Victory V92c
VICTORY V92C
CYCLE WORLD TEST
Polaris builds a better cruiser
NOT SINCE THE INDIAN MOTORCYCLE COMPANY WENT UNDER BACK IN 1953 have bike buyers had a choice of American cruisers. For four and-a-half decades now, it's either been buy Harley-Davidson or buy something imported.
Now, thanks to Minnesota-based ATV/snowmobile/watercraft manufacturer Polaris, U.S. citizens again can exercise their constitutional right to freedom of choice. There's a new American motorcycle, and its name is the Victory V92C.
As is the case with most of today's cruisers, the Victory bears a strong resem blance to Milwaukee's Finest. It is, after all, powered by a big-inch (92 cubes, or 1507cc) V-Twin, albeit one featuring a 50-degree Vee-angle, unit construction, geared primary drive, sohc, four valves per cylinder, air/oil cooling, fuel injection and a counterbalancer. But the engine's profile is quite familiar, right down to the oversized primary-drive case.
There are, however, some substantial differences between the Victory and other cruisers. Back in 1994, when Polaris first considered building a motorcycle, the company's R&D team bought a fleet of their would-be competitors' cruiser mod els, both foreign and domestic, and headed to Arizona for testing. There, they dutifully noted each bike's strengths and weaknesses, and began formulating a plan to build a better cruiser.
The biggest improvements can be seen in the Victory's chassis. Though there's nothing extraordinary about the dou ble-cradle steel-tube frame, the fact that the engine is used as a stressed member allows a greater degree of torsional rigidi ty than on other cruisers, particularly those with rubbermounted powerplants. Likewise, the Victory's running gear is a step up from standard cruiser fare. Up front, an Italian Marzocchi fork features massive 45mm stanchion tubes, sen suously tapered brushed-aluminum sliders and stout tripleclamps that curve gracefully to clear the fuel tank. Out back, an American-made Fox shock supports a triangulated swingarm reminiscent of that seen on 1970s Yamaha motocrossers. Brakes are Italian Brembos, a single, four-pis ton caliper in the front and a two-piston job in the rear. The attractively polished, slant-spoke, 16-inch wheels are made in the USA by Hayes (best known as purveyors of Harley brakes), while the tires are bias-ply Dunlop 491 Elite us.
The Victory's engine boasts the same sort of mixed pedi gree. While the bottom end is sourced locally, the top end incorporates a number of foreign components. The pistons and cylinders come from Germany's Mahle, the heads from England's Zeus and the EFI system from MBE, another British company. The ignition coils are the same as those used on Ford automobiles, while the throttle-position sensor is GM.
Though the Victory isn't necessarily more American than a Harley, it is, interestingly enough, less Japanese. The only parts imported from the Land of the Rising Sun are the brake rotors, switchgear and select electrical components. Harleys employ Japanese electrics, carburetion and suspension.
Cycle World's exclusive first full test of the Victory V92C was carried out with testers sampling a pair of pilot-produc tion bikes at our offices in Newport Beach, California, and at Victory's R&D headquarters/engine-assembly plant in Osceola, Wisconsin. We ran both bikes on Dynojet rear wheel dynamometers, then weighed, measured and pho tographed one while performance-testing the other. And we came away impressed-clearly, Victory's engineers have done their homework.
Straddle the V92C and the first thing you notice is that it definitely was cast in the Fat Boy mold. The handlebar is fairly low and very wide, the big fuel tank splays your knees far apart, and the attractively perforated floorboards are for ward-set. Close your eyes, and you could be aboard a Honda ACE Shadow, Kawasaki Vulcan Classic, Suzuki Intruder LC or Yamaha Royal Star. Open your eyes, however, and you'll know you're aboard a Victory-it says so right there on the gas cap, on the handlebar clamp and on the neat speedometer/tachometer housed in the headlight nacelle.
