[rixemailfl]

At the whispered request of Chornbe...

Went to Daytona on Friday for the Victory Riders picnic. Put on by Victory for FREE!!! Gotta love free food!!! Got to meet Arlen & Cory Ness, pretty cool.

Well, now the topic at hand...

They had, for our viewing pleasure, both models of the Vision. (Street & Tour). The Tour has the trunk Street does not.

The Vision has a seat height of 26.5", which is supposed to be the lowest of any touring bike on the market. It's the same height as my Kingpin. As soon as I sat on the bike the first thing that hit me was the fact that it feels lighter than my Kingpin. Then the comfort of the seating position as well as the luxurious saddle. Handlebar position is perfect for me. Having a frame mounted fairing will probably take some getting used to.

Deb didn't want to get on the bike because she thought it would be too much for her to handle. I made her climb on and she about freaked out!! She said, "This thing is lighter than my Spirit!!"

The trunk on the Tour Holds 2 full face helmets with some room to spare. The sidebags were locked because they are prototype uglies on the inside.

They have a compartment on the left side of the console where you hook up your MP3 player, yada, yada, yada. Has a 6 gallon fuel capacity. Tank is mounted inside the front fairing & is split on both sides of the framework for balance & center of gravity.

Talking to some of the reps from Victory they say it handles BETTER than the Goldwing, & the BMW tourers, & that the HD's pale in comparison. Taking full lock turns while riding 2 up is no problem on this bike is what they tell me.

Still no final word on engine displacement. Should be at least 106 cu. in. (1740cc). Rumors floating of up to 122 cu. in.(2000cc). We'll see.

No rides for us lowly owners yet... They will be starting a tour around the country in June for people to test ride the bikes. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Link to photos...

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/rixemailfl/Vision Pics/


The shots of the cherry colored Tour are from a Dealer in Arizona that actually got to ride one. The JERK!!!

 

[JTravis1973]

Well it's not quite the style of bike I'd ride, Hammer Fan, but it's definitely gonna turn some heads! Glad y'all got a chance to meet Arlen. That's pretty cool!

 

[AngryHatter]

:shock:

I'd ride a Street, no question.
Wow, sweet bike, batman!

 

[Paulie]

It will be interesting to see some ride test data. I wonder how a v-twin tourer is going to match up to the existing sport tourers.

 

[bullzeyet]

Mmm, better than a BMW, HD and a Gold Wing. :roll: Two of those 3 mentioned are "pretty good".....I hope that Vision is lighter in weight by many, many pounds(not mentioned in article).

But from an article (pics/some stats) in the April/2007 issue of Motorcycle Crusier...not my cup of tea. A little TOO much "avant-garde, futurist design". Not sure how it would do in some "strong cross winds" as well. :roll:

Bullzeyet

 

[AngryHatter]

"...avant-garde, futurist design..."

Looks totally retro to me, Robin.
Like the fins on a '57 Caddy.
:wink:

 

[chornbe]

It *appears* to have some serious lean-over ground clearance. That's a huge plus. Combined with a low seat height... that's an opportunity to capture some previously out-of-luck riders. Those who wanted a sport tourer or full tourer but have shortie legs or smaller body types. I could see this being huge in that crowd.

Personally, I like the bike. I like to see *someone* having the balls to go in a different direction. It's definitely *not* a "me too" bike.

 

[TucsonDon]

The Victory is going to find some kind of market out there. It'll never unseat the Wing, the BMW or the H-D full dress touring bikes, though. Each has their rabidly loyal constituency.

I'll confess I find this bike oddly compelling. That's not to say I'd want one ... I'm of the belief -- wrongly, perhaps -- that when it comes to long distance touring 4 cylinders are better than 2; 6 superior to 4; water cooled better than air. But the styling on this Victory is unique ... that much has to be said.

Update: I see chornbe's comment about seat height and appeal to those of lesser stature. That could be a big plus, provided they can get past the aggressive styling. I'm 6' with long legs and even for me the Wing is a tall bike. I can't speak for the BMW or H-D touring bikes.

