The Triumph Rocket III is a three-cylinder motorcycle made by Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. At it had the largest-displacement engine of any production motorcycle until 2019, when release the Triumph Rocket 3. The name "Rocket III" is derived from the 1968 BSA 750cc pushrod triple, the Rocket 3, which was a badge-engineered version of the original "Triumph Trident." History The Rocket III Project started in 1998 led by Triumph Product Range Manager Ross Clifford and started with a lot of research – especially in the US, where big cruisers were selling well. The main competitors were the Harley-Davidson Ultraglide and the Honda Gold Wing so the initial idea was to develop a 1,600 cc performance cruiser. The in-house designer was John Mockett, designer of the Hesketh V1000, the Tiger and the new "retro" Bonneville. He started work with David Stride, Gareth Davies and Rod Scivyer working around an in-line three cylinder engine. At the start of the project an in-line four and V6 engine configurations were looked at but the longitudinally mounted triple design led to the design concept code named C15XB Series S1. Mockett experimented with 'futuristic' styling that included "raygun" silencers and a large chrome rear mudguard, but consumer focus groups did not like it. The S2 model was a simplified version with a more traditional rear mudguard and several features that were to make it through to the final design. Once again, the feedback from market research was that it was still too radical so the lines were simplified and smoothed out to create the Series S3. Part of the reason for the secrecy was competition from other manufacturers. Yamaha had launched the Road Star Warrior in 2002, and Honda had launched the VTX1800, so Triumph decided to up the ante and go for a displacement of 2,294 cc. The first engine was built in summer 2002 and tested in the autumn. Twin butterfly valves for each throttle body were used to increase control and allow the ECU to vary the mixture flow and ignition map according to the gear selected and speed. The specification of twin spark plugs per cylinder and multi-hole fuel injectors by Mark Jenner (fuelling, ignition and emission design engineer) allowed the Rocket III to meet the Euro IV emissions limits at launch. The torque curve is modified for each gear ratio, enabling over 90% of the engine's torque output at 2,000 rpm, giving