HD to Vitory

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nomochevys
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HD to Vitory

#1 Unread post by nomochevys »

Hello, I have a 03 HD sportster 1200c. I bought it new. It has about 7K miles on it to date. Most all of them are road miles. The vicious vibration has turned me off big time. The bike has been almost trouble free other than the discomfort from riding it. Normal maint. ect..... I have done everything that I could find to do to try to curb the vibration and it all helped but IM still not satisfied. This bike does not handle well either imo. Its kinda skiddish.
I paid a premium for a piece of americana that sucks imo. No offence to other riders. Just the facts as I see them. Never again.

Now, on to the future. Im looking at a victory vegas. 8 ball to be specific.
Can other vitory riders give me a honest report of their experiences? I want the good bad and the ugly. Im planning a trip to the left coast which is over 2500 miles one way for me. I hear good things about the vegas but want more proof.

My local HD dealer wont let me ride a new HD low rider. It sacrid I guess but my local vitory dealer is begging me to take a Vegas for a ride. There is something wrong with that picture imo. The motor company will pay for that in time. What a load of "poo poo".

I have a "pee" poor attitude about the HD stealer due to my only experience with them. Can anyone convince me that HD makes a better bike for the money? Handeling, acceleration, braking, price. Please present the facts. Im all ears.

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rdkil1
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8Ball

#2 Unread post by rdkil1 »

+A Vegas 8Ball would be a good choice, nomo.

Ride on.
Roadkill

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Venarius
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#3 Unread post by Venarius »

Dude Victory rocks.

Your still paying too much for what its worth, but they can price it up that high because Harley overprices their bikes too and thats the market Victory is aiming for.

However, past that, I've test ridden two. The older touring model and the newest Jackpot model. touring bike sucked in my opinion, but the Jackpot had it all. Good looks, Good feel, Good handling. And even though it was only a 100 inch motor, It still felt like it pulled as hard as my 110 inch VTX. Probably because its almost 100 pounds lighter than my bike.

Didn't look as good for two up touring as my VTX, but all in all, if I had to buy American, Victory would definately be the way to go.

I'll buy Harley when they create their own good bike (without outsourcing it to europe) at a price thats actually competative. I would also mention that I would only get a Harley if it was liquid cooled, but from the looks of things they are probably going to start adding radiators to their bikes in a few years because of stringent emissions control.

To Surmise.

Victory~Good
Harley~Not so good.

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Rydr
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Victory Vs Harley

#4 Unread post by Rydr »

Harley does out source some parts. Who doesn't. All the Japanese manufacturers out source to Korea and China. Out sourcing has nothing to do with quality. I do have a lot of experience with Harleys' and not much with Victory's. I rode a friends 1999 Sporty 1200 Custom and the ride sucked. Partly due to the 21 inch front wheel and the rake of the front forks. It had narrow drag style handlebars. I wasn't impressed. Mind you it was a very short ride. I did ride a 2002 Sportster 883R and was impressed with the handling. It was a little under powered for my liking but overall it was a good bike. As for Victory's there are a couple of them in my area and when I talked to the owners they seemed quite pleased with the bikes though one fellow has his up for sale as he wants to buy a 2007 Harley Fatboy.

American Iron magazine had story about about a fellow in Greensborough North Carolina that put 265800 miles on his 1987 Harley FLCH Electra Glide before having the engine overhauled. He always had his servicing done at Harley dealers and kept the bike stock except for a K&N air filter. The engine was seeping a little oil out of the primary case gasket and because of the seep and the high milage he decided to have the engine overhauled. The local Harley dealer did the overhaul and when the engine was being stripped they started to take pictures. After 265800 miles there was still crosshatch in the cylinders. That bike ended up with just over 485300 miles on it. Harley bought it back off the owner in 2000 and gave him a brand new 2000 Electra Glide Classic for it. That motorcycle has the highest fully documented mileage of any motorcycle in the world.

Harleys' may not be the fastest or the cheapest bike out there but Harley Davidson makes a good motorcycle with a two year unlimited mileage warranty, and they stand behind there products which is better than many other manufacturers out there. Harley Davidson is the oldest motor vehicle manufacturer in North America and still going strong. You can knock Harley all you want but the truth of it is they make a quality product.

In my 40 years riding I've owned a great number of bikes including Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW, Triumph, BSA, Buell and lots of Harleys. All the Japanese bikes were either dual purpose or strait dirt bikes.

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