Well show and tell time is over, it's time to ride. I jump on, Lisa gets on the back seat, I turn the key, press the starter and the bike comes to life. Not a roar, but not a sewing machine either. No vibration, but you can hear that 106 cu inch engine come to life with a pleasant low tone churn. Dropping it into 1st and pulling away was as normal and uneventful as getting out of a chair and going for a walk. After zig-zagging between some still parked bikes, it was a quick left, down a steep incline to a 90 degree right, a small straight across the lower level parking lot to another sharp left with a steep incline to the stop sign. Ok, I'm awake now!!! At that moment I acknowledged that this bike was not handling like a "heavy cruiser" but more nimble like a Sport Touring bike. I also noted that the brakes, both front and integrated rear, felt positive and really helped with this low-speed parking lot maneuvering. Several bikes were in front of us as we went through the parking lot, but at the stop a few cars on the road split up the group a little, but safety first, and I pulled out with another Vision right behind me, and that left one more group in the rear. Immediately we are in some mild twisties and as I knew there were several bikes behind, I did my best to keep the front group in sight without losing the bikes to my rear. This afforded me the opportunity start "testing" the different aspects of this bike.

I already knew from the parking lot experience that this bike was handling great, but I was curious what it would feel like on the road and was pleasantly surprised. It really did feel like a Sport Touring bike, just bigger. It handled essentially like a larger version of my 2002 Moto Guzzi LeMans sport. It took very little effort, almost none actually, to push the handlebars and drop the bike into the corners. After zig-zagging through the first set of twists I remembered I had a passenger, or at least started out with one. Lisa and I had our communicators hooked up and I checked to see if she was still there. She of course was and just enjoying the ride. Frankly if I didn't know she was sitting back there, I certainly wouldn't know it from "feeling" her back there. The passenger seems to have little to no affect on how the bike handles. As zigs and zags opened up into some straighter stretches I confirmed for myself all that has been written about the responsiveness, available power and general handling. This bike is comfortable, easy to handle, well geared and just a pleasure to ride.

After a couple of miles into the test ride, it was time to check out some of the creature comforts. As it was now still only about 55 degrees out, I adjusted the windshield so that there was no air against us. When I say "no air", I do not mean, minimal, I mean no discernible breeze at all. I thought to myself that if I was smoking one of my cigars I would definately need an ashtray, cause the ashes would not be blowing away, they would just fall. Next up I turned on the heated grips and seat. Lisa also got her seat heater turned on, although she mentioned there were two toggle switches and she couldn't tell which was what, but the end result was the seat got warm and it was very nice, very comfortable, and that's all that mattered. Next up I turned on the XM Radio and adjusted the volume. The volume control is a little odd, or seemed a little odd, like there was a delay, but not enough to really spend time figuring out. It worked and sounded great. In fact it sounded much better than the in-helmet system I have. Coincidently the first tune we hear is Billy Joel singing that it's just Rock'N Roll, "Riding my motorbike in the rain" which set the mood for the rest of the test ride tour. Most of the ride was rural roads, twisting and winding mixed with straight sections, and an occasional traffic circle, small town and railroad track crossings. A very pleasant Saturday morning ride. The heated grips and aerodynamics had us easily forgetting that is was still only a little over 50 degrees out.

As the ride progressed I started to notice other nice touches. The gear indicator, the easy to read speedometer and tachometer. The fuel level and even the ambient temperature, again reminding us, we should be cold on this damp gray morning, even though we weren't. I found the shifting very smooth, but only as long as the rpm's were up. If shifting much below 3000 rpm, there was the distinctive Victory clunk. However, shifting above 3000 rpm, was a smooth, positive click. I spent most of the ride in 4th at speeds up to 50-60 mph with no need to go to 5th, let alone 6th. In fact I think the only time I hit 5th was when we got to the highway portion of the ride, and I never got to 6th. Pulling onto the highway I left plenty of room between myself and the bike in front of us and as they say "went for it." Basically just twisted the throttle wide open and shifted every time the tach got around 3800 rpm. I noticed we were reaching 85 mph as I dropped it into 5th, but as I was still on the onramp and had to merge into some traffic, I backed off. I did some roll-on throttle tests in 5th on the Highway running 50-80mph with ease and no need to downshift. Although I never did get it into 6th, the ride was super smooth, and still no wind on us. It's an odd feeling really. With the dash farther in front than on most bikes, we had this feeling of sitting or floating on a comfy chair in a big invisible bubble while the highway and scenery passed by.

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