testing early pre-prod in California desert...... probably late 1968.... 
or early 1969.....
I'll have that Rocket 3 thank you very much
i thought Rocket III's were red, not Aquamarine like a Trident.........
wow, how my tastes for appearance aesthetics have changed. back in the day, i thought the triples dated in appearance and silly looking. now i think the triples look every bit as good and in certain ways better than the Honda. i remember when i rode 4779 to California, May 1970, leaving Salt Lake City at dusk, met up with a fellow who had JUST taken delivery of a new Trident, we rode together to Elko and i slept overnight on his couch in his trailer house. His name was Vance Reed. i was 18. the shop Olsen Brother's Cycle is where i worked the summer of 1970. Art Olsen was the owner. This is the shop that sold 4779 to Dad.
that Fall, i headed again to California to begin college studies on a 1952 H-D panhead. i was straight off the farm. note the gallon Clorox jug full of gasoline. that Sportster tank held 1.8 gallons........ i look at that picture and shake my head.... WHO was that young man anyway !?!?