Turn the key under the left side of the fuel tank, pull on the handlebar-mounted cold-start enrichener lever, thumb the starter button and the big V-Twin responds instantly, settling into a loping idle that definitely sounds different from a Harley. Go to click it into gear, however, and you discover the first of the Victory's shortcomings: The clutch lever requires a healthy pull, and the transmission could be smoother. But at least clutch engagement is fluid and predictable, and the gearbox is very positive-we rarely missed a shift, though we occasionally caught neutral on the first-to-second throw.
Row through the five-speed gearbox, listen to the revs rise and fall, and you'll note that the V-Twin has a split personality. Below 3000 rpm, the staggered-dual mufflers emit a distinctive pop-pop-pop, while above that figure, it's more the usual potato-potato-potato. Throttle response is excep tional; twists of the wrist have a direct correlation to road speed, at any rpm. Thanks to gargantuan, full-circle fly wheels, there isn't much engine braking, but the payback is smooth power delivery at any speed above idle. One pre production glitch is excessive drivetrain lash most notice able if you abruptly turn the throttle on and off at low revs in fourth or fifth gear. This, combined with the counterbal ancer's spring-loaded compensator, produces some alarming sounds from way down inside.
Asked about these problems, Polaris' engineers shook their heads knowingly and assured us that these are the very items currently being addressed by their R&D team. The sloppy gearbox, they claimed, is a small matter of fine-tuning the toler ances, but the stiff clutch pull may not be as easy to rectify. The obvious solution would be to lengthen the cable-actuating arm, but doing so might cause interference with a passenger's left foot, so the engi neers will have to be more clever than that. If this were some unknown start-up company, we'd be skeptical, but given Polaris' track record in other arenas, we're confident the engi neers will make good on their promise to find cures before production commences.
Okay, so the Victory's drivetrain isn't perfect-what about its chassis? Well, "perfect" might be too strong a word, but it is pretty darn close. The overall feel is one of well-bal anced refinement, like we've come to expect from Honda. Little surprise, then, to learn that Polaris enlisted a former Honda R&D tester to assist with chassis development.
True to the company's claims, the Victory really does han dle better than almost any other cruiser-the exceptions being Moto Guzzi's Vii and possibly Honda's Valkyrie Six. With a dry weight of 649 pounds, the V92C is definitely heavy, but it never feels so. To the contrary, it has a low, low center of gravity that makes parking-lot maneuvers a breeze. Yet cor nering clearance hasn't been overly com promised. Moreover, steering is light and supremely neutral, with no tendency to fall into turns or stand up under braking.
Brakes and suspension are similarly praise-worthy; stopping power is exceptional for a cruiser, while the suspension strikes a good compromise between firm and compliant. Spring and damping rates are spot-on; the fork doesn't dive excessively under hard braking, and the shock doesn't let the chassis wallow even in fast, bumpy corners. Our only criticism is that the shock is a bit harsh over small stutter bumps-but then, we haven't ridden many cruisers that didn't suffer from the same affliction. You can have a long, low look or supple, long-travel suspension, but not both.
Ergonomically, the Victory also scores high marks. The seating position is nearly ideal, with only the handlebar drawing criticism; our shorter testers complained that it was too wide, while our taller testers complained that it hit their knees at full lock. Engine vibration, while present, isn't at all intrusive, though it makes the images in the mirrors fuzzier than we'd like to see. The wide seat is comfy enough to drain the 5-gallon fuel tank in one sitting, and has just enough of a lip at the rear to provide a measure of lower back support. The headlight-mounted instrument pod lets the rider keep check on his speed, etc., while not requiring him to take his eyes off the road to look down at the fuel tank, as on other cruisers. Even the light throttle-return spring seems to have been designed to allow long, painless days in the saddle.
fn announcing the Victory, company spokesmen boasted of new levels of engine performance. And while the V92C cer tainly isn't slow, it doesn't exactly live up to their claims. The originally announced 73 peak horsepower at the crankshaft became 65 bhp after EPA testing, and this translates to 54.5 rear-wheel bhp at 4700 rpm-a couple of ponies up on what a Harley Big Twin makes. Torque figures are more impressive, however, as the V92C churns out 75.4 foot-pounds at just 3400 rpm. The last Evo we tested made 63 foot-pounds.
