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Indians problem is the whole 'all vintage all the time' thing. If someone wants a vintage looking American made bike they already own a Harley.
A company like Triumph, who offers the bonnie line and a line of cruisers, but also the daytona, speed3, street3 etc... That's what victory should have tried to become.
That is pretty much my feeling with them. If you like the 1930's "art deco" styling they are great. And technically they are quite capable. I just don't find that styling appealing. Honestly, the same can be said of Harley in my humble opinion. Looking at one inspires thoughts of the 70s...you can almost see the AMF badges on them. Which is fine if that's what you want. Victory reminds me more of the newer Camaros and Mustangs. They keep some of the key styling features of the vintage bikes, but combine it with a new, contemporary flair. IMO they were kind of the best of both worlds from a styling standpoint. But again, that's just me-obviously not what much of the market wanted.
Honestly...I have to question the direction Polaris would have taken anyway. I have owned one of their SxSs, and ridden many of their quads. They are sloooowww to fix known problems or defects, instead blaming owners and refusing to accept that they screwed up. Their current financial issues are due to problems in that market, where they have been forced to issue recalls due to fires.
That is pretty much my feeling with them. If you like the 1930's "art deco" styling they are great. And technically they are quite capable. I just don't find that styling appealing. Honestly, the same can be said of Harley in my humble opinion. Looking at one inspires thoughts of the 70s...you can almost see the AMF badges on them. Which is fine if that's what you want. Victory reminds me more of the newer Camaros and Mustangs. They keep some of the key styling features of the vintage bikes, but combine it with a new, contemporary flair. IMO they were kind of the best of both worlds from a styling standpoint. But again, that's just me-obviously not what much of the market wanted.
Honestly...I have to question the direction Polaris would have taken anyway. I have owned one of their SxSs, and ridden many of their quads. They are sloooowww to fix known problems or defects, instead blaming owners and refusing to accept that they screwed up. Their current financial issues are due to problems in that market, where they have been forced to issue recalls due to fires.
That and having to compete in house with indian didn't help things either...
Was never a fan of their snowmobiles... Skidoo/bombardier have them beat in my opinion. I'd take the yamaha sled with the sport bike engine over polaris product any day.
Thier sport quad the predator... Better keep some money in your pocket for when the engine grenades...
They really should have spent more R+D on that market before entering.
If the EPA wasn't hell bent on destruction of 2 strokes yamaha would still be number 1 in that market... Even with modern fuel injection and aftermarket goodies on the new raptors, my 02 Banshee still out runs them.
I think we might see some of Victorys bikes that were popular come with indian badges.
Carls Cycles Sales in Boise, ID is a multi-brand dealership and, when they first got the Victory
franchise, they displayed those models in center of showroom as a preferred brand,
Was there last month and the Victorys were shuffled off to the most remote corner almost out
of sight and out of mind. I personally viewed them as very good motorcycles although lacking
in heritage like HD, Indian and Triumph.
When Polaris purchased Indian, I figured that they needed a heritage brand to increase their
motorcycle sales and only one brand would eventually survive and that, of course, was
Indian.
The same ol Harley rider bashing post ^ that takes up space and takes up our time trying to read it. It's repetitive and boring.
To the original post.. Victory bikes were never going to catch on. Offering more over priced cruisers wasn't going to get it done. Honda already has that crowd covered with the goldwing.
If someone wants to compete with Harley it'll all have to start with a badass lil sportster killer hot rod.
Umm... Your reading comprehension is lacking. That article is less than a year old. Victory didn't exactly "start with a badass sportster killer." They never really went after the sportster lineup, tried to beat Harley at their own game.
Umm.. Ask anyone to describe a victory motorcycle and they'll describe something like a street glide knock off with weird angles.
Victory, like the new Indian, was too busy trying to sell over stylized $26,000 bikes. Victory was never going to last.
If someone wants to compete with Harley it'll all have to start with a badass lil sportster killer hot rod.
Quote:
Originally Posted by azsportpilot
umm..... Victory did that
The sportster is more of an upright "standard", AKA "naked", though I recall their Custom model that was raked out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dport7674
Umm... Your reading comprehension is lacking. That article is less than a year old. Victory didn't exactly "start with a badass sportster killer." They never really went after the sportster lineup, tried to beat Harley at their own game.
Umm.. Ask anyone to describe a victory motorcycle and they'll describe something like a street glide knock off with weird angles.
Victory, like the new Indian, was too busy trying to sell over stylized $26,000 bikes. Victory was never going to last.
The Victory Octane is a small, powerful, long-ish cruiser, where a person sits in it rather than on it, I think. If Victory came out with a standard/naked using the Indian Scout Sixty engine, or slight variant of it, that would have been their Sportster killer.
Victory and a lot of good metric bikes such as the Honda 1800, Kawi Mean Streak, Yamaha Warrior, et al, went out of production because they just didn't sell.
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