Let's see those bikes

<lots of snippage above>

Great bikes!! Pretty Yamaha! I almost bought one of those when I bought my first Valkyrie, butHonda was selling new leftover Valks forcheap money so I went in that direction.

I've still got a Valk IS and a EGC that is all built up.. but I am eyeing one of the new 2017 HDs with the new engine. Maybe next year or the year after... we'll see.

Pretty scooters. Too bad about Polaris pulling the plug on Victory. The competition was good for the industry and customers. I wonder how far behind Indian could be.

 

This wasn't a move due to lack of sales or reputation of the victory brand. It was done to strengthen polaris ( Indian's) brand as a motorcycle company.

Also, while Victory is no more, parts have to be available by law for a number of years. So, there's still support for them.

 

Gonna go look at a classic tomorrow...86 Yamaha FJ1200. Supposedly only needs a choke cable and a front fender...fix 'er up to flip this spring.

 

So what problem were they solving with this move? Apparently some of the resources of the Victory shop will be transferred over to Indian which will no doubt be helpful to the Indian brand. But the Indian brand has been through numerous disappointments over the last decade, and to see the owners of that brand abandon a seemingly successful Victory product line after 10 long years of coming up to speed certainly would make me think twice before buying Indian.

Maybe this was the game plan since day 1 of Indian for Polaris. Most likely was is my guess. Or, maybe they have done some kind of analysis and found they were competing too closely with themselves across product lines. It's no secret in the Honda world that the Goldwing product management (in Japan) worked vigorously to go end of life on the Honda Valkyrie (a Honda USA brainchild and product). Could be something like that?

My best guess is just the age old, bean counter quarter-to-quarter mentality of not enough ROI of these expensive products and heavy costs of supporting multiple products, with few if any interchangable parts.

But I really thought the Victory had come of age and it's sad to see it end. The competition was good for the industry and even better for us customers. Just take a look at the HD product improvements in the touring line over the past 3 or 4 years, ....new frame, new engine, new brake systems, etc etc.. just remarkable product improvements. I think we had Victory and Indian to thank for that.

 

" Just take a look at the HD product improvements in the touring line over the past 3 or 4 years, ....new frame, new engine, new brake systems, etc etc.. just remarkable product improvements. I think we had Victory and Indian to thank for that."

Absolutely. Victory pushed HD to make some improvements, although the only big one I really see is the liquid cooling that was sort of forced upon them by the EPA.

Still, all sort of quality and NVH improvements happened to HD mostly because of Victory.

I actually rode a new Victory Octane this past summer. The dealer had a demo, and I took them up on the offer.

I have not ridden the new Milwaukee 8 bikes , but I have a feeling that HD wishes they made the octane. It was a far bit better than any HD product I've ridden, albeit with my minimal exposure to riding HD products. It was smooth, and was kinda fun for what it was.

Indian now also has a full factory dirt track team, loaded with the best talent out there. That effort was aimed directly at Harley.

Indian is a storied brand. This move will just make that brand better, with a much more focused effort than they have had in decades. Polaris just had to get the Indian name back in motorcyclists' vocabularies.

 

I've ridden that model, that year. They go fast..

 

Well it turned out the goofball didn't even know what he had, it ended up being a '84 FJ 1100. Still basically the same bike...and yeah, plenty fast...especially on a 32* day! Good thing I only had a 10 minute ride home!
Its been a while since I have ridden one of these, I forgot what a comfy bike they are (6'4" and 250# doesn't fit very well on just any bike!) good thing my garage isn't bigger or I might be tempted to keep it! And that would be BAD! (Bike Acquisition Disorder) (already have 2 bikes, an ATV, and a snowmobile that don't get many miles in recent times!)

 

Is Polaris sending the right messages to potential 1st time Indian buyers and the significant number of current Victory customers that undoubtedly must feel left holding a devalued bike? What Polaris must do for that crowd is make it a painless transition into the Indian product set, with HUGE incentives for current Victory owners, and not just a one time thing, but something that lasts a few years. Get current Victory customers feeling protected and valued not only with support for service and spare parts, but with a road map to major discounts into the Indian line-up when they're ready. Otherwise they're not coming back, regardless of any Indian historical past, or dirt track stuff or pretty paint.

Also, don't discount the HDs line-up and how serious they are about continuously improving their existing product set. They have made many major and minor improvements since the introduction of the 6 speed in 2007 along with the 96ci engine every year. Every element of their bikes, especially the touring line, has undergone major redesign and improvements. The new M8 engines are very impressive and strategic to the needs of future builds (who knows if the EPA will make a difference in the future but lets hope it does) even though HD basically pulled the design from the Honda play-book circa 2001. It's actually a pretty amazing thing that they still look like older Harleys.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out, but my general initial reaction is that the value of HD stock will improve with this recent news. Has Polaris done anything towards getting positive messages and incentives to the existing Victory customer base? Seems to me that is their tip of the iceberg target market.

 

Beautiful bike!!!

 

Here is my ride.

 

Went and visited my bike today. It has been in storage at the dealer's since late November. She was on the ground level, just in front of the
door between Service and the storage area. Had to sit on her for a bit - felt good!



Oh yeah, the reason I visited the bike is I went to the Winter Storage Party - only for those that store their bikes there - with alcohol, food, exhibits and door prizes. I got a new sweatshirt, 2 glasses of white zinfandel, tastes of a bunch of different types of chili (the mechanics have a chili cook-off - winner gets an extra paid day off). Had a good time.

 

That's great that you get visitation rights

 

1/25/17 & 58º today! Had to saddle up. Came as close to wadding it up as I ever have without going down. So glad to have made it home without any a scratch. Hit about 4' width of fine gravel on a shaded downhill turn on an unfamiliar road. Looking ahead and didn't even see it coming. Front slid hard, bars just went limp left. Threw a foot down and effed my groin holding the bike up through the slide. Soon as the tire left gravel, we had restored grip and it stood right back up. Sure wish I could've seen it happen from someone elses point of view.

Major pucker moment boys!

 

Lol...Left my sis's in Florida and was about 40 defrees they thought I was crazy cause it was so chilly...Lol...But grass was wicked wet and my hand slipped off the clutch and bike came around sideways then I corrected it and it came around to the other side felt like I was dirt biking...Lol Didn't dump it...

 

Visited my bike, thinking of better weather


Hope to improve my skills and gain more confidence this summer.

 

Worthy goals!

 

Nice!

 

Thanks, Casper. Been 16 years or more since owning a bike(s), got busy with raising daughters and sech, always liked these r1200c's. and price/condition was ripe for the picking! (2300 miles, female owned, garage kept, factory serviced,,)
Gotta' couple other bikes on my wish list, still raising daughters, so those bikes can wait.
As mentioned earlier, I'm still getting my legs under me, I've worked Radiology (CAT Scan, MRI, Plain Film) for 24 years and seen some ugly results over those years,,it has me somewhat "cautious".
I absolutely love, LOVE!! riding, but don't care for interstates at all, working on my confidence in the twisting-hilly hi-ways south of me, they are certainly enjoyable, we have quite a few as I head toward the Ohio River Valley and those are the roads I've been logging some miles on yet I find myself getting unnerved with the changing wind buffeting and sech. The couple thousand miles I logged this summer made for some improvements and I'm looking forward to many more this summer.

The good people here are a great sounding board and I appreciate the feedback.