Voted most helpful review
Reviewed on December 8, 2004
I've ridden Harley Softails and Honda VTX. I was tired of the same old look or copy cat bikes you see on every street. I wanted something with unique looks, superior performance and American made. I ended up buying a Victory Kingpin. Here is why: It started with the dealer experience. The...
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I've ridden Harley Softails and Honda VTX. I was tired of the same old look or copy cat bikes you see on every street. I wanted something with unique looks, superior performance and American made. I ended up buying a Victory Kingpin. Here is why: It started with the dealer experience. The Victory Dealer was the opposite of the Harley dealer experience. At the Victory dealer the guys there were well informed and honestly sought to understand my needs. They spent time going over the technical specifications, Victory's approach to manufacturing and design, and why these things might be important to me. Victory allowed me to test drive the bike for a good amount of time. Ask for that at a H-D dealer and they will tell you to rent one if you want to test it. When it came to the deal they weren't looking to rip me off like some hapless yuppie trying out the "biker" thing. With the technical data, the dealer experience, and the price comparisons between the Kingpin and the Softail line clearly favoring Victory... in the end all the H-D dealers could cite as resons to buy was the Harley tradition, being a member of "the club", and resale value. Since I have no personal need to be a member of a club this had little meaning to me. The resale value thing is mostly hype. Look in the Cycle Trader in this area and you will see 4 pages of Harley's all asking top dollar. I checked that same listing 6 weeks later and most of those bikes are still there. They may be asking but few are getting those high resale #'s. Will the Kingpin lose its value? I don't know but I can say this... someone could offer me what I paid for my bike right now and I would not take that deal. The economic law of supply and demand is at work here. Most dealers around here are sold out of the Kingpin and I am not willing to wait to get another one. Now that the Victory Hammer is creating so much buzz in the industry and more people become aware of Victory I suspect that the law of supply and demand will only get stronger. One competitive dealership told me I should not buy from Victory because they don't have as big a dealer network as they did. Frankly I would like to see more Victory Dealerships in the area but I'd rather be a valued customer at "my dealer" than just another face in the crowd and so I can live with a smaller dealership network for now. As for the Kingpin itself. What a head turner! Everywhere I ride people stop and look at the bike and ask questions. They are blown away when they learn that it is more purely American made than any other production bike on the road. The Freedom engine is strong and will easily pull away from any of the bikes in the group I ride with (even with my wife as a passenger and no Stage 1 kit yet installed). The steering is light and very responsive. It runs straight when you want it to and requires little effort in the turns. It is the only bike I have ridden that does tend to "bound" around turns. Also you can brake in a turn and the bike won't try to "stand up". It sort of handles like a sport bike. I have heard some talk about scraping floor boards in agressive turns. What I have found out is that because the Kingpin is very athletic, riders tend to push it harder than they would a lumbering cruiser. There is the temptation to ride this like a sport bike and get very aggressive on your leans into a turn but I have not experienced any scraping yet, even though I have lowered it 2 inches and usually have my wife on the back. Suspension is comformtable for me and my wife. Only large pot holes will send sharp jolts through the frame. The brakes are superb (Brembo 4 pistons per caliper). Stopping power is impressive, very smooth and requires little effort on the foot on hand brake to bring the bike to a stop. In my opinion the transmission is actually smoother than the Honda VTX. Though I read a review complaining about a whinning sound coming from the transmission it is not very noticeable to me. I believe this is due to the synchro mesh design which I feel is a good idea in a transmission. Engine noise is certainly greater than with the Honda but no more than I noticed in H-D's. Overall vibration is only slightly more than the Honda but much less than a H-D. Riding position puts the driver in a slightly forward position. The ergonomics on the Kingpin are so good that my wife believes she could ride it... something that she would not even attempt on the other big bikes. I did install a Mustang driver and passenger seat because I felt the stock seat was a bit uncomfortable for me on rides longer than 3 hours. The Mustang seems hard to me so this may have been an mistake. Maybe it just needs to be broken in. At low speeds the ride can get choppy if you are sloppy with the throttle. The EFI response is very crisp and the bike tends to favor acceleration and running ahead of the pack to lumbering along at 20 MPH. Some of this may also be be due to the transmission. Overall this is an excellent machine. Unique good looks, athletic, comfortable, and a great value. I will update this review once I hit the 2,000 mile mark. I recommend that anyone considering a new bike look at Victory.
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