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The Real Reason Victory Didn't Make It - IMHO

9K views 66 replies 20 participants last post by  ozpacman 
#1 ·
Having ridden a gazillion bikes and owned a hundred or so, I was thrilled to find a Victory Ness Jackpot with all the options. I like to tell people Victory is the top of the motorcycle mountain for me. Big, powerful, attractive, maintenance free. All except for one little shortcoming. The engines are hard-mounted. No amount of counter-balancing will eliminate all "Engine feel". Hard core riders like me like a little "Engine feel". I've had many Japanese bikes and they're so smooth, they're boring to ride. No personality. They're counter-balanced, have a better firing sequence, and they're all rubber mounted. Most of the Harley'ss are rubber-mount too and while they buck quite a bit at idle, they smooth out as rpm's increase.

Totaled my 010 Jack, but I have 3 Vics now and still like them better than any other bike I've ever owned. But they vibrate. Have played around with tuners, but eventually end up taking them off because they don't change a thing. Always wanted a new Vic, as I assumed a new one would be smooth as a spanked baby's butt. Wrong!! Bought a 2013 Judge last week with 2,300 miles on it. It's sterile, but it shudders at all speeds and has a high frequency buzz in the bars and pegs at highway speeds.

Just as car engines make no sound or engine feel nowadays, many motorcycle riders want a bike that's equally as smooth. Hey!! It's a motorcycle!!, I remind myself. Getting a v-twin to run as smooth as a 4-cylinder bike just doesn't happen, except in Japanese bikes and they just don't lift my skirt like the Victory's do.

All told, I'd bet that If Polaris put Victory's back on the market with rubber-mounted engines, they'd put Harley's out to pasture.
 
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#3 ·
I can’t make out your actual point here. On one hand you complain about the vibration, and on the other you complain about ones that don’t vibrate.
 
#5 ·
I guess. Personally speaking, I hated the ride of every Harley I’ve ever been on, and very much prefer my cross country :)
 
#6 ·
I am 6 4 or was 6 4 old age has taken an inch off of me and I am now 6 3....i had a few harleys over my 54 years of riding was always all squished up on my harleys....loved my boulevards much more room....but best...is the cross country a ton of room first bike I have ever had that I felt like I was riding in it, not on it....

Ride Safe,

Rob
 
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#7 ·
Funny when Vic's were going strong no one said Vic's didn't vibrat and they were smoother then HD's. 85% of the guys never road a HD but bashed the hell out of them.
Now that vic is a dying bread guys find it easy to complain about what they loved.
 
#8 ·
My Vtwin Japanese bike was built to vibrate because they stupidly tried to copy the HD. Vibrated so bad the mirrors were useless on the highway. When I traded it in on the Vic the difference was night and day. I'd been riding the Vics for a few years at demo days and even helped at a few so I knew what I was in store for. Loved the Honda. Wouldn't go back for anything.
 
#9 · (Edited)
You all need to ride a triumph Rocket 3.

Vic is/was it's own worst enemy.

Zero restyles on its best sellers, stagnated.

Building bikes for middle aged people but advertise it doing endless burn outs.

Sketchy dealer network that put Vic's behind the other brands the dealers were selling.

Putting 21" front wheel on a Cross Country and thinking people will not notice it's just a CC with a 21" front wheel.

Vic people and their elitist attitude pushing people away from the brand. When I had my Suzuki VStrom Vic people gave me the cold shoulder more than ANY other brand did. If I wasn't already a Vic owner I wouldn't have considered a Vic because of the dick attitude I was given.

Vic is a dead brand so really none of this matters anyway.
 
#10 ·
I don't think anyone likes vibration. It wears you out on the road. Makes your hands go to sleep and vibrates everything loose. That's why on a HD every couple of days you had to have a maintenance day to tighten everything up. Hell at 70 you can't even tell what's in the rearview mirrow. Your butt would hurt your feet and hands would go to sleep. There was a lot of Jap bikes that vibrated pretty bad.
 
#13 ·
Early 80's,Shovel heads. But even in the 90's a lot of Harley's had vibration problems. Soft tails have counter balanced motors and I think all HD's do now, or most. They did away with the Dyna's and when they went to the rubber mounts, many not all looked like the motor was trying to get away when standing still, like at a traffic light. The motor HD has now is a totally different story. They have done a lot of work on vibration. The Evo motor was a improvement but still had a lot of vibration and going from a 4 speed tranny to a five then a six made a great improvement on all motorcycles. I still have a seat off of a 83 Iron head for longer trips. It's 8 or 9 inches thick, then I had a bare to the bones seat for short trips and to look cool. But even the Honda CB 750's would make your but numb a few hours in the saddle. I've know a many bikers that went to BMW's and Goldwing's over the years. Smother rides and much more dependable. The HOG Club here does at least 2 trips a year. The dealer always has a truck, trailer and a mechanic on there runs. The dealer club rep said their last run last fall was the first time they didn't have a brake down ever. I know the rep well and have for 16 years are so.
 