Performance-testing saw the Victory run through the quar ter-mile in 13.79 seconds at 93.81 mph, and post a 115-mph top speed. Compared to the figures for the other bikes in our recent "Lucky 13" cruiser comparison (CW, March), that's pretty good, but six were quicker at the dragstrip and three posted faster top speeds. Still, given its big torque and great handling, the V92 definitely would have been in contention for victory, if you'll pardon the pun.
If all goes according to plan, Victory motorcycles will begin rolling off the final-assembly line in Spirit Lake, Iowa, this June. Some 1500-2000 units will be built this year, and sold for $12,995 a pop through a new 160-dealer U.S. network. Management hopes to increase the number of U.S. dealers to 300 by year's end, before commencing exports to Canada next year and overseas by the turn of the century.
With just one motorcycle production line, Victory present ly poses little threat to Harley's domination of the U.S. motorcycle market. But The Motor Company should at least take notice-after all, Polaris once was a newbie in the ATV and watercraft businesses; now it's a serious player in both.
The real issue, though, is whether Victory will be embraced as America's "other" motorcycle company, or if it will be cast alongside all the other Harley wannabees. Is the Made-in-the-USA label as important to American bikers as they claim it is? Or is it really Harley elitism masquerading as American pride? Whatever the case, cruiser buyers owe it to themselves to put aside prejudices and judge the V92C on its merits alone. If they can just do that, Victory, at least on a small scale, is assured.
EDITORS' NOTES
WHILE MANY OF THE PERSONALIZED, road-huggin' styling exercises parked curbside down on Main Street are interesting, when it comes to riding one. ..uh, just looking, thanks.
My preference among cruisers has nothing to do with where they're built and a lot to do with how they handle. This is not to say that I expect all good cruisers to rail through corners with the prowess and precision of, say, a sport-touring bike. But when a custom-styled machine can successfully blend sta bility and agility with adequate cornering capability like Victory has achieved with its V92C, I get a renewed sense of patriotic pride.
A functional motorcycle, the V92C strikes an appealing balance, delivering a healthy dose of classic cruiser with out sacrificing real-world usability in the process. But not to worry, a customizer's vision of Victory, looking every bit as menacing and low as the establishment, can't be but around the corner. -Don Ganet, Road Test Editor
I WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE VICTORY Motorcycle Company even before they hauled Canet and me into the confer ence room for a post-test-ride debrief ing. When Engineering Manager Geoff Burgess had asked if we'd mind him getting "the team" together to hear our impressions, we weren't expecting to be put on the spot in front of 30-some employees. But looking around the room, a few things became apparent: First, that these guys can put away some pizza! Second, and more importantly, this is a young company, both collectively and individually. Most of the team looked to be in their 20s and 30s. And they care about their work, visibly hanging on our every word.
Moreover, they're motorcycle enthusiasts. Dirtbikes filled the backs of employees' pickups, and test riders excitedly fishtailed across the gravel parking lot. More than once we were asked what we thought of Buells, and a photo of a Goodman Sportster cafe-racer hung on Project Manager Matt Parks' office wall. Hints of what's to come? Here's hoping so. -Brian Catterson, Executive Editor
THE PROMISE WAS THERE FROM THE beginning. Polaris took a hard look at America's cruiser class and said we can do better. As in, better handling, better suspension, better power.
Well, two out of three ain't bad. Attaboys all `round to the chassis team, which imbued the Victory with a low c of g, solid feel and excellent turn-in.
And whoever fired off the faxes to Italy for the Marzocchi fork and Brembo brakes deserves a bonus. I'd still give the backroad nod to Moto Guzzi's VI 1 (better cornering clearance, lighter weight), but it's close.
The motor's shortcoming is that it doesn't live up to advance billing. Early talk was of rear-wheel readings in the mid-60s. Between production refinement and EPA certifica tion, 10 ponies went out the window. Still a nice package, thanks to thundering torque, but not the class bully it might have been.
In the end, the V92C turns out not to be a giant leap for ward, though it has taken several well-placed steps in the right direction. I can't help wishing for bigger boots. -David Edwards, Editor-in-chief
VICTORY V92C
$12,995
