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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | I spend about 6 hours at the International Motorcycle Show in Fort Worth Texas on Saturday the 10th of November and learned a lot more about the Vision in talking with Jason Hoeve the program leader for the Vision and other Victory staff members. Jason has been working on the Vision for over three years. Here is a list of things I learned.
The Vision has been a bigger success than Victory had anticipated which is one reason why shipments are not at the rate they would like them to be but they are working hard to address this quickly.
They never anticipated the Vision Tour Premium model would be so popular. They thought the Tour and Comfort models would be the big movers. Based on this they had not stocked enough components from suppliers to build the number of premium bikes they have orders for. They have corrected this and moving forward with increased production on the premiums.
There are two reasons why some dealers got non pre-ordered bikes before all the pre-order bikes got shipped first. One was due to the situation mentioned above where they had to build bikes based on the components they had in stock and the other was mistake made in shipping where bikes where sent dealers that shouldn't have been sent. Both of these have been addressed.
Full production of the Vision resumed last week after addressing the regulator / rectifier issue.
Top speed on the production bikes is 115 mph. Victory has programmed the computer to cut back on fuel and spark at 115 mph due to the fact that the tires are only rated for 120 mph. This was a big disappointment for me. Without this interference on the part of the computer setting the bike could probably do 130 or more.
The Midnight Cherry is the number one selling color so far with black a close second and Supersteel Gray a distant third.
The stage one exhaust system both level 1 and 2 with the air filter and new computer program add only a few horsepower and torque. The only difference between the two levels is the sound levels. The level 1 is a little more than the stock and the level 2 is about twice as loud as the level 1.
I inquired about the 4th gear issue also. There is nothing wrong with 4th gear or any part of the transmission. The reason you hear more noise in 4th gear is that Victory has been so successful in quieting down the engine that now you hear more of the transmission noise and 4th gear due to the inherit design of the 6 speed is the noisiest of all the gears. Also having all the fairing around the engine and transmission amplifies any noise from the transmission and engine. They will continue to work on noise reduction but functionally the engine and transmission is just about bullet proof.
I asked about the heal-toe shifter for the Vision and they said the one from the Kingpin will work fine and they probably will not make one especially for the Vision. They believe most people will want the room to move your feet around that the toe only shifter that comes on the bike provides.
I asked about any third party trailer hitch for the Vision and I was told a trailer hitch can certainly be made for the Vision and that you will probably see one from a third party before long.
Cobra, Kuryakyn, Arlen and Corey Ness as well and others are developing accessories and modifications for the Vision.
The side winglets that Victory had on some of the demo bikes should be available for sale in January. The Nesses are developing their own version of winglets for the Vision also.
The custom order program is not available on the Vision to the public yet it is available in a limited manner to the dealers to order bikes for their customers. You dealer can place a Vision order with Victory and have some accessories installed at the factory that will give you a better price than adding the options later. One example of this would be the Rath Billet Wheels where the factory would deduct some amount for the stock wheels and not charge anymore labor to mount the custom wheels than the stock wheels. You can check with your dealer on this option. The full customer custom order program will be available for the Vision next year sometime, probably for the 2009 model year I would guess.
I talked to well over a hundred people that came to get a closer look at the Vision and well over 80% thought the bike was really cool looking. The vast majority of the attendees where Harley riders and I was honestly amazed that most of them really liked the bike and made statements like "Harley really needs to innovate to address the Vision", "It is about time the motorcycle industry produced something fresh and innovative".
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Craig
Premium Tour on order
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Tourer
Posts: 548
Mount Vernon, WA United States | Nice read. Thanks for the update. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 721
| Thanks for the update, I've been waiting for the production situation to get straightened out before deciding on whether or not to get the Vision, now my mind is made up. |
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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | I also asked Jason about the issue of the windshields having an area of distortion along the edge. He said they were aware of this. The windshields begin as a tall formed piece that is cut down to make all the different size options. The distortion has been caused by the cutting method and they have or are working on correcting this.
If you have a windshield that has distortion along the edge one option may be to take it to a company that works with this material and see if they think they can fix it by trimming it down about a half of an inch.
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Craig
Tour Premium on order |
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Cruiser
Posts: 266
Stockton, Ca. | Great Information. I've also been wanting the Heel Toe shifter. Will have to ask the dealer to check into the Kingpin shifter when my Midnight Cherry arrives. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 904
29 Palms California | FINALLY! Why couldn't Victory come out with this? This is the most info passed about the "situation" since its begining. Thank you spock! I will renew my subscription to Kleenex weekly now. |
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Tourer
Posts: 562
SC, Bluffton | Spock - 2007-11-11 6:52 PM
If you have a windshield that has distortion along the edge one option may be to take it to a company that works with this material and see if they think they can fix it by trimming it down about a half of an inch.
I can't afford to lose any length in the shield. I am only 5'10", and I could go for the 2" taller.
I feel like taking it off, and mailing it off to some shield makers for a good laugh.
Herb |
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | Spock - 2007-11-11 10:21 AM
Cobra, Kuryakyn, Arlen and Corey Ness as well and others are developing accessories and modifications for the Vision.
Craig
Premium Tour on order
Getting Kuryakyn on board with accessories would really be great for all of us. They really have not done anything so far for Victory motorcycles except what will fit any other metric bike. There is one item I would really like to get from them and that is a flip up foot rest for the passenger floor boards. They have them for the HD Ultra Classic and are really nice. It allows the passenger to raise their feet up approximately 4" which gives them another leg position. Once I get my bike, I'm going to try and make one like it, but it would be much easier to just buy it. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 80
| I have flip up foot rests on my Yamaha, and my wife likes them. When we test rode the Vision, that was one of the main things she didn't like about the bike. It would really be nice to have them on the Vision. |
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Tourer
Posts: 495
Carrollton, TX | I would expect to see something from Kuryakyn pretty soon as Victory gave them a bike to use for development about 3 months ago or more. I agree Kuryakyn has a lot of cool accessories that need to be adapted to the Vision.
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Craig
Tour premium on order
VisionTex - 2007-11-14 12:12 PM
Spock - 2007-11-11 10:21 AM
Cobra, Kuryakyn, Arlen and Corey Ness as well and others are developing accessories and modifications for the Vision.
Craig
Premium Tour on order
Getting Kuryakyn on board with accessories would really be great for all of us. They really have not done anything so far for Victory motorcycles except what will fit any other metric bike. There is one item I would really like to get from them and that is a flip up foot rest for the passenger floor boards. They have them for the HD Ultra Classic and are really nice. It allows the passenger to raise their feet up approximately 4" which gives them another leg position. Once I get my bike, I'm going to try and make one like it, but it would be much easier to just buy it. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 293
Arkansas | We've already seen something from Kuryakyn: the highway peg accessory utilizes the Kury Retro Peg. I suspect that Kury will be marketing through the Vic dealers and not direct to consumer. JMHO |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 904
29 Palms California | It won't be long and we will have accesories galore! Now, would someone send me my pre-order? It's only been 3 months. |
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Updates on Vision from Victory