“What’s the worse that can happen, I’ll pick the bike up put her in neutral, refire and away I’ll go. I’m sure they think I can’t ride such a cool bike, but hey, it’s a cool bike.” That is the thought that ran through my head as I was coming through the intersection of River Road and Temple Ave.They’ve been doing construction for the past several months and the crossover for Temple Ave. has a lot of sand and gravel that can cause me grief at times. I’m a ministry volunteer at the local jail and prison that is on River Rd, so I come through this intersection many times a week. However, the light is always red so I have to stop, and when it is green and I proceed, I take my time. This time it was green so I was moving through at steady speed leaning into the left hand turn onto Temple Ave, then it hit me, THE SAND! By this time I was already in it and leaning, the rear wheel was sliding out from under me to the right. What do I do? I know I’m going down, and the thought hit me. “What’s the worse that can happen, I’ll pick the bike up put her in neutral, refire and away I’ll go. I’m sure they think I can’t ride such a cool bike, but hey, it’s a cool bike.” I thought as I slammed my left foot down in hopes of keeping her up. I know it was going down, but suddenly, I’m cruising along like nothing ever happened. I don’t know how it recovered and I’m sure those sitting at the light were getting an interesting show. But there I was, straight as an arrow and scooting on down T-Ave. My foot seems a little flatter this morning and it has a nice ache that runs across it and up my leg. But it doesn’t hurt enough to keep from riding again this morning.

It is such a small price to pay for such a great pleasure. Ride Safe! Ride On!

etspastimes - 2008-09-03 9:26 AM Chris, I bet if you did not put your left foot down, that the bike would still stand itself up. That is the main thing that I keep in mind when Rosie gets loose on sand or gravel, that the tipover tabs work even at speed. JUST KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE FLOORBOARDS! I have been in a couple of ah shi!s that the bike kicked itself back up. You also have to remember that it also does it in tight curves. When you don't want it to. ET

That's one thing I need training on is keeping my feet up and on the boards in that type of situation. I did that on my wing one time as well, except the sand patch was much smaller. I threw my leg down when it started to slide and it recovered as well, but again that was a very short patch. Also, in that same trip within a mile there was the sand, a yard shark and a deer. I felt like someone was out to get me.

But back to the Vision. This patch of sand is big and nasty and I know that my foot on the ground did not have any affect except to my foot and leg. It stood up and I don't even know what I was doing. I think I backed off the throttle a little and may have countered steered, but just as quick as it started, it ended. Maybe I need to do what I used to do as a kid with my car when we used to hit the snowed covered parking lots. We would do all kinds of spining, slipping and sliding, but it paid off later on the highway. I am not afraid of the snow in a car and find it easy to keep a car under control because of that experience. I need to go find a controlled area with sand on pavement and do some slipping and slidding on the Vision, maybe I need to go see PoDude?.

VisionTex => I always were long denim pants and Tony Lama cowboy boots. I  had on Dickey pleated last night, but will were Levi black Jeans. I get nutty here lately and will wear just a T-shirt, but mostly, at a minimum long sleeves, but will wear Leather jacket and just got some chaps.

PoDude => You indeed encourage me to keep a ridin' 'cause if you can go through the things you go through and survive, for me it's a piece o' cake. But the dealer who rides a SSG said that he went to the mountains and had to haul up a gravel road with his wife unit on the back. About halfway up the Vision started to buck and slide. Now he's up the side of this mountain and all he can think about is sliding back down end over end with his wife. So he guns it, gravel flying everywhere and the Vision kicks out like a dirt bike and they're gone and made it to the top with no more problems. He couldn't believe that he could do that and it would handle that way but it did. Oh, have you tried biscuits and gravy yet on the exhaust?

Lotzafun => the thing that totally amazes me about this machine is I do not feel intimidated, even in close calls. This may seem like it could cause problems, but I am reminded that I am vulerable. However, I do not get the heart rush as I did on the Wing, which after my little incident that I described in this reply on the Wing, I did have a pucker factor the rest of the 10 miles home. This bike is rock steady.

CHL => She does have style and grace that only royality would have.

Tarpits99 - 2008-09-03 2:56 PM ... On my right was a large group of HD riders ; all of whom were studiously ignoring my new ride while we were stopped at the signal - LOL. As we accelerated away from the light ,the last HD (riding two up on a extremely lowered softtail) swung wide into my lane cutting me off. I had to straighten the bike up and swing wide as well, which forced me to make the turn a couple of inches from the concrete median and heeled over a lot more than I had planned. Knowing how well the Vision handled I wasn't really concerned, until I saw the SAND in the rain "gutter" cutting through the apex of my turn. You can hear my thoughts already, which ranged from the obscene to the uncharitable and back in nano-seconds. The thought that stuck was the idea that I was going to drop my new bike in front of a a whole raft of Harley guys. I was committed to the line and knew that braking would without a doubt cause a get off, so I kept the throttle steady and waited for the front end to wash out like it would have on my HD. The Vision plowed a little through the sand then the front end caught, the back end shimmied a bit as it passed through and then we were out the turn,on our way, and I was breathing again. I don't believe that I have ever ridden a motorcycle as responsive, stable and sure footed as the Vision, the power curve is smooth, strong and predictable. I love carving up canyon roads that would have produced serious pucker factor on my E-glide; and while my BMW R-75 loves the canyons (short wheel base model that only weighs 450 lbs) it is miserable on the rough rain-grooved freeways we live with here in California. This machine serves all my needs better than any bike I have ever owned. I seriously love it!

I know what you mean about the HD ignore. On the Wing is definetly obvious they are not going to look, but on the Vision, you can see the heads turn ever so slightly. I've even caught them starting to wave and then hold out. I've caught a couple who will purposely look the other way or do the hand on the thigh pose. (suppose to be a negative and obsence jesture in the biker world). hopefully this doesn't start a wave debate, because I find it less important whether someone waves or not, I will when given the opportunity unless you are on a crouch rocket doing 30 over the posted speed limit. I don't want them to take their hand off and crash.

But some of the HD riders are a hoot "Ooooooooooooh there's a Victory and its a Vision, cooooool bike but don't leeetttt him seeeee me looking, I got to loook, just one liittle loooook, noooooo, must not look it is so unHarley, but it is so cool. Whew, he's passed, I'll just go home and get my Toyota truck and drive to the dealer so no one will see me riding my Harley to the Victory dealer."

pollolittle - 2008-09-03 4:46 PM Over at the Harley place, their Billboard cast a shadow, on a parking spot for a car, in the middle of a 100 degree day. A lot of harley's parked in the little area designated for just harleys or bikes, no shade. Give you a guess, where I parked my Vision. I keep telling you people, I'm not totally impervious to the obvious.

but you're totally obvious to the impervious