Motorcycles

Time For A New Motorcycle

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A couple of years ago, I loaded up my Victory Cross Roads with gear and supplies, and rode off to Colorado to camp for a week with my sister’s family at a remote camp ground next to a gorgeous lake, high in the Rockies. The week I spent there is among my most cherished recent memories, and most of the ride there and back was truly wonderful.

The last 20 miles, however, was not. The Cross Roads, like all bikes from Victory, is a pretty heavy cruiser, and not remotely suited for riding on rough, unpaved dirt fire roads. The camp ground was at the end of 20 or more miles of those. It was very nerve-wracking, to say the least, to wrestle my big 850 pound heavy touring motorcycle down those roads without losing control and dumping it at any moment.

Then there was the point where both of my saddlebags suddenly fell off the bike while it was moving, the quick-release latches having been shaken loose by the washboard finish of the fire road. And the terrifying barely-controlled slide down a mile of muddy downhill, desperately trying to neither go over the cliff, nor terrify the horse that was in front of me to the point where it bolted. I succeeded in the former, but failed in the latter. The horse bolted, the trainer proceeded to have to chase it down, then glared at me as I passed, as if I were the pure embodiment of evil.

I vowed to never again try to take a long-haul heavy cruiser out into an area for which it was plainly so poorly suited. However, I still love camping, and still want to go on long haul motorcycle trips to and from camping.

Last year, I traded my 2012 Victory Cross Roads in, and acquired a 2014 Victory Cross Country in its stead. As a long-haul touring bike goes, it’s exactly what I wanted, and I love it dearly. It’s got plenty of smooth power, it’s extremely comfortable, and surprisingly maneuverable for such a big bike. For a long road trip, where I’m staying with friends or in hotels the entire way, and keeping to paved roads, it’s pretty close to the perfect bike for me.

However, it still has the same limitation as the Cross Roads did: it would be absolutely dreadful on a stretch of dirt fire road, and thus I can’t use it to reach those remote camp grounds I love so much.

So, last week, I finally pulled the trigger on acquiring my solution to this conundrum: a 2020 Triumph Tiger 1200, Alpine Edition.

Some fool owned it for six months or more, and then traded it in with only 500 miles on it. I fell in love with it the second I saw it being wheeled onto the floor of the shop where I was having my Victory Cross Country’s new tires mounted. It was being offered for sale for $5k less than the retail of a brand new one of the same model year.

In short, I knew I was doomed.

I bought it, then I rode it up the street to the closest Triumph dealership and ordered the luggage set for it, and a set of 70/30 mixed-use tires for it, rather than the 90/10 tires that came stock.

Over the course of the five days I’ve owned it thus far, I’ve already put more miles on it than the original owner had in the entire six months they had this beautiful beast. I’ve absolutely *loved* every single one of those miles.

My next camping trip out to some gorgeous remote camping site way out on some unpaved dirt trail in the middle of nowhere will be considerably more fun, I think…

Motorcycles

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I don’t know if I ever mentioned it here. Scratch that. I know I didn’t, but about 5 years ago, I finally got a motorcycle license and a motorcycle to go with it.

My first bike was a 2006 Yamaha V-Star 650, which I got with the explicit thought that it’d be a good learning bike (it was), and that I’d not be heartbroken if (when) I put it down while learning (I wasn’t, and I did). I rode that bike pretty hard, and came away a better rider for it.

My next bike was a 2004 Victory Kingpin. My god, but I loved that bike. I also fell in love with Victory in general because of it. It had scads of very smooth power, and made my v-star seem like a toy in comparison. It was beautifully designed, and its lines drew attention everywhere I rode it. I got compliments on it daily. I rode it for four years, before trading it in on a 2012 black Victory Cross Roads.

I loved the Cross Roads, and took it on my first long-haul motorcycle road trip (3500 miles from Austin, TX up into Colorado and Utah, and back).

I only had the Cross Roads for 3 months before I traded it in on the bike I’d wanted for years: a 2014 Victory Cross Country (8-ball, black-on-black).

That’s the bike I ride today, and the bike that I see myself riding for years to come.

Anyway, I think I might use this space to talk about motorcycles and riding from time to time.

All that to get to my story from this week.

On the Friday after Christmas 2019, I rode my Cross Country up to the nearest Indian dealership and took one of Indian’s hot new Challengers out for a test ride. I came away very, very impressed with how it rides.

Note that I have no plans on trading my Victory in any time in the foreseeable future. I just wanted to feel how the Challenger rode, so I have actual experience to draw on when I read about it, or contemplate it down the road.

Also note that I despise the look of most of Indian’s classic line. They look like rolling mixes between 50s diners and melted ice creams to me, in all the worst ways. This Challenger, in person, looks much closer to a Victory than to an Indian. I personally consider that to be a good thing.

TL;DR: The bike rode beautifully, and I’d like to see what it’s like with a few years of seasoning. I’d consider buying this 5 years down the road, when parts for my XC start to become really depressingly hard to come by.

Handling:

  • This bike is butter-smooth at freeway speeds (I had it up to 100mph on the freeway, and the bike just laughed). There was always power available to pass the semis, or any of the cars watching me roll past, even in 6th, at respectable RPMs.
  • The bike is solid. It made my Victory Cross Country feel shaky by comparison.
  • The suspension is exactly right.
  • The frame-mounted fairing definitely makes a difference in the steering. When maneuvering, even at low speeds, the bike feels much lighter than it really is.
  • It corners like a dream. I took it through some twisties, and loved every second of it.
  • The traction control and ABS are really, really impressive. I hit some loose gravel in one turn, and the bike had itself back under control before I even had time to react.

Power:

  • The engine moves this bike. Roll on the throttle, and you know you’ve done it, regardless of what gear, or what the tach says.
  • There’s always more power available, whenever you want it. I never managed to ask for more from the bike without it being ready, willing and very able to deliver.
  • It made my XC feel sluggish in comparison, and that’s not easy to do.
  • All the “WHOAs” you hear in youtube test ride videos are very justified. This bike will throw you back in your seat and make you hang on for dear life if you gun it.

Comfort and trimmings:

  • Build quality is excellent. This bike looks and feels very, very well-built.
  • The fairing is huge in person, but I found that I rapidly got used to it when the bike was moving.
  • The power windscreen is really nice for creating a rider pocket, as are the in-fairing vents.
  • The touchscreen and controls are very intuitive, and easy to use.
  • Cruise control works exactly right.
  • I hated the grips. First thing I’d replace.
  • The handlebar position placed the grips at exactly the place I’d want them.
  • The seat was quite comfortable, but the real proof of comfort comes only after several hundred miles in the saddle, which I didn’t do.
  • I did not like how the bags looked on the back of the bike; they fail to match the lines of the bike. I suppose my Cross Country has just spoiled me here.
  • No touring trunk available, but the mounts for a passenger backrest look like they’re placed about right for a lock-n-ride trunk. The dealer says he knows of at least one Challenger owner who put a Harley trunk on his Challenger. I hope that Indian comes out with a touring configuration for this bike at some point.

All-in-all, a worthwhile way to spend my day, I think.

On my ride home, Pretty Amazing Grace by Neil Diamond played through my headset, and made me cry.