The Victory Kingpin

After riding the 1850cc Stratoliner, the 1635cc Victory was a big surprise. Although I have ridden very few V-Twins, this one impressed me. The Kingpin is 200cc's smaller than the Yamaha, but was much more impressive in performance. I do understand that the Kingpin is a completely different style motorcycle, which has a much smaller frame, and is more stretched out.

The Kingpin was smoother, much more responsive and a blast to ride. My current bike has a straight up position. When I first started out on the Victory, I found it a little uncomfortable. I had to slide my rear a little forward into more of a chopper position, and it was like finding a sweet spot. I felt that I could ride for quite some time in this position.

The group had several instances of spacing out and I had a couple of chances to give the bike a good crank. Whether I shifted down or not, the bike jumped at the chance to stretch its legs. Braking was also impressive; this was of course a result of my chances of goosing the throttle. Braking was firm and more than adequate.

The handling of the Kingpin was better than expected since the bike is a little more stretched out. The bike cornered with ease and coordinated well with braking and acceleration. I was very excited about the six-speed gearbox. I find that most bikes would benefit from an overdrive. I did however think some improvements could be made to the existing design. The Shifting was smooth and sure. The issue I had with the transmission is around gear ratios chosen by the engineers. I found first gear to be too high making it difficult to negotiate slow speeds in parking lots. It was fine for getting going, but for just putting along for some distance, it would be better with a few more RPM's. Second gear was fine, and then there was a big ratio jump into third. The ratios seem fine from 4th to 5th, and into 6th, but 6th gear isn't even useful until 70 MPH, which is great for those long rides, but a waste most of the time. I did express this to a customer advocate at the end of the ride and another 4-banger lover agreed with my assessment.

Overall, the best V-twin experience I have had to date. The demo ride was a real thrill and surprise for me. If you have not taken the opportunity to ride one of these American made machines, you should take this as a prompting to do so and experience a Victory for yourself.

-Harry aka Hootmon