Day 1: 527 miles

The trip began with a late start –  Tuesday instead of Monday and late morning instead of before rush hour – but it was a great day of riding regardless.

I covered about 520 miles in a little under 10 hours.  This matches previous road trips: my [effective] average speed tends to be around 50 – 55 MPH.  As the trip goes on, I’m hoping to improve by reducing the frequency of stops (now that I have the big fuel tank).

Vision Touring

In the weeks since I bought it, I’ve slowly been getting to know the Vision during my daily commute and riding around town, but today we bonded.  Power gushes from the incredible engine.  Rolling away the miles at 70-80 MPH it is even and civilized, but anytime you twist the throttle, it takes off with such ease, you have to check the speedometer to know how fast you are going (best to check the mirrors too).

The seat & set up is amazingly comfortable; you can adjust position to avoid wearing out and there are plenty of amenities.  This is the first time I’ve had a bike with a sound system (I made special playlist just for the trip) and didn’t realize it was connected to the throttle.  At least that is what I plan to tell the police if I get stopped: “Radar Love” was on the radio.  What would you do?!?

Side Note

The Vision has been given couple nicknames (which seem even more appropriate after my first long ride): The Cadillac, from a number of different people, and My Precious, from my gaming group.

Suggestion for Victory

As much as I am loving the new bike, I do have a few suggestions for Victory:

• The bubble mirrors are really help; the stock mirrors should be shaped with a bubble on the outer edge.  This is not a huge deal (and adding them is cheap), but it is one of those fine details I’ve come to expect on a Victory bike.
• Improve the gas filling: the Vision has 2 saddle bag gas tanks – they sit low, on either side of the frame – which is great for the ride.  The engine feeds from both tanks with no issues; the gas gauge and fuel warning also across the tanks.  The tanks fill from a single spout, but as the gas goes in, it can take a bit to balance between the tanks.  The result is that you need to fill it slowly and occasionally stop for a second to allow fuel to move between the tanks.  This is not a huge problem – you get used to it quickly – but it still something that could be improved.

Tomorrow

My plan is to ride to Victory Spirit Lake factory (they also make the new Indian Motorcycles).  I’ve heard various stories about people showing up at the factory and getting tours or getting turned away (especially when the new models are coming out).  Not sure what will happen when I drop by, but there’s no way I could just drive by my baby’s birthplace without stopping.