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Tourer
Posts: 447
Northeastern Penna. | Went on an all day ride today with my brother and and my neighbor. Temps in the 40's. Heated seats/grips felt nice. My brother owns a BMW touring bike. My neighbor buddy also owns an 08
Vision. We stopped at a BMW dealer as my brother wanted to look at something briefly.
A couple of the BMW people came out to ook at our Visions, asking questions about them,
seemingly impressed. When they asked me what I thought of owning one, I replied that I was very pleased with it and it was the most comfortable bike I have ridden, bar none.
That rather pissed off the poor chap, disagreeing with that comment.
He also didn't appreciate my comment that, for being only a 2nd year model bike, the Vision
has just about all of the extras that BMW has. Now I know that only time will tell if Victory has
a success story in the Vision, but I believe they will. | |
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Tourer
Posts: 412
Fargo, ND | I have to agree with you wjoel. I have no regretts with my decision to purchase my Vision...and I'm really happy with my Dealer and Polaris! What I'm not happy about is W i n t e r  | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 273
| Flatsix - 2008-11-11 9:32 PM
I have to agree with you wjoel. I have no regretts with my decision to purchase my Vision...and I'm really happy with my Dealer and Polaris! What I'm not happy about is W i n t e r
Looking at it on TV the other day, you guys got hit pretty hard didn't you? | |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | In two hundred miles of riding yesterday on IH 35 between San Antonio and Round Rock, I had four vehicles pass me only to slow down let me pass them so they could check out the Vision. | |
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Tourer
Posts: 412
Fargo, ND | Hi Smitty, We're still doing OK. Western North Dakota got hit pretty hard and the Black Hills of South Dakota has gotten 35+ inches of snow. The way I look at it...they pay their taxs, they deserve some snow too  | |
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Tourer
Posts: 460
Centennial, CO | wjoel - 2008-11-11 7:03 PM
Went on an all day ride today with my brother and and my neighbor. Temps in the 40's. Heated seats/grips felt nice. My brother owns a BMW touring bike. My neighbor buddy also owns an 08
Vision. We stopped at a BMW dealer as my brother wanted to look at something briefly.
A couple of the BMW people came out to ook at our Visions, asking questions about them,
seemingly impressed. When they asked me what I thought of owning one, I replied that I was very pleased with it and it was the most comfortable bike I have ridden, bar none.
That rather pissed off the poor chap, disagreeing with that comment.
He also didn't appreciate my comment that, for being only a 2nd year model bike, the Vision
has just about all of the extras that BMW has. Now I know that only time will tell if Victory has
a success story in the Vision, but I believe they will.
It is quite interesting that when someone has an emotional response such as the "chap" you mentioned, clearly you hit a stinger and he is biased rather than looking at the Vision for what it is. A BETTER bike than anyone out there! HA!
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Tourer
Posts: 506
Woodland Hills, CA | Interestingly enough, I had a similar experience at a BMW dealership, but with different results. I stopped by a local BMW dealership looking at some gloves, and everyone came out to look at my Vision. There was even a new Goldwing driver there as well. Without exception, they were all impressed with the Vision, and very comlimentary. Some even appeared jealous. | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 266
Hartland, , WI | wjoel - 2008-11-11 8:03 PM
Went on an all day ride today with my brother and and my neighbor. Temps in the 40's. Heated seats/grips felt nice. My brother owns a BMW touring bike. My neighbor buddy also owns an 08
Vision. We stopped at a BMW dealer as my brother wanted to look at something briefly.
A couple of the BMW people came out to ook at our Visions, asking questions about them,
seemingly impressed. When they asked me what I thought of owning one, I replied that I was very pleased with it and it was the most comfortable bike I have ridden, bar none.
That rather pissed off the poor chap, disagreeing with that comment.
He also didn't appreciate my comment that, for being only a 2nd year model bike, the Vision
has just about all of the extras that BMW has. Now I know that only time will tell if Victory has
a success story in the Vision, but I believe they will.
Maybe the Beemer crowd was unhappy with your "comfort" comment because your were hitting a nerve. My Beemer experience says this might be so...here is my first post when I got off my BMW LT touring bike because I had a Vision!
I found myself with this "dolled up" touring BMW built for these long romantic get away weekends and found that my destination better be within an hour because that's all my left knee could take. And I asked myself what's wrong with this picture…"a touring bike that is 2.5 years old with 8000 miles on it"? One test ride on the Vision and adios BMW.
