Victory Motorcycles Brings Some Badass To Its Line!
We are in our final chapter of our Victory Motorcycles 15th Anniversary historical review and it certainly has been quite a ride. Who dares enter the heavyweight cruiser market and go toe to toe with an American icon like Harley Davidson? Many have tried and failed.
Polaris Industries is different, when you already have the foundation for success (lots of capital, great team of engineers, in home manufacturing, and a lean business model) like Polaris has with launching new products, it’s only a matter of time before the stubborn folks at Polaris start to pick away at market share. Yes, they still have a long way to go before they put a dent in the Harley business but going from last to second in share for the cruiser market in the U.S. is nothing to sneeze at.
Big inch cruiser riders are not your typical motorcyclist, most could care less about how fast the bike goes or how far over you can lean it in a turn. It’s about attitude and it takes a while for a brand to develop that. Think of it like raising a baby, early on it just spits up on itself and you can’t understand what it’s saying but after a few years it starts to develop a personality and you start to interact with it.
Take the original Victory V92C, great bike but no-one knew what it was trying to be, it had classic looks but the marketing department was touting its performance, it was a baby trying to scratch out a name for itself in an already proud, stubborn, closed-minded market. (you know who you are)
Enter the Victory High-Ball, Hard-Ball, Judge and a whole new attitude for Victory Motorcycles. The folks at the home office recognized the fact that they needed to bring more “Edge” to the brand so they partnered with industry icons like Roland Sands and the youngest Ness, Zach Ness. This fresh young blood is largely responsible for bringing the latest crop of badass Victory Motorcycles to the forefront of the model line-up.
The Victory High-Ball is a low slung urban cruiser with the tallest ape-hangers in production. It has a dark flat paint scheme and blacked out trim. You have to be a badass to ride this bike because of its looks and the fact, that, in cruiser circles, your still considered to be the challenger. It takes a ton of nads to step out of the incumbent clan and go a different direction and quite frankly, it’s too much pressure for most!
The Victory Hard-Ball has much of the same attitude as the High-Ball but built around the Victory Cross Road/Country platform. It has a flat paint scheme, blacked out trim and a tall set of ape-hangers to polish off its statement. All are powered by the rock solid 106 ci Freedom V-Twin.
As if the bikes weren’t enough, Victory still needed to convince potential buyers to give them a shot? Enter “Gunny” General R. Lee Ermey. You may remember him best from the 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket, where he played a tough as nails Drill Sergent in the Marine Corps. Gunny has taken the Victory Marketing campaign into the trenches, where he is most comfortable. Check out these two videos, the first from the movie and the next from the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota.
As you can see, Gunny hasn’t changed much and it’s a good thing. If anyone has the stones to dig into the trenches of Sturgis it’s Gunny. So I ask you, do you have the stones to come test ride a Victory Motorcycle? We guarantee if you buy one you’ll like it or we’ll give you your money back! Who else does that?
SVP
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