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Harley or Victory?


Mikejr879

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Obvious hater of Harley.:D You could hate on Honda a bit too for stop making the Blackbird, which was one of their best of all time. New VFR is a joke, and still no new ST or major upgrades/redesign for the Goldwing.

Honda has been the least innovative in the market place, there lineup hasnt improved in years

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I had a chance to sit on the Victory Hard-Ball at IMS this year, and I'll be honest, I liked it! I'm nowhere near ready to drop $18k on a bike though, and I'll probably never buy new. In 5 or 6 years when I'm ready and (more) able to spend a week at a time on the road I'll look at used 'Glides and whatever Victorys I can find on CL. Victory riders don't seem to be selling though...

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Obvious hater of Harley.:D You could hate on Honda a bit too for stop making the Blackbird, which was one of their best of all time. New VFR is a joke, and still no new ST or major upgrades/redesign for the Goldwing.

Why should I hate on honda?

Are they perfect? Absolutely not, but at least they are trying, they win races, they improve their designs every year (as little as it may be)

The XX is a wonderful bike, but once the squids learned the 'busa was 200cc's bigger and 5 mph faster, the XX just didn't sell very well here in the states. I still love my bike, and aside from ovehauling the clutch this year (50,000 on the clock, and I'm not gentle with it) I've had to do very little in the way of maintenence and repair. Another 50,000 - 100,000 on the clock, and I might have to look at a replacement, but I have no quams about taking my bike anywhere, it is hands down the most reliable vehicle I have.

The next bike I buy may not be another honda, but I can tell you it will be the first company I look at...

If I had to choose a brand new bike today, it would probably be either a zx-14 or a BMW K (either 1300s or 1600 converted to S) but I wouldn't rule out the new viffer.

I'm curious...What would you like to see changed with the goldwing? 1800 flat 6 not make enough power for you? navigation, airbags, stereo, cb, baggage? what's missing, what is there to redesign?

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Why should I hate on honda?

Are they perfect? Absolutely not, but at least they are trying, they win races, they improve their designs every year (as little as it may be)

The XX is a wonderful bike, but once the squids learned the 'busa was 200cc's bigger and 5 mph faster, the XX just didn't sell very well here in the states. I still love my bike, and aside from ovehauling the clutch this year (50,000 on the clock, and I'm not gentle with it) I've had to do very little in the way of maintenence and repair. Another 50,000 - 100,000 on the clock, and I might have to look at a replacement, but I have no quams about taking my bike anywhere, it is hands down the most reliable vehicle I have.

The next bike I buy may not be another honda, but I can tell you it will be the first company I look at...

If I had to choose a brand new bike today, it would probably be either a zx-14 or a BMW K (either 1300s or 1600 converted to S) but I wouldn't rule out the new viffer.

I'm curious...What would you like to see changed with the goldwing? 1800 flat 6 not make enough power for you? navigation, airbags, stereo, cb, baggage? what's missing, what is there to redesign?

I love the looks of those XX's. They seem to be very hard to find now.
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nah, mines the 01, we got digital speedo, temperature, and fuel gauges in 01.

yes, they are getting harder and harder to find, fortunately, they haven't really gone up in price too much regardless of their rarety. Mine had every upgrade I wanted(except my stereo), had just shy of 11k on the clock, and it cost me $5500.

Edited by magley64
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I'm curious...What would you like to see changed with the goldwing? 1800 flat 6 not make enough power for you? navigation, airbags, stereo, cb, baggage? what's missing, what is there to redesign?

That is one of the best engines ever made and still made, so no that isn't to be messed with. I would like to maybe see them be a bit smaller, or offer up an alternative sporty model kinda like the K1600GT. They made some nice cosmetic changes recently, but I still think they are gonna need to do a bit more sooner than later. I honestly am not a big fan of Honda, they keep their best bikes for overseas and bring dumb shit here. I think them being so involved with everything else they build, has hurt them in the motorcycle business.

Edited by Pokey
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HD makes far more from apparel & licensing then from motorcycle sales.

I've heard this misinformation repeated so many times I can't count. Probably because it sounds like it could be true. But it's miles from the truth.

Less than 10% of Harley's revenue comes from their apparel and accessories segment. It was $69.3 million last quarter, but total revenue for the quarter was around $1 billion. Since H-D is a publicly traded company, all this information is easily accessible to anyone.

Say what you will about Harley, positive or negative, but it is not "a T-shirt company that sells motorcycles."

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I think Honda screwed themselves big time with the new VT1300 line. I like those bikes...quite a lot actually, but I will be shocked if they have the same sales numbers as the old VTX line had. They have drifted away from the traditional cruiser, which is a huge seller here. They sold a TON of bikes with the VTX and VT1100 styling due to their classic looks and Honda reliability. People that want a traditional cruiser will now vertainly be looking more at HD's, Vulcans, Boulevards...etc.

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I recently saw an article regarding a police department in Florida giving up their H-D police rides for Victory, and the benefits of doing so were numerous.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/plant-city/2011/oct/21/police-ditch-harleys-in-favor-of-victory-motorcycl-ar-273306/

Edited by jfvb1225
added linky to news article.
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Thanks for all the input. You all are right in your own about this topic. We could go on and on, why Harley sucks or rocks.

The simplicity is what still draws me to them. Harley's are very easy to diagnose & maintain. I'd love to build a knucklehead bike from scratch :broke:

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Cabin fever is setting in here, so I got my hands on Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling.

It was a bit of a surprise to me when I read that one of the Hells Angels founding members dislikes Harley Davidson! He currently rides a Victory Vision.

So I did some digging and Victory is indeed, from the technical standpoint superior! And Polaris bought the Indian Motorcycle brand back in April, they are planning on to increase the production significantly. Its currently at 25 chiefs a year.

Harley finally needs to step up their game.

Well It turns out that Every bike is superior to harley davidson, from the technical standpoint. Or tell me one manufacturer the has a push rod engine still in its line up. Besides Indian and those are hand made!

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Well It turns out that Every bike is superior to harley davidson, from the technical standpoint. Or tell me one manufacturer the has a push rod engine still in its line up. Besides Indian and those are hand made!

Yamaha still runs pushrods in some of their cruisers. The roadstar, warrior, stratoliner, and raider.

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Well It turns out that Every bike is superior to harley davidson, from the technical standpoint. Or tell me one manufacturer the has a push rod engine still in its line up. Besides Indian and those are hand made!

Motus has a push rod engine also.

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I think Honda screwed themselves big time with the new VT1300 line. I like those bikes...quite a lot actually, but I will be shocked if they have the same sales numbers as the old VTX line had. They have drifted away from the traditional cruiser, which is a huge seller here. They sold a TON of bikes with the VTX and VT1100 styling due to their classic looks and Honda reliability. People that want a traditional cruiser will now vertainly be looking more at HD's, Vulcans, Boulevards...etc.

Take this for what its worth. Didnt Honda get Sued over the Shadow Ace 1100 by HD? They said it looked and sounded too much like an HD.

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Take this for what its worth. Didnt Honda get Sued over the Shadow Ace 1100 by HD? They said it looked and sounded too much like an HD.

I remember that..it was kinda funny especially when Honda started painting them black and orange, they kinda looked like a mini heritage softtail. Cool bikes though. I really enjoy my VT1100 Sabre...it's kinda like Honda's version of a Fatboy I guess.

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