Two decades ago, England drove a stake into the motorcycle engine displacement arms race. The Triumph Rocket III left the Japanese and the Americans in its dust as its seriously chunky 2.3-liter three-cylinder was bigger than their engines while its 140 horsepower and 147 lb-ft of torque was unrivaled. There wasn’t a mass-produced motorcycle engine that was bigger or badder. Triumph has been keen on retaining its crown and the Triumph Rocket 3 and its 2.45-liter engine achieves just that. Now, with the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm, you get the world’s biggest mass-production engine plus the kind of power that electric motorcycles punch out.
For many in America, the 2024 riding season is right around the corner. If you have the kind of cash required to strap yourself to a Rocket 3, Triumph says these motorcycles will be hitting dealers starting April 24. I sure hope you have decent gear because these bikes sound like you’ll be strapping yourself to a Saturn V or a Falcon Heavy. The Rocket III and its successor the Rocket 3 already had more than enough power to bend space and time, but Triumph figured why not, add even more power.
I’m not complaining, because the Triumph Rocket III/3 could go down in a list of all-time greatest motorcycles. Everything about these motorcycles is big, shouty, and coupled to life-changing amounts of power. So let’s see how Triumph figured out to make the experience even better.
For a quick refresher, you could say the Rocket 3’s story technically began in 1983 when British businessman John Bloor saved Triumph after it had fallen into receivership. The brand had been languishing and reached the end of the road, but Bloor believed Triumph could be a rockstar once again. Bloor poured millions of dollars into modernizing the storied brand while also launching attractive motorcycles. It worked and put Triumph back on the map.
In the 1980s and into the 2000s, motorcycle brands around the world set their sights on America, where Harley-Davidson was the king of the road with its hefty cruisers. The cruiser market was and remains such a huge share of new motorcycle sales in America that you can’t blame marques like BMW, Honda, and Triumph for wanting even a slice of it.
In 1998, Triumph Product Range Manager Ross Clifford recognized the need for Triumph to go big and powerful. Designer John Mockett was initially told to craft a bike bigger than 1,600cc. However, the competition was doing the same thing, like Honda with its VTX1800. In response, Triumph decided to put an end to the motorcycle displacement wars. In 2004, the Rocket III launched with a 2,294cc inline triple churning out 140 horsepower and 147 lb-ft of torque. No other mass-produced cruiser could touch it.
Now, I do say mass-produced because there are motorcycles with bigger engines, but they’re from boutique firms. Triumph doesn’t seem to count a Boss Hoss as a mass-produced bike.
Anyway, the original Rocket III was already one of the zaniest experiences you could have on two wheels. In 2019, Triumph released an all-new version of the Rocket III, now named the Rocket 3. This new bike shed the American cruiser-inspired design, instead going for a minimalist modern muscle cruiser look. Along with the all-new design came a new larger 2,458cc triple, which made 165 HP and 163 lb-ft of torque.
Strap Yourself In
Now we’re 20 years after the release of the Rocket III/3 and Triumph is cranking out an even better and faster Rocket 3.
The highlight of the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm is that 2,458cc water-cooled triple. Power has been bumped up to 180 HP and 166 lb-ft of torque. Those power figures match the 2019 Triumph Factory Custom Rocket 3 (TFC) limited edition. However, just 750 of those were built and sold out quickly. This will be a motorcycle you will be able to buy.
Triumph hasn’t revealed any secret to getting 15 extra HP and a little more twist out of the engine. It’s all in the engine’s tuning, which now allows the engine to spin higher. As a result, peak HP now comes on at 7,000 RPM instead of 6,000 RPM. Torque is unchanged, hitting its peak at 4,000 RPM.
The horsepower figure is awesome. To put it into perspective, you’re getting just 20 fewer ponies in the stable than a Kawasaki Ninja H2, one of the fastest mass-production motorcycles you’re allowed to put a license plate on. But that torque figure? It’s out of this world for a gas bike. Triumph claims that the 166 lb-ft of torque figure is “record-breaking” and there’s some truth to it. That Kawasaki lays down 98.5 lb-ft of torque. Harley-Davidson has a 135 cubic inch V-twin that makes 143 lb-ft of torque. Aside from boutique builds, Triumph remains the king.
That’s so long as you don’t throw electric motorcycles into the mix. The Zero DSR/X I’m testing makes 100 HP and 166 lb-ft of torque, matching the Triumph on torque. These power monsters are totally something else to ride and not for the faint of heart. My own Triumph Rocket III makes 147 lb-ft of torque, so layering on even more power likely only adds to the feeling of holding on for dear life.
This is all to say the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm sounds like a rollercoaster of thrill, only it doesn’t end a minute after it starts.
An aluminum frame and a beefy suspension back that lovely engine. You get an adjustable Showa 47mm inverted fork and a single-sided cast aluminum swingarm equipped with an adjustable Showa piggyback reservoir monoshock. Stopping the party is a Brembo Stylema M4.30 four-piston radial calipers clamping on a pair of 320mm front discs. A Stylema M4.32 four-piston caliper takes up the rear, squeezing a 300mm rotor.
