Clark Kent
Well-known member
Taken from another site
Ok.. I just got done with about 45 mins on a Vison Tour w/ comfort package. We rode under a variety of condtions from 2 lane residential to interstate. Here are my impressions.
In true magazine style heres a little about me. I've been a sportbike rider (one might say hardcore) for 16 years. I've been working at dealers on and off since before highschool. I do a lot of track days, but equally can be found on a touring bike doing my annual Blue Ridge Parkway run. I am 6'0" at 215lbs (and I need to lose about 20 but anyway). In the last 10 years I've done almost 350k miles on various bikes.
So you climb on the thing. I deliberately rode a 06 GL1800 for a little bit before I took this demo so I could compare. The seat is lower.. by quite a bite. There was a lady on the Street model next to me who went about 5'5" and she looked very comfortable getting it off the stand. The seat is very cushy. There is a long smooth panel heading directly away from you, past the steering stem and WAY out to the gauges. Gauges are nice, very visible. Lots of good data, air temp gauge reads 89 as I climb on. There just seems to be lots of bike out in front of you. The "tank" of the bike widens as it runs away from your crotch out the edges of a very wide fairing. The built in driver backrest gives very nice support. I put my cell phone etc in the nice size pocked on the left just in from of the steering stem and grab the key.
So I turn the bike over. Yup, its a Victory. Noisy starting gear, and the sewing machine idle sound. My bike was loaded - XM radio and Tour Tech GPS. I fiddled with both gadgets all through the ride. The stereo is awesome. Makes the one on the GL1800 sound like an old AM unit. The automatic volume control is near perfect, though at big speed it seems to turn the volume up louder than is necessary. I wear size XL gloves and it was still a bit hard for me to reach the left hand bar mounted audio controls with my thumb while still holding the bar... no biggie. Cruise controls on the right bar are the same way BTW. The GPS has a nice screen and is easy to see. The voice unit through the speakers is nice. That said it was hard to control and not my favorite unit. I have a Garmin Quest 2, and would have preferred a similar setup.
Off we go. I'm near the very back of the group and the image of 40ish Visions stretched out in front of me was cool. The bike shifts like Victorys have always shifted. Positively, but a bit noisy. Especially N to 1st. Using the Goldwing comparision again, this thing has a lower center of gravity. A pretty hard slomem back and forth doesnt upset the bike a bit. It feels very agile. I hit a couple speed bumps on the way out, but the suspension soaked it up nicely. As we ran up the speed a bit, I raised and lowered the electric windscreen (this switch is in perfect position BTW! Easy to use) At highway speed even full up I found myself wishing for the optional tall windscreen, but only a little bit. Wind protection (and in my mind weather protection) is world-beating. I also want to say again how nice the seat is... this is the best stock motorcycle seat I've ridden on.. and I've ridden them all. My only comfort squak is a bit of heat on my calves. Hey its a full faired air cooled machine.. its to be expected. Bars are in a good postion for me, wide enough to give great leverage.
The 106 motor is STRONG! This bike has all the motivation it needs! I earned myself a mild scolding when wew got back for doing to things Victory probably wouldnt like. On I-24 I held way back for a little bit, then gassed it... really let it eat. She ran through 100mph with great ease. I also duplicated the feat one of the english motorcycle press wrote about. On a straigh piece of interstate I set the cruise and jumped up on the back seat. Cruise held nice, the bike just motors along. The rear seat is awful nice. I almost didnt want to get back up front. I repeated the exercise with sheild all the way down, and the wind was still very managable for the passenger. The women in our lives are really going to dig it back there.
All good things must come to an end. Overall I thought the bike was outstanding. The exhaust note is crying out for a least a set of slip ons, as all Victorys do. I've decided the suspension might be just a shade over dampened, but with a passenger and luggage I may change my mind in that. It could benefit from an anti dive system, as it tended to nose over a bit under hard braking. 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!
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Good post, but not by Clark Kent. It was somehow posted under my name, but incorrectly. I didn't write it.
