Victory Vision 800 Concept promises a new era for American motorcycles

At that time, the astute marketers within Honda had the view that the testosterone-impregnated motorcycle world (as opposed to the commuter-minded scooter world) was not ready for an automatic motorcycle, though they’ve clearly changed their mind in recent years as we have seen a spate of concept bikes (the Griffon, the DN-01 and the Elysium) with constantly variable transmissions (CVTs) and there’s no doubt that niche markets exist for motorcycles with automatic transmissions, as is evidenced by the existence of niche manufacturers such as Ridley Motorcycle which produces automatic V-twin cruisers.

Of recent times, we’ve seen some fantastic concept bikes with CVTs, such as Suzuki’s G-Strider and we’ve ridden and raved about two bikes with CVTs in the Benelli Adiva and the Suzuki Burgman.

There’s much to be said for a CVT transmission when outright ten-tenths performance is not required because it offers a leisurely ride. One day the CVT could become the performance alternative, but for now it’s just more pleasant when enjoying the wind in your hair and without foot controls or clutch, it no doubt lowers the learning curve of riding a full-size motorcycle. Similarly, the bike has linked brakes, another simplification of the learning process and one which offers better braking for 98% of riders.

Suspension-wise, the Vision is standard sports-bike, with 43mm inverted front forks and a cast aluminium, single-sided swingarm controlled by a fully-adjustable single rear shocker.

The promise of the future

We’re a fan of KTM, so the Polaris shareholding of the razor-sharp Austrian bikes holds immense promise for the future of the brand. Apparently the ownership will be reviewed in 2007 and at that time there’s every possibility that the 24% stake will be raise considerably and closer ties forged. If that happens, Polaris’ American dealer chain and market muscle will be mixed with KTM’s race cred and knowledge and anything is possible.

KTM is only recently becoming interested in motorcycle road racing, but has already gone within a whisker of winning a World 125cc Championship, has acquitted itself admirably in its debut 250cc season and has even supplied a competitive 990cc V4 engine for the MotoGP class.

In all other forms of racing in which it has competed, it has quickly moved into either competitiveness at the highest level, or complete domination – in the recent Dakar Rally (the toughest off-road event in history), KTMs filled ten of the first eleven places.

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