How did the metric cruisers make it this far then? Star cruisers have been around as long as the Vics, same with the other brands. Is it because they were/are cheaper, and Vic tried to compete at the price point of H-D (or a tad below)? Is it because Honda, Yami, Suzook and Kawi are huge companies with essentially bottomless resources that can afford to carry a line that is not all that profitable? (Isn't Suzuki in the Japanese equivalent of bankruptcy right now, though?)
IF this is the case...that the metric cruisers were / are just more affordable...then what they did was genius. They know that cruiser riders often are entry level folks new to the sport, or veteran occasional riders, who love the looks and sound of an H-D but can't justify the bank required to own one, so they get a VStar 950 or a Boulevard or whatever, at half the cost instead.
On a side note, these are the worst bikes for a novice rider to be on...I speak from personal experience...the weight, extended rake, riding position, etc. make them poor handling machines in the hands of an inexperienced rider...just my opinion, of course.
So, what are we to learn here...that there is a limited upmarket for overpriced cruisers, and let's face it, the Vic was overpriced for what you got. When I looked at one in Oct 2015 and gave it the once and twice over, it was a beautiful bike to look at it, but it was only surface level. Lots of cheap feeling parts, switches, levers, instruments. It basically was an air-cooled twin (pretty cheap to make) surrounded by low-rate plastic and accessories. I walked out and went to the Honda dealer and purchased the F6B. What is Polaris thinking? My 2004 VStar, for all its faults, was built well with high quality parts. The MSRP on that Vic was $22,000 for God's sake. H-D gets away with the same thing because of their image and brand. Vic couldn't pull that off.
I will say that, for an aging market, it sure is attractive to the manufacturers because everyone has /is taking a stab at it. What drives them to the H-D market? Is it that there is so much money to be made by packaging up a Vtwin into a bunch of plastic and asking $25K for it? Is it the accessory market?
One last note: I rode an Indian Chieftain for about 100 miles last fall. Great bike, way better than the Vic CC Tour I test drove. Maybe they will make it in this market, as long as it lasts, and settle for a nice duopoly with H-D owning a majority share but leaving enough Indian buyers to keep the Polaris brass lighting their next cigar.
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Originally Posted by VStarRider
