Victory Cross Roads/Country

[dbaliko]

Went to a Victory demo ride on Saturday and road the Victory Cross Country and Cross Roads. Very nice bikes! I'm Debating whether to trade in my Nomad 1700 for it.

Doug

[peter]

Hi.

Could you report on the following comparisons between the 1700 nomad and the cross country please.

1. Power

2. parking lot manuverability

3. buffeting.

Thanks

[oledawg]

Hi.

Could you report on the following comparisons between the 1700 nomad and the cross country please.

1. Power.........Victory
2. parking lot manuverability..........Victory
3. buffeting............Victory
Thanks

[cactusjack]

I really like the Cross Country. It's on my short list of possible bikes to replace my Nomad when the time comes.

[glwilson]

Went to a Victory demo ride on Saturday and road the Victory Cross Country and Cross Roads. Very nice bikes! I'm Debating whether to trade in my Nomad 1700 for it.

Doug



That's interesting...

Why the sudden change of heart?

[dbaliko]

[quote author=peter board=1700garage thread=15778 post=247060 time=1267457269]Hi.

Could you report on the following comparisons between the 1700 nomad and the cross country please.

1. Power

2. parking lot manuverability

3. buffeting.

As a follow up here are a few observations from my test ride:
I rode the bike for about 10 miles in a mixed town/highway loop. The seat height is much lower on the Victory, along with the bikes center of gravity. You feel like you’re riding with the bike rather than on it, if that makes any sense. The power in comparable, but the Victory feels a lot more refined and smoother overall. No clunky gear shifts, and nice smooth acceleration. Plus only 6th gear is an overdrive gear rather than both 5th and 6th on the Nomad. The Victory feels very refined. Because of the lower center of gravity it handles much better at slower speeds then the Nomad does. Buffeting wasn't too much of an issue, but I would add Victory's lowers if I owned the bike. The hard bags are great looking and are very large. If you tour like I do the Victory's hard bags are a big plus over the Nomad.
I have owned two Nomads. My present '09 1700 for which I sold my '02 1500 FI. If I had to do it all over again I would have kept my 1500. Overall I liked it much better than the 1700. Sure the 6th gear and the cruise control are nice features, but the 1500 fit me better. And the 1500 was powerful enough for anything that I ever did with it, which included many trips through the Colorado Rockies as well as highway cruising.
If I had known that Victory was about to come out with the Cross Country/Roads I would have waited and most definitely would have bought the Victory over the Nomad if they were both available at the same time. And now I contemplate eating a $5000 beating on my Nomad with 1400 miles on it to buy the Victory.
Doug

[Netnorske]

5K is quite a beating....but relative. If you are the CEO of a large company....it might just be pocket change. To most of us though...that's LARGE coin! Keep us posted....

[Jared]

I too love the looks of the Cross Country. They are doing a Victory Demo day at the end of march and definitely want to check it out.

There's no way I'll be trading in my Nomad though. At least not until it has 50K+ miles.

[rayski271]

my boss just bought one i dont think the bags are huge at all they look it from outside but are small as hell inside the trunk seems to have more room then the bags i sat on it comfie for sure liked the way it felt sitting on it but thats about it

[rewindgy]

rayski271 - you are talking about the Vision! The Cross Roads / Cross Country the bags are so big you could put Nomad bags inside and still have room!!

[rayski271]

yea it might be the vision not totally sure

[Netnorske]

yea it might be the vision not totally sure

If it looked like George Jetson's bike.....it was the Vision.... ;)!

[jon]

yea it might be the vision not totally sure

If it looked like George Jetson's bike.....it was the Vision.... ;)!

[size=100:30rab3bx]HEY!!![/size:30rab3bx]

[schoeney]

I was looking forward to seeing the Cross Country/Roads at the Seattle show. I was very much interested after seeing them in mag pictures. I must admit...I thought they looked better in the pics than in person. The bags were huge but I didn't like the Cross Roads/Country as well as my 1500 but I think that was due to 2 things.

1) I have my Nomad dialed in with risers and a backrest which I could do with any bike. Even considering that I was not a fan of the riding position on the Victory...My initial feel wasn't like how I felt the first time I sat on my Nomad.
2) The only model I saw at the show was the one with the graphics....I did not like the graphics....too busy.....turned me off.


We usually get the Victory demo days here every year so I will give them a try when it is in town. Last year I rode the Vision, 8 Ball, Jackpot, and Kingpin. the only one I liked for my purposes was the Kingpin tourer but it was nothing real special.

I did not like the look of the Vision at first but it has grown on me... The Arlen Ness edition was pretty cool. I did not like the way the Vision shifted, narrow bars (could have just needed adjustment for my Ape arms), and those tiny little bags.

To me a great bike is like your favorite pair of old jeans or sweatshirt...there are some that just make you feel real comfortable the minute you slip them on..

I wish all the manufacturers came in to town with Demo days...Victorys format is fun and well done.

[emehlig]

Funny I attended a Victory Demo day in Tampa Dec 10 2010 I found all their bikes easy to handel , very maneuverable and they all felt much lighter for their size. I was thinking of going for the VIsion or Cross Country. I currently own a 2009 Nomad. When I got home I took out my Nomad and fell in love with it all over again. Its just a total different feel.

[justbob]

During my hunt this fall for a cruiser/bagger type bike, the Cross Country was on my short list.
I found a dealer in September that had a new 2011 Blue Cross Country in stock so I traveled the 250 miles to thier shop for a demo ride.
Overall I liked the bike, good fit and finish, nice power delivery.The things I didnt like were that the bike stalled 3 times during my test ride when the motor idled down after pulling the clutch in to come to a stop, and the idle was not set too low or didnt seem to be at other times. Why does it have a cable clutch ? Buffeting was horrible, maybe the worst I have ever experienced. The MSRP and the cost of Victory accessories, that was probably my biggest stumbling block. $500 backrest, $1700 trunk, the luggage rack, windshield lowers and replacement windshields were high too.