I hope they make it. A little competition is good for everyone. Right now, other than the metric copies, HD has a monopoly. I think it shows.

 

victory's are NOT 100% american! I filled mine with gas and I turned the gas cap over and it said Mexico on it. still a great bike though. 120 miles on it today.

 

PTOOIE!!!

 

You nailed that one right. I just sold an 02 VTX1800R. Bought it new for $11.5K OTD, sold it almost 3 yrs later for $8.5K. Had less than $1K into it. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. You can pick up a new 05 for about $9-10K (retail is $13.5K).

 

For Victory to succeed they need the backing of the dealers. Here is my story.

I was one of the Lukers, and yes I have to admit it, my wife held the verdict on any and all motorcycle dreams. After going to several easyrider shows and even a few of the bike nights around, I finally convinced her that a motorcycle was the way to go....just look at the gas prices!!! She agreed and the hunt was on to find an good looking, american bike. Well since I said American I only have two real choices, Victory or HD. I picked up several magazines, read countless reviews and started looking at real world prices. During this 6 month process (like I said, I had been looking for awhile) my budget went up!

Not wanting to be one of the crowd, I decided on a Victory. I even went to every Victory dealer in SoCal, six of them at last count, to take inventory stock and check prices and to see what if the dealer was reputable. The big weekend came and to my dismay, the entire buying process at my local VIC deal was such a bad experience that I walked out without buying.

I was looking at a 05 Kingpin demo bike and the dealer first quoted me one price then went up 2,000 when the paper work started, and would not honor the original quote.

After several hours of back and forth negotiations, he would not budge. Even though I was paying above MSRP! My wife was so furious that she started yelling from across the showroom floor.

I really like the styling, handling and the overall appeal of the entire VIC lineup, but since this has occurred I had to reevaluate the VIC purchase. I see a bike purchase as a partnership with the dealer as 90% of the aftermarket accessories and service that you will purchase in the future will come from that dealer.

The following weekend I stopped by the HD dealer that was less than a mile away, sat on a street bob, and started the buying process. The whole process was completely different. Both the salesman and the shop owner were completely honest and bent over backward to get me in the street bob at the payments that I wanted. Heck I even saved money, which made the wife even more happy!!

****The point that I'm trying to make is that Victory has a great looking and handling product. But, they really need to work on the dealer network. The dealers are what the customer see and when you have a bad experience or good it has a ripple effect. I will never go back to that dealer!!!!

 

That is one dumb dealer. Vics are not that in demand - they make more than they can sell. The dealers do want to get clost to MSRP, but any going above are in the 'stupid greed' category.

My biggest issue is that many of the dealers die out after a few years. Strokers dropped them a few years ago, the dealership closest to the house died this year. The other 2 closest are about 35 miles away each. One is definitely a bike shop - he's even modding them himself. The other is low on selection, but nice people.

 

It seems that only the strong, most customer orientated dealers survive. I guess that is why I bought HD!!!

 

So you can get a crappy dealer??

 

Your "American made" argument always really makes me smile!

American made generally does not stand for reliability and durability.

Why don't us Europeans buy American cars? Because every consumers test and owners experience show that they're low on the list of price versus quality.
The Japs are way ahead on innovation and quality control during manufacturing processes.

Nevertheless I bought me a Street Bob, just because I love your ancient agricultural techniques. I hope to have in about two weeks.

Can't wait to ride it.
And I'm about sure I won't be disappointed about the ride but not sure about its reliability. I'll take the risk anyway.

Ride safe
CorL
Holland

 

CorL,

Actually, most surveys that have been done over the last 2 or 3 years have showed that American cars have a slight edge on European cars for customer satisfaction and quality. You're right about the Japanese automakers tho'...we still aren't at their level.