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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | As some of you know, my Vision is in the shop and a great friend loaned me his Valkyrie Interstate in the interim. Let me start with what I like about the Valkyrie. It's a much shorter list. Can you guess what that is? If you said the engine, you are correct. The engine is aesthetically pleasing to look at, to listen to (it has pipes) , and to launch. Honda silky smoothness and reliability also come standard. That's where it ends for me. I don't like that the motor is in the way of better foot positions. I don't like that tiny toe shifter under the motor that you almost have to contort your foot to actuate. Vision engine looks pleasing and sounds good to me too. It may not launch like the Valkyrie but the difference to me is negligible. Vision has class leading foot position options and intuitive shifting.
Now, for what I don't like :
1. The handling is atrocious, like , "horse and buggy" atrocious. The ride is harsh and turning requires effort and muscle not telepathically like the Vision. Spoiled by the Lincoln Towncar ride of the Vision here. I thought the poor handling may be attributed to high miles of Valkyrie that was 7-9 years older than my Vision (I don't know what year it is but they were only made 1999-2001) . I toggled to it's odometer and it only has 30,000 miles on it. My Vision with 134,000 miles and never a suspension service, handles circles around it.
2. Element management is adequate but falls short compared to the Vision. Yes, I'm spoiled by the power windshield and all encompassing fixed fairing. It rained this morning and my boots were soaked by the time I got to work. This never happens on the Vision.
3. No cruise, Lack of information displayed like ambient temp, mpg,,etc. In it's defense , being older, display tech info wasn't as commonly offered on motorcycles when the Interstate was designed. Again, I'm spoiled.
4. the Trunk: No light in trunk. I open my trunk pre-sunrise twice a day and in the short day light of winter , again in the dark when I get home. 3 dark times a day, 5 days a week I have to feel around in the trunk to locate things. The trunk also requires the key to open on the Valkyrie, a little bit of a hassle.
5. Comfort/ergos: I HATE my knees being bent past 90 degrees with my feet under me or almost feels like they are behind me and I'm only 5'6". My knees probably couldn't take a 100 mile ride on VAL. (and I don't have bad knees) Vision superior by a mile. The Valkyrie bar is too far away and the seat is uncomfortable.
6. Lastly , the bags and trunk combo are like an after thought. The trunk is too close to the saddle bag lids and too wide for the saddle bag lids to hinge top open so the bags lids hook on the front end and clamp on the back. When you open them , you pull them out sideways and they hang by tethers against the side of your bags (they have a rubber bumper.) I have had a somewhat difficult time getting them to hook and mate back into their recess atop the bag. the clearance in insufficient to load and unload bulky items into and out of bags with the Interstates trunk being so low.
Again, in the Valkyrie's defense, it is several years older . But I can say with confidence if the only motorcycle the world offered was a Valkyrie interstate, I wouldn't ride motorcycles. If I had never ridden a Vision , I might not feel this way, but I have and I'm thankful for the great experience the Vision provides it's rider. | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 207
| Owned two Valks and put a bunch of miles on them. Your assessment is a fair one. Another thing i had a concern about was the differential was a weak point and getting harder to replace. The VV's are a much better bike with clever engineering. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | After riding it home, there were a couple of things I forgot. Turn signals dont cancel. That's minor. More annoying is the clutch doesn't engage until the lever is all the way out. I almost dropped it the first time I tried to roll away. Even more annoying is the lighting. I ride it full time on high , even at night and it still doesn't light up the road like my Vision on low. It was so bad , I walked around the front while it was running to see if the lights were on. Again , spoiled by the Vision.
Neutral is hard to find every time
The horn is a weiner beep beep , embarrassing for such a brawny bike. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | I almost forgot one of the biggest shortcomings , it needs a 6th gear badly! | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 244
| I find my 09 Vision is a little hard to find neutral when its hot. But revving the engine from 1500 to 1800 rpm and it just falls in to neutral like it has a neutral finder on it | |
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Tourer
Posts: 482
Beer Collins, Colorado (there is no fort) | I'm betting your gas mileage on the Vision is better too-those 6 cylinders are thirsty devils. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | it is.  | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 180
Georgia On My Mind.... United States | Great real world write-up. Thanks! | |
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Valkyrie Interstate review compared to my Vision