Batman, are you up to your old tricks?
Ok.. I just got done with about 45 mins on a Vison Tour w/ comfort package. We rode under a variety of condtions from 2 lane residential to interstate. Here are my impressions.
In true magazine style heres a little about me. I've been a sportbike rider (one might say hardcore) for 16 years. I've been working at dealers on and off since before highschool. I do a lot of track days, but equally can be found on a touring bike doing my annual Blue Ridge Parkway run. I am 6'0" at 215lbs (and I need to lose about 20 but anyway). In the last 10 years I've done almost 350k miles on various bikes.
So you climb on the thing. I deliberately rode a 06 GL1800 for a little bit before I took this demo so I could compare. The seat is lower.. by quite a bite. There was a lady on the Street model next to me who went about 5'5" and she looked very comfortable getting it off the stand. The seat is very cushy. There is a long smooth panel heading directly away from you, past the steering stem and WAY out to the gauges. Gauges are nice, very visible. Lots of good data, air temp gauge reads 89 as I climb on. There just seems to be lots of bike out in front of you. The "tank" of the bike widens as it runs away from your crotch out the edges of a very wide fairing. The built in driver backrest gives very nice support. I put my cell phone etc in the nice size pocked on the left just in from of the steering stem and grab the key.
So I turn the bike over. Yup, its a Victory. Noisy starting gear, and the sewing machine idle sound. My bike was loaded - XM radio and Tour Tech GPS. I fiddled with both gadgets all through the ride. The stereo is awesome. Makes the one on the GL1800 sound like an old AM unit. The automatic volume control is near perfect, though at big speed it seems to turn the volume up louder than is necessary. I wear size XL gloves and it was still a bit hard for me to reach the left hand bar mounted audio controls with my thumb while still holding the bar... no biggie. Cruise controls on the right bar are the same way BTW. The GPS has a nice screen and is easy to see. The voice unit through the speakers is nice. That said it was hard to control and not my favorite unit. I have a Garmin Quest 2, and would have preferred a similar setup.
Off we go. I'm near the very back of the group and the image of 40ish Visions stretched out in front of me was cool. The bike shifts like Victorys have always shifted. Positively, but a bit noisy. Especially N to 1st. Using the Goldwing comparision again, this thing has a lower center of gravity. A pretty hard slomem back and forth doesnt upset the bike a bit. It feels very agile. I hit a couple speed bumps on the way out, but the suspension soaked it up nicely. As we ran up the speed a bit, I raised and lowered the electric windscreen (this switch is in perfect position BTW! Easy to use) At highway speed even full up I found myself wishing for the optional tall windscreen, but only a little bit. Wind protection (and in my mind weather protection) is world-beating. I also want to say again how nice the seat is... this is the best stock motorcycle seat I've ridden on.. and I've ridden them all. My only comfort squak is a bit of heat on my calves. Hey its a full faired air cooled machine.. its to be expected. Bars are in a good postion for me, wide enough to give great leverage.
The 106 motor is STRONG! This bike has all the motivation it needs! I earned myself a mild scolding when wew got back for doing to things Victory probably wouldnt like. On I-24 I held way back for a little bit, then gassed it... really let it eat. She ran through 100mph with great ease. I also duplicated the feat one of the english motorcycle press wrote about. On a straigh piece of interstate I set the cruise and jumped up on the back seat. Cruise held nice, the bike just motors along. The rear seat is awful nice. I almost didnt want to get back up front. I repeated the exercise with sheild all the way down, and the wind was still very managable for the passenger. The women in our lives are really going to dig it back there.
All good things must come to an end. Overall I thought the bike was outstanding. The exhaust note is crying out for a least a set of slip ons, as all Victorys do. I've decided the suspension might be just a shade over dampened, but with a passenger and luggage I may change my mind in that. It could benefit from an anti dive system, as it tended to nose over a bit under hard braking. 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!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good post, but not by Clark Kent. It was somehow posted under my name, but incorrectly. I didn't write it.
Batman, are you up to your old tricks?
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