one in black! ABOUT JAY LENO'S GARAGE A new video every Sunday! Visit Jay Leno's Garage, the Emmy-winning series where Jay Leno gives car reviews, motorcycle reviews, compares cars, and shares his passion and expertise on anything that rolls, explodes, and makes noise. Classic cars, restomods, super cars like the McLaren P1, sports cars like Porsche 918 Spyder and Camaro Z28, cafe racers, vintage cars, and much, much more.

Video Script:: 

one silver not enough for too many don't
like a twin dragon three go ahead motorcycles wrap this up in my
garage this morning and I'm waiting for Lance to come by he's the triumph guy to
do the talk you know and I think a lot stake it out for a ride for us see how
we like it and while I get a lot really comfortable
a little heat but not enough to be annoying in the summer
time's it for what the hunters think you could find something like that I'll ask
him when he gets here but they're very comfortable writing to do I'm just so
tired of you know I can't through the cafe thing anymore I love cafe bikes I
like to look at them but I'm just hunched over so so much my back's
killing me after 20 minutes this is a nice relaxed riding position just the
right height any higher be too high any Lord be too low this is one of the great
Sunday morning bike ride bikes you know plenty of torque plenty of power 2.5
liter engine the biggest I think it's the biggest motorcycle engine it's worth
Harley's got some big twins but then a 2.5 liter this of course three cylinders
four valve hundred 60 horsepower a lot of torque pulls really strong it looks
like a big pipe once you're on it the boys pretty maneuverable it's pretty
lighted it carries its weight down low so that's too bad I am so glad to
triumph heyday 30s 40s 50s 60s and they never
quite captured it you know but john-boy he's really done that's a great job you
know one of my favorite triumphs I've got a 64 the triumph bonneville and
lightweight handles just a fun bike to ride and much like the way Porsche has
sort of kept it going you know kept the classic flourishes handling with modern
upgrades tribe has done the same thing my 66 a 64 rather is just a foot above
45 horsepower or something like that but it's more than enough this is three
times the power and a little bit more weight but not a whole lot more not
enough to to slow it down I mean this thing just pulled really hard
you know the most amazing thing about modern bikes of the rearview mirrors I
remember the old days of triumph if you got above 3000 rpm you look in that
rearview mirror and you just you couldn't see anything it would just be
vibrating or blurry this is I mean beautiful clear always be the rev range
you don't get any vibrations at all and this is such a strong motor I mean it's
not like a big flow which revs to 13,000 rpm that's not the idea behind it
it just torquey so it pulls down below and really hard I can't emphasize enough how comfortable
this bike is y'all time to get a big Cruiser I don't really like those either
with the foot forward thing saddlebags I just don't like that to me this is
really comfortable and you've got the wind in your face
which I kind of like a little bit and it just handled very nicely just I'm so used to driving vintage bikes
with barely any brakes no track to control no ABS none of that
about modern bikes like this have all that stuff and it's such an unusual
engine configuration three cylinders and very stable motorcycle no this is just about the perfect
compromise you want the power over sportbike would you want the comfort of
a cruiser but you're not a cruiser guy and maybe you're maybe you're not quite
good enough and over those 200 or so it's foreplay
we're just got all the torque of all the power
now what you needed it's great to see the English companies
making such an impressive comeback you know England was the motorcycle capital
in the world for so many years and then they just got their butts kicked by the
Japanese and everybody else and now they're back you know when I left even
back for a long time of seat I've had been hugely successful
you know I remember the old days you just be a bunch of stickers and paint
jobs and silver jubilee model and all that kind of stuff where I mean now
they're a real engineering company the build real motor fight once you got a bite it doesn't sound
like anything else on the road those three cylinders a really distinctive
once again the merits couldn't be more impressive that's probably the greatest
safety feature on a motorcycle you know around some bike this vibration you look
in your mirror and you can't make out what's behind you
whereas these are they're big they're not intrusive
they cover the whole area behind you you can see where you're going and who's
coming up on man it's so nice to ride a motorcycle that stops I mean I love my
31 Indian chief but I'm sorry really come to a red light oh sorry excuse me
you're just just you're just going through lights yeah I mean to have
something that actually stops it's impressive one silver not enough for too many don't
like a twin try a three I like the way they touch the exhaustion or the disadvantage of the big air cruel
bikes is the course in the summer it just throws such a tremendous amount of
heat where's this not bad at all let's head back to the garage we'll see if
Lance's there yes very nice that's a been pleasure man I'm
doing alright at the bike got you before you did so I thought we'd take it for a
ride yeah I think that's a great idea no it's great it's really nice so out
there I guess my question to you yeah within the first couple miles what were
