Victory Vision ride

[BladeRunner]

...very futuristic...

Flash AAHH aahh

Gay OOH ooh

 

[ctfjr]

This bike is like no other out there. I cant wait to get some out to customers and see what they think.. but Victory set out to make a very serious contender in the touring world, and they have definately done it!

Spam.

+1

 

[El Toro]

This bike is like no other out there. I cant wait to get some out to customers and see what they think.. but Victory set out to make a very serious contender in the touring world, and they have definately done it!

Spam.

+1

I agree that the original post was spam for sure.

 

[Radical]

I rode one about two weeks ago and can't get it out of my mind. It's like a horror movie playing over and over.

Handling is mediocare at best and you have to think through each and every corner or you're going to tank. The gauges are nice. The rear trunk looks like an after thought that someone just threw on there. I think they took the look of an old 1500 Gold Wing for the front and Grandma's luggage for the rear.

The bike is heavy and stable at road speed but over done to the point of boring. I'll take a Harley or Gold Wing full dresser over this any day. The Gold Wing is more comfortable and smoother too.

On a last note I did not get any oohs or ahhhs when I stopped and it did not get a crowd looking at it. A few glances and some smirks but no real attention.

 

[El Toro]

On a last note I did not get any oohs or ahhhs when I stopped and it did not get a crowd looking at it. A few glances and some smirks but no real attention.

The attention I drew on the one I rode was a surprise to me. Middle Tennessee is an area where sport touring bikes are few and far between. If you walk into any UJM showroom, you'll find mostly metric cruisers. And when you drive around and do a census, most of what you see are H-D's, two up, flip flops, shorts, T's, and skid lids.

I did not draw as much attention on my Norge when it was brand new. The closest to the attention level that I've had to the Vision with a bike of my own was when I bought a new V-Strom DL1000.

No accounting for taste, I guess. No one will ever mistake a Victory Vision for a BMW :lol: .

As for me personally, I wouldn't have any of them, Goldwing, full dress H-D, metric cruiser, or even the BMW K12LT. If I wanted something decked out and over 800 pounds, I'd go with a BMW sports car.

 

[jmdaniel]

Well, I have a bit more of a ride review than what started this thread, having just completed a 5 day/1450 mile trip through Northern Wisconsin and Michigan's UP. My buddy works for Polaris, so I have been riding various Victorys since they began making them, 10 years ago. This year, I rode his new Vision, while he borrowed another from a co-worker. Here the bikes were in Grand Marais, MI:

Like I said, I have ridden Victorys since they started building them, and I think they have taken a step back with the Vision. It just doesn't inspire me to get on and ride. Smooth at highway speeds, but it takes awhile to get there, and is cumbersome to handle at lower speeds. They have "sliders" bolted into the frame, both front and rear, with the rears scaring the hell out of me on the first day. If you drag your feet slightly while taking off, and those feet catch on the ground, it is entirely possible that the bike will break your lower legs as the sliders hit your calves. I really never got used to horsing the weight around, and wouldn't want to. I moved away from V-Twins when I sold my 1300 VTX to get the Feejer, and I'm not going back. The Vision has a rev limiter at around 5200, and I hit it on the first day, forgetting for a moment what I was riding. The heat on my legs wasn't a big issue, but we were in Michigan; I'm not so sure that would play real well here in Texas. The iPod interface never worked correctly, and the stereo controls also were a bit flawed.

The folks at Victory have been working hard over the years to build their brand, and they have definitely carved out a chunk of the American-made cruiser market. I just think they have some work to do on the Vision, if it is ever going to be anything more than and eye-catcher and curiosity piece.

 

[krashdragon]

A 2 cyl is half of a 4 cyl bike....<G>

anyway, I like riding the 8Ball, but if I was going to get another cruiser, I'd get the low Vegas.

however, since I've ridden the FJR, I've now come to my senses and am looking for a smaller version.

Triumph Sprint ST or Suzuki GSX650F with bags....<G> Hey, with the side cases and topbag, they're not sport bikes, they're touring bikes... at least for the insurance peeps!

the BMW F650ST is nice but a bit pricey. $14200 OTD quoted here in Dallas.

the Vision is flat plain assed UGLY~! Wouldn't even trade my slow pokey Harley for one!

mary

 

[v65]

the Vision is flat plain assed UGLY~!

