I have ridden HD for almost 40 years and love them.  I was in the market to replace my Road King recently.  I thought I would look outside of the HD market for a change after having a soft flex frame induced tank slapping experience with the Road King that scared the daylights out of me.

I won't bother you with all the bikes I tried, but one day I wandered into a Victory dealer across the street from a local HD shop and admired the Vision.  The dealer suggested I take a Tour Vision out for a couple of hours to test ride it.  I did, and was I surprised.

I fell in love with the out of the box power, handling and comfort of the machine.  I took it up to 110 MPH and let go of the handlebars.  With my hands hovering an inch away from the grips I was shocked.  The big bike did not waiver at all.  I could have gone to sleep as long as I was going in a straight line and there was a road with no traffic.  This beast was as if on rails.  I put the bike trough its paces with emergency stops, hard floorboard carving corners, and fierce acceleration; it performed!

What was the real bonus was the comfortable ride it provided.  Honestly, this bike is so comfortable you have to try it to believe it.  

I headed back to the store wondering if Victory had a Vision that might appeal to me.  I am not a fan of the total touring look of any full on touring bike, so I did not hold out much hope.  The one thing I did know in those few short hours was that my next bike was going to be a Vision.

After doing a bit of research I found the Ness Vision to be my choice.  Here is a bike that does it all.  It can tour with the best of them by simply adding a soft sided Victory Vision Tour Bag that takes a minute to remove or install, it can ride clean with a minimalist custom look, it is a tourer and it is a custom bike that can outrun its competition at so many levels.  

The bike does not require a lot of after purchase add-ons, much like the CVO Electra Glide.  The biggest differences between the two are: CVO-$45,000 (Ness-$21,400), handling goes big-time to the Ness, comfort goes to the Ness no comparison, power-CVO88HP (after a PCV, intake and exhaust), (Ness-92HP).  As an added extra I managed to add HP to the rear wheel (119 HP) for, hold your breath, under $3000, where the CVO would cost at least $6,000+ for anywhere near that increase in HP.  This mostly attributable to the Victory V Twin engine design with no push rods and extremely well factory ported and flowed heads.  It all translates to instant, inexpensive power on demand. 

The bike will go faster than I want, handle better than any stock big rig V Twin I am aware of and is unique.  Speaking of which, if you manage to acquire one of the Ness limited edition bikes (Ness really means limited edition, there only 185 made in 2009.  This bike actually qualifies as a factory custom and is as close as you are going to get to have a valuable Arlen Ness custom bike from a large manufacturer.

Case in point.  I was travelling with friends in the Yellowstone Park area this last summer and pulled up at a gas bar in a small town.  One of my buddies was riding right behind me on a gorgeous freshly minted CVO Electra Glide.  We stopped and noticed that a HD HOG Club Fly & Ride group was standing nearby.  These folks were from Austria as it turns out and were proudly wearing their Austrian HOG colours and patches.   All of a sudden the entire crowd descended upon me and my Ness.  In broken English the literally begged for photos of each of them seated on the Ness Vision. The appreciation reflected in their comments and actions was overwhelming.  My friend with the CVO, parked a foot away asked me later why none of the visitors even asked him about his bike.  It was as if they didn't even see the big CVO.

OK, I get that the Ness bike is unique and different which explains in part why it gets so much attention.  But, isn't that why you acquire such a bike?  HD has been trying to garner that piece of the market for years with their CVO line.  They have done a great job, but have been trumped (for the time being) by Arlen Ness and Victory at half the price for arguably a much more competent machine.

For those that doubt, I say; take a Victory Vision out for a couple of hours on a test ride and see for yourself.  Yes, the dealers actually encourage long test rides unlike some other manufactures we know.