After my first ride on the new Victory Octane, I can sum up my take in three points:
- The Octane is a fun, competent motorcycle.
- There is a large incongruity between the motorcycle that Victory’s marketing department hinted we were going to get and the Octane that is actually going to hit the showroom floors.
- The Indian Scout and the Octane are not carbon copies (we wondered about this when the Octane was unveiled), but they also feel closer than parent company Polaris might have you believe.
But before I delve into the Octane's place in the bigger picture, let me tell you about riding it.
Riding the Victory Octane
Victory introduced the Octane to the motorcycle press on the even of Daytona Bike Week in Florida. We had a chance to take the Octane down the drag strip at Orlando Speed World and try the handling in an obstacle course and an open stunt-riding area. The next day we got to do the typical Bike Week thing of riding down Main Street in Daytona.
So can the Octane do a killer rolling burnout? Yep, but I’m not going to dwell on that. In spite of what Victory’s marketing gurus may say, most riders who buy an Octane are not planning to go stunting or racing. They’re probably like you and me and like to hot-rod around on a bike from time to time, but mostly ride on the street and turn up the wick when law enforcement appears scarce.
The Octane felt very Scout-like to me (see the similar specs in our previous story), but the Octane felt a hair better in most categories. Vic shored up a few areas of concern I mentioned when I reviewed the Scout, and left others unaddressed. On the positive side, revised cams and heads woke this powerplant right up. (I’m pretty sure the bump up to 1200 cc is an exercise in nomenclature. Five millimeters of bore won’t affect much. Discuss in the comments how silly you think I am.) There’s more power, and right where you need it in the rev range. The gearing is noticeably shorter, thanks to different sprockets on the belt final drive, and that makes the Octane feel much more aggressive and responsive. The Octane also seemed to handle better, which is probably due to the different tires and wheels. I was able to rash up footpegs and exhaust shields far more confidently than I could on the Scout.
The brakes are still just adequate, because they are unchanged. Same deal with the suspension. If you’re my size and you score an Octane, you could change the front springs and throw better brake pads on it. The chopper builder inside of me says if you wanna shoot the moon, grab a late-model sportbike front end and machine a new stem for it so you can install it on your Octane. (Warning: that’s pro-level stuff there. Possible, but not easy or cheap.)
In stock form, the Octane comes with budget shocks and springs on the rear, but I didn’t get to try them because our test units had upgraded Victory remote-reservoir shocks ($699.99), which were delightful. The aftermarket will probably be along shortly with an awesome alternative that costs less, but if you don’t want to wrench and cost is not a problem, tell your dealer to install the piggyback units before you pick up your new Octane. They’re great.
My two notable qualms with this bike are Scout holdover problems. The first is the seat. The saddle is not bad at all, but the combination of the feet-forward riding position and the shape of the seat locks you into one position, which is fine for short rides but gets old after a while. The second is the soft turn-signal cancel switch. You have to hold the button for just a touch longer than a mechanical switch forces you to. However, if you hold it too long, your hazards come on. I spent two days telling everyone around me my lane change was finished by using four-way flashers. This was not intentional.
All in all, I found the Octane to be a fine mount. There’s no denying that. But a musclebike it ain’t. Harley-Davidson V-Rods, Yamaha VMAXes, and Suzuki M109Rs are longer, more powerful, and more expensive. But at the price, $10,499, the Octane approaches the Yamaha FZ-09 in terms of its value proposition. The bang-for-the-buck factor is quite high. There’s a lot of bike here for the price. If one assesses the Octane against the allusions the Victory marketing team cooked up, it disappoints. Rather than judge the Octane a poor bike, I’d instead just say that Victory has an overzealous marketing team.
The Octane is a platform bike, and that cannot be escaped. However, it is a very good platform bike. If you want a super-fun, quick, and reasonably light cruiser, the Octane is awesome. If you want some sort of Pikes Peak replica machine, know that the only similarity between the Project 156 bike and the Octane is the mill, and even that’s probably very different.
What would it take?
If Victory truly wants us to believe they’re morphing into the “domestic hot performer” slot, this had better be the beginning of things to come. I’ve heard rumblings of a performance version of the Octane coming hot on the heels of the standard Octane we have currently been granted. It sounds plausible. Platform bikes are supposed to be flexible. Keep in mind, too, that Victory announced this 2017 model in February, which is damn early. Perhaps there are more 2017 sub-models on the way. Victory must follow this up with some bikes that are more Project 156 than Gunner, or I’ll file the Octane in my “SOS” folder.
So what would it take to move the Octane closer to the Project 156 derivative we were hoping for? Here’s my short list of needs.
Tires. Put 120/70R17 radial rubber up front. Lose that 18-incher. That kills the tire choices. The 17-inch rear wheel can stay, but let’s drop that 160/70 bias-ply tire for a 160/60 or a 180/55 radial. (The Harley-Davidson XR1200 and V-Rod, Ducati Diavel, VMAX and M109R have all fouled this up over the years with their weird-ass tire sizes that guarantee riders have limited options, at best. I’m pretty sure Don Canet wasn’t hauling up the side of Pikes Peak on a set of the bias-plies the Octane is wearing.)
Next, I would like a decent front end. Preferably, that comes in the form of an upside-down adjustable unit, matched with good rear shocks, like the upgraded ones we rode in Florida. That fork should also feature a good set of dual disc brakes and some four-pot calipers would be nice. Vic also needs to stuff that fork with some springs that are appropriate for a full-sized, beef-eating, red-blooded American rider.
Mid controls or rearsets are non-negotiable. Between the exhaust and the super-duper low seat, I don’t see how mids could be fitted to the Octane, so this would mean some other changes, too.
Do all that and call it the High Octane or whatever you want and we’d be a lot closer to having the bike we expected to get, based on Victory’s advance promotion. Skip the faux-dragbike baloney all the other musclebikes suggest, and give us an American performer that does well on a curvy piece of asphalt like the ones most Sunday riders are actually attacking.
Is the Victory Octane the right bike for me?
What if you’re not interested in my vision of what this bike could be and you're just looking to buy a muscular American cruiser? Is the Octane the bike for you?
The Octane, like its sister Scout, is an excellent machine. With more horsepower, more torque, and a lower price, it’s arguably a better deal. In my view, the Octane isn’t a musclebike at all. It’s a cruiser that will give most musclebikes a run for their money. It’s shorter, lighter, and cheaper than most pure musclebikes. Here’s the dirty little secret Victory won’t tell you, but I will: The closest competitor to the Victory Octane is the Indian Scout.
Me? I loved the Scout, but I’d buy the Octane, if given the choice. Meanwhile, I’ll keep holding onto hope for the version with mid controls, 17-inch wheels, and an upside-down, dual-disc front end. (That is coming, right, Victory?)