Editorial by Will Burgess

You will often hear me wax poetic about the slick motorcycle brand, championed by Polaris as an underdog lineup poised to lure in Harley-Davidson riders, disenfranchised by their chosen marque amid its quality concerns and stale designs. It was a make of bikes that obtained cult status among diehard riders. No, I’m not talking about not Indian; that manufacturer, of course, was Victory Motorcycles.

In a 2012 promotional poster—which hangs proudly in my office—featuring the full family of motorcycles they rolled out that year, Victory declared that their bikes charted a new path in design, style, comfort, storage, and performance, among factors; that they didn’t need to “rely on the past for designs.”

And their bikes certainly were like no other kind of cruiser on the market. And maybe, just maybe if Polaris had continued to give them the chance, we would have seen the next great American sport bike (below), that Victory was poised to debut just as soon as Polaris announced the brand’s demise—but that’s another article for another time.

Alas, the Victory Empulse. DOA before it could ever revolutionize the sport bike industry. | Via: Polaris Industries

Victory did produce some revolutionary designs in its lifetime. The Victory Vision redefined what a touring bike could be. Never once setting foot in the chunky designs of the Honda Gold Wing or the Harley Road Glide, Victory made a sweeping and curvaceous dresser, never before seen on the streets, and never again since.

But none were so inspiring in their design as the retro-futuristic prototype Victory Core concept chopper the brand teased at the New York City International Motorcycle Show in January 2009.

The bike was built and showcased in order to merely exemplify the cast frame technology that Victory would go on to use on the Vision and Cross-Country platforms.

Although minimalistic in appearance, the Core make a big splash with the press that year, and its stylings eventually made their way onto bikes like the High Ball bobber and even later versions of the Vegas.

While it was never meant for production, we can still marvel over this one-of-a-kind motorcycle by a team of designers who were sick of the status quo street bikes and deigned to make a new kind of motorcycle.

Polaris now relies on the designs of the past more than ever in their storied 123-year-old Indian brand which eventually overtook the Victory line when Polaris decided they simply couldn’t carry two motorcycle makes at one time. Today you can still see hints of those forward looking Victory designs on select Indian bikes showing that the spirit of these cult classics never really went away.
Though designs of the newer class of bikes like the Challenger or the Rogue appear to be not quite Indian and not quite Victory, they can still give us an insight to what the future may have once held for the New American Motorcycle brand.

Will Burgess is a journalist with Adrenaline Powersports Mag