This whole Victory Vision thing I'm sure will be a lesson in innovation and marketing. I can neither confirm nor deny any of the following but speculate on our dilemma. Victory spent the better part of 7 years building something the rest has never been able to acheive, a bike with style and comfort for the long haul that suits a populous of riders that has never been able find the right niche in a bike. It seems that the industry has really failed motorcyclist over all because focus was on image and not true comfort. They built comfort around the image. When I see a Goldwing I don't see a Harley, but there is a strong resemblance.

Victory apparently was doing something the big names weren't and that was not getting feedback from riders, but they were LISTENING. It is not a fluke that they built the bike that is a perfect fit for me in style, comfort, ride, sound, etc, others felt the same way and they LISTENED. So they sock millions of Polaris $$ on a hunch that breaking the mold would be the right thing to do. I think they took a good chance. They spent a lot of dough keeping it a secret for all those years, while still building a better cruiser. Once they were ready for announcement, they had to put a marketing campaign behind to get the word out. I think they had to stymie the word though, even in a narrow market as motorcycles to keep demand down and still maintain the support. To me, I'm putting together a puzzle in that the Vision would be a slow go, but it has proved to be faster than anticipated. So there is the dilemma, not able to support the customer nor the part pieces in case of the need to replace. The Vision has out paced itself, and that is good but also bad because of the fallout from customer support. They didn't focus money to have a robust support structure for a cutting edge bike. I think they spent it all to build and market, but not to support, shame on them, but we are the really the ones who pay the price if we need something and can't get it.

So looking back over the past year and hanging out on this forum, and even peeking around in other forums, I'm more than satisfied with Victory to stick it out. None of the BIG guys have even cared to do what Victory has done and I applaud Victory for doing it. Now you bet the BIG guys will attempt to COPY Victory in engineering and in handling, but they won't change the looks, and that is where Victory has them by the seat of the britches. I've studied the design of the Vision and I believe it has been on the drawing board for a long time, and if you see some of those concept designed of the Vision, you'll see a more rounded Goldwing. But they took it a step further, part of your handling in cutting the wind is the compramise on the storage. So if you want storage and stuff like that then you'll go back to Goldwing or Harley, as they will keep that but try to mimic the Vision. I may be wrong, but I don't think you can have both without more innovated engineering. That is the part that makes the Vision fun is what they did to make it. Height, width, breadth, balance is where they started, in the saddle, where YOU the rider sits and really is effected by the most. That's what I want the most. I can forego radio's CB's iPod's, GPS, cup holders, trunks, saddlebags, fancy dashes, chrome wheels, cruise control and on and on, but I cannot forego comfort for the long haul and handling in and around tight places. Not even a Goldwing can give me that, but they can give me a bunch of crap that will break. Vision gives me the long haul and the 'round town, and even the thrill on the twisties, and they throw all that other stuff in for fun.

Anyway bigwill, I say all of that to say this, yes Victory is not treating us right on the sold side as they should and did on the sell side. Hopefully, it will not lead Victory into diasterous territory for those who really like the Vision for what it is. I even tried to find "crashed" Vision just to see if there are spare parts available from them, but found none. I guess there are 2,444 riders out there that know how to keep the shiny side up. I figure this, the parts are painted and a call or nice letter to Victory may get them to move some of those parts for production over to the old SSG paint booth and hook you up. I think if we address Victory with these type of things they'll come around faster. It took them 10 months to finally acknowledge the stall issue and attribute it to the "unusual rider input" or blipping the throttle. Though I think my real problem was loose headers with an exhaust leak. If I was in your shoes, I'd do the same thing, ride. That is the most important thing is can you ride safely, if yes, go for it. I hope you're back as good as new sooner than you expect.

Thanks for adding another dimension to my understanding, as I'm new to Victory, Polaris and the Vision. I heard, and read that they are very dependable and that was the premise of me taking a chance on the Vision. I've noticed a disconnect between Polaris and Victory which to me is very odd. I've been to Poloris dealers that sells all the Polaris stuff but won't touch Victory. They'll  have Norton, or Triumph, but if they have a Victory it is used. And just as with the Victory dealers, they don't have nothing Polaris except the Victory. I know of one that has both, but it is obvious what is more important, Polaris. So I guess Victory has learned well from its parent, I see. I meant by listening is that I understood they did extensive research to meet the needs of the rider when developing the Vision. It is very obvious that is all they listen too and certainly don't hear very well now.