 

[chornbe]

Update: I see chornbe's comment about seat height and appeal to those of lesser stature. That could be a big plus, provided they can get past the aggressive styling. I'm 6' with long legs and even for me the Wing is a tall bike. I can't speak for the BMW or H-D touring bikes.

*some* of the HDs are on a par with the 'wing. The beamers are taller, across the board. I can handle the 'wing ok. Some of the HDs aren't much of a problem for me. But... and this is a key point... I've *always* ridden heavier and taller bikes. The 'wing and the HDs could *definitely* intimidate someone who wasn't accustomed to throwing a Concours or FJR around

I think the Victory could be a big hit. The street price and availability are going to be factors.

I like the thing.

 

[beowulf]

It *appears* to have some serious lean-over ground clearance. That's a huge plus. Combined with a low seat height... that's an opportunity to capture some previously out-of-luck riders. Those who wanted a sport tourer or full tourer but have shortie legs or smaller body types. I could see this being huge in that crowd.

Personally, I like the bike. I like to see *someone* having the balls to go in a different direction. It's definitely *not* a "me too" bike.

Couldn't agree more, it's so refreshing to see someone do something different.

I saw the bike at Daytona also and I like it alot more in person than the pics I'd seen previously. Actually we had a real treat. The display was closed but the security guy invited us in to sit on it and talk. He knew pretty much everything there is to know about it, a few details like engine size are secret. All in all I really liked the bike, though I'm still not sure about the tourer if I had the bucks I'd seriously think about the street.

 

[TucsonDon]

I think the Victory could be a big hit. The street price and availability are going to be factors.

I'd love to have inside information on what the folks at Victory were thinking when they set marketing strategy for this thing. They didn't plan for or build this thing in a vacuum ... they surely knew they were going up against the class of the field -- Honda, BMW and Harley. Equally as certain is they discussed how to compete against the attributes of those bikes, as well as find a niche unique to just the Victory.

I think they did what they had to do to differentiate themselves from the H-D tourer. The styling of the Victory clearly sets it apart from H-D. There's no confusing the two. The air cooled V-Twin is what sets it apart from the Honda and BMW.

From a purely marketing point of view I wonder about the styling. It reminds me of the Rune. Opinions on that ran hot or cold. It's a little tough to directly compare the Victory to the Rune in terms of market acceptance because the Rune's price tag -- $27K -- might have priced that bike out of the reach of pretty much everyone but collectors. Still, to the extent the Victory's styling puts off potential buyers, I think that's what's going to make/break the bike's initial success. Being new and daring earns press kudos sometimes, but $20K is $20K (a lot of money) to the average buyer. Whether they'll risk that to be different is yet to be determined.

 

[Guest]

The Victory is going to find some kind of market out there. It'll never unseat the Wing, the BMW or the H-D full dress touring bikes, though. Each has their rabidly loyal constituency.

I'll confess I find this bike oddly compelling. That's not to say I'd want one ... I'm of the belief -- wrongly, perhaps -- that when it comes to long distance touring 4 cylinders are better than 2; 6 superior to 4; water cooled better than air. But the styling on this Victory is unique ... that much has to be said.

Update: I see chornbe's comment about seat height and appeal to those of lesser stature. That could be a big plus, provided they can get past the aggressive styling. I'm 6' with long legs and even for me the Wing is a tall bike. I can't speak for the BMW or H-D touring bikes.

Understandably the smoothness of fours and sixes make long distance touring a beautiful thing but one must remember that twins have been doing touring duty long before fours and sixes were anywhere near mainstream carrying countless riders on wonderful adventures.

 

[TucsonDon]

Understandably the smoothness of fours and sixes make long distance touring a beautiful thing but one must remember that twins have been doing touring duty long before fours and sixes were anywhere near mainstream carrying countless riders on wonderful adventures.

Oh, no question about that. My co-worker has an H-D Ultra Glide and reports many, many miles of quite enjoyable rides. You'll notice I qualified my comment with a note about how my beliefs may be incorrectly held. I've put enough years under my belt to know that there are very few things I know for certain. That's what age will do, I guess.

