• Cruise the road with attitude hanging onto 26" ape hanger bars
• Blacked-out 106 Freedom V-Twin engine kicking out 57 horsepower
• Fat, 16 inch laced wheels front and back with white sidewalls
• Two-tone tank with new, painted on Victory logo

As a Vision owner I know better than to call something butt ugly out loud.  It's not my style but I can see who would like it.  I just wonder if they really meant to say 57 horsepower from the 106.  I think they misplaced about 40 horses somewhere.  They have until tomorrow to fix it if it was a typo.

It's safe.  It's nice for what it is and will attract certain buyers. 

The Victory timeline looks like a big bell curve to me.  The '99-'02's looked like old school typical cruisers without the pushrod motor.  They were nice but not unique or cutting edge.  The '03 Vegas ramped it up and really gave Victory a platform that looked like a custom made bike.  Kingpin, Hammer, Jackpot...all nice, all safe. 

'07/'08 - The Vision - The bell curve just spiked off the chart!  Holy crap, who are those guys!  One of the most unsafe, in your face, outrageous, unique moves in the history of motorcycles.  An American company is making that!?  It was an emotional tsunami for those of us who watched it come to life.  It didn't divide the room, it tore it in half. 

2010 - The Cross Bikes - Unanimous in their beauty.  A really safe move but still showed the forward thinking of Victory design with the cast frame, comfort, storage and gorgeous lighting.  These are bikes that a lot of different riders could relate to. 

2011 - The High Ball - The bell curve just dropped a big notch.  It is another safe move, backwards, literally.  It is a minimalist, tube frame, stripped down Vegas.  It is $3,500 cheaper than a Harley Crossbones and has just as much attitude. 

I get the feeling that the Victory design team has peaked.  They got their own modern look with the Vegas, blew it away with the Vision, stayed on top of the game with the Cross Bikes and are now coming back down to earth among the mortals.  I can see how Mike Song and Greg Brew would want to go to the other extreme after the Vision project.  The High Ball will get a lot of good press and accolades.  It is at the bottom of the Victory price list and will attract younger riders.  For what it is, it has hit the mark.  It just doesn't give me the same passion about how I explain the difference between a Victory motorcycle compared to everything else (even the stuff they had done in the past).  The Vision and Cross Bikes have set the bar so high that I think they will be tough to top, even in house. 

Don't get me wrong, I think (hope) Victory will sell a bunch of High Balls.  It should be very profitable for them since they don't have to change much at all on the assembly line.  The 8-Ball High-Ball (High 8-Ball?) will be a hit also.  The factory workers are gonna love it because they can build one with their eyes closed.  It just struck me as an awful lot of hype for a bike they could have very easily made 9 years ago as a follow-on to the Vegas. 

The reason the Vision was such a draw to me was the way they made it.  Motorcycles are just a couple of wheels, motor, frame, chassis, handlebars and (in the case of the Vision) body panels.  How creative can you get?  Victory came out  and said "No steel tube frame".  (Whaaaat?)  It's got a cast aluminum backbone with front feed airbox.  The body panels are not typical motorcycle plastic.  It is the same stuff used for Lexus bumpers.  There are no exposed fasteners.  The patented rear suspension is light years beyond what Harley had put out.  It had an Ipod cable first. First American bike with a power windshield.  Call it what you want, it was no "wannabe" bike and I was extremely proud of that fact.  The Cross Bikes have the same DNA as the Vision in a much more traditional package.  They are truly different than the competition and 100% high-tech/modern style Victory.

The High Ball will blend in at a HOG rally.  It is scary close to the CrossBones with a swoopier tank, different rear fender, modern headlight and cleaner front end (not a springer).  The CrossBones came out two years ago.  Victory is playing it safe and chasing Harley with this one.  The Cross Bikes were obviously aimed at a couple of Harley models but there is no way anyone can confuse a Cross Country with a Street Glide, even at night. 

Since '03, Victory has been seen as the American motorcycle company that thinks outside the box and is constantly moving forward.  The Vision moved them to a whole new demension that, for the first time, had the big boys look over their shoulders.  Even if they didn't like the looks, they respected what Victory had pulled off.  The Cross Bikes maintained that level of forward thinking design and engineering. 

I would rather have seen a CORE version of the Rocker C.  You want to see how Victory makes a stripped down bike?  Watch this:  The fuel tank-air box-wiring channel piece is also the frame?  How cool is that?  Harley has 61 connections on that piece to get from there to there.  The Victory has three.  On and on....

The High Ball will do what it was designed to do; attract a different buyer into the Victory fold and offer an alternative to the Harley CrossBones.  It will hopefully be a step forward in sales (which is a good thing) but that is the only category where it is a step forward. 

It was obvious that Victory has been moving forward with their bikes way beyond styling cues.  The engineers and designers were the rock stars.  How will they push the envelope next?  The High Ball loses all that momentum for me. 

QUOTE] Tom, I think Victory still has a higher level of technology and design in their future. This High-Ball is just one thing...a money maker. People like this type of bike and it will sell, and get people in the Victory flock. We also have to consider the cost issue of developement, and the controls of mother Polaris on all the neat stuff we really want to see. The CORE I believe is their future, it just doesn't show up in this Ball bike.

I agree 100% BIll.  I just had the feeling that Victory was going to be an American version of BMW.  Love them or hate them, when you think BMW you think "pushing the envelope" with their own very distinct style.  There's the BMW look, the Japanese look, the Italian look and the Harley look.  I think there is plenty of room for the Victory designers to flex and be unique while still building a better American bike - The Victory Look - Like nobody else.

I'm hoping they come out with a really cool alternative powerplant someday.  (Not a V-TWIN???  Sacrilege!)  BMW flipped the faithful on their heads when they came out with the 4-cylinder K-bikes.  You could hear the screaming all the way across the pond.  (Almost as loud as the V-Rod wailing.)  We make opposed twins!  That's who we are!  Today BMW's 4 cylinder S1000RR is the runaway, smash hit Bike of the Year in it's class.  Are most BMW guys going to run out and buy a RR?  Nope, but it sure is exciting to watch your company make it, even if you'd never own one.  The R- bikes are still the cop bike of choice in over 100 countries.  The R1200GS is the undisputed world traveler.  They have the best of both worlds with both K and R styles.

I'm pretty naive when it comes to business sense.  Hopefully the High Ball will win Cruiser of the Year and I can sit back and say "Huh, didn't see that coming."  Just makes me think they could have done it 9 years ago if they wanted to instead of two years after the competition came out with something very similar.

I didn't know who Natalie was.  Is this her?  (If so, she has been posterized.)