At its heaviest, a Rocket 3 Storm weighs 706 pounds. To help you deal with the absolute unit, Triumph says the bikes come with new lighter cast aluminum wheels to lower unsprung mass. You’re getting a 16-inch rear and a 17-inch front wheel wrapped in 240/50-16 rear and 150/860-17 front Metzeler Cruisetec tires, respectively. The section width of that rear tire isn’t a typo!
Other assists come in the form of lean-angle sensitive ABS, cruise control, hill-hold control, and traction control. Additional technology comes in the form of ride-by-wire, keyless ignition, ride modes, a color TFT display and a USB port. One more bit of tech comes from a torque assist clutch.
The 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm will come in two versions.
The 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm R above is stripped down and sporty, featuring forward-set bars and mid-mounted pegs for more of a leaned-over riding experience. That version weighs 699 pounds.
If you want your power and be more comfortable while you’re enjoying it, the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm GT below might be your pick.
This variant pulls its bars back, moves the pegs forward, drops the seat closer to the ground, and gives you a small windscreen plus standard heated grips. Seat heights are 30.4 inches and 29.5 inches, respectively. As noted before, the GT comes in at 706 pounds, courtesy of the slightly different equipment.
That’s really only the start. If you want, you can kit these motorcycles up with bigger windscreens, bars, controls, seats, and storage. Triumph lists other options including heated grips for the R variant but also a Bluetooth phone connection to enable music and navigation, a quickshifter, and TPMS.
Pretty And Pretty Expensive
In terms of style, Triumph is keeping with a sinister blacked-out theme. However, you can get a splash of blue, gray, or red in there. Add in the Rocket’s characteristic hydroformed three-exist exhaust system, and these bikes are total stunners. Triumph also notes anodized finishes and LED lighting.
Also potentially stunning is $24,995 for the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm R and $25,795 for the 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm GT. To be clear, adding 15 HP didn’t jack up the price super high as these new bikes are $1,200 more expensive than the 2023 models. Obviously, these are premium machines, but I doubt you’ll regret paying the price, not when you have a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon.
If you’ve fallen in love with what you see here, Triumph says deliveries begin April 24. That’s perfect timing to get you on a glorious ride right on time for summer. Good on Triumph for keeping things crazy. Bikes like these have no practical reason to exist, but the fun alone makes them worth it.
(Images: Triumph, unless otherwise noted.)
It looks like an engineering marvel, but I can’t help but feel like these street legal bikes are simply reserving more and more of the throttle for the “twist this much to die” setting. I suppose that electronic drive modes are doing a lot of the lifting to prevent riders from accidentally launching themselves into space. It’s like a bizarro version of optimistic speedometers.
I remember seeing one or two at IMS Outdoors Chicago (RIP). As I was walking past, I overhead someone asking to demo-ride one of these. And the Triumph people were understandably taking *A LOT* of precautions and giving out quite a few warnings
I think this needs a “for muscle cruisers” qualification. It’s got displacement, but the horsepower/torque are meh for modern motos.
The H2 is fast but heavy. The Streetfighter V4, Panigale V4, s/m1000r/RR are lighter and have at least as much horsepower.
Of course, there are ways to plate an H2R, at 300hp.
God what meaty sidewall. Cars should take note.
Unrelated, 2.4l? Has anyone swapped one of these into a car?
It only seems fitting to put one in a Triumph TR6 or something. Probably with a turbo added.
That exhaust system is a mechanical work of art. No idea how good an bike this is but the appearance is so impressive.
Fun fact, there’s actually a -third- outlet on the shifter side (rider left) of the bike. I always found it so odd that there were so few photos of that side. I’d love to hear a detailed break down on how the exhaust works.
Man I want that GT really bad
Its good power and Id love to test ride one but its too heavy. Id argue it needs that much power to lug around 700 pounds.
My EBR1190 was 185hp and 102 ft-lbs stock while weighing in at 419 pounds with half a tank of gas in it. The exhaust and ecm combo I have is supposed to be good for 10-15hp increase. With a true cable throttle body connected directly to the wrist its a pretty wild experience.
I doubt the rocket 3 is that crazy especially with a lower revving engine and electronic throttle bodies to tame it. Im sure it beats a harley off the line with plenty to spare but lets go easy on the bending space and time rhetoric. If i ever wanted to slow down the rocket 3 sounds fun.
I rode a Honda V65 Magna when they came out in the 80s that I thought I wanted……scared the bejeesus out of me…..being in my 20s back then meant I would be dead now if I would have bought one.
I used to like the big pigs but riding a 700 death machine is just as stupid as the giant half ton trucks. There is a reason the cafe bikes are popular again…..they are fun and easy to ride and dont look like a giant square lego like the Triumph. I used to love to ride my brothers CB500.
A motorcycle loaded with bragging points, I can see the target group, not my kind of thing, but more power to them.
So Triumph has never tried to make a Goldwing / K1600 touring competitior from this?
Triumph motorcycles make the best noises in the business. I’ve had a Daytona 675, which sounded like a Lexus F, and a Speed Triple, which was similar, just angrier, and couldn’t keep the front wheel on the ground while doing it.
