My buddy recently bought a 2014 Street Glide. Beautiful bike, got me excited about a bagger. On a whim I stopped by the Victory dealer. The Cross Country seems to fit me well so I'm actually considering it. I plan to test ride one soon. If I like it, and the numbers work, I may give up my beloved Dyna an go touring.

Has anyone gone to a Victory and come back to HD? If so, what brought you back?

 

Riding a Victory 100 miles!?..........Even the Indian groupie fans won't park beside them.

 

I've met a few Victory owners on the road and never heard a complaint from any of them and most of them rode Harley's before switching. They seem like nice bikes, but the dealer network sucks when compared to HD and I'm torn on the styling. Dealer network is important to me though I've not really had to take advantage of it.

 

Get what you want man . . who cares? Personally I have seen enough Street Glides on the road to last a lifetime, so I say if you like the Victory, (do it for my sake). I'm not a bagger guy (in the least) and wouldn't give my bike for one but if the Victory bagger floats yer boat . . who cares what a bunch of people say on a forum? That said . . . the Victory is a wonky looking bike to me. There was one at my indy the other day . . . the thing is huge / long. I would feel like I was driving an ocean liner, nor did I like the dash or much of anything about it BUT the guys at the shop said it was an impressive bike (though they didn't want one either). So again it's up to you not a bunch of knuckleheads like me.

 

When you come right down to it, most motorcycles are better than HD. But it's still not a Harley Davidson.

 

Go ahead and switch. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

 

I had a Vegas 8 Ball, got to ride it free for a year; sold it and got a Street Glide.
I did like their Kingpin but they quit making that one. Check the Indian line too.
You will be back though.........

 

Personally I find the victory bikes to be horrid and cheesy looking, too spaceship like. I did look at victory bikes before I got my street bob. First nothing aesthetics wise appealed to me, they have a fairly limited color selection which tend to have some sort of cheesy flame job or awkward two tone, then the build quality isn't what HD has IMO. Odd locations for some things, a big ugly air box that is half hidden, the jugs just look so plain as have no real style to them. Saw an '04 yesterday that was full of rust, chrome pitting. And quite "cheaply" finished if you ask me, that has 4000mi on it and garage kept.

But Polaris owns/ produces Victory and do have good performance and really do like to stay at the top of the recrational vehicle game, just look at their RZR and ranger line up. I haven't seen or herd much about reliability but the Polaris ATV's I've been around all have been reliable.

 

You can't lose. On the one hand, you'll graduate to a better bike. On the other, you'll come to appreciate your Harley even more...

Nobody owns me. I've ridden all kinds of things. Norton 850 Commando comes to mind I'm diggin' my FXD, but nothing is forever.

Buy your Victory I'll ride with ya! No problem.

 

I checked them out a few weeks ago. Had a bright blue cross country on the floor and I loved it. Very comfortable bike. On the other hand if I was going to spend 25k on a full touring bike I would be checking that indian roadmaster out too.

Nothing wrong with changing in my mind. I'm glad to have choice in American bikes now