Victory unveiled a new cruiser at the New York show last week – the Judge.
The manufacturer made some interesting moves on this machine’s design. While many cruisers move towards fatter rear tires, ape hangers, and other styling cues that cry for attention while ruining a bike’s handling, Victory went the other direction.
The Judge’s rear tire is skinnier for better handling, instead of the faux drag slicks often seen on cruisers. Victory put a wide, low drag bar on the machine instead of ill-handling apes, and even moved the footpegs back a bit, to give riders more of a standard bike feel. It’s no CB750, but it’s a step in a direction most other cruisers are shying away from.
The jury’s out on the Judge’s styling; it looks like pretty much every other cruiser out there, but the way the seat curves around the number-plate styled sideplates will definately turn some people off.
The Victory rolls on 16-inch rims, front and rear, and gets braking power from a single 300mm disc in front (four-piston caliper) and a 300mm disc in rear (two-piston caliper). Seat height is only 25.9 inches, making the bike accessible to even the shortest of riders.
The air/oil-cooled 1731cc hooks up to a six-speed transmission, with a belt final drive. Fuel tank capacity is 4.5 gallons, or 17 liters. Dry weight is 660 lbs. The bike is available in Gloss Black, Suede Nuclear Sunset, Sunset Red, and will cost $13,999 (for the black version) or $14,399 (for the other colours) in the U.S. – we don’t have Canadian pricing yet.
So let me get this straight….they style and design a bike to be better handling yet give it less braking power than their skinny/fat tired cruisers? Seems like a contradiction to me. Other than the single front disc, I like it.
this style of bike as been done so many times before.
Interesting name choice…I wonder if there will be a GM lawsuit over this
The Canadian MSRP is 15299$ and will definitely my third bike.
They unveiled the Judge far too late, I expected it instead of the Hard Ball, and
so I just bought a 2011 Cross Roads taking advantage of the year end’s
specials.Â