Keeping up with the Harley-Joneses

Giving credit where credit is due, we must recognize the founding father of this scene – Harley-Davidson. Harley baggers are icons of the segment. However, in only the past year of so, at least two new machines are after a piece of the pie that’s mostly on Harley’s plate.

Victory Motorcycles has made a frontal assault with its Cross Country.
Late last year we gave the Cross the nod in a shootout against Harley’s Road Glide. It provides everything the Harley does (at least in functional terms), and then some, while somehow managing to cost less than the Harley.

It seems riders are taking notice of the Cross Country, as Victory points to demand for its Cross Country (and Cross Roads) as contributing to an increase of over 50% in third quarter 2010 U.S. sales compared to the same period last year.
Not long after the Cross Country saw the light of day, Star unveiled the Stratoliner Deluxe – a batwinged and baggerized version of Star’s stylish and powerful Stratoliner. The Deluxe’s MSRP and new fork-mounted fairing places it in the same game as the Cross Country and Harley.





Timing of the Strato Deluxe to market prevented us from comparing it to the Victory and Harley, but our patience has been rewarded now that we can finally bring all three machines together.