When I picked up my bike, the dealer laughed when he heard me tell my better half that I was getting a "go slow look at me bike" (which she was all for) and he warned me that every time you stop somewhere they'll want to talk to you about the bike. I though yadda, yadda…I had the same thing with the BMW as I live smack dab where HD's are churned out. But I really was off by only…say 1000 %.
I literally pull out of the dealer on Thursday which happened to be the start of this small event called "Harley Fest" 105 years…you might have heard about it…and get to my first stop light and have travelled a whopping 400 yards and while at the light, some kind of HD pulls up with his better half clinging to him on this postage size seat and she starts screaming at me! "Take me….Take me…my ass is killing me"…and I thought she was going to jump off the bike and onto mine. Not a good idea with my better half watching this in the car behind me.
This happened every where I went…I was cruising down some of our lovely country roads and staying away from Harley Hell this last weekend but there were a zillion bikes all out doing the same thing a good 50 miles from downtown….when I pulled over because my IPOD had locked up and I needed to reboot. I almost caused a three bike pile up at the intersection of " & Silo Blvd." because all three of the bikes and passengers all had to stare at me while driving by. It was hilarious when the "Fair Maid" on the back of one of these Knights turned her eyes away from me and my Vision only to see her "knuckle head husband" was still staring at the bike…so with the cuff of her well placed hand to the back of his skull…he snapped out of it just in time to get the bike back on the road.
The last episode was when I had my 11 year old step daughter along for a "dusk time" ride…her first. We stopped to fuel it up and while we were filling up the island next to us hand a nice "cotton top" retired gentleman doing the same with his car. He looked up and just announced…"now that's what I call a handsome bike, what is it"? I told him it's call a Victory Vision and he responded…"Who makes it"…so without wanting to embarrass him by repeating Victory…I told him, an American snowmobile company by the name of Polaris…he said "ya right and if monkeys had wings" and we both laughed…but for different reasons…lol.
Any way…the "public, they know I'm a coming" because of the pipes…and "they can't stop looking when I get there"…so I'm having fun! And you can't beat that with a mallet. | |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 41
| Spent two days this week in your town. My first visit.
Mighty flat, eh? Would love to come back in August........on 2 wheels of course.
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Iron Butt
Posts: 1158
Richmond, Virginia | Lets be honest, every motorcycle manufacturer who produces anything besides crotch rockets thinks his or her brand is "the best". Comfort is in the eye of the butt holder, but Ive had BMW, several Hondas, two Victories and to my butt,,, the Vision is the only bike out there that I could go the distance on... LITERALLY. My last big touring bike was a ST1300 I even sent the seat off to be
re worked for butt comfort, after 150.00 it came back feeling no different than before i shipped it off. BMW motorcycle owners are pretty much no different then BMW automobile owners, they feel that their product was the best thing since sliced bread on the road.
Here's a much better way to handle the situation instead of getting into a silly verbal debate.. do what I do... invite them to sit on my Vision.......... thats all it takes. You dont have to say a word, its obvious to them, and the best part is that while they may want to save HD/BMW/Honda face,,,, inside, they know you have the better riding bike . so just let them have that thought as they get back on their own bike. | |
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Tourer
Posts: 447
Northeastern Penna. | You are right, I should have let them sit on the Vision's seat. But what was I to expect,going to a
BMW dealer with the Vision. Yeah, all who represent their manufacturer are going to stick up for it.
I guess I wanted to say that because, the feeling I got when I walked into the dealer was that of
high and mighty.
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Visionary
Posts: 1324
So Cal | Once you ride a bike with floorboards its hard to go back. Im surprized to see any touring bike without them. Touring is about comfort, floorboards are the most comfortable. | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 106
L.I., N.Y. | I can tell you from an actually experience at a Honda dealer, I invited one of the owners to mount up and even start the engine. When he did he couldn't believe how comfortable and lower the seat was than the GW, along with the engine sound and feel. He was so totally taken in, he offered a test ride swap of one of his 08 GW ABS/NAV for a coastal ride to the Point one of these next weeekends. I purchased my 85 GW from these guys, good dealership, and was going to test ride one of there bike's when I test drove my Vision TP first, which I now pilot around L.I. Looking is good, sitting and feeling are where it's at. | |
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Tourer
Posts: 320
Savannah, GA -Year round riding!! Yay! | Yep, floor boards are what got me to buy this bike in the first place... Hubby has a Wing, and he wanted me tog et one of those. I have bad knees. My last "touring" bike was my ST1300. I have bad knees, too. More than an hour and my knees and hipe were screaming. I saw the floorboards on this thing and I was in love. Told hubby that ther was no way I'd have a Wing unless they come out with floorboards. (I was in 7th heaven when I put my highway bars on the ends of my floorboards! All of my other bikes, I could never reach the highway pegs on the crash bars with these short little legs....) Yes, every Touring bike, IMHO and in my future, should have floorboards.... Nice big ones... When you can practically do a Two Step on the floor board, that's just about big enough.... 
