Victory Demo Days

[schoeney]

Me and 2 of my buddies rode about 25 miles to the nearest Victory dealer to ride a few Victorys during their "Demo Days". What a great way to test ride some bikes. They had a big semi that carried all these Demo bikes around the country.

They had about 12 bikes of various models. We could ride any we wanted with the exception of the 10 year anniversary Vision (only 100 made) and the Arlen Ness Hammer.


Coffee, donuts, and a BBQ around noon w/burgers and all the rest. All of this was no charge.

You just had to sign a waiver, show your MC endorsement, and proof of insurance.

You chose whatever bike you wanted then rode as a group for about 20 minutes on nice country backroads and some highway. We did it 3 different times. It was not a casual follow the leader...they let us get after it...many opportunities to do 80+ and ride the twisties hard.

I rode the Vision, Hammer, and Kingpin Tourer.

Vision(106ci)- Didn't like it, felt bulky, didn't like the narrow handlebars, didn't like the balance or ergonomics, noisy tranny at about 3000RPM in 4th. Did like the 6th gear, but sounded like a sewing machine. Stock stereo was terrible sounding. One of the other riders had one that sprung a gas leak.

Hammer (106 ci)- This is the first time I had ridden a "Fat Tire". This thing had some torque +great sounding pipes!!, Looked way cool (Green w/colored flames). I did not like the fat rear tire in the twisties. Loud pipes sound great but get annoying after awhile (IMHO). I forgot what it was like to ride a bike without a windshield....can you say SPOILED? This was definitely a tavern to tavern bike only!

Kingpin Tourer(100ci)- I did like this bike, smooth, liked the ergonomics/riding position + handling. Pretty tame looking compared to their other models but rode nice, felt lighter than 730 lbs.

My 2 buddies ride a Yamaha Stratoliner and Honda ST1200. All of us agreed that we did not ride anything that we liked better than our current bikes.

Sometimes I think I take for granted just what a great bike the Nomad is...but riding others makes me appreciate it more.

This is a great way to check out bikes...I hope Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and the others come through town with their demo days.

[bebop]

I rode a fully dressed Kingpin about a year and a half ago. It was during a Victory drawing/giveaway in my area. I figured they would let me ride around the block but instead they gave me the bike and some directions so I could experience 6th gear and then let me loose. Although I had never ridden a Vulcan 1600 I decided those 2 bikes would be my short list when I traded up. Price was my deciding factor when the time came and although the Kingpin is a fine ride I know I made the right choice.

Cheers!

[dantama]

I enjoy doing that too. Last year the Kawi/Yami/susuki dealer that I bought my Nomad at had an open house with bikes that you could do a 20 minute group ride on. I signed up for a few different bikes, and because there kept being open slots for the Yamaha FJ 1300, I took it a few time too.

I liked the power and touring possibilities of the FJ, but none of the other bikes tempted me. It is still fun to flirt with other bikes, even if in the end they don't tempt you.

Here's a tip for this kind of ride, pull out last and you can let the group get a little ahead of you and test the acceleration if that is your thing. I found a couple of places to get the FJ up to 125mph by doing that. The group I went with wasn't as spirited as your group. Our leaders made it more of a parade at the speed limit, unless you took the last position.

I was hoping they'd do it a gain this summer.

[dogdoc]

I'll stick with my Nomad and forget the test rides.

[rksaw]

+1 Doc

[beezer]

+2