some takeaways that you got from it well you know it's funny I I'm always a
sucker for the cafe bike and I got on after 20 minutes my back has killed me
I'm an old guy now you know and I realized that's exactly what I need the
riding position is perfect when I take my old vincent's out itself it's that
sit up and beg kind of thing I'm not so much a GT guy because this has a for the
forward pegs always psych me out I feel like when they go into a corner with my
feet I always feel weird I mean that's exactly perfect exactly right height the
bar is not too high it's not too low it's a great riding position we were out
for about an hour it's perfectly comfortable I don't get off and go oh
yeah I mean I think one of the great parts about both of these bikes is just
the ability to kind of suit the riding position to the to the actual rider and
me at six six it's helpful because those pegs go down about point six inches yeah
and right here on the GT we can move them forward one inch and then back to
the original position and then back another edge so yeah flexibility there
nobody else has got a three and I think do they had a few in this daddy Yamaha
whatever I used to remember the Trident the Triumph Trident that's right 68 75
yeah which was just a twin with an extra scimitar stuck on it you know it's kind
of weird but it was nice it was a nice bike I love what triumph has done you
know I I like the fact that they you know for a long time in the 70s it was
all a paint and sticker package a silver jubilee it's the same they kept making
the same buy you could took them a long time to get a disc brake in the front
and the back you know and now they're truly modern motorcycles that compete
with anything else in the world you know I mean it's impressive to see the
British motorcycle come back because that's what I grew up
on you know British bikes and then the Japanese come just obliterated the whole
thing you know and then they came back John bluer and those guys took the
company built bikes oil tight really impressive package and 160 horsepower as
I was saying during the drive it's perfect because I've got bikes with 210
horse and stuff I'm not good enough to make them sold so how about 165 165 is
great I mean it pulls hard there's plenty of power it's impressive
ioanna I was cursing the tachometer until you showed me I could change the
screen when I got it I just the key was in it and I figured I'd go for ride so
which is stupid you should read the manual before you go for it--and the
tach has got this little tiny line but you told me you could put the tack
center stage with it which is nice you know it's it's impressive and it carries
its weight well you know we did a lot of work on this bike not only have we
dropped just under 90 pounds from the bike itself we taken out about 40 pounds
from the engine so you know consider moving about 40 pounds from in between
your legs and just you know save the merton barrel jokes for another time shaft drive that's right absolutely I
mean you've got virtually maintenance-free bike pretty much and I
like how they've cleaned up you know the first three cylinders they did had that
kind of Ferguson tractor look to it it wasn't an attractive engine to look at
triumph engines are always beautiful to look at him that twin you know and when
it first came out it was like okay I mean it was all right you know but this
they've narrowed it they brought it in tighter I like what they've done with
the exhaust it's not throwing it a huge amount of heat I'm not burning my leg
off on the thing anymore yeah absolutely I had the wonderful opportunity to ride
both of these bikes at length and that was something that I noticed was really
happy about you know if your rider and you spent any sort of time on the bike
the last thing you want is just to have one side in this case of your leg just
bright crisp in here we did a really good job of heat shielding yeah it's
really good it's really good and like I say I can put my feet on the ground
because it's not what a bike weighs it's how you can balance it
and if you got highway even a hundred pounds less oh you're doing that where
is this it's all down low it's very nice it's it's impressive and it's different
I like the fact that triumph doesn't just make the same a different version
of the same bike they get you know they got the twins and then they got this
which is a totally probably different market to different crowd yeah I mean I
mean you find a little bit of crossover I'll say that only speaking for myself I
own a Bonneville t120 and a tiger 800 different strokes I just got the
parallel twin and you have a triple right there but I've got a Bonnie I love
my body I've got a lot of early triumph 64 Bonnie 70 Bonnie I got a Thunderbird
and then I've got a modern Bonneville which when I ride it people go hey what
year is that would you when you restore they go no no it's it's been one but
it's got that retro look even got the fake Emil's on it you know technology
too which makes for somebody who feels they have to have the biggest engine
ever put in a motorcycle which is what it is I think this is what it is why
five liter and that's right I mean don't say Boss Hoss with the Chevy v8 that
doesn't count I mean this specific motorcycle engine is still the biggest I
mean the Harley be twins are big but then that 2.5 liters you know so and I
think ours a little more freer flowing rev a little bit better you know I think
this is a very versatile engine I mean down low the torque I don't know if you
felt it but it kind of you know from jump it kind of moves the earth
