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So I went and test rode a Victory Judge today....

K1600_gtl

New member
And all I can say is "yawn"...

For $14K base price, I expected a lot more ... and for 1700+ cc, I expected a lot better zing! The best thing that came from my test ride is a reinforcement of my original decision to buy the R1200R..

I went to this free ride event with a friend who's been torn between a Harley and Victory for the past year... I told him it's easy... just buy a BMW!
 
Once you ride a Beemer, you're ruined. :thumb

I wore out 2 Harleys and a Goldwing. You could not run fast enough to give me either one after my 1100RT. BMW true blue now.

The Victory scooters I have seen appear, to me, like just more in a long line of HD homage bikes.

However they do have one model that looks like something out of Star Wars. Very unique but uglier than an acre of bulldogs. :stick
 
Once you ride a Beemer, you're ruined. :thumb

I wore out 2 Harleys and a Goldwing. You could not run fast enough to give me either one after my 1100RT. BMW true blue now.

The Victory scooters I have seen appear, to me, like just more in a long line of HD homage bikes.

However they do have one model that looks like something out of Star Wars. Very unique but uglier than an acre of bulldogs. :stick

well put Warren, couldn't have said it better myself.... btw, to hijack my own thread... are you a ham? K6UA here.. though not active much these days except rarely on 2m.
 
well put Warren, couldn't have said it better myself.... btw, to hijack my own thread... are you a ham? K6UA here.. though not active much these days except rarely on 2m.

Yep....HF DX hunter and "hired gun" CW operator in major contests at NI5T and K7EAR stations.

95% CW but enjoy a good SSB ragchew occasionally. I'm always up for a QSO when condx permit.
 
Yep....HF DX hunter and "hired gun" CW operator in major contests at NI5T and K7EAR stations.

95% CW but enjoy a good SSB ragchew occasionally. I'm always up for a QSO when condx permit.

No really into contesting or anything that hardcore, but if I ever get my HF station up again we'll have to try... I used to live in the Phoenix area and was always in contact with the Oregon Coast, and oddly, now I'm here.
 
No really into contesting or anything that hardcore, but if I ever get my HF station up again we'll have to try... I used to live in the Phoenix area and was always in contact with the Oregon Coast, and oddly, now I'm here.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have to say hi to fellow hams. AB6YS here. Mostly into local emergency service work.

Back on topic, I find the Judge to the least ugly of all the Victory's, but they are still ugly!

73's Scott
 
Our new BMW dealership in Jax, FL also sells Victory MC's. Both brands had 2 days where you could ride just about any bike they sold. I rode a Judge & Crossroads and was impressed with the Crossroads. not so much the Judge. I like Cruisers that have lowend grunt and the Crossroads has that in spades. For $16K you get ABS, Cruise Control, and 2 hard bags. I tow a BushTec trailor behind my R1200CLC and would like more grunt in hilly terrain and a stronger clutch to handle the stress. I really like how a boxer handles but after $5K in parts and repair (transmission, slave cylinder, rear hub, etc) I'm leaning towards the Victory or an LT for my over the road travel. Just my 2 cents!!!
 
Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have to say hi to fellow hams. AB6YS here. Mostly into local emergency service work.

Back on topic, I find the Judge to the least ugly of all the Victory's, but they are still ugly!

73's Scott

5/9 de KA5YSY :thumb
 
Once you ride a Beemer, you're ruined. :thumb

I wore out 2 Harleys and a Goldwing. You could not run fast enough to give me either one after my 1100RT. BMW true blue now.

The Victory scooters I have seen appear, to me, like just more in a long line of HD homage bikes.

However they do have one model that looks like something out of Star Wars. Very unique but uglier than an acre of bulldogs. :stick

I got a very rude surprise this year by a brand new Gold Wing. My buddies and I were on our way north on Pacific Coast Highway north of San Simeon en-route to the USGP at Laguna Seca. This ride always becomes a bit competitive and we had just finished passing a bunch of cars and bikes to get some open road and open the bikes up. We had riders on a VFR, a YZF R-1, and another guy and a DL-1000, and me leading the charge at that moment on my highly modded Street Rod. Most years we pass everyone we encounter except maybe one bike. This year the one that got away really threw us for a loop.
In my mirrors I saw a huge fairing filling both mirrors, and a second later this big Gold Wing passed me like I was chained to the side of the road. Consider I was moving along around 80 mph at this point on Pacific Coast Highway. The rider was wearing full road racing leathers, a full face helmet and was riding the bike like a good off road rider rides an enduro in a race, loose in the saddle, moving his weight around and hanging waaaayy off the bike in corners. I tried to keep up but within three corners and two hairy passes I knew it was futile and backed out of it.
All of my buddies behind me had the same experience with the guy, trying to keep up then backing out when it looked too dangerous. Even the guy on the R-1 who is no slouch couldn't hang with, much less pass back, that Gold Wing. All we could do afterwards was shake our heads and wonder who the hay the rider was.
 
