VICTORY promised it would launch its first 2013 model at the weekend and this is it – the Victory Judge.
cruiser, muscle bike and flat-tracker styling wrapped around Victory’s usual 106cu in V-twin engine, it’s not going to be to all tastes – the overall look is less gaudy than the usual Victory styling, but we’re not convinced by the number board (if that’s what it is) below the seat.
Victory is going hard on the ‘muscle’ angle, so presumably this is a competitor for Harley’s V-Rod Muscle. Ducati’s Diavel probably isn’t going to be to worried when it comes to real power and performance in a cruiser shape, though.
Even the name – Judge – is designed to evoke images of old-skool American muscle cars, particularly the Pontiac GTO Judge (one of the icons of the muscle car genre, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it). Other cues include the 16-inch wheels and raised white lettering on the tyres. Unusually, the wide front tyre is matched to a relatively narrow rear, so both ends are almost the same (the front is a 130, the rear a 140 section).
Adam – This XS started out life around a year ago as a 83 Heritage Special with 2,000 miles and was promptly cut in half. This was my first build so I wanted to keep things cheap and simple.
The tail section is a custom drop seat hard tail, tank is from Pandemonium Choppers with a very temporary rattle can paint job, the headlight is an old Unity spotlight, the taillight bracket, exhaust and sissy bar are all custom made. Battery/Electronics box is an old Munsters lunch box. Ton of misc parts are from Lowbrow Customs. All work thing was done in a garage by myself and my brother Tim Sauter. I could have never gotten this thing together without his help.
Huge thanks to my wife Natalie. She put up with the long nights in the garage and the long days at swap meets. She’s the best!
Like I said, I wanted something fun and cheap. This thing is all kinds of fun, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love. This winter I plan on finishing up all the polishing and doing the final paint. I am also going to be replacing front wheel with a spool wheel.
Photography by Kimberly Sauter of KLS photography.
www.youtube.com – engine adjusted www.mijnalbum.nl – The original and caferacer together My hercules mk3 cafe racer project’s engine has been revived and is among the living once more. see my other video’s to see how the original moped used to look like. The moped is probably from 1972-1974, i dont have the full history.
First start, still have to set the VM32 runing rich at idle. After many problems with my Dyna-s unit, and coil… back to stock and its working. Thinking about going to Dyna coils. New Dyna-s is on the way.
Hi gang! I’m a long time rider with a few other bikes that I have always somewhat personalized but never built with all the garage made goodies. Purchased my first XS (’78 Special) in non-running condition last summer then snapped my Achilles tendon and had surgery…”twice” as I was too stubborn to follow doctors orders!
Needless to say it sat in the garage for 6 months while I was on the soul sucker (couch) recovering with ideas trampling through my head on the build. Doc finally gave the ok to walk and the fun began..!!! I ordered the hardtail from Elswick cycles. Took about 10 minutes to admire the level of quality of Roberts work, and then got right to welding that thing on. Things I fabricated from scratch…
Handlebars, Dummy oil tank for electrical, Mid-controls and linkage, and then all the misc mounting perches, plates, brackets, caliper strut w/heim joints (stole idea for Ardcore), Battery box with belt and Famous Stars & Straps buckle, etc. Drew up a maltese cross stencil for the tank on some poster paper and rattle canned it and cleared it.
I am actually pumped with the finally product and look of the bike as it was exactly what I had trapped in my head…In fact, my girlfriend rides and is so pumped after seeing and riding mine that we already picked up another XS to start building for her!
