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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I thought I'd shared about the 170 miles on the Vision today, about 100 miles with the pillion. My pillion has rode a few miles before, but I believe today was the most for her thus far. She says she is looking forward to the beach and a few trips to S.C., so I know she is enjoying the ride. I had to spin around the block at least once before we both to rode to a little town about 25 miles south of here called Waverly. We stopped in at a little roadside pork BBQ place and had a fine lunch. The Vision received a few comments and a few long looks. We left and head out on some twisties and I thought I'd ride like I was by myself, which I did. Expecting the usual "slow down" whoa, watch out, I heard none of that from her. She didn't as much as flinch as we rolled in the turns on the back roads, she felt that confident.
We then traveled up I95 to Shockoe Bottom section of Richmond. They were having the Shamrock the Block day and Catlin's, my dealer was there. However, my pillion wasn't up to parking and doing the mingling in the crowd, so we just drove around the block and back out again to I95 south. Navigating the streets and watching out for pedestrians and other traffic, the Vision handled extremely well and steady. We rolled back out on the highway and caught the stream of traffic with ease. We headed on up Chippenham Parkway up to Midlothian Turnpike to the office building where I'll be working the end of April. We headed back out down Chippenham Parkway to Iron Bridge Road. We went a few miles and stopped to get a pop. While there, a few folk admired the ride and told us about the Motorcycle show at the Showplace in Richmond. We traveled on to be home before 5pm since the pillion had to work. I had planned to return to the Showplace, only to find out that we were going to get heavy rain. After we got home, my wife went to work and I decided to ride to Wal-Mart before the rain fell. However, it came in sooner than expected so I had another wet and enjoyable ride home.
We had used the intercom and it worked very well. While on the highway I had to set the VOX to 11 to keep the wind from activating, but it also required at times to hold the TX button to make sure there was an unbroken conversation. I found the intercom working with the iPod in that you could still hear the music while you were talking, but it did not interfere with what was being said. Also, I would like to mention that I have the 2 inch larger windshield and it helps block the wind on the pillion in the full-up right position and is suitable for me alone when lowered.
I noticed that the pillion legs do rub the saddle bag and decided that I'll get the lifters. To do a summary of the whole ride, I would say it was excellent and without incident. No close calls, or panic stops or maneuvers. I found myself riding two-up as though I was riding by myself, a definite improvement for me. I'm continually impressed with the nimbleness of this machine.
Edited by varyder 2008-03-15 8:58 PM
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Cruiser
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Victoria, BC | Wow, thanks for putting your trip on paper. Looking forward to our test ride.
Reg |
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Visionary
Posts: 2027
Brighton, TN | It is good to see he is back home and got his VFI (Vision Fix In). Got any fingernails left after being gone so long? I threw up the flare but no Dr. Pepper rained down, so I presume I have to go get the cannon to shoot it so you could have seen it? Nice ride, i still haven't made one that far, most of mine have been around a 100 miles. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Thanks there Pollolitte, I've calmed down some after getting my VFI. I tried to open the door at 37,000 feet and folks looked a litte panicked so I abandoned mission, sorry. I figure you may have DPD (Dr. Pepper dispensor) close by and you could get your own. It sounds like you ride like me, but occassionally I need an excuse to really get out and ride. My folks lives about 180 miles from here, one way, and my children, with the exception of my oldest son lives about 180 miles the other way. My oldest son lives in S. Texas, so I have plenty of excuses to ride somewhere. I even have family in California that I hardly know, but would ride to see them. Its about the journey, not the destination, except with family, right? Also, if I'm doing something of little value, like watching tv, I'll turn the blooming thing off and ride during the time I would have watched the boob tube. I think I'll ride up to Wally-World to get a shoe goo...
pollolittle - 2008-03-16 8:27 AM
It is good to see he is back home and got his VFI (Vision Fix In). Got any fingernails left after being gone so long? I threw up the flare but no Dr. Pepper rained down, so I presume I have to go get the cannon to shoot it so you could have seen it? Nice ride, i still haven't made one that far, most of mine have been around a 100 miles. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 256
Florida | Nice story. I think all of us enjoy reading about other rider's adventures.