I don't know, kind of reminds me of an old friend

 

[Clark Kent]

This is a good thread. The report on the Victory is excellet, but not written by Clark Kent. I am Clark Kent and I didn't write it.

I have been out of the country (saving the world)

It could be Batman, up to his old tricks!

 

[Big Sky]

Don't mean to hijack, but I rode my cousin's Excelsior-Henderson in mid July. Not much time and the wind was howling at 40-50 mph. He thought the big grin on my face was from pleasure, not suspecting I had been laughing my ass off. What a joke! An $18,000 two-wheeled tractor! Christ, an old John Deere two-lunger is twice as smooth! This thing has (chromed, of course) external fork springs that shimmy and shake and jive around at idle faster than the pistons go up and down. Very clunky, very mechanically noisy, just a very, very crude piece of machinery... But absolutely loaded with chrome! In the seat, you see the backside of the headlight nacelle - about the size of a basketball and makes a fine fun-house mirror as you stare at your own comically distorted image. And this thing is at about adams-apple height. Then there's the backs of the signal lights: yup, a couple of chromed softballs. Everything is just so over-sized, over-stated. It's like, "Look, we've got even bigger balls than a Harley!" If whacked WFO and held there, it will get up and go...about as fast as my son's 1996 Seca II, but it sure as hell doesn't want to and doesn't like it - it's literally trying to shake itself to bits, protesting like crazy. It was pathetic but still a very fascinating experience in riding a machine that is all about show and not at all about go. The company burned through $270 million in just a few years before going tits up, primarily because of lavish expenses and poor business management. Had they weathered the first three or four years, they'd have gone bankrupt anyway for building a ridiculous and very heavy pile of junk.

 

[JRO]

Don't mean to hijack, but I rode my cousin's Excelsior-Henderson in mid July. Not much time and the wind was howling at 40-50 mph. He thought the big grin on my face was from pleasure, not suspecting I had been laughing my ass off. What a joke! An $18,000 two-wheeled tractor! Christ, an old John Deere two-lunger is twice as smooth! This thing has (chromed, of course) external fork springs that shimmy and shake and jive around at idle faster than the pistons go up and down. Very clunky, very mechanically noisy, just a very, very crude piece of machinery... But absolutely loaded with chrome! In the seat, you see the backside of the headlight nacelle - about the size of a basketball and makes a fine fun-house mirror as you stare at your own comically distorted image. And this thing is at about adams-apple height. Then there's the backs of the signal lights: yup, a couple of chromed softballs. Everything is just so over-sized, over-stated. It's like, "Look, we've got even bigger balls than a Harley!" If whacked WFO and held there, it will get up and go...about as fast as my son's 1996 Seca II, but it sure as hell doesn't want to and doesn't like it - it's literally trying to shake itself to bits, protesting like crazy. It was pathetic but still a very fascinating experience in riding a machine that is all about show and not at all about go. The company burned through $270 million in just a few years before going tits up, primarily because of lavish expenses and poor business management. Had they weathered the first three or four years, they'd have gone bankrupt for building a ridiculous and very heavy pile of junk.

I was very entertained by your post. My oldest son was looking at these things, less than a year ago. He chased a couple down, but before dumping any money, he almost purchased one of the 'new' Indians, instead. Another (literally) shake-apart machine.

Thank goodness I bought the FJR. After spending some time on my bike, he decided riding jackhammers wasn't such a great thing, after all. He ended up on a Rocket III.

I hate to admit it, but I'd rather be on the Vision than an Excelsior-Henderson, or a late-model Indian.

What did your cousin think, when you told him why you were grin(macing)?

 

[Big Sky]

I said something very neutral like, "Boy, that's really sumthin'!" I did say, too, something like, "Yup, that's quite a machine... but not my style. Thanks for letting me experience that." I was thinking: "What in the hell were you thinking?!"

I also imagined my wife would like riding pillion...as long as she reached climax within the first 10 miles.

I suppose a great bar-to-bar bike and show piece, but to actually ride it somewhere? I think not.

Glad your son came to his senses. He must have decided he wanted to ride instead of pose.