underneath you and then you know it's a funny ridin American stuff most of my
life cars and bikes like I've got my little Honda over there my 64 that's a
600 cc engine and it revs to 9500 and when they come out the new Honda the
2000s that had like a 9,000 rpm redline and they found Americans were
short-shifting all the time because I don't want to I don't want to hurt it by
over Evan it's supposed to read it's hard to get that American mindset out of
your head you know and you'd almost don't really need a Thai attacking this
bike because you open it it anywhere and that's tremendous flood of torque comes
through and just carries the bike you know a lot of bikes you've got to get up
above 7 grand you know to get the real pole what is this
from I mean the talk curve is pretty flat only it's it's really flat you're
hitting the peak right around 4,000 I am try and try and keep that mid-range
right there for you to take advantage of yeah very very nice and the GT is
different how I could use the heated grips today yeah that's right
GT a couple small differences we have the seat height the are you're looking
at about thirty point four inches off the ground you're looking at about
twenty nine point five inches so a little more accessible that way you have
these wonderful swept back handlebars one for some people to sweat back and I
don't like all the way for explain this ignition what's the need of this yes
actually it's just you know another kind of level or the killer yeah another
level of control and over love protection if somebody rolls up on the
bike that you has a key enough familiar with it
bike doesn't turn on if that's which is it on I get plenty of calls of folks
what's going on with the bike while you tried the ignition switch right
similarly we have our special electric key here which you can turn off and on
with a button oh so let me give you the key this before okay so if this is on on
and I walk away to the bike I'm not drawing power right no exactly so you're
in good shape not to worry about that and kind of similarly other differences
between the R and the GT you're gonna get this seat rest right here for your
passenger and I seats craft a little differently just in keeping with the you
know kind of cruising versus Roadster theme and you know it's just you get
this windscreen stock as well which is available for fit on the are I like I
like the arm I just like that better I just like the seating position it's
perfect for me I mean it's perfect I'm just a hair under six feet so it oh
alright find my leg I'm not come at doing this all the time and I'm not
doing that all time no it was it was really a nice riding but you know I
always get bikes I like to look of more than I like like I keep buying these
cafe bikes or like this whole time and I ride for an hour and them what is this I
could just ride all day he's no it's it's impressive it's impressive
absolutely I mean that fender treatment is unusual that's interesting subjective
right we all looks massive tire we got 240 in the
back right 150 up front Avon Cobra Chrome's developed
specifically for the rocket one great aspect about them is you'll hit your
pegs before you hit the end of the traction on the tires themselves it's
nice and a little safety thing then we've kind of built in there a little
bit and this is what is the euro-spec that means ABS traction control zero
five zero five is essentially it's just a way for you know not too long ago
European said the Euro 4 it's just a matter of you know emissions that's not
stuff to make sure that it's all together here euro 5 compliant for the
states you know it's not necessarily you need to worry about but we do need to
worry about is the fact that in a good way
is the the cat is hidden very seductively maybe okay between got a
Cadillac of leather but you've also got abs man turn abs and traction optimize
cornering ABS optimize porn and trash control all supported by an IMU we
developed with continental inertial measurement units basically what you're
having is it measures how the bike is is low so I am some New Age philosophy yeah
I see I guess well I know I mean bikes have become
it's complicated as cars now I mean you've got a you got to get you reader
to plug in to find out what's happening and all that kind of stuff you know abut
and nobody does Chrome anymore that's the one thing I do like about my
Bonneville it just has the classic triumph chrome you know from the sixties
you know but it's a good-looking bike come back eventually what other colors
is only coming red yeah so the are comes in what we call Carosi red and that fan
in black right there right and then the GT comes in the Phantom black but it
also has this lovely combination of silver eye saloon grey and a little
piping that is Carosi Reds so this is coming red I mean black also yes mean vicious
I think the black would look nice but you know I like my brush and my Vincent
some a sucker for black motorcycle looks good looks good what else we got I mean
god that's a massive driveshaft well you know that's a chunk of weight it's like
that's engineered to congeal yeah and it's engineered to hold up to the abuse
or the love depending on how you want to phrase it right dad that our writers put
under the bikes and we want to be able to handle it so you've got really other
than change your oil brake fluid brake pads tires you really got nothing every
10,000 miles that's a service interval after the first one around 500 600 miles
10,000 miles 10,000 miles like clockwork yeah I've always told this story back in
