Victory is finished

Test rode a Judge, wasn't impressed.

Don't think I would take the gamble, resale value will be very poor. Spares OK for a few years, but come resale time, people will be worried. And less inclined to purchase.

 

For me it depends totally on how much one can be bought for? If I could buy a Victory something or other for say £5000 I might be interested.

 

Hi All,

I've ridden the 8 ball 1600cc , WOW, rocks the pants off any HD ! It is my younger Brothers, the handling is different but not in a bad way, unlike HD crap. The back tyre has enough of the black stuff in it to make 4 small car tyre's ! Top speed around the 220 kph mark and stable as a table at any speed. The back tyre is what makes it handle the way it does, you ride the back wheel not steer the front ! It was so smooth it would seriously be too easy to get caught up in the torque and be booked for speeding anywhere.

Cheers Mick.

 

Shame about Victory,i know it sounds crazy but maybe they were to cheap to compete with Harley ,i think Polaris owns Indian also, which are much more expensive and they seem to be thriving so maybe they are just going to concentrate on them

 

Polaris are concentrating on their Indian brand from now on.

Cruiser market is just too conservative for the Victory bikes and Indian name and style just a better fit in that market. They are trying to take customers off Harley, and offering something too far removed from a Harley. Not that that's a bad thing, but you are asking people to make a real change of style and not just brand. Difficult sell, especially on the big bagger style bikes rather than the muscle cruiser style hammer/judge, which are a market to themselves.

I test rode the Indian Scout, and it is an absolute belter of a bike. The engine is a peach, so smooth and powerful.

 

i don't think the cruiser market was too conservative for them,look at the Ducati xDiavel that is definatley not conservative it's a fantastic bike and Totally differant from any other cruiser and it blows all the competition away with it's performance and handling Harley are losing sales to them..and the Ducati is not cheap!.the Indian must have the best looking engine though..shame about the mudguards

 

I doubt the xDiavel is taking many cruiser riders off Harleys !!!!
I think old fat sports bike riders are going on the xDiavel, but very much doubt lifelong cruiser market is moving across.

Might happen in limited numbers in UK, but US market is massive, and that's where it matters, and I doubt we'll see sons of anarchy types on a xDiavel anytime soon !!!!

 

But would we love you anymore if you had a Victory or an Indian Ade ?

 

Do it ADE !!!

 

The XDiavel is aimed at the American market! and they are taking sales from Harley,(not the twats of anarchy type ) Why woudn't anyone not want a more powerful cruiser that handles almost as good as a sports bike??
..unless they are really old and fat

 

i saw one almost identical to that last year lovely looking engine,but those mud guards and tassles

 

8 Reasons Indian Motorcycle Is Beating Harley-Davidson
The upstart bike maker has more than a handful of reasons it's been able to take on the industry behemoth.




The most affordable Indian manufactured to date, the Scout Sixty shows that Polaris Industries plans to be competitive all across the motorcycle price spectrum.

Despite a weak economy that is impacting sales in its powersports business, Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) is still smoking the tires in motorcycles, giving it the horsepower to take on the industry behemoth, Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG).

In its just-completed first-quarter earnings report, Polaris said motorcycle sales were going full throttle at 18% year-over-year growth while the overall large-bike industry -- the 900 cubic-centimeters-and-up market -- was relatively flat. Moreover, since Harley-Davidson continues to report falling motorcycle sales, it means Polaris is stealing more market share from its rival. Harley may still own half the U.S. market, but Polaris is quickly gaining, and it soon may be a much closer horse race.


Teasing out sales data from the various manufacturers isn't always easy, and Polaris is downright parsimonious when it comes to doling out unit sales, but here's a look at some of the major global bike makers and their reported numbers for 2015.


Manufacturer North America sales Worldwide sales
Honda Motors 286,000 10.73 million
Harley-Davidson 189,082 264,627
Yamaha 89,000 5.22 million
Kawasaki 51,000 524,000
Suzuki 35,000 est. 1.11 million (est.)
BMW n/a 136,963
Ducati 12,132 54,800


Data source: Company reports and filings. *Harley-Davidson "North America" figures are U.S., Canada, and Latin America sales. **Kawasaki worldwide figures also include ATV, UTV, personal watercraft, and general-purpose small engine sales. Honda motorcycles sales span bikes from 50 cc to 1,800 cc. Motorcycle unit sales for some manufacturers from certain markets were not readily available.

