Yes, it’s been a while since a new Victory Motorcycle has rolled off an assembly line but I am happy to report that they are alive and well. They are just living under the skin of the Indian® brand name.

Let me be clear. Indian Motorcycle® would not exist today in its current form if it weren’t for Victory motorcycles and a bunch of hard-working engineers, sales, marketing, production, dealers, and various other key people involved with building a new motorcycle company from scratch.

The work that the Victory Motorcycle team did in the late ’90s was instrumental in laying the foundation for the new Indian Motorcycle®. If it weren’t for Victory it would likely be another 5-7 years before the new Indian Motorcycle® would be as good as it is today. That’s right, the new Indian Motorcycle® is not just a good motorcycle, it’s a GREAT motorcycle and it has Victory to thank for that.

Let me be the first to say, it was a long, hard, and frustrating road bringing a new American-made motorcycle to market. For all those involved, we worked hard for every sale. The dealers held bike nights, attended rallies, hosted destination rides, and ordered more bikes than they could sell. The Harley crowd was our intended buyer but they could have cared less. Our bike had more power, rode, and handled better but didn’t sell well due to the high cost of ownership and low brand recognition. Asking a loyal Harley rider to switch brands was like asking them to move out of the country.

We did sell a good number of Victory bikes to buyers looking for a high-tech, American-made cruiser that wasn’t a “me too” motorcycle. These buyers were often riders who got out of motorcycling to raise a family, start a career, and then return to the sport later in life. They were looking for something a little unique, more up-to-date, and stylish. Victory hit the nail on the head where these needs were concerned.

In 2011 Polaris Industries (the parent company of Victory motorcycle) purchased the rights to Indian Motorcycle® and so it was, the beginning of the end for Victory. The dealers who sold Victory Motorcycles were the hardest hit by the news. In fact, the news came in the worst way possible, and with no prior warning, the Polaris team decided to announce the news to its dealers via a faxed press release. On January 9th, 2017 Polaris began winding down the production of Victory Motorcycles.

I’m not suggesting that the company made the wrong decision here, in fact, if any brand has a chance at knocking the King off his throne it would be the Indian Motorcycle® brand. What I’m suggesting is that all of the hard work and effort on behalf of the Victory motorcycle group and its dealer network was NOT for nothing. Victory Motorcycles will live on forever in the genetic make-up of the new Indian® Motorcycle brand.