Polaris to shut down Victory

[Scott]

...all Victory patents, technologies, and intellectual property remain the property of Polaris and will be utilized across Polaris platforms as appropriate". I hope that's true. Not so much rebranding existing vehicles, but carry the innovation and technology on with the Indian name. American motorcycles, and specifically Indian, does not need to be defined by a pushrod v-twin that looks like it was designed in the 40s.

That's interesting. From that perspective, one could view this as primarily a discontinuation of the aging Victory Platforms. There were likely new Victory bikes in the works and if those just become Indians, we may not have lost much.

I think the key will be how they see the future of Indian. If they intend to keep styling and technology as 'traditional' as possible in Harley's mold, then this is pretty depressing. If they're simply moving the electric bikes and other new bikes over so they'll be called Indians and the type of bikes Indian makes won't be limited, this could be primarily an administrative detail (and discontinuation of the Victory cruisers and baggers).

[Purves]

They need to come out with an Indian Hammer and Indian Highball....

The Scout all dolled up with apes and tractor seat is NOT a bobber.. it looks like a second thought add-on... but of course that's all subjective.

Indian can make a performance Chief model that takes into consideration the Victory Hammer DNA and call it the Indian Chief Pokeahotass.. I'd seriously consider one at retirement.

[Scott]

They need to come out with an Indian Hammer and Indian Highball....

The Scout all dolled up with apes and tractor seat is NOT a bobber.. it looks like a second thought add-on... but of course that's all subjective.

Indian can make a performance Chief model that takes into consideration the Victory Hammer DNA and call it the Indian Chief Pokeahotass.. I'd seriously consider one at retirement.

Pokeahotass?

I'd like to see some strong statement and/or ideally a cool concept bike from Indian to convince us the brand has ambition to be something more than just big fenders and tassles and fringes.

...but I have a bad feeling my optimism for the future of the brand is just wishful thinking and what we see is what we get. Ever since Victory started I've been hoping they'd start making bikes that can go around corners, but it's been disappointment after disappointment year after year. And now they don't even exist. So I'm probably just shifting my irrational hopes for Victory to my irrational hopes for Indian when I should just learn from history and focus on the brand that has always been committed to making the kind of bikes I like: Buell/EBR.

I remember when the Octane was being teased and riders all over the internet were hoping for a sporty bike and then let down by the actual product. The thing they want is being made in East Troy, right? If Polaris and Harley won't give half of the American motorcycle community what they want, why don't they line up behind EBR? I guess people don't have the confidence they get with a brand that has serious backing behind them, but that backing is a double-edged sword as we saw with Harley/Buell, Hero/EBR and now Polaris/Victory. The corporate suits giveth and the corporate suits taketh away. Hopefully EBR can stick around long enough this time to eventually get the respect they've been earning all along.

[1190SX]

I find myself wondering if the design and engineering people were battling the the bean-counters. When they created Indian, they didn't just plop the Victory engine in there as I might have imagined, but created a new (and by all accounts very good) engine.

That along with the Scout when it arrived seemed to indicate that they were willing to invest to make truly different bikes and not just play the badge game, and if they had continued that route, they might have really had something. But then the Octane came along and burst that bubble.

I wonder if at some point the plan was to make Victory and the Octane more unique, but the accountants convinced upper management it would make more sense to keep costs low by sharing bikes across brands.

I've always been a firm believer that when the accountants start taking charge any brand will suffer and whither until the people who actually like and understand the product (as opposed to people who just focus on the bottom line) are put back in control.

The role of a good CEO is to ask the right questions of the right people(the people who know what they are doing NOT bean counters), the most important one being: "what can I do to increase our chances of success with this product?". The next thing is to remove barriers to success, if that means silencing the bean counters whose only qualification is being able to count money, so be it.. A wise man once said "If I do what I've always done, I'll be where I've always been." Take note Polaris.

[Hughlysses]

I was just re-reading this interview with Steve Menneto, Polaris' vice president of motorcycles from ~1.5 years ago. It's interesting to re-read in light of the Victory closure. There are several things in the article that could be seen as foreshadowing what happened with Victory. For instance, at the time of the article they were running 2 production lines building Indians full-time and one production line that was alternating building Indians and Victorys. He mentions Indian building more innovative bikes several times in the article, and the fact that certain Indian models have been attracting younger riders. Hopefully, Scott is right regarding this being primarily an administrative detail.

http://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/5408...july-14/80?m4=

[Hughlysses]

Regarding where Indian's going, here's some interesting info from a guy at BadWeatherBikers:

I had a very interesting conversation with a Indian rep at the [IMS] show yesterday. The FTR750 racer appears to be just the opening salvo. Parsing between the lines of what he said, there will be at least one street legal version in the not too distant future. I asked about time frame, he just smiled.

[Led Boots]

Somebody on the Vic owners site mentioned today that Indian is supposed to be revealing a new model on 2/25. Not sure where they got that info, though.

Edit to add: It looks like there's an announcement of sorts on the Indian Motorcycles home page. Says to visit your local dealer on 2/25/17 to "see the newest addition to our family"

[Scott]

Somebody on the Vic owners site mentioned today that Indian is supposed to be revealing a new model on 2/25. Not sure where they got that info, though.

Edit to add: It looks like there's an announcement of sorts on the Indian Motorcycles home page. Says to visit your local dealer on 2/25/17 to "see the newest addition to our family"

I'm finding myself intrigued by the idea of a production version of their flat-tracker. And while I liked (but didn't love) the XR1200, I think this could be much better. The XR1200 'looked' like a flat-tracker, but in reality it was a re-styled Sportster. If Indian uses the 750 cc engine and keeps it light and makes a bike that's more than just a styling excercise, thtat could be really fun and bring joy to a post-EBR world. And maybe more important than anything, it would show that Indian isn't just another cruiser brand.

[noone1569]

One of the chief electric motorcycle techs for Brammo then Victory stated that the electric driveline will live on via Indian.

Good news to me since I just got a sweet deal on an Empulse TT

[Led Boots]

Not holding my breath on them stepping out of the Cruiser domain. Just found this info on an Indian owner's forum. Looks like they recently registered the following new names with CARB: Chieftain Elite, Chieftain Limited, Roadmaster Classic


https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad...811_0d8_hn.pdf