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Cruiser
Posts: 244
Lindale, TX | I drove 100 miles each way to my BMW dealer today for a 6000 mile service and oil change. $331 dollars!
I have a K1200LT and have spent $1,500 in the last three months on new RDL seats, hiway pegs and other accessories to find some comfort for my 6'7 frame.
When I got home today I felt like I am still trying to get comfortable and my knees ACHED!
I'll keep watching this site and a Vision Premium Tourer may very well be in my future.
Tall riders-please give me hope.
Edited by Easttexasrider 2008-11-13 11:34 PM
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Tourer
Posts: 412
Fargo, ND | Easttexasrider, You mentioned one of the reasons I moved away from a GL1800 Wing. Great Bike...Rotten Knee, Leg room. I purchased a Vision and could not be happier (unless they would have given it to me) Love that Vision! | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 271
Belding Michigan | Take it from the tallest and probaly the biggest rider on the board that this is the way to go.
I am 6' 10 " tall and 400 lbs this bike was made for me. I tried to ride a BMW and could not get my Knees inside the faring I rode Gold Wings for 20 years and thought that this was the life till I bought the 1800 they are not designed for big men but I rode it as there was no real choice. I and the wife made one ride on the Vision and I sold a Harley Tour glide the only other bike I fit on sort of and my wing within 4 days and bought a 2008 Vision Cherry with all the bells and whistles. I am a happy man and I live to ride, now I can without pain. Try it you will like it Archie | |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 7
| I went from an HD Ultra Classic to the Vision. I also test drove the Beemer and the Wing, looking for an integrated fairing for better handling as well as better looks. While I spent the last 100,000 miles on Ultras and enjoyed most every mile on them, I am glad I made the move to the Victory Vision. From a cost standpoint, Harley can't touch it feature-for-feature. Although I occasionally miss the sound of the Hog when cracking the throttle, I don't miss the continual noise while touring. (The Harley has better storage space). The linked brake system is not as good as the ABS Harley offers, but it is an improvement from non-ABS. And I can really lean into the corners without fear of grinding the floorboards or kickstand! Now if I can only figure out how to reset the clock to Daylight Savings Time!! | |
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Tourer
Posts: 447
Northeastern Penna. | You mentioned that Harley has better storage space, yeah, but not by much. What are the big Harley's actual space in volume.I think they measure the space in gallons,sometimes in liters.
I'm sure by looking at a conversion chart, one can compare.
I bet in the not too distant model years of the Vision, the side saddlebags will be redesigned
to a larger storage area. | |
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | wjoel - 2008-11-14 7:14 PM
You mentioned that Harley has better storage space, yeah, but not by much. What are the big Harley's actual space in volume.I think they measure the space in gallons,sometimes in liters.
I'm sure by looking at a conversion chart, one can compare.
I bet in the not too distant model years of the Vision, the side saddlebags will be redesigned
to a larger storage area.
I agree there is not much difference between the HD storage or the Visions. I think a lot of folks get hung up on the top loading bags, they are easlier. That is not going to happen, I think on a motorcycle that has any styling. It has been stated early on when the Vision was introduced to the public that a lot of folks like us, were asked what we wanted. From what I've read and heard from folks and from conversations at the AVR, what was wanted in a touring motorcycle......styling, people wanted a touring motorcycle that looked sharp. They wanted WOW and we got that! This is a WOW motorcyle right out of the box.
I've riden this motorcyle for +20,000 miles and there are folks here that have riden a lot more, so I'm thinking we are getting by with the storage on the bike. Because WE are creative, we can add storage or pull a trailer, if needed for the 5000 mile tour. The folks from New Zealand ("Bums on Bikes") are touring the world without anything special.
I had the bike up on the jack last week looking at the area under the back wheel, don't believe there is much space to get there. So if adding space it may be under the same bag cover, which when you look at, it won't amount to much. I'm sure they maybe able to give you a little extra space here or there, but I don't believe Victory will redsign the fantastic motorcycle to give anyone an extra space for a couple more pair of underwear or a curling iron. | |
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In Your Face