Although a relative newcomer to the motorcycling scene, Victory hasn't had to overcome too many of the disadvantages a startup usually faces. After all, their parent company, Polaris Industries, has some very deep pockets. And while the V crew has had plenty of money to throw around, from all appearances they're spending it wisely.

And the company's first leap into the luxury pool was far from headlong. Six years of product research, working with focus groups, tireless engineering and evaluation, and simply listening to their customers has led to the bike recently revealed at the Vision press event. That occasion also included a visit to the state-of-the-art Polaris research facility in Wyoming, Minnesota, where all of the Victory models are put through rigorous and abusive testing to ensure reliability. That goes for the brand-new Vision too; so anyone normally afflicted with first-model-year jitters can stop worrying. Vision prototypes were subjected to 2,322,000 miles of combined on-road and lab environment testing. Coupling that with the fact that Victory scored top-dog honors in the J. D. Power and Associates 2006 Motorcycle Competitive Information Study, it's a safe wager we're looking at another winner.

The Big Twin Stomp
Horsepower and particularly torque were never in short supply with Victory's 1634cc Freedom® 100 V-twin, and for the Vision, they've upped the ante. All new for 2008, the 1731cc, 50-degree, air-oil cooled, Freedom® 106 pummels the road with 92 horses and a brutish 109 foot-pounds of torque. The 97cc increase in displacement is significant in itself, but there's much more lurking inside those cooling fins. Along with a 6mm increase in the stroke, the cam timing has been revised to improve torque. The high-volume 11-liter air box, which is actually cast into the aluminum frame, allows the dual 45mm throttle bodies plenty of free breathing, and the fire is taken care of by a fully sequential, 60-pin, closed-loop, electronic fuel injection system with idle air control. Now, cold starts are fully automatic no matter the temperature, and the 2-1-2 exhaust system meets the latest CARB environmental requirements. And when it comes to electrical output, riders caught up in gadget fever have a lot to crow about: the Vision sports a new 50-amp alternator.