The photo you see above was taken on May 4, 2013, the day I left home with my 2007 Honda ST1300 sport touring rig and returned with my slightly used 2012 Victory Vision Tour. This was indeed a pivotal moment in my life. This was my first motorcycle that wasn’t a Honda, my first American motorcycle, and my first Victory. Since that fateful day, Miss Scarlett and I have logged roughly forty thousand relatively trouble-free miles
But this post isn’t about my love affair of the past four riding seasons with this motorcycle. Rather, this is about the recent announcement by Polaris Industries to wind down production of the Victory over the next eighteen months. I promise to be brief.
Was I happy to hear the news? No. While no motorcycle is perfect for every rider’s needs, I have been so pleased with the performance and comfort of my Vision Tour, I was already fairly certain that when the time came for Miss Scarlett and me to part ways, my next motorcycle would be another Victory. Over the past four riding seasons, we have run nearly 40,000 miles, 4,800 of which involved an epic journey from Chicago, Illinois to Portland, Oregon and back—a journey so great, it left me wanting to take another.
But with Victory Motorcycles now being phased out, my next bike will likely not be a Victory. So now what? Well, I am pleased to report that despite the Polaris announcement, Miss Scarlett did not burst into flames or disappear from sight. In addition, Randy Weaver, owner of Randy’s Cycle, the best Victory dealership in all of northern Illinois and beyond, almost immediately went online and assured his customers (me among them) that his shop would continue to service the Victory marque for years to come. Comforting words indeed! (See Randy’s video here.)
Bottom line, I still have a damned good motorcycle sitting in my garage, just waiting for the next decent riding day. Polaris’ decision to cease production of Victory Motorcycles will not immediately affect my decision to continue riding Miss Scarlett for some time to come.
Surely the day will come for me to pick another motorcycle to ride. But you’ll have to take my word for it, this isn’t that day. In the meantime, I’m chomping at the bit to take Miss Scarlett out again, just as soon as the weather turns in our favor. And when that happens, I’ll be here to share more ride stories with you, hopefully with my beloved pillion Ann to continue sharing her awesome photos and videos.
Until then, peace and ride on. Thank you for hanging with me.
This Is MGD Time 
Couldn’t have said this better; I also will just continue RIDING my ’08 midnight cherry Vision!
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It was hard for me to hear the news. I ride a Honda but always respected the Victory Character. Victory went against Goliath with style and quality that its bigger rival could not match. Victory went against the grain and always looked forward. In my heart of hearts, I new that Victory was done when their mother ship bought the Coveted “”Indian”” Naming Rights. I love America but our country is a capitalistic materialistic juggernaut, and that “”Indian”” Historical Identity meant the end of the Victory Legacy. There was just no way that Polaris was going to segment their motorcycle operations between two competing companies. Victory fought hard and fought the good fight. I believe we shall see Victory again down the road but I doubt she’ll be the same…….
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It is certainly sad to see Victory go, they had a great line-up of bikes. While I ride big a sports tourer the Vision ticked all the boxes of a big tourer and importantly it wasn’t traditional.
I would still like to see one in my garage – one day.
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