Victory Heads in a New Direction with the 1200cc Octane

By Andrew Kohn

For over 15 years, Victory Motorcycles has tried to work its way into the V-twin cruiser market dominated by Harley Davidson. Though producing good products, Victory never seemed to really make a dent in Harley’s choke-hold on the heavy cruiser marketplace. Throw in the fact that Victory’s cousin, the re-born Indian Motorcycles, has had a very successful introduction, and you can see why Victory might have a bit of an identity crisis. Victory and Indian are both owned by Polaris Industries, and while the Indian brand is taking off rapidly, based on its heritage and familiar name, Victory still needs to find its niche in the cruiser world without duplicating Indian’s product line. Victory recently took their first tangible step in that direction with the introduction of the Octane performance cruiser.

Victory’s transition to the performance side of the cruiser category occurred over the last year in multiple stages. First, Victory raced the Roland Sands based Project 156 motorcycle up Pikes Peak. The brand also raced an electric bike at the Isle of Man TT, attempted a land speed record at Bonneville, and introduced a drag racing team in the US. Next came two product introductions, with the Ignition Concept at EICMA in Italy and the Combustion Concept at the International Motorcycle Show in New York. These concepts were precursors for the Octane and gave the public a hint at what the production performance cruiser might look like. With the release of the Octane this past week, the wait is over.

The Octane is Victory’s first liquid cooled V-twin and the engine in the Octane looks remarkably similar to that of the Indian Scout. The engine utilizes dual overhead cams with four-valve heads to rev beyond 8000 rpm, producing 104 horsepower and 76 foot pounds of torque. With a claimed dry weight of only 528 pounds, this motorcycle should get out of its own way pretty quickly. The company claims a quarter mile time in the 12 second range, with zero to sixty in less than four seconds.

Keeping all of that power firmly planted to the ground is a stiff and light cast-aluminum frame. Sharp steering geometry, a tight, 62.1-inch wheelbase and 32-degrees of available lean angle deliver agility previously unknown to American V-twin motorcycles. Octane’s solid-mounted powertrain is a stressed member that connects cast-aluminum front and rear frame sections, with twin tubular-steel backbones for added reinforcement.

This rigid assembly is suspended up front by a 41mm fork equipped with dual-rate springs for solid front-end feedback, and out back with stylish laydown shocks mounted 53 degrees off-horizontal, also equipped with preload-adjustable dual-rate springs. Oversized, 298mm disc brakes with stainless-steel lines at both ends provide the stopping power for this machine.

The styling is an interesting mix of Victory edgy and Indian familiar. The similarities with the Indian Scout are undeniable, but this motorcycle looks like the Indian’s darker, angrier cousin. The Octane features muscular and edgy styling cues, an undeniably modern profile, and a sportbike-inspired bullet cowl. Overall, it’s an aggressive looking motorcycle.

The 18-inch front wheel wears 130/70-18 rubber, while the 17-inch rear wheel is wrapped with a 160/70-17 tire. A low-slung solo saddle that rides just 25.9-inches above the pavement and an equally low pullback handlebar and semi-forward-set foot controls complete the aggressive rider triangle. We’ll have to wait and see how comfortable this bike is. The clamshell riding position, though aggressive looking, can be very tiring on the lower back.

Victory touts the Octane as being “fast, capable, stylish and affordable”. The company also claims that the high-revving engine character and surprising high-rpm power hit make the Octane behave more like a sportbike than any American V-twin that has come before. With unexpectedly low weight and lots of available lean angle, a well-ridden Octane should provide a much sportier ride than many current V-twin cruisers. With pricing starting at $10,499, the Octane seems like a good value.

Having ridden the Indian Scout multiple times, I can tell you, that if this motor behaves anything like the Scout’s, it is very smooth, high revving (for a cruiser) and has an extremely flat and usable torque curve. Throw in the light weight and stiff chassis, and this bike has big fun potential.

I wish the suspension was a little longer, but it’s tough to get longer suspension travel on such a low slung bike. At first glance, it’s also a bit disappointing that the US version of the octane does not appear to come with dual front discs or ABS brakes. For a bike that will likely accelerate pretty hard, it would be nice for it to have similar stopping capabilities. As with the Indian Scout, I’m pretty sure ABS will become an option in the future. Overall though, this really looks like a fun machine. Hopefully, there’s an opportunity to take a test ride soon and I can pass on my riding impressions. Stay tuned for more!