3 days
8 state parks
2 state forests
6 states
1 victory demo ride
So Friday I run out to my good bud Mark's house. Arriving at his house in Harrisburg, PA we get a pic of two sexy push rod twins.
Saturday we start out with a ride up to the Victory dealer which has the corperate truck there for demo rides.
Even though we both wanted to test ride the Cross Country (Street Glide look alike), we had to settle for something else.
The victory vision 8ball, was my test ride. First I notice the 8" deep dish seat. The huge mirrors off in the distance grab ur eyes. You reach for the long pull back handle bars and you have a startling realization, half of those big mirrors shows all your knuckles. Yikes!
Turn the key, thumb the starter and the 106 CI comes to life with very little enthusiasm or sound. It's what you can expect from a non push rod motor. But let's take it for a whirl. The throttle and brakes are crisp and responsive. But within only a few miles you notice the trans. Victory saw fit to pack all 6 speeds with noisey straight cut gears. So during the entire ride I had to listen to this trans.
There was a saving grace to all of this. Motorvasion Victory provided us with what is the best test ride route I've ever been on. Thru the mountains, twisting our way thru this 20 min adventure.
During which I have been trying to figure out the workings of this bike. My first confused point is this power windshield button. I cannot get this windshield to move. More on that later...
I love the big gear indicator located in the LCD. The deep seat is comfy and even while the trans is noisy its also consistent. The bike also seems to be very well balanced.
The 106CI motor does the job but with no excitement. Further, the lack of push rods gives exactly what I was expecting. Pure lack of bottom end torque, disappointing for this large displacement motor.
In the final miles we are out of the mountains and have a few traffic lights to navigate. I figured out that the blinkers are a 10 second blinker unless you have the clutch in (bike in gear) or in neutral. Under those 2 circumstances it will blink forever. Otherwise 10 seconds later regardless if you have turned or not; the blinker turns off. Good, bad, or indifferent? I do however, dislike the single staulk metric style blinker button.
At a light, not even neutral will get this windshield to move with this button. After we arrive at the dealer, I ask a sales lady about it. Nothing. Finally she asks a mechanic and he informs me that this windshield button doesn't work. The 8ball version doesn't have the power windshield but they leave only use the one style controls. Seriously? I then point out to the mechanic that it has a manual adjustment. Plus he confirms my analysis that the trans is packed full of straight cut gears. He tells me its to be strong and last a lifetime, which like charlie browns teacher all I hear is I'm going to have to hear this for a lifetime of ownership had I owned this bike. Why o why!
Hey, as a consultation they give you a MP3 plug in between you and the bars, under the left side fairing compartment.
My bud, Mark, road the Cross Roads. He said, while this is the first cruiser he ever rode, he said it was the most comfortable bike he's sat on.
This had standard bike amenities and I stand on my believe this is a want to be Road King. Right up to the standard equipment you see from the saddle.
We also notice that the saddle bags on the vision are useless with the side filling. Can a guy get a cargo net?
The new cross roads and country aren't affected by this handicap. Maybe they'll adapt these to the vision.
Neither is the cross country
I still like victories and while they're looks are weird they make a decent bike.
The demo ride is done and while I would have loved to ride and chat more. We have other adventures to start.