Demo Rides; Victory Motorcycle(s) July 9, 2011

Certainly not a professional motorcycle reviewer, and in fact this was my first test ride event at RideNow Powersports in Concord, NC. Victory Motorcycles brought their demo truck. Road a pair of bikes, photo at left is the second I rode, which was the Cross Country. All the Victory line has the 106 cubic inch engine which is rated at 97 hp, with 113 foot pounds of torque. Hydraulic lifters are also standard in this engine. The Cross County was the second Victory I rode, and I found that engine to move it along quite well. Noted the Speedometer had a gear indicator built into it, and liked that (do not have that feature on my Kawasaki Vulcan) though its not a big deal.
Photo here is from my first ride, the Victory Jackpot. Bike had a big wide rear tire, and a real skinny front tire. As the woman leading the ride (one of Victory's reps noted) handling with that combination was a bit wild. I also noted on this, and on the Cross Country, that the transmission is really noisy. Big meaty clunks were a part of riding it, and it was rather strange. If loud pipes save lives, then nothing will save lives like a Victory Transmission. The Jackpot had a nice seating position though, with footpegs and the brakes were really good. It was a smooth bike, and as I noted it had a lot of good grunt; really moved along well and quickly.
The Jackpot is seen here. Love the styling of the Victory line, with a sort of factory custom look. Bike also had a very good sound to it, clutch pull was fine. Mentioned the gear indicator on the speedo, liked the placement of that between the handlebars, and the amount of information that you could get from that. Did not get up to highway speeds on the tour, but did get a few bursts up near 60; vibration was never bad, and the bike was not very buzzy. I would like to have tried this bike with a better tire combination, this one was not the best for handling. Also wonder of the cost of replacing that big rear tire on the bike's back wheel.
Looking here though the windshield of the Cross Country. Again, the same mount position of the speedo. This one though had a tachometer built into it. I think the windshield was an accessory, the web site shows a different set up. Being 6'2" got a lot of buffeting from it, coming off the top, which I did not like. Of course, I don't ride with a windshield, so it was a different thing anyhow for me to do.
Like the Jackpot, the Vibration was fine on this bike, again the transmission was very clunky noise wise. On this model, getting it into neutral was not as easy as the first one; took some doing at times.
Overall, it was a neat experience checking out these motorcycles. They are beautiful bikes, and well built, a different sort of thing. Not sure I am a big fan of air and (in the case of these) oil cooled motorcycles, but many people are. I like the connection they have with custom bike builders, and great to bring the bikes on tour and let people ride them. I enjoyed riding both of these motorcycles.