The reason Polaris is making these gains? Indian Motorcycle. Sure, it's found itself a popular vehicle in its three-wheeled Slingshot, and even its line of Victory motorcycles has mostly stemmed the losses it was incurring, but it's the Indian nameplate that Polaris resurrected from the graveyard in 2011 where it's making its mark.

Since relaunching the brand, Polaris' total revenues have increased 47% to $4.7 billion, but motorcycles have grown from accounting for 8% of the total to 15%, and sales have nearly quadrupled to $698 million annually. That may be a rounding error to Harley-Davidson, which did $1.3 billion in sales in the first quarter alone, but Polaris has already become the No. 2 motorcycle manufacturer.


With Polaris motorcycle sales growing 67% last year and Harley-Davidson's falling almost 2%, if those trends continue, Polaris will be selling more motorcycles than Harley in just three-and-a-half years. Of course, it's highly improbable Polaris can maintain the breakneck pace it's been on, but it's also clear it can dramatically narrow the gap between first place and second place in short order.


Above pinched from tinterweb, but you can see why Polaris are dropping Victory, Indian sales are just killing them. No point putting as much into R&D, when same money spent on Indian R&D is getting so much more return.




DougieD - Harley 189,0829( all cruisers), Ducati 12,132 (mix of sports, adv, supermotards, nakeds & cruisers), even if we were generous and say 10% Ducati are Diavels still only 1,200 bikes compared to 189,000 !!!!!,
really don't think they are much of a worry to Harley in the cruiser market. Damn fine looking bike, but I have never seen or heard of xDiavel even being a direct competitor to Harley. Maybe it is classed as a cruiser, but seriously, it ain't. You can't even get a pillion on the back without adding a sissy bar(see MCN report). How many you seen on the road in UK? I could count on one hand the number I've seen being ridden on the roads.

 

DougieD - Harley 189,0829( all cruisers), Ducati 12,132 (mix of sports, adv, supermotards, nakeds & cruisers), even if we were generous and say 10% Ducati are Diavels still only 1,200 bikes compared to 189,000 !!!!!,
really don't think they are much of a worry to Harley in the cruiser market. Damn fine looking bike, but I have never seen or heard of xDiavel even being a direct competitor to Harley. Maybe it is classed as a cruiser, but seriously, it ain't. You can't even get a pillion on the back without adding a sissy bar(see MCN report). How many you seen on the road in UK? I could count on one hand the number I've seen being ridden on the roads
Totally agree with you on the Indian Ron But your talking bollocks re the XDiavel..for your info Harley have been selling bikes in America for 117 years Ducati have been selling the XDiavel in America for just over 1 year!! the Harley Night rod is also classed as a cruiser and the pillion seat on that is just as bad as the XDiavel and the same could be said about all the Harley Sportsters. as the bike is primarily aimed at the American market and the fact it's only been out for over a year, plus it's bloody expensive i think they have done extremely well in America there are not many about in the uk.My mate has one (used to have a Harley) and i've seen about half a dozen on the road..........i seem to remember when Triumph started up again they were saying they would never be a threat to the Jap bikes
Glad you spent all the time googling the interesting facts

 

I tried the Victory Judge just over a year ago and would have bought but the part ex at Krazy Horse was rubbish, moving on to August last year and tried the Indian Scout as I liked the look but handling and braking rubbish. They then said the Octane might suit better, nice then tried the T120 which gave me more grins and more comfortable for the old bones over longer distance.

 

I can't see an argument here Dougie !!!!

Night rods don't sell particularly well either !!!!

But unless we could actually find out how many of either are sold in America - we ain't gonna get an answer. Just have to disagree on this one.

But still doubt many people in the states are currently deciding between a high tech, shit fast Italian loony bike and some big fat lumpy electra-glide or fat boy. Maybe a night rod or xDiavel, but I do know that is one of Harley's least successful models. Has it ever been updated launch in since 2006???, other than of course adding fxlrtcbhpnananoonoo to the end of it's name just because it had a red pinstripe and a carbon fibre wing mirror cover !!!!

 

When i said Night rod, i should have said all of the various V-Rod variants,as for update probably be 2021 it's usually every 15 years or so..they don't like to rush things!

 

Don't exaggerate Jez i think it was only 80 years!!