I got a very rude surprise this year by a brand new Gold Wing. My buddies and I were on our way north on Pacific Coast Highway north of San Simeon en-route to the USGP at Laguna Seca. This ride always becomes a bit competitive and we had just finished passing a bunch of cars and bikes to get some open road and open the bikes up. We had riders on a VFR, a YZF R-1, and another guy and a DL-1000, and me leading the charge at that moment on my highly modded Street Rod. Most years we pass everyone we encounter except maybe one bike. This year the one that got away really threw us for a loop.
In my mirrors I saw a huge fairing filling both mirrors, and a second later this big Gold Wing passed me like I was chained to the side of the road. Consider I was moving along around 80 mph at this point on Pacific Coast Highway. The rider was wearing full road racing leathers, a full face helmet and was riding the bike like a good off road rider rides an enduro in a race, loose in the saddle, moving his weight around and hanging waaaayy off the bike in corners. I tried to keep up but within three corners and two hairy passes I knew it was futile and backed out of it.
All of my buddies behind me had the same experience with the guy, trying to keep up then backing out when it looked too dangerous. Even the guy on the R-1 who is no slouch couldn't hang with, much less pass back, that Gold Wing. All we could do afterwards was shake our heads and wonder who the hay the rider was.

now just imagine that rider on an R1200R, or better yet, a Duc 1199.... :thumb
 
I can tell you through a great deal of experience that if you know how to ride it, the GL1800 Gold Wing is an exceptionally good handling motorcycle. In spite of its 900+ lb weight, the bike (thanks in large part to an exceptionally low CoG) will carve turns extremely well. It balances well in the turns and unlike a lot of large touring bikes and cruisers, it does not exihibit any tendency towards falling in when you lean it hard in a corner. Obviously it is not designed to to ride like a sport bike, but it takes little effort to put the Gold Wing into a turn all the way over to its pegs and hold the line. Match that with the flat-6 engine that will pull from low end with all kinds of torque, and once you learn how to ride it, you can make the Wing fly thru turns. I have one friend, a senior corporate guy at Honda HQ in Torrance, CA, who regularly takes his company Gold Wing through the canyon roads north of LA and humbles a lot of sport bike riders. Oh, and he does it with his wife on the back... :)
 
now just imagine that rider on an R1200R, or better yet, a Duc 1199.... :thumb

Honestly I don't think this guy would have been faster on either. On the street, beyond a certain point, it is all rider and not the bike, that counts. This particular dude was fearless, actually a NAFOD (No Apparent Fear Of Death). In weaponeering we refer to it as the "time constant", but a human brain can only process and react to information so fast, even if the bike is technically faster. On that road on that day with blind corners and cars to pass I doubt a "faster" bike would have yielded more actual speed. His time constant was already shorter than mine or that of my riding buddies.
 
While riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, we were passed by an older couple mounted on a Goldwing with a trailer. We were already stretching the speed limt by about 10 mph and they flew right past us. The bike was humming along with no indication of strain. Having owned a Valkyrie which was based on the GL1500 Goldwing platform, I have trouble believing that any BMW R bike is going to touch a modern 'wing for power. If the style appeals to you, I imagine you can be very happy on one of these machines. I like all bikes though...I still love a Harley Springer with archaic suspension, silly seating position, and gobs of chrome being piloted by a pirate in a non-DOT beany helmet or shorts and sneakers on a CT70. That one Victory that looks like a space ship would be more appealing to me with a state of the art liquid cooled engine that echoes the modern styling. Right now it's like a Ducati 1198 with a flathead 45 shoved in it.
 
While riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, we were passed by an older couple mounted on a Goldwing with a trailer. We were already stretching the speed limt by about 10 mph and they flew right past us. The bike was humming along with no indication of strain. Having owned a Valkyrie which was based on the GL1500 Goldwing platform, I have trouble believing that any BMW R bike is going to touch a modern 'wing for power. If the style appeals to you, I imagine you can be very happy on one of these machines. I like all bikes though...I still love a Harley Springer with archaic suspension, silly seating position, and gobs of chrome being piloted by a pirate in a non-DOT beany helmet or shorts and sneakers on a CT70. That one Victory that looks like a space ship would be more appealing to me with a state of the art liquid cooled engine that echoes the modern styling. Right now it's like a Ducati 1198 with a flathead 45 shoved in it.

If you want state of the art engine, you've got to ride the new Ducati Panigale 1199. I've ridden it on both the street and track...holy s*&t !! It is just as you would imagine, a Ducati superbike engine stuffed in a package that is smaller than a lot of the 600c sport bikes.
 
Bikes vs whatever!

