Here Come The Judge

After unveiling the newest addition to its ever increasing line-up of bikes earlier this year in New York City, Minnesota-based Victory Motorcycles let a bunch of wild and woolly moto-journalists have a go at putting the 2013 Victory Judge through its paces. For that purpose, the journalists were invited to tony Palm Springs, CA, for a cloudy February day of unbridled riding through the dry – yet slightly freezing – high desert.

       The mountainous scenery along Highway 74 to Idyllwild was the perfect backdrop to what turned out to be a fun ride on an equally fun and powerful motorcycle. Equipped with Victory’s by now famous 106-inch Freedom engine and 6-speed transmission, the Judge is blessed by long gearing and an extremely wide power band, making the uphill ride to just below the snow line a veritable orgy of leaning into hairpin curves and plenty of torque across all gears when heading into the straight-aways.

       Although the marketing gurus have slated the Judge to compete in Harley-Davidson’s Fat Boy market, the bike seems to be more than just a cruiser, but also more than just a sport bike. A sport cruiser might be a good moniker, but maybe, after the bike has become available at US dealers in April, that is something that you, the reader, can be the judge of.