The Speed Triple of the late 90s is one I lusted after big time. What an awesome bike.
My first bike was a 2012 Street Triple R w/the 675cc engine. It definitely didn’t sound like anything else on the road
I know there are exceptions, but I don’t think the ‘skills to ride’ set that keeps getting mentioned here is the same as the ‘buys a bike with forward controls’ set.
I’d love to take a spin on the R, though. The last diavel I rode was neat but I was in a hurry to give it back.
Hill hold assist?! On a motorcycle?! Shame!
The Triumph R3 is not one for smaller riders. Not only is it a long reach: the rider appears comically small perched on top of the bike. Short riders look as though they’re 7/8th size, and have an awkward looking reach for the bars.
It’s the opposite image of a very large rider ‘perched’ (or, perhaps that could be called beached?) on top of a Honda Grom.
Comparisons on HP/Tq for motorcycles to things like a Kawi H2 (or slightly more sane CBR1000RRs//GSXR1k) aren’t quite fair and miss that the sportbikes are much much lighter, with a shorter wheelbase, tighter steering – and can get you in far more trouble in a shorter amount of time. Much as a Miata doesn’t get compared with the HP/Tq of an F150.
A 2.3L engine on a bike? That’s roughly 50% more displacement than my Honda Fit!!!
I’m gonna guess there are 3 likely outcomes when one of these are purchased:
RE: points 2&3: It’s a heavy bike, and the engine isn’t exactly highstrung. It’ll likely be rather driveable (albeit feel like piloting the motorcycle equivalent of a battleship in terms of ‘flickability’ next to a sportier bike). It’d do well for a long ride (though I’d question its fuel capacity/consumption for that task).
I bought a 2005 R3 new and rode the hell out of that thing from Maine to Key West, from NJ to Oregon. It was insanely powerful, handled great, and cruised like a dream. Once you got a feel for it you could drag the footpegs through the turns. Even with all that power and size it was entirely rideable for both around town and distance.
RevZilla has a pretty good review on YouTube. It’s not a high strung as you’d imagine.
700 freaking pound and $25K bike…..just another douchy-guy toy.
It is fugly beyond belief.
BINGO, if turds were square.
166 lb-ft of torque is just stupid. My old BMW K1300GT had 160hp and 99 lb-ft and that felt like the hand of God pushing you around.
Ok. Non biker question so please be kind. This may be a stupid question.
Looking at the huge exhaust manifold and exhaust it looks like your leg and foot are really close! Don’t you risk getting a bad burn from the super hot exhaust manifold and muffler? It just seems like a disaster waiting to happen
Don’t worry, they have built in heat shielding! Worry about the mega power and gargantuan torque instead lol
It looks like it’s shrouded for insulation twice over. My bike has naked pipes coming out of the exhaust manifold, which are under the bike. Where it could possibly touch your legs, it’s got another shroud around it, offset from the actual functional exhaust. Not something I’d grab after a ride, but not a gen1 Viper calftrap either.
It has a bigger engine than a sizeable chunk of hatchbacks and CUVs on the road, with a similar amount of torque and horsepower. I’d say you’re lucky if you live long enough to burn yourself on the exhaust. What a preposterous machine.
Thank you everyone for the kind replies. I was genuinely curious. I also would never have the nerve (or skills) to ride on this crazy bike. That amount of power with so little weight seems insane!
The pictures made me wonder since the exhaust manifold is so huge! Thanks
I rode a V-Max once, and it scared the crap out of me. This is faster?
I test rode the first gen at a harley dealer that got one on trade. I am 5’10” and the thing felt 3/4 sized in the rider triangle, and I didn’t think it felt that fast. Hard pass for me, and I wanted to like it.
Same. I rode a 2000-something VMAX back when it was a year or two old (and when I still rode motorcycles). The thing felt like away too much power in a non-sport bike. When those V-whatever-they-called-it butterflies opened it just felt like more unnecessary power to kill yourself with. Granted, I mostly rode dirt bikes and 600cc or smaller street bikes, so the VMAX felt like pure chaos.
“when I still rode motorcycles”
You and me both, buddy.
I gave up riding motorcycles about 15 years ago, after an incident that brought me face-to-face with my own mortality. Unfortunately, I lost a buddy to a motorcycle accident a few weeks ago, furthering my resolve that motorcycles are a thing of my past.
I’ve always felt fine on a bike- on an empty road. But around all of these idiots out there? Nope.
I remember seeing one of the 2.3-L models in a showroom window, and my brain rejected the evidence of my eyes. There was a card in front of it indicating that it was a 2.3-L triple, and I just couldn’t believe that was correct.
That motorcycle has more horsepower and torque than 6 of my cars! I just made an appointment with my therapist.
I definitely have a fondness for the no replacement for displacement thumping 3 of the Rocket 3.
I also want to take one of these engines and make a mid mounted, RWD GD3 Honda Fit.
Good god it’s gorgeous. This might be the kick in the ass I need to find another job, or hound the folks that never got back to me at the very least.
As far as power and torque, those are terrifying overkill.
On the third hand, it’s soooo prettty