You consider a GWing a bike? Its a truck or luxury car on two wheels. I know they handle well but after riding my KLT1200 around NAmerica for 5 years, way over 6 figures on the odometer, I got BORED of the less than m/c feel. It too handled great, but its a piece of luxury and the so smooth engine and all that fairing, one cannot help but feel removed from an M/C. I did and moved back to seeing my engine and enjoying biking a lot more on another GSA. Just rode across country with a fellow on a Victory BIg twin 1700cc and he loved that bike, compared to his last HD Dresser. The Victory outperformed the HD, hands down and he was a high mileage HD guy. He towed a camper behind the Victory, which the HD struggled with. Not sure the model Victory, but it looked like a spaceship, faired so well it had to slip through the air like no other bike. Very different. We rode for three days together and I got a close up look at Victory1700, my first close encounter. Its FAR from a HD, not even close, except the VTwin design engine and its not that similar either if ya look. Randy
 
You consider a GWing a bike? Its a truck or luxury car on two wheels. I know they handle well but after riding my KLT1200 around NAmerica for 5 years, way over 6 figures on the odometer, I got BORED of the less than m/c feel. It too handled great, but its a piece of luxury and the so smooth engine and all that fairing, one cannot help but feel removed from an M/C. I did and moved back to seeing my engine and enjoying biking a lot more on another GSA. Just rode across country with a fellow on a Victory BIg twin 1700cc and he loved that bike, compared to his last HD Dresser. The Victory outperformed the HD, hands down and he was a high mileage HD guy. He towed a camper behind the Victory, which the HD struggled with. Not sure the model Victory, but it looked like a spaceship, faired so well it had to slip through the air like no other bike. Very different. We rode for three days together and I got a close up look at Victory1700, my first close encounter. Its FAR from a HD, not even close, except the VTwin design engine and its not that similar either if ya look. Randy

I haven't seen the drivers of any car or truck poke a knee out in corners like this Goldwing pilot did. Whatever you consider it, and I would never myself consider owning one, it spanked a well ridden R1 and VFR that day on some twisty pavement, left me like a bad habit :wave and I'm no slouch on that road either.
 
I can tell you through a great deal of experience that if you know how to ride it, the GL1800 Gold Wing is an exceptionally good handling motorcycle.

A stock GL1800 GW has 5.5" of front fork travel. When you take it off the center stand, it sags 3.5" inches. Leaving 2" of travel. Use the front brakes and the "antidive" mechanism in the left fork hydrolocks the last 1" of travel. So under braking, you only have 1" of suspension travel. Again, this is stock and in this form, the Goldwing does not handle well. It sucks.

A buddy of mine let me ride his and it was scary. It would hammer you through the handlebars, was not stable in curves and just never felt good on either backroads or freeway. We talked it over, I did some research, and he bought the new Progressive GW suspension (about $325, cartridges and springs) and a Kurayaken (sp?) fork brace and we installed them a couple of weeks ago.

NOW it's an awesome bike. He just got back from a 1K mile trip and had nothing but praise for how the bike handles. But the stock GW suspension sucks. Those riders on the Pacific Coast likely had the Traxxion Dynamics suspension (about $1500). I think that's what Yellow Wolf runs. Google yellow Goldwing tail of the dragon and watch the videos. The guy and the bike are phenomenal with the modified suspension.
 
Huge following;

The Wings ar a huge piece of m/c travel today. Riders come in all shapes, styles and TALENT. I too have seen the big bikes outperform many smaller, well handled bikes. Not many though, as these are rare riders that can pace a 900# bike through whatever. I did the BIG bike phenom for years and its a non bike to me and my life anymore. Its also said about my current GSA1200 and the dirt places I ride it! You went where on that? Its still nice we have such a selection to choose from, so many bikes out there:). Randy
 
A stock GL1800 GW has 5.5" of front fork travel. When you take it off the center stand, it sags 3.5" inches. Leaving 2" of travel. Use the front brakes and the "antidive" mechanism in the left fork hydrolocks the last 1" of travel. So under braking, you only have 1" of suspension travel. Again, this is stock and in this form, the Goldwing does not handle well. It sucks.

A buddy of mine let me ride his and it was scary. It would hammer you through the handlebars, was not stable in curves and just never felt good on either backroads or freeway. We talked it over, I did some research, and he bought the new Progressive GW suspension (about $325, cartridges and springs) and a Kurayaken (sp?) fork brace and we installed them a couple of weeks ago.

NOW it's an awesome bike. He just got back from a 1K mile trip and had nothing but praise for how the bike handles. But the stock GW suspension sucks. Those riders on the Pacific Coast likely had the Traxxion Dynamics suspension (about $1500). I think that's what Yellow Wolf runs. Google yellow Goldwing tail of the dragon and watch the videos. The guy and the bike are phenomenal with the modified suspension.

Neither my friends nor I were able to hang with that Goldie on Coast Highway long enough to suss out whether or not it had a modified suspension, lol. That the rider was in full racing leathers with hard knee pucks, and was hanging off to effect, was to us telling.
On public roads, beyond a certain level of capability on the part of the motorcycle, the rider counts far more than the bike. Like I said, your mind can only process and respond to inputs so fast, even if the bike might be faster. I'm sure any of us could have taken him on a race track, but not on Coast Highway that day with traffic and all the other considerations of public roads hanging from a cliff hundreds of feet over the Pacific Ocean.
 
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