Cycle News

2016 VICTORY EMPULSE TT FIRST RIDE P64 but the feel coming from the front end was vague—I'm not sure if this is down to the weight distribution or the fork being too stiff, but the Victory didn't inspire hard braking and good turn-in feedback despite the undoubted power of the Brembo four-piston calipers. Like- wise the Victory was very quick to stand up and run wide if you grab a good handful of front brakes when leaned over. Pretty much all bikes do this to some degree, but the Victory is more pronounced in its standing to attention while cranked over. You have to use the rear brake more in this instance to keep the Victory on line if you have an emergency stop coming up when powering on. We did get the chance to ride a Victory with the official acces- sory fork and slick tires fitted, and this handled much nicer than the standard machine, hold- ing its line better and providing a more comfortable ride. But who is going to fit slicks to this bike? The rear suspension provides a comfortable ride with the linkless design working well to ensure the Victory doesn't run wide under acceleration. It's fully adjustable and provides quite a stable ride at street legal speeds. Bump absorption is good, especially as the seat is thin and can transmit a fair bit of shock to the rider over sharp bumps. There's no ABS or traction control, not that you'd need TC anyway, but for a bike costing a dollar less than $20,000 and aimed at tech-savvy people, I think no ABS is an omission, especially if this bike is ridden on slippery, oil-covered city streets. And that's the thing I struggle with the most—the price. The Vic- tory Empulse TT costs more than a Ducati Multistrada S Touring and BMW S 1000 XR, and is nearly four times the price of a Honda CB500F, of which it is about com- parable in terms of performance. Simply, I don't feel this should be a $20,000 motorcycle. Victory should be commend- ed for putting its considerable might behind the electric bike project. Doing something like that takes balls, and Victory is also doing a great job rebranding itself as a performance power- house with bikes like the Project 156 Pikes Peak machine, Victory NHRA drag team with Matt and Angie Smith, and of course, the Zero TT machine. But to call the Empulse TT a sports machine is not true. The Empulse feels rushed (it wasn't even a full year from when they bought the tech- nology from Brammo before the first prototypes were completed), and I think Victory would have been better off developing the bike further before rushing into a market that is still far from flour- ishing. CN THIS IS A COMMUTER BIKE, ONE THAT WILL SERVE THE GUY ZIPPING FROM HIS INNER-CITY APARTMENT TO WORK AND HOME AGAIN MUCH BETTER THAN SOMEONE LOOKING TO GO ELBOW- DRAGGING. S P E C I F I C A T I O N S ENGINE: ...... Electric Internal Permanent Magnet AC Induction BATTERY: ... Brammo Power Lithium Ion CAPACITY: ...........................10.4kW/Hour HORSEPOWER: .................................. 54hp TORQUE: .......................................... 61lb-ft TRANSMISSION: ....................... Six-speed CHASSIS: ....Brammo E-Beam Aluminum FRONT SUSPENSION: .........Inverted fork, preload and rebound adjustable REAR SUSPENSION: ..........Single linkless shock, preload and rebound adjustable FRONT BRAKE: .........Twin discs, Brembo four-piston calipers REAR BRAKE: .......... Single disc, Brembo single-piston caliper FRONT TIRE: ........................ 120/70 ZR17 REAR TIRE: .......................... 160/60 ZR17 RAKE: .................................................... 24° TRAIL: .............................................. 3.8 in. WHEELBASE: .................................... 58 in. SEAT HEIGHT: ............................... 31.5 in. OVERALL LENGTH: ........................ 81.3 in. WEIGHT: ........................ 460lb (claimed). COLOR: Red/black MSRP: .......................Starting at $19,999

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