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#12 ·
solid mounted motors are part of the reason Victorys handle so well, the engine is one with the frame unit.
Reading the book The Victory Motorcycle, the designers and engineers say they, after including a balance shaft into the design came up with a V-twin with zero vibration..none!..zilch.
They then reasoned that V-twin riders like to feel the engine to some degree, and dialled in a small amount of vibration, just enough to let you know you are riding a V-Twin with some balls.
The OP has obviously never ridden an XS650 or any British parallel twin, where both pistons rise and fall in unison..then you learn the real meaning of vibration...then you buy Loctite, or safety wire things on.
Funny thing though my female pillions loved my old XS650s and the buzz they got sitting on the back!
As long as the trip wasnt too long, or ecstacy could very well turn to agony.
I class my Victorys as perfect in the vibration dept...Just enough to let you know that you are riding an internal combustion V-Twin with grunt!
Though my Vegas had flamed metal handgrips when I bought it, I soon changed to Iso- grips as I was getting numb hands on the 3 day trip home
 
#14 ·
The Vics' handle well because Polaris built the 92 frame with that in mind before the engine was developed. They used an HD engine in the bike while they engineered it. That concept remained through the steel frame bikes.

As for why it's gone, that's all on the management team that bought the Indian name to give them some kind of perceived advantage. They didn't want to build their own reputation. They wanted to skid along on the coat tails of an iconic name. Once they had the name and the plan there was zero effort put into the Victory lineup design or promotion. They knew what was coming and they did it on purpose.
 
#15 ·
Well soon Indian motorcycles will probably get rebranded Victory because someone is offended. Then you'll have your Victory brand to ride.

I'm late to the game but I like how cross country looks better than any Harley that has looked the same since before I was born. I'm not brand loyal though I just wanted to try the touring bike thing for a while and Victory is where I landed with good used prices.
 
#16 ·
I guess a lot of people don't know this but Victory/Polaris had the Freedom engine's running super smooth. Too smooth in fact when they did some public testing. People were saying it didn't feel like an American motorcycle because it was too smooth so the engineers engineered some vibration into the engine so it would have that small bit of vibration.

I got this info from KevinX whom many of you know.

The moral of the story is there is no way to please everyone.
 
#20 ·
4 posts above you. :)

If you can believe they were losing money then you changed your belt at 30k with wheel bearings and fork fluid shortly thereafter
Yeah I thought that was a bit excessive in the manual.
 
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#17 ·
Those are not vibrations, they're Power Pulses.
Due to reasons mentioned by Vindex, Victory sales petered out and the division was bleeding red ink. As Vic was fading, Indian was coming on strong. So a wise business decision was made to axe Victory.
 
#28 ·
Due to reasons mentioned by Vindex, Victory sales petered out and the division was bleeding red ink. As Vic was fading, Indian was coming on strong. So a wise business decision was made to axe Victory.
By observation at the Brisbane dealers, they were selling about 5 Indians for every Victory in late 2014. I bought the HardBall as a shop demonstrator in Feb 2014 with stage 1 pipes and reflash already in it, and did look at Indians, but at that time they did not have one with hard bags and no fairing, and no way was I going to buy one with tassels on the leather bags and seat. My 1990 Sporty does vibrate far more, but will still cruise at 130 kph all day in an island of minimum vibration.
 
#18 ·
According to the Victory Motorcycle book, for the last few years, Victory was actually losing about $1500 on every bike they sold.
 
#23 ·
I’ve got no iron in the fire on this one. Just something from the book that I found interesting when I read it :)
 
#21 ·
Yes, the book I refer to "The Victory Motorcycle", was published in 1998 shortly before the release of the Victory Motorcycle and gives detailed information on the research and development,
It goes into those specifics of vibration and handling and lots lots more in detail.
 
#24 ·
Audio equipment Technology Fictional character Headphones Headset

This book :)
 
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#25 ·
No that's just an attempt to screw more money out of us.

I'm talking the original book , by the real enthusiasts in Polaris who gave birth to Victory.
Not the ones that want to pick it's bones clean after killing it.

Real bikers like to feel an engine working under them, not some homogenised sanitised buzz box.
 
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#35 ·
Two months before the shutdown Polaris stated "Victory brand is going nowhere, expect big things in the new year" That was a STUPID business decision. Stating "We went with the better horse" (Indian) was also STUPID to say. Many are Vic fanboys, I'm not, it's metal, plastic and rubber. When it wears out I'll throw it away and buy a different motorcycle. I think brand loyalty is goofy as hell.

Euro had nothing to do with it, read my above post.
 
#37 ·
Indian sales were down before the pandemic hit us. I wonder if Polaris kills the Indian brand because of it. Plus with all the hoopla about changing the names of football and baseball teams names. I wonder if Polaris will bend to the lefts wishes and change the name of the Indian motorcycle.
 
#39 ·
Made me LMAO🤣
 
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#40 ·
Doesn't make sense for any company to run two brands competing with each other. Plain and simple one had to go. Just as the car manufacturers reduced brands.
 
#43 ·
They reduced brands because Obama made them to get bail out federal money. They didn't do it because they wanted to.
 
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