Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128349
on, but the respo nsiveness of the chassis and the fe ed back fro m t he 43mm inverted cartri dge fork pro vided
plenty of confidence .
Speaking of the suspension, Victory e ngineer s said
they spe nt a lot of time perfecting the suspen sion. The
primary concern was how to make the bike's rea r suspensi o n work with the huge, heavy tire . The suspension
rates t hey came up with are very impres sive. The bike
fee ls a lot plusher over the rough stuff than you'd think it
wo uld be , and yet it has plenty of damping control, never
feeling like it wants to wallow.
Afte r spending a full day riding the Hammer in the
country outside of Austin, I was very impressed with how
comfortable I was thro ughout the day. The seating position is low enough that the headlight and gauge cluster
provide the rider with a de cent amount of w ind protectio n at speeds of up to 75 to 80 mph. Th e ergo nomics fit
my 5' 11" frame very we ll, w ith a com fortable reach to
the wide , flat bars, wh ile the footpegs are in a com fo rtable pos ition , as well.
Grab a handful of throt tle on t he Hamm er and the bike
lets you know it means business . The Hammer cranks o ut
a claimed 110 lb.-ft. of torque and 88 ho rsepower in
stock fo rm, and wit h that huge tire there 's no chance that
th e po wer won' t find it's way to the tar mac. Th e
Freedom V-Twin motor is silky smooth; t he cou nterbalanced , 50-degree V-tw in lets you know it's alive
unde rne ath you, w ithout allowing the vibrations to annoy
you . The fuel injectio n has good respons e and pulls cleanly from any rp m in any gear.
As already me ntione d, one thing t hat a lot of cru ising
riders have been asking fo r is an overdrive sixth gear, and
Victory has answered their wishes on the Hammer.
Highway cruising is very comfortable because of the
overdrive. The difference in revs between fifth and sixth
gears is significant: The rpms dro p a full 450 rpm when
sixth gear is selected. At 70 mp h, t his equated to 2500
rpm instead of almost 3000, significantly smoothing out
any unwanted vibes. There is still plenty of torque on
hand if you nee d to make a pass, but if you really want
some get-up-and-go , bang it down a gear. It's mo re fun
that way anyhow.
If you like riding that way, it's also nice to have goo d
brakes on a cruiser, and the Hammer 's Bre mbo set up
can't be beat, providing lots of stoppi ng po wer and excel lent feel. The Hammer also has sur prisingly good ground
clea rance fo r a big cruiser, o nly dragging t he pegs whe n
really leaned over in turn. Most cru iser riders aren 't going
to ride their bikes that aggres sively anyway.
Fro m a styling sta ndpoint , the Hammer is a real loo k,
er. Personally I pre fer the solid colo rs to the Tribal Tattoo
graphics offered as an o ptio n, but it's nice to have such
options. Other o ptions that are available when ord ering
the bike are: cast o r billet w hee ls, halogen o r HID (high
inte nsity discharge ) head lights, V-Drag style handleb ars, a
chro me package and a black o r silver engine. The available colors for t he paint are Black, Indy Red , Cosmic
Sunburst, Flame Yellow, Indy Red wfTribal Tattoo gra phics, or Toxic Green wfTribal Tatto o graph ics. The MSRP
on the Hammer is $16 ,499.
Victory motorcycles definite ly walk the walk, and the
Hammer is no exception. I spe nt some serio us time on
the Vegas last year and came awa y impressed. That bike
had a lot of performance, both in terms of handling and
power for a custom cruiser. So it's no surprise that the
company's re -entry into the performance cruiser market
segment (reme mber the V92SC - no wait, fo rget it!) has
a whole lot of performance. Not only does the Victory
Hammer cru ise with the best of them , but it'll scare quite
a few bikes in stoplight-to-stoplight drags as well. The
Victory Hammer is a big cruiser with a bad att itude . What
more could anyone ask for?
eN
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