When the Victory Octane was released along with its close cousin the Indian Scout the Harley Davidson 48 is its nearest comparable bike from HD.
But how does the Harley Davidson 48 compare with the Victory Octane?
I wont really comment on this as its best you watch this video below and make your own decision. However it is a fact that The Victory / Indian line up from Polaris must be causing Harley Davidson some concern and their R&D guys looking seriously what they need to do to ensure they retain their current market share, or better still how they can increase it.
The Harley Davidson 48 in this video had just 1100 miles up when Russian Rider took it for a good 22 minute video recorded test run so he could compare it to his recent likes and dislikes reviews on the Victory Octane.
A test run review was also done by SanFranciscoRider on the Indian Scout which although very similar to the Octane, only shares around 30% of components with the Octane, and Unholy Rider also does a road run on the Victory Octane as a comparison, along with Archinul417 who I also post his experience with his Victory Octane Review.
When Russian Rider collected the Harley Davidson 48 from the dealer he did comment a few times he didn’t feel confident on the bike but this seemed to ease off as the ride went on. I think this may have been due to the bike feeling heavier that he expected, and the center of gravity higher.
Having a 1200cc engine the bike had plenty of grunt especially once the revs got up, but from low down how did it compare with the Victory? He didn’t seem that impressed with the amount of vibration which didn’t ease off until around 70mph in top gear, plus also the comfort level.
This is often a case of being solved with adjustment or even replacing the handle bars, and perhaps a different seat more suited to the riders height and weight.
In the last couple minutes of the video the rider gives more info on how he considered the 2 bikes compared.