What started off as a friendly competition between two design teams at the Triumph headquarters in Hinckley, UK, has now gone on to become the British manufacturer’s custom bike wing called Triumph Factory Customs – TFC for short. For 2019, the TFC line-up includes the Thruxton TFC and the all-new Rocket III.
The original Rocket III (still on sale in the USA) was launched in 2004 and is powered by a massive 2,294cc, in-line three-cylinder engine that produced 148hp at 5,750rpm and 221Nm of torque at 2,750rpm. Rumours suggest that the new Rocket could see the engine displacement go from 2,300cc to somewhere around 2,500cc. Either way, the Rocket will continue to sport the largest engine on a production motorcycle. Official images of the bike show it sporting an Arrow exhaust with carbon-fibre covers. The windscreen appears to be carbon fibre as well. We believe this will be part of the TFC package.
Triumph has also switched to a monoshock and single-sided swingarm set up on the new motorcycle and it’s fair to expect a whole new chassis set-up – hopefully one that will be significantly lighter than the 367kg Rocket III previously sold in India. From the look of things, the ergonomics of the bike have been changed as well, with the wider handlebar and repositioned foot pegs.
Interestingly, the bike also appears to share a few components with other Triumph models. The Brembo M50 calipers brakes and the digital instrument cluster appears identical to the ones found on the Scrambler 1200. Meanwhile, the bar-end mirrors look similar to the ones on the Street Triple RS.
While the new Rocket III will continue to be a unique motorcycle, it will take on the likes of other power cruisers like the Ducati Diavel in terms of performance and usability. Details and pricing of the Rocket TFC are to be officially revealed on May 1, 2019 and only 750 units of the bike will be produced. The timeline for the reveal of the standard model and its price still remains unknown.