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Victory Hammer 8-Ball (2010-current)

Detail	Value
New price	£11,495
Used price range	View Victory HAMMER bikes for sale to see current asking prices
Engine size	1731cc
Power	92bhp
Top speed	115mph
Insurance group

	MCN ratings	Owners' ratings
Overall
Engine
Ride & Handling
Equipment
Quality & Reliability
Value

MCN overall verdict

The Victory Hammer 8-Ball is basically a lower-seat, cheaper specification version of the Hammer muscle bike. It still has the same gutsy motor, but instead of twin front brake discs it has a single caliper and rotor, plain black paint instead of the more upmarket finish usually seen and the suspension is lowered front and rear to drop the seat 17mm. The footpegs are further back to suit short riders too. The result is a loss of ground clearance and braking capability for the £1000 saving.

MCN rating
Owners' rating

Unlike Harley-Davidson’s pushrod engines, Victory’s DOHC 1731cc twin is a modern feeling engine. It sits in a happy middleground between the characterful but crude Hogs, and the smooth but anodyne parallel twin of the Triumph Thunderbird. There’s just enough thudding vibes to give it a bit of character, but it’s happy to rev hard to its redline without rattling the fluid out of your spine. 90-odd bhp and 113lb-ft of torque is serious shove.

MCN rating
Owners' rating

The standard and S-model Hammer are relatively useful through the bends. The Hammer 8-Balls’ chassis is equally capable, and more manageable at low speed, but the lower chassis calls time on fun very early – the pegs can be scraped doing u-turns. It’s a serious limit on what can be done. The single disc has less feel too. If you feel the need for the lower seat, you have to accept you can’t ride it through turns so hard.

MCN rating
Owners' rating

The 8-Ball is the cheaper version of a simple bike, so you get very little. There’s no rev counter, you get one less brake disc, and there’s very little else to it. There’s pillion seat under the cowl, but it’s barely worth mentioning, let alone using. It’s a muscle bike: buy a tourer if you want loads of features and gadgets. Compare and buy parts for the Victory in the MCN Shop.

MCN rating
Owners' rating

One of the key attractions of Victorys, especially next to H-Ds, is the build quality. There are very few nasty or crude details, and paint/metal finishing is to a very high standard. Reliability issues are almost unheard of – the odd niggle, but nothing more than you’d expect from any manufacturer.

MCN rating
Owners' rating

It’s an expensive bike – but there’s a lot of metal, a lot of engine and a lot of road presence. But unless you really need the lower seat height and can’t stretch an extra £1000 for the standard model, the ground clearance and braking sacrifice isn’t worth it. Find a Victory Hammer for sale

Insurance group: n/a

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2010: New model

Victory Hammer: The standard model. Muscle bike with 240-section back tyre and lurid paint for 2010.
Victory Hammer Sport: Lighter wheels, all-black chassis detailing and hot-rod paint finishes make the Sport model the one to have if you can stretch to the price.

Specifications

Top speed	115mph
1/4-mile acceleration	secs
Power	92bhp
Torque	113ftlb
Weight	305kg
Seat height	660mm
Fuel capacity	litres
Average fuel consumption	40mpg
Tank range	140 miles
Insurance group

Engine size	1731cc
Engine specification	8v DOHC air-cooled v-twin, 6 gears. Belt drive
Frame	Steel cradle
Front suspension adjustment	none
Rear suspension adjustment	Preload only
Front brakes	300mm disc, 4-piston caliper
Rear brake	300mm disc, 2-piston caliper
Front tyre size	130/70-R18
Rear tyre size	250/40-R18

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Owners' Overall Rating (2 reviews)

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First impressions Hammer 8Ball

Anonymous

Average rating

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Ride and Handling
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Quality and Reliabilty
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Had the bike a week, only managed about 200 miles so far because of the weather but I'm very pleased. The motor is a peach with plenty of lazy power to give serious shove in any gear and there are enough vibrations to give some character without becoming uncomfortable. The gearbox is very precise and and easy to use with 6th giving 60 mph at about 2000 rpm. The intruments are all contained in the one chrome covered unit, giving an clean unfussy look that I like. There is a digital rev counter and you can scroll through this with the odometer and trip by use of the headlight flasher type switch on the left bar which is a sensible and convenient. There is a gear indicator and a clock with the usual idiot lights included withing the dial also. It's a shame a tank guage wasn't included in the scrolled displays instead of just a fuel light. Handling is excellent for this type of bike just needing a bit more counter steering than a roadster type bike, this is good considering that 250 mm rear tyre. Being 6'3" I am swapping the foothangers for standard Hammer ones to give me the important 2" extra legroom. I'm also swapping the handlebars for Dragbars because it's no fun hanging on with bent arms on the motorway. The build quality seems top notch and I'm hoping to have a long association with this bike to prove it.

26 April 2012
johnsmail

johnsmail2k

Average rating

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Had bike for a year, never worried about single front disc, brakes fine. Does tend to ground cornering too fast but you get used to that. Previously had the Vegas 8 ball and prior to that a string of Kawasaki cruisers. Love the bike.

11 October 2011

Overall
Ride and Handling
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Overall
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petervoros says

Hammer 8 Ball

I'm about to take delivery of a new Hammer 8 Ball. There wasn't a demo one to try but I had a go on a 2010 model Vegas Jackpot which had the same engine and only one front disc, I found the braking to be adequate even with the skinny 21" front wheel. The demo had a stage one kit with leaf blower exhaust which I found to be headache inducing in town with the sound bouncing off all hard surfaces and that was using custom fit earplugs! The standard exhausts are if anything too quiet but aftermarket exhausts to add a little more attitude are currently very rare if not at all available, come on guys get it sorted.

That motor has immense shove when you give it a handful in any gear and the gearbox is very accurate and positive needing smooth inputs from the rider. This is what this bike is all about along with superb build quality. Victory is a consistent winner of JD Power satisfaction surveys in the US so they must be doing something right.

Oh and there is one fact that is rarely reported on by the press about servicing, the 2500 mile intervals of the 5 speed models has been extended to 5000 miles on the new 6 speeders, this helped me make my mind up between a Streetbob and the Hammer. Harleys are fine and I wouldn't knock them but the Victory is far better built and suited to todays requirements for a reliable and stylish ride.

I can't wait to get my Hammer.

18 April 2012 19:19