Before TikTok and reels, Triumph made the internet's funniest motorcycle video
Motorcycle marketing has changed beyond recognition, but this classic Triumph Rocket III video remains as absolute comedy gold.
Before social media algorithms, before influencers, before every bike launch needed a cinematic drone shot and someone dramatically staring into the middle distance, Triumph quietly released what might still be the funniest motorcycle video ever made.
You may also like to read our Triumph Rocket 3 review.
Originally uploaded back in 2007 to promote the then-new Rocket III Classic, the spoof factory documentary has somehow aged better than plenty of modern motorcycle marketing campaigns.
Presented as a serious behind-the-scenes look inside Triumph's production line, the video quickly descends into the kind of glorious nonsense that has us waiting for Basil Fawlty to appear. Engines are tested to the sound of banjo music "for safety purposes", workers carefully harvest chrome from fields, and the bike's legendary handling is apparently thanks to "argument juice" extracted from the female brain. And as for the 2,300cc engine which is apparently “grown from embryo engines, germinated in a nutrient-rich sludge medium” and then left in a cupboard by the photocopiers.
It's exactly the sort of deadpan British humour that made me fall in love with British comedy back in the 80s and 90s. From The Fast Show to Vic and Bob’s Big Night Out, this piece of comedic artwork was a perfect snapshot of where UK comedy was at the time.
We first shared the clip on Visordown back in 2008, but nearly two decades later it's still racking up laughs and regularly resurfacing on motorcycle forums and social media whenever someone asks for the best bike video ever made.
That's probably because it feels refreshingly different from the polished marketing we're used to today. Modern launch videos tend to lean heavily on slow-motion hero shots, dramatic music and claims of "redefining performance". Triumph, on the other hand, decided to tell everyone the Rocket III was assembled using giant magnets, badgers and questionable health and safety practices.
Considering the Rocket itself has gone on to become one of the most recognisable muscle bikes ever built, eventually growing to 2,500cc in today's version, it's fair to say the joke hasn't overshadowed the motorcycle. If anything, it helped cement the Rocket's larger-than-life character from the very beginning.
In an era where AI can generate entire adverts and every manufacturer seems determined to outdo the last with increasingly glossy productions, there's something oddly refreshing about a four-minute video that relies almost entirely on brilliant writing, perfect comic timing and a willingness not to take itself too seriously.
If you've somehow never seen it, you're in for a treat. And if you have, chances are you'll still laugh at the badger-assisted emergency braking test.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