I would think the water cooled part would be more critical. I heard -- again, don't know -- that H-D is prepping their line for water cooling. I think it has more to do with emissions standards than reliability, though being forced to go water cooled for emissions might drag along other benefits of water cooled design. But the fact that Victory's bike is air cooled kind of throws a damper on that notion that air cooled is on its way out in general. Again, there're more I don't know than do lately.

No disrespect to V-Twins intended ... just a quirky notion held in my addled brain.

 

[russellxenia]

It *appears* to have some serious lean-over ground clearance. That's a huge plus. Combined with a low seat height... that's an opportunity to capture some previously out-of-luck riders. Those who wanted a sport tourer or full tourer but have shortie legs or smaller body types. I could see this being huge in that crowd.

Personally, I like the bike. I like to see *someone* having the balls to go in a different direction. It's definitely *not* a "me too" bike.

I'm one of those short legged/body guys and I love the idea of a low seat tourer!!!!

 

[Paulie]

Understandably the smoothness of fours and sixes make long distance touring a beautiful thing but one must remember that twins have been doing touring duty long before fours and sixes were anywhere near mainstream carrying countless riders on wonderful adventures.

Good point Dave, I might add that the latest generations of V-Twins have come a long way with counter balancing and such, to smooth out the ride. If you shift them well and don't lug the engine, they afford some pretty smooth power and lots of it. Maybe not wing, fjr smooth, but good enough for alot of miles.

 

[chornbe]

Understandably the smoothness of fours and sixes make long distance touring a beautiful thing but one must remember that twins have been doing touring duty long before fours and sixes were anywhere near mainstream carrying countless riders on wonderful adventures.

Good point Dave, I might add that the latest generations of V-Twins have come a long way with counter balancing and such, to smooth out the ride. If you shift them well and don't lug the engine, they afford some pretty smooth power and lots of it. Maybe not wing, fjr smooth, but good enough for alot of miles.

*nods* I did that 3000+ mile trip last year on the Sabre and the stupid windshield buffeting was far, far, far more of a factor than the engine. I never felt the v-twin was an issue, but then it's a rubber mounted engine and it's a twin-pin design. I'm sure a rigid mount or a single pin would have had me feeling a bit different about it.

 

[Smib]

I'm a huge fan of the Kingpin.
I also like just about everything else Victory has put out over the years.

Not so much into the Vision.
I'm sure it's an awesome bike, but it's just not my style.

I've got my heart set on a Star Stratoliner (or Roadliner, depends on what kind of deal I can find).
Barring that, I'd definitely be looking for a Kingpin.

 

[rixemailfl]

Being among the Victory ranks myself I get to hear a lot of what some of the folks that already own Vics are saying about the Vision.

It is one of those things where you are sure about your feelings. You either like it or you don't. They ones that have the Touring Cruiser from Victory seem to not like it much at all, they want the "old style" bagger.

The ones that have some of the other bikes mostly seem to like it.

I believe that Victory was expecting this when they did the Vision. I'm sure they were expecting the same type of reaction when they did the Vegas & Kingpin too. A lot of people really disliked the Kinpin design when it first was revealed. Now it's probably Victory's best selling bike.


As far as pricing goes.... One of those secrets, again. They have said it will be competitive with the Goldwing & other touring bikes on the market.


Me personally, I like it!!! I've got to go see what a Goldwing feels like now. Then I'll decide what I'm gonna do.

I'm leaning toward the Victory so far.

 

[Xodus]

I like the look of the vision street alot... but I know it will probably be way out of my price range.

 

[rixemailfl]

Just wanted to post some quotes from some folks in Arizona that got to actually ride & see the bike in action.

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The bike is quiet, much unlike my Pin which I purposely piped up and the windshield provides the “cone of silence” effect found on the BMWs and Goldwings. Two-up there is an unbelievable amount of room. We could have gone 3-up.
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Very comfortable and I witnessed a man pull circles on it in about the same space as my 2 car drive way, with his wife on the back. Same guy also pulled the front end about 12 inches off the ground when he gunned it. Hell of a bike!
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The Vision is capable of turning on a dime, I watched it turn 360's under power in about eleven and half feet. The floor boards never touched the ground. It is my opinion as is Mike's that you will not find any other touring bike anywhere that will compete in that regard, absent a sport bike.
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For those that are interested.