The Three-Wheel World Gains Power- PITBOSS

Found this great article on the New Pit boss review from motorcycle.com. I personally had the opportunity to drive this trike in Daytona for Bike Week 2008. John Lehmans himself said “Matt, make sure you’ve taken one of those new Victory’s for a ride to lunch sometime this week”. So i did and I personally loved it. It got a lot, a lot, a lot, of looks and was very beefy. And of course it handled like a Lehmans should. Here is another article you might like on Lehmans “Tramp” its a Suzuki C50!

By J. Joshua Placa, Aug. 12, 2008, Photography by J. Joshua Placa

Trike riders are special. They occupy a curious market that’s tricky to define, riding an odd sort of machine that is neither fish nor fowl—not a motorcycle or a car but behaving a bit like both. That niche, however, is growing quickly as interest in the three-wheel world gains momentum.

Lehman’s Victory Kingpin-based Pitboss doesn’t mess around. It is a well-muscled, sleek machine that can attract riders in and out of the traditional trike domain. Finding that irregular market target has been Victory’s forte for the last few years.

The factory’s strategy has focused on vacant niches—be where the competition isn’t. In the ultra-competitive world of motorcycling, this is not a bad idea. The Minnesota OEM has built success on edgy factory customs that are aimed at customers not in other, long-established manufacturers’ crosshairs.

‘The Victory trike was a sneaky left hook right to the kisser.’

Of course, there is some overlap, but Victory chief, Mark Blackwell, has done a nice job slipping and dodging the big body blows of larger OEMs, picking his spots and delivering crisp shots to their nether parts. It’s a tough business out there.

The Victory trike was a sneaky left hook right to the kisser. For a company building a reputation on highly styled power cruisers, the idea of adding a three-wheeler to the lineup seemed, well, weird. Trikes are stodgy; they’re for old guys in plaid pants and sensible shoes. But guess what? Old guys dominate motorcycling, especially in the cruiser and touring classes, and we don’t wear plaid except maybe on special occasions when we’re hustling pool at the senior citizen’s home.

Jerry Wohlrabe, a Victory dealer and owner of Prescott Valley, AZ-based Prescott Valley Motorcycles, said the Pitboss is doing a brisk business. “The trikes appeal mostly to the over-50 set. People who feel like their skills may have eroded a little, or have leg problems or just like a ride with a lot of stability. It’s been a cottage industry for quite some time but now they’re taking off and selling in significant numbers.”

See full article here