2016 VICTORY MAGNUM X-1
FIRST RIDE
P48
front—may as well be painted
pink because under the bags
you can't see it.
Style-wise, Victory is on the
money. The X-1 looks tough with
that huge wheel but its fitment
causes a problem, that of slow
speed stability. Put simply, it's
lacking. Under 20 mph maneu-
vering is cumbersome, even for
a bike of this nature. The 21-inch
front wheel gives the steering a
vagueness that a 19 or 17-incher
would not. Once you're moving
past 20 mph things tend to settle
down and the steering feels
more responsive, but sub-20
mph—like when lane splitting—
you've got to be on your toes,
especially when fully loaded with
two people and luggage. That's
nothing to do with the overall
size of the bike—you can split on
a Gold Wing easily enough—it's
the wheel.
Like any bike of this size you
have to be deliberate (read:
careful) with your steering
inputs, more so with this front
wheel, as it can take a while for
your movements to actually reg-
ister with the front tire. When you
do start turning, especially on
long sweeping corners, there's
a bit of counter-steer to input as
the front eventually falls into the
corner. The rear on the other
hand is quite planted and stable.
While we're on that front end,
the brakes are insufficient for a
machine of this size. You have
to give the lever a real solid
squeeze and there's not a lot
of feel going on when you do.
Slowing is definitely a front/rear
combined act, especially emer-
gency stops, because put simply
the front brakes don't have the
power to stop something so
big. Fitting larger discs could be
an answer, even aesthetically,
because the 300mm discs look
tiny compared to the 21-inch
front wheel.
Once you're up and cruising
at 65 mph the front feels OK and
the plushness of front suspen-
sion is a clear winner over the
air-adjustable rear suspension's
harshness, but here we run into
another problem: the buffeting
from the mini-screen is incred-
ible. I ride with a full-face helmet
and at 6'1" I got a headache after
The Magnum's
front wheel
nearly steals
the show.
Too bad the
rear wheel is
hidden.
