FloridaCruisin.com - The Sunshine State Biker Community

We test rode bikes for two manufacturers, Yamaha and Victory. Harry rode the Yamaha Stratoliner and Victory Kingpin. Harry has made it known that he is a 4-cylinder enthusiast and not a big fan of V-twins. I allowed him to share his Victory ride in this article. Here is how these machines measured up on performance, comfort and handling:

The Yamaha Stratoliner

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Performance - Harry's impression was a large framed 1850cc V-twin motor, good suspension, vibration is minimum for the size of the cruiser. Shifting is smooth and has impressive gear ratio. Has a wide band of consistent torque between 2000 and 4000 rpm but it is not considered a "quick" accelerator from the line. Good responsive braking and modern instrumentation on mounted on the tank, like the fuel gauge. The exhaust has good tone and isn't as loud as expected for a cruiser of its size. Not bad for the largest air cooled v-twin in the market.
Comfort - Good seating position for a reasonably tall rider. Handlebars are wide and at a comfortable reach. The stock seat, though astetically pleasing with its two-toned vinyl covering, it was perceived not to be as comfortable for long trips. This is due to the shape of the seat and the narrow band of the pressure point on the rider's butt. The cruiser has an excellent lockable and easily detachable windshield for a taller rider. The windshield minimized the amount of wind off the rider which gave better coverage than most windshields.
Handling - The suspension provided a supportive ride without being harsh. For a cruiser of its size, my test rider said that it had above average handling.

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.

My overall synopsis of the ride and the machine: the Jackpot comes in 5 colors, 3 of the 5 with extreme flame graphics. The bike I rode was black and sleek.

I won't try to out shine the ride that Harry had since both bikes had similar performance, handling and comfort. I will review this ride from a female's perspective.

Since I stand about six-feet tall (amazon height), one of my main pet peaves has been leg position on the cruisers I ride. Even though I have long legs, my arms are not as long as a guy. So I usually have to either lean into the handle bars or get risers so that I can sit back a bit.

I had a pleasant experience riding this fine two wheeled machine. I was able to find my comfort zone while tooling around with my demo group.

Unlike Harry, I didn't notice any significant differences in the shifting between gears. I thought the bike's transmission was smooth and lacking the clunkiness of some other transmissions.

The final word on this ride is... I would like to own one these babies in the future.