Victory Vision: First (Unauthorized) Ride

Part 2: The Ride

We then took off for Vegas and Jake was the first one up since we were leaving in the middle of a warm day I felt it best to sacrifice him especially on a prototype bike. He proceeded to jump on the Highway and hit 115 before the end of the onramp! Well he learned not only how quick the Vision is, but how well he could see flashing lights in the big mirrors! He did not get a ticket as he exclaimed to me the cop simply wanted to knows what this was. Jake rode it up to our Phoenix store on Cave Creek Rd and that's then I found out in our haste to get going we did not check the windshield. Jake said at 125 mph it flopped over a couple of degrees and he had an instant thought or feeling he would be decapitated. So while at the Phoenix shop we looked it over and realized for packing purposes they had not locked in the windshield in the upright position so it would stay low in the crate. Ten minutes later, with the problem resolved, I asked Jake what he did and he said held the windshield until he got to Phoenix and rode over 100 miles with no hands and ran about 100mph most of the way simply holding the windshield as he was worried it might come out (which it can't).

As our entourage rides in, Dave and Danny come out of our Phoenix store laughing, saying they heard from the Tucson shop we were on the way riding the Vision. Danny took it for a spin to gas it up but had to come back as he did not know the trick to opening the fuel door, which we promptly teased him when showing him it's a simple flick of the key. He then gassed it up and came back in astonishment being an old racer and long time touring rider he was ecstatic about the handling.

Well it was my turn to play now. I mounted it and off to Vegas via the carefree highway and through Kingman, AZ. To see the look on peoples faces as I passed, was great, often times with them signaling a thumbs up and they probably didn't even know what it was. I ran 90-95mph most of the way with spurts to 125 to see how stable the bike was with the fairing at these speeds. The Vision does effortlessly. Wow! Impressive is the only word that comes to mind. I would tuck in right behind or right next to the big semi's to test wind buffeting effect and found even at high speeds the Vision slices through the wind and turbulence. Even at these higher speeds the information LCD showed I was still averaging over 49 miles per gallon!

We pulled into Kingman for lunch and parked with about 20 other motorcyclists and they swarmed the Vision. Putting the Vision through it paces on the way to Las Vegas only showed the cat-like cornering capabilities of this bike. The Vision just walked away from everyone in the curves and the tighter the curves the more the Vision excelled in performance. You sit IN this bike not on it like a lot of the others. The sitting position is more akin to that of a race car with leg room. As it started getting darker Jake and Dave said even being 1/2 to 1 mile behind they could see the back taillight on the Vision as I was threading traffic. The tail lighting on this bike is fantastic.

As for the Vision's ergonomics, all controls are easy to reach and use, and the instrumentation is cool and very functional with a welcomed fuel gauge and amp meter. There's also an information LCD screen that informs you of gear selection, fuel range, MPH average, fuel mileage average, 2 trip resets, clock and more. I wish I had an operator's manual so I could figure out all the other stuff this thing would do. The stereo is clear and crisp, even at triple digit speeds I had no problem hearing great tunes and then the plug-in MP3 was nice when I was out of Radio range and it just plugs right in. Setting the radio station presets is simple and scanning for stations is very easy also.

The trunk is HUGE! It easily holds enough for a multi-day trip for two with no problem, plus the saddlebags afford even more storage space. While some may want bigger saddlebags the look and design of the Vision would be disturbed had Victory just hung some suit cases back there like the others. The Vision has a nice little compartment for a CD changer and best of all, if not using a CD changer, it can be used for so much more. In our case we stored our guns in there to keep them secure when visiting the casinos. It comes with numerous power ports so you can keep all sorts of electronics charged up or heated clothing plugged in. Not sure if it was intended but there is so much space in the rear wheel area I am sure that adding a hitch (why?) would be no problem.

Ladies will love the room and comfort of the back seat. While being very soft and plush, it gives great back support and freedom from buffeting wind. Once they experience this "throne," if you don't own a Vision, you will be buying one. It is by far the most comfortable passenger seat out there.

For a stock bike it gets plenty of torque from is 106 V-twin overhead cam power plant and with the overdrive 6 speed the bike just sails along. I experienced the back seat for myself at 85mph. I rode for approx 47 miles sitting in the back seat with the electronic cruise on going through curves it handled like a dream. This bike is so well balanced it's as easy to ride from the back seat as it is from the front seat.

Part 3: Viva Las Vegas!