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Well today, the local Polaris/Victory dealer had demo rides. And for a change I was around to take advantage of it. They were run as something of a "group ride" with a supplied lead bike and "tail gunner" Got a bit of time on some "interstate-like" roads and a bit of 2 lane back roads. About 15 miles total.
I managed to get seat time on two different bikes.
The first was "Zach Ness Vegas" which was all tricked out with lots of black parts that were drilled to expose bits of aluminum beneath. 106 cubic inch motor. Lots of grunt, but, I had no idea what RPM I should be shifting at or if I was troubling it by running the RPMs too low from time to time. The forward controls were strange to me. Had to actually look down to figure out where to put my feet. Personally, I did not care for the riding position. It felt as though I was having to pull myself forward with my arms and my hips were uncomfortable. But, it road nice and I was surprised that it wasn't very windy, as I sat quite low. We didn't ever carry enough speed through the twisty part to really judge its handling. But, it was alright. Just so VERY different from what I am used to.
Then I got to ride on a CrossRoads. Without a windscreen and with the leather look hard (in)side saddle bags. Again with the 106 cubic inch motor and a 6-speed tranny, it would certainly get out of it's own way. But, I still wasn't sure about the rev range. The handlebars on this bike came WAY back over the tank. And while you were at speed, it was fine. But, when maneuvering around the parking lot at low speeds, it was like a giant tiller. You had to swing both grips over a tremendous distance to turn. I really hated that.
And, it seems that ALL of the Victorys had a loud "bang" (for lack of a better word) when shifting gears. It shifted OK and there was even a gear indicator in the LCD portion of THE Speedometer. But the noise at every shift bothered me. I could even hear it on the bikes ahead of me in the group as we were slowing for a stoplight.... Probably not a functional issue, but annoying to me.
So, at the moment, they are not on my short list. But then again, nothing is on my short list... I'm just keeping the ZR-7S for the foreseeable future.
I managed to get seat time on two different bikes.
The first was "Zach Ness Vegas" which was all tricked out with lots of black parts that were drilled to expose bits of aluminum beneath. 106 cubic inch motor. Lots of grunt, but, I had no idea what RPM I should be shifting at or if I was troubling it by running the RPMs too low from time to time. The forward controls were strange to me. Had to actually look down to figure out where to put my feet. Personally, I did not care for the riding position. It felt as though I was having to pull myself forward with my arms and my hips were uncomfortable. But, it road nice and I was surprised that it wasn't very windy, as I sat quite low. We didn't ever carry enough speed through the twisty part to really judge its handling. But, it was alright. Just so VERY different from what I am used to.
Then I got to ride on a CrossRoads. Without a windscreen and with the leather look hard (in)side saddle bags. Again with the 106 cubic inch motor and a 6-speed tranny, it would certainly get out of it's own way. But, I still wasn't sure about the rev range. The handlebars on this bike came WAY back over the tank. And while you were at speed, it was fine. But, when maneuvering around the parking lot at low speeds, it was like a giant tiller. You had to swing both grips over a tremendous distance to turn. I really hated that.
And, it seems that ALL of the Victorys had a loud "bang" (for lack of a better word) when shifting gears. It shifted OK and there was even a gear indicator in the LCD portion of THE Speedometer. But the noise at every shift bothered me. I could even hear it on the bikes ahead of me in the group as we were slowing for a stoplight.... Probably not a functional issue, but annoying to me.
So, at the moment, they are not on my short list. But then again, nothing is on my short list... I'm just keeping the ZR-7S for the foreseeable future.