The Triumph Rocket 3 R has been with us for a while now, and what a journey it has been. Few motorcycles manage to surprise you long after the novelty wears off, but the Rocket still does. One of the centrepieces of the thrilling experience that we have every time we swing a leg over it is the engine, the 2.5-litre colossal that puts out 221 Nm of wholesome torque.
Every time you fire up that engine, it comes to life with a roar and a jolt. Every time you put it into first gear, the CLANK wakes you up. As you gingerly let go of the clutch lever, it moves ahead effortlessly. And every time you are careless enough to crack open the throttle, the acceleration is otherworldly. Imagine the inertia of this 300-kilo goliath moving gathering speed like it has unlimited power and torque!
Simply put, it is more than an engine to us. It is an experience… and a statement of humankind’s engineering prowess. And through all of the years we have spent with this motorcycle, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE has been the one constant that enables the continued excitement. It is the silent enabler that keeps our Rocket 3 R running cool and smooth. This new avatar of our Rocket 3 R is a tribute to Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE and its Full-Synthetic 5-in-1 Formula, which makes sure that the thrill endures no matter what we do with our Rocket or where it goes!
We are going to take you through some of our most epic experiences with the Rocket 3 R and how Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE was there, enabling us to make the most of it. The Rocket 3 R is an alive and rumbling homage to the adage ‘There is no replacement for displacement.’ Just as there is no replacement for a good engine oil. In our Rocket 3 R’s case, it has always been the Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE 15W-50.
One of the most unique and thrilling of our experiences with the Rocket 3 R was when we took it to a racetrack, the Buddh International Circuit. Surely a 300-kilo muscle-cruiser does not belong on a racetrack, everyone thought, and… the thought makes sense on paper. 300-kilos, near-1,700mm wheelbase, and a 240-section rear tyre; those are not racetrack-friendly numbers. But the Rocket 3 R scoffs at such notions with its throaty rumble.
So… there we were, hurling the Rocket 3 R through tight corners and the speed nudging 200 kays an hour on the straight. The wide handlebars gave leverage to muscle it around, the low centre of gravity kept things planted, and suddenly the physics that made it seem impossible bowed down to the Rocket 3 R’s might.
Not too long ago, we decided to try another ‘performance-enhancing agent’ for our Triumph Rocket 3 R. How a motorcycle breathes is a crucial factor in how it delivers power. If it struggles to breathe, it stutters. If it breathes too easily, it simply means that there is more than air that is going into the engine. That is where Air Filters come in, and when it comes to those, there is none better than BMC. BMC Air Filters offer the best protection from foreign elements, providing the engine with the cleanest air possible for cleaner combustion, and despite the meticulous filtration, the engine is not choked either, thanks to their high permeability. And when it comes to a volume breather like the Rocket 3 R, the difference is more than palpable!
But a racetrack is where engines are tested to their limits. Even more so, a massive engine made primarily for torque was being tortured as we kept the throttle pinned lap after lap. Any ordinary engine oil would have cried enough. But then, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE is no ordinary engine oil. Its Full-Synthetic 5-in-1 Formula managed heat, smoothed out that mammoth triple, and it all kept our Rocket 3 R singing and literally Rocket-ing out of every corner like it was meant for the racetrack!
Another memory that comes rushing back when we are thinking about our life so far with the Rocket 3 R is that of NATRAX. More specifically, the high-speed testing track, which is a part of this facility. We were curious to see how the Rocket 3 R would fare at a place like this, how fast it could go, and if it could hang with the Ninja H2 and the Suzuki Hayabusa that were a part of this test as well. So… how did it go?
Brilliantly. Right at launch, the massive torrent of torque almost broke the traction that the massive rear tyre was made for. But thankfully, it hooked, and the Rocket 3 R launched off the line like a fighter jet from an aircraft carrier. The acceleration is utterly savage and can humble a fair few motorcycles half its weight. Up to around 180 kays an hour, it kept the theatre up, but then, aerodynamics took over. The top speed we clocked was 236 kays an hour… a respectable number for a comfortable cruiser, we’d say.
The Triumph Rocket 3 R is a statement in its own right. The stance, the engine, the noise and so on… the Rocket 3 R is a thing of beauty. But one of the highlights, and it is difficult to be one in a motorcycle so well put together, is the tyres. The massive tyres of our Rocket 3 R make it stand out, but what if we want the tyres to stand out as well? In our years of customising our machines, we got to know about Tyre Decor and ever since we got to know about them, they have been a staple of all our designs. The attention to detail and the perfect fit make sure that the message is delivered… every single time!
And once again, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE proved its worth. Sustained high-speed runs on a near infinite loop of the NATRAX high-speed testing track are brutal on any engine, let alone one of this size. Yet, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE’s Full-Synthetic 5-in-1 Formula kept the Rocket’s internals cool and protected even as the number of laps kept mounting. Castrol POWER1 ULTMATE not only helped our Rocket 3 R retain the performance, but it also improved some aspects, such as acceleration and smoothness.
But the most prominent memory came from the open roads. In 2021, with barely 1,000 km on the odo, our Rocket 3 R was rolled out for #roadTripUnited2021, a 10,000 km roadtrip across India. The scale of the ride was mammoth… a fitting challenge for the Rocket 3 R, which is quite a mammoth in itself. Could it hold its own against India’s highways, backroads and everything in between without a hiccup? It could, and it did.
The Rocket 3 R cruised effortlessly down the Yamuna and Agra-Lucknow Expressways, ready to shred the tarmac at the twist of a throttle. It even surprised us with just how well it handled when the roads got twisty. Wide bars, quality Showa suspension and Brembo anchors meant the Rocket 3 R had as much finesse as it had brute force.
Again, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE was along for this ride as well, silently doing what it always does: ensuring that heat, friction and fatigue never got the better of that monstrous triple. Through climates that swung from baking plains to chilly hills, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE ensured that the performance we had come to love endured.
These were three very different experiences. BIC’s technical corners demanded a constant supply of power and bursts of it out of corners. NATRAx’s endless loop was perhaps the most extreme, with the throttle wide open lap after lap. And then, 10,000 km of real-world roads through changing terrain and climate, along with the unpredictability of everything, of course. And through it all, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE delivered, proving once and for all that it is formulated to handle all the extremes of performance motorcycling.
The Rocket 3 R is undoubtedly an engineering marvel. And paired with Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE, it becomes something more. All the things that you love about this motorcycle are amplified, and the experience is delivered smoothly… and rapidly! Looking back, that’s what makes these memories so vivid. It wasn’t just the bike or the rides. It was the assurance that no matter how hard we pushed, our Rocket 3 R always had more to give. And maybe that is the ULTIMATE thrill…