Andy |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Lifeisgood - 2008-03-16 1:17 AM
Wow, thanks for putting your trip on paper. Looking forward to our test ride.
Reg
PBR -
Nice story. I think all of us enjoy reading about other rider's adventures.
Andy
Thanks Reg, Andy. As Will Sonnet would say, "no brag, just fact". |
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Cruiser
Posts: 74
Puyallup, Washington | Chris, I'm a little late in reading your story. Have to say I enjoyed it also. Thanks for sharing. My wife and I have a 250 day under our belts but I don't write a very good narrative. As far as your comment about turning off the TV; if you remember Will Sonnett, you didn't always turn it off. I don't remember, did he ever find his son? |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Innkeepers - 2008-03-16 9:54 PM
Chris, I'm a little late in reading your story. Have to say I enjoyed it also. Thanks for sharing. My wife and I have a 250 day under our belts but I don't write a very good narrative. As far as your comment about turning off the TV; if you remember Will Sonnett, you didn't always turn it off. I don't remember, did he ever find his son?
I actually vaguely remember the show, though Walter Brennan is one of my most favorite actors of that time. According to Wiki, he did indeed find his son and the three, grandfather, son and grandson became law men together. The show lasted for two seasons, but I'm sure if Walter had a Vision instead of a horse, it would have been a one show deal. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Took another two up ride for our anniversary yesterday and found it to be a real joy. I quized my pillion about a few things. One was the footboard height. She said she was pleased with it and thought it to be no problem. I asked if that if they were higher would she enjoy it better. Her response was no, she felt it would cramp her. She stands about 5' 4" and finds her self very comfortable. She did think that the boards could be longer, so now I'm scheming to see how I could fabricate something that would be longer forward. I noticed that her calfs do touch the bags, but that is not a problem, as worse it will require a good coat of wax regulary. At best, I would see about that peel away clear material that I've read about on other post. I also asked about the wind on her legs and she said it was not bothering her, though the pillion gets more wind than the pilot. Also, she finds the height on windshield perfect. I had it in the down position and she immediately said "roll the window up". Funny to hear that on a motorcycle.
When we first hooked up both helmets and tried talking there was a very high pitch squeal, almost at the dog whistle range. I fiddled with the VOX setting and that did nothing. However, turning off and then on again did and we had no trouble the rest of the way. It also seems that with the pillion headset plugged in my volume seems louder, but not for sure, it could have been the windshield thing. She commented that the high pitch sound was a result of the Vision not liking her, like the car in the Christine movie. We assured her that she was welled liked and that it was not a problem that she rode and she's welcome anytime she wanted to ride with us.
We went to Williamsburg in a very leisurely pace and the readout said we were getting 42mpg avg. by the time we got to our destination. After we enjoyed our dinner, it was dark and I opted to take the interstate home instead of the twisty to avoid FCC (furry creature collisions) that are prevelant in our area. However, cruising up the interstate, what do we see, deer to the left of us and deer to the right of us. Of course, they too are struck by the beauty of the Vision and choose to stop and stare instead of trying to catch a ride for themselves. As we rolled onto the interstate the Vision had no problem in quickly grabbing a position into the flow of traffic. I had not changed the shock pressure before when she rode, but this was our first night ride and I saw the need to either bring the headlight down or jack up the rear. I decided to put air in since it was sitting at 30psi. I took it up to 70psi and that changed the ride dramatically, as well as brought the headlight beam down to road level.
I'm still amazed of the subtle difference in the ride from 1 to 2 up. The GL1200 had a considerable change when riding 2-up and I can't compare to anything else, but the Vision handles 2-up remarkably well. It holds extremely well on the twisties and in brisk winds that we experienced yesterday. Braking and acceleration difference are hardly noticable and allowed easing onto the interstate with no intimidation in heavy traffic. We're planning to put it to a test by traveling to S.C. in the near future. That's a 5 hour+ ride and would be the max for her to date. I'll let you know how that goes when it happens. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 109
| KEEP THE STORIES COMING CHRIS, STILL WAITING COULD BE
NEXT WEEK |
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2 up riding
