Twins, goes traditional lore, are torque monsters of motorcycling. Four-cylinder bikes, meanwhile, rev to the moon. Never mind that many a Ducati Desmo twin and Yamaha’s long-gone and muchmissed FJ1200 made a mockery of such broad-based assumptions, the choice between two and four pistons has been, with rare exception, the duality that most motorcyclists must choose from.
The middle-ground, triples, has never made much of an impression. Oh, Triumph’s original Trident — and its slightly-modified sister, BSA’s Rocket III — briefly challenged Honda’s seminal CB750 for superbike relevance. And, for a (very) brief time, Laverda’s 1000-cc Jota was the fastest two-wheeler on the planet. Nevertheless, the triple has worked largely in obscurity. Triumph’s latest Rocket III, a fatuous beast of a cruiser, sells but in the dozens and, while Yamaha’s…