the sixties going through the triumphs dealer and the guy said to me you know
I've had to have to take the head off till 7,500 miles you know take the
engine apart this doesn't make 900 mile yeah that's
it yeah and that was like oh that's pretty good because you never got that
far but yeah I mean it's amazing how far it's come
I mean ten thousand miles on a motorcycle used to be just that was a
hundred thousand miles on a car you know where now it's it's almost it's exactly
the same you have that flexibility to ride as much or as little as you want
what else we got okay and you've got different riding modes
yes we're riding modes we have rode rein support and rider configure but you know
essentially what's ride to configure right are configurable if it works with
the throttle and it works with trash control so throttle matte trash control
and if you know just consider Road you know basic nothing basic about it kind
of like normal day-to-day rioting if you headed up to the mountains maybe the
rock store maybe to Mulholland and put it on sport enjoy it a little bit there
and if you want to do a mix of the two that's what the riders there for so you
can if you if it's raining but you still want maybe a little better throttle
control then you can kind of take her with those two things but yes is always
on now oh well how do you how do you ride you configure how do you yeah okay
let's see we could turn this thing on right here no see here's what I was all
set to complain about when I brought the back the tachometers right here and the
tachometer needle is the exact same color and size as each marker so I as
I'm riding Ike I can't read the tach and I thought alright that's a sport biking
why is that the Adnan thing but you can actually you can change you can
configure the screen show me the screen that I would absolutely yeah you just
press the home button on the right side of my rock here and then the first 1 2 3
4 down display setup right and you click theme right and switch right up the
theme number one okay and when you're done home button right back there on the
right okay okay so now here's my tach there's my speed fuel is right there
yeah that that's the screen I would be on most of it and similarly if the dark
doesn't suit you there is a way to make it a little bit brighter so so yeah oh I
probably dark works best I think yeah I go back to the dome oh yeah oh that's
very cool yeah that's nice yeah cuz that was driving me nuts cuz I'm going I'm
saying am i over I I you couldn't read it when it was you know because the
needle was the same color it was great just like everything else on it so yeah
that's a cool feature and you can get the heated grips on this too right the
heated grips are absolutely an option on the arm you know standard on the GT yeah
similarly both bikes have cruise control standard all that good stuff optimize
cornering back and forth the most impressive thing and I mentioned this on
the ride with the mirrors I you know years of riding bikes you got over 3
grand is that a truck or a Volkswagen is that a guy in a bike behind I mean it's
just doing this you know Rocksteady I mean you could not tell if
the bike was even running I mean that was the best part about it and I'm not
looking at my shoulders I remember I had a I had a 70s MV Agusta and I would go
for ride and all I would see would be this shoulder so I bought a new MV
Agusta back in the night I get the new one there look at my shoulder yeah you
know the same thing it's just the jaws me crazy so it's nice see all those
things as well maybe they're both a little smaller individual that's right
not a big fat guys now they just don't done a wonderful job and and across the
most impressive thing is to build quality you know there's no weeping
underneath the valve covers we cook it out for now you don't bring it back and
see little oil coming through it and nothing you know very nice very nice
yeah I mean it's it's just as important when you walk up to the bike and get the
feeling that you're on something special you know they say the bike a good bike
kind of melts away when you're on it riding it really getting into it but at
the same time you want to get off that might that's nice I just this is the
easiest part right here you name it I mean it's six hundred and something
pounds six hundred forty right right yeah but it's it's it's easy to maneuver
and sidestand all day no Center sighs I don't know but like I say you can do
this at a stoplight without falling over another thing you know yeah I mean again
removing that amount of weight from down there it kind of helps it what we try
and think about what the average wider would would one and one of those things
is mover ability in a bike like this so there you go I like the double
headlights leds leds front to back you know you got within the lights we have
this wonderful triangle makers mark from triumph so it's the little details that
we try and put in there yeah yeah yeah no I you know I'm so glad that triumph
made it you know cuz they were the greatest bikes of the 30s 40s 50s 60s
and the 70s and so many great machines came from Japan and BMW got their act
together and when John blower took over it was really great is it's just
unbelievable I mean he's he's run the company now for there's a 30 years in a
while and I mix kind of hell now and you know you make bikes that people want to
ride and they buy them you know that's why you make a good product and people
flock to you John well this is really good Lance thanks a lot I appreciate it
thank you Jay yeah really not it's really not it's very impressive so