Victory Test Rides - Vegas and Hammer S

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Gatineau_Guy
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Victory Test Rides - Vegas and Hammer S

#1 Unread post by Gatineau_Guy »

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take a couple of Victory bikes out for a test ride. I went for a ride on the 2007 Victory Vegas and the 2007 Victory Hammer S. Here are my impressions, after about 30-40 minutes on each bike in a variety of settings (highway, secondary highway and in-town).

General
The two bikes have the same engine (100 CI Freedom Engine) and both bikes had a stage 1 kit. This kit includes new pipes and higher performance air filter and vented air box cover. Both bikes look and sound great to me.

I found both bikes to have smooth power delivery. Both bikes have a 6 speed transmission with an overdrive light to indicate that you are, in fact, in overdrive. Putting the bikes into overdrive seemed to make things just a little smoother and a little quieter. There was still significant power on tap in overdrive but it was very fun to downshift and open up the throttle just to hear the bikes. Both bikes also felt incredibly light. The Vegas and the Hammer S were also very stable at highway speeds. At one point on the ride we hit a top speed of around 140 km/h and I was impressed with both the smooth ride and the power still available for even more speed. At that point, I was wishing for a windshield though.

Victory Vegas
The Vegas is a beautiful bike. I have one little complaint about it though – the brakes. This especially refers to the rear brake. I found the rear brake to be way too soft. Approaching the first intersection with a red light I started to brake and the bike just felt like it was too much for the single 300mm floating rotor with a 4 piston caliper in the front and the 300 mm floating rotor with a 2 piston caliper in the rear. It took a lot of effort to slow the bike down. That was my only complaint about the bike. The controls easy to find and use and the instrument panel (speedometer) was easy to see and all warning lights were very visible. In general, I would give the Vegas the big thumbs up.

Victory Vegas

Victory Hammer S
I have to admit that I went into my ride on the Hammer assuming that I would not like the bike. I thought that 250mm wide rear tire was an exercise in aesthetics that would have a severely negative impact on the handling of the bike. By the end of the ride I could not wipe the smile off of my face. The issue with the soft brakes disappears on the Hammer, with the presence of dual 300mm floating rotors with four piston calipers in the front. I found this bike to be significantly easier to slow down than the Vegas. The inverted forks in front are also a nice benefit. The wide rear tire did not detract from the handling but it did take a little for effort to get the bike to lean into the corners. It did not require a Herculean effort, just an incremental increase in effort. I was also impressed with the ground clearance of the bike. One of the fellow test riders was noting that he was dragging the floorboards on his Kingpin in some of the corners. There were times when I thought I would scrape parts of the bike on the ground but did not. In general the bike handles well and looks mean :twisted:. I also give the Hammer S the big thumbs up.

Victory Hammer

Overall
I went in to these test rides with two preconceived notions: (1) I would like the Vegas more than the Hammer S and (2) that both bikes would feel slow and unresponsive in corners given their 600 plus pounds. I was pleasantly surprised that both of these notions proved to be incorrect. I would buy either bike (if I was in the market for a new bike) in a heartbeat. But I did develop quite a significant crush on the Hammer S 8) . It was good enough for me to start considering a cruiser as my next bike.

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CentralOzzy
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#2 Unread post by CentralOzzy »

YEP! Those Bikes look the Goods!

I'd own one for sure.

Thanks for the report....you lucky B_ _ _ _
:righton:
P.S. Nice Helmet Hair
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