While I'd agree they're a better bike than HD, that also isn't saying a whole lot.
That big 100 inch motor pushes out a measly 75hp to the ground(claimed 100 at the crank)...and hits redline at around 6 grand...normally when the party has just begun. on the Max. +100 pounds and -40 RWHP? No thanks. I've run into a couple Victory owners who think their bike is "all that" because they can take HD's with similar sized engines. I ran a Victory....something(I don't know the models) with a 100 inch motor and it was barely even a race. By top of second it was all over. He had claimed "mild work" to the motor also, whatever that means.
Victory also has notoriously horrendous transmissions. I rode with one once and I could hear every shift he made quite clearly, at 70mph, over straight pipes. He admitted that "it was a bit clunky". Almost every review of a Victory notes a transmission with lots of lash and bangy shifting.
And I can't friggen stand Polaris. Every Polaris I've ever owned or encountered has been a royal POS, and I wouldn't expect anything less from their bikes. After owning first an old Indy, and later a quad, I swore I would never own another Poolaris again. Both were nothing but trouble from day one, I spent more time fixing than riding both of them. Now the sled is a Yamaha, and my quad a Suzuki. I ride them just as hard or moreso than the poo-poos and neither has yet to give be a lick of trouble, whereas the Indy would smoke a crank bearing if you looked at it the wrong way. People I know who for some reason like Polaris are constantly fixing them and hopping them up so their Polaris 800 can stay in the same zip code as a stock Yamaha 700. Of course the hop ups make them break down even more.
Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki make nice V-twin cruisers if that's what your into. The M109 is a surprisingly quick bike with a power commander, I ride with one all the time. He takes me off the line(260 rear tire), I pull ahead from about 40-90, and then he's right on me again up to the top end. I expected the first time my Max would smoke him all day long, but it's actually a pretty good race, and it's been to 140 on GPS....as fast as I've dared to take the Max so far.
