Triumph Rocket Man
What’s big, black and eats Jap bikes for breakfast? Wolf’s turbo-charged Trumpy—that’s bloody what!
LAWRENCE of Arabia once said: “You can never have enough horses!” and Wolf from the Black Uhlans MC is of much the same opinion. When Triumph first released the Rocket III in 2004, the manufacturers knew straight away that they were on a winner. Introduced to combat the growing market for sports cruisers, the whooping 2.3 litre Rocket became an instant classic among the fans of BIG bikes. But some riders are always on the hunt for extra ponies at the rear wheel and this brings us to Wolf.
When Wolf bought his brand new Rocket brand, the need for some extra grunt saw many performance mods before reaching the point that you see it here. In standard trim, the bike was putting out around 127 hp at the rear wheel. With the addition of a K&N filter, Tune Boy and some pipe work, the power jumped up to 140 hp. This was still not enough to keep Wolf happy so the decision was made to go all out and bolt on the Garrett turbo and the custom exhaust.
The heads were left pretty much standard to keep the reliability. With the help of Joel and Rick at Performance Motorcycle Centre at Nerang, the British beast now knocks out an awesome 222 hp at the rear wheel, running seven pounds of boost through the puffer with 215 ft/lb of torque. Now that is some serious power!
With 38,000 km on the clock at the time of the photoshoot, the bike is used as Wolf’s everyday rider and on regular club runs.
On one particular ride up the coast to the Eumundi Bike Show, the cops were doing their usual harassment trick by pulling up all motorcycles on the road to the showgrounds. Wolf noticed a few green looking cops scratching their heads and looking dumbfounded at the extra plumbing that was bulging from the side of his bike. An old sarge walked straight up to his confused, inexperienced counterparts and Wolf and stated, “This is a Triumph Rocket III, the largest production motorcycle in the world, only a dickhead would put a turbo on one!
No tickets were issued and Wolf smiled as he mounted up, clicked the bike into ‘warp factor one’ and quickly became a dot on the horizon.
Apart from a set of Burleigh Bars and the black powder-coated wheels, the bike is still pretty much stock; apart from the large appendage which adorns the right-hand side of the motor. Many a Valentino Rossi hopeful has disappeared rapidly in Wolf’s mirrors as he’s cracked the throttle during a few tarmac duels.
A thanks also has to go to Jeremy at Moto Arena at Nerang for help with setting up Wolf’s bike. If you’re going to own a bike called a Rocket 3, well don’t fuck around… make it go like one!
Make sure you check out the feature on our model Carina Lee & the Rocket Man.
Words by Chuck U Farley; pics by Danny 666 Marsh
