|
|
Iron Butt
Posts: 802
| Ok, I know everyone already knows this but I just have to say it. Today I went with a couple of buddies, one on a GS and one on a RT, up to ride Angeles Crest Highway in the mountains above LA. For those that don't know, this is one of the premier rides in SoCal. The Crest is a beautiful 2 lane ribbon of asphalt that winds 116 miles through some of the highest and most beautiful scenery in the LA area. Part of it is closed now due to a road washout but you can still ride the majority of it from Big Tujunga to the village of Wrightwood. Even though it was over 100 degrees down in the basin it was gloriously cool in the mountains. We ended up riding the length back and forth. Doing it on this bike is the most amazing part of the ride. I've been riding for a very long time and have had a ton of bikes but I can't think of one right off that is as much pure fun as this one is. The Vision rides and handles at speed like no bike this size has any right to. It is so smooth and stable through the twisties and sweepers that it becomes easy to forget how fast you're going. I was trying to think of a word to describe the feeling and all I can come up with is "syrupy". It transitions from right to left under power with such ease and grace it reminds me of maple syrup oozing over a stack of hotcakes. When railing through a long sweeper at 80 or so it doesn't even flinch, no wallow, frame flex, nothing. Rock solid. I also have to mention the motor. I had Kevin put in a set of cams in conjunction with a Power Commander and the result is a powertrain that pulls from about 2500 rpm up not with a burst of power but with this constant, never ending thrust that is absolutely addicting. Exit the apex and dial it on like a surgeon wielding a scalpel and the bike just powers out of the corner under absolute control. Whew! Like the subject says, I'm preaching to the choir. Harley guys (including Bob): eat your hearts out. You have no idea what you're missing! Marc
Edited by marcparnes 2010-09-04 7:22 PM
|
|
| |
|
Cruiser
Posts: 97
Okeefenokee Swamp | It's o.k. to preach to everyone when they are as zealous about something a the one doing the preaching. |
|
| |
|
Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | Ditto!
Wish I could ride that stretch, I'll bet it's available year around for entertainment in temperate comfort! However, weather permitting:
The winding roads of the NW Olympic Peninsula feature spectacular views combined with sweeping curves surrounded by stupefying vistas of the snowcapped Olympic Mountains on one side and Mount Rainier on the other with Puget Sound glistening deep blue in between, and this bike provides such a stable platform that you can bend it through them and still notice the views. The linearity of the torque curve on even my stock motor is such a steady pulling back on my arms that I find myself entering the next turn faster than I'd like, yet a bit more countersteering and the scooter picks an apex and hangs there, the lean angle superior to any I've ever experienced on a bike of this size. I've never scraped a hard part yet, although I've read on the blog that others have, but I don't know why. I guess I could if I had to, just haven't yet.
Besides, the Geoduck Tavern beckons up in Quilcene. Gotta go start my weekend! |
|
| |
|
Tourer
Posts: 496
Scottsdale AZ | marcparnes - 2010-09-04 6:05 PM
Ok, I know everyone already knows this but I just have to say it. Today I went with a couple of buddies, one on a GS and one on a RT, up to ride Angeles Crest Highway in the mountains above LA. For those that don't know, this is one of the premier rides in SoCal. The Crest is a beautiful 2 lane ribbon of asphalt that winds 116 miles through some of the highest and most beautiful scenery in the LA area. Part of it is closed now due to a road washout but you can still ride the majority of it from Big Tujunga to the village of Wrightwood. Even though it was over 100 degrees down in the basin it was gloriously cool in the mountains. We ended up riding the length back and forth. Doing it on this bike is the most amazing part of the ride. I've been riding for a very long time and have had a ton of bikes but I can't think of one right off that is as much pure fun as this one is. The Vision rides and handles at speed like no bike this size has any right to. It is so smooth and stable through the twisties and sweepers that it becomes easy to forget how fast you're going. I was trying to think of a word to describe the feeling and all I can come up with is "syrupy". It transitions from right to left under power with such ease and grace it reminds me of maple syrup oozing over a stack of hotcakes. When railing through a long sweeper at 80 or so it doesn't even flinch, no wallow, frame flex, nothing. Rock solid. I also have to mention the motor. I had Kevin put in a set of cams in conjunction with a Power Commander and the result is a powertrain that pulls from about 2500 rpm up not with a burst of power but with this constant, never ending thrust that is absolutely addicting. Exit the apex and dial it on like a surgeon wielding a scalpel and the bike just powers out of the corner under absolute control. Whew! Like the subject says, I'm preaching to the choir. Harley guys (including Bob): eat your hearts out. You have no idea what you're missing! Marc
Now that is a statement!!!! My words exactly- keep on preaching -"he said syrup oozing over a stack of hotcakes" -
Edited by DesertJim 2010-09-10 6:47 PM
|
|
| |
|
Visionary
Posts: 2027
Brighton, TN | i'm hungry. But I always tend to scrape the bottom of my shiny parts. Even in the parking lot. I was flipping a U E and all that the boys surrounding could do was wait for the K-thunk of that big bike dropping like butter on a flapjack. Maybe butter doesn't sound like that, but I'm stuck in a groove. I notice if you can play at 2500 in any gear its a lot of grinin and pickin goin on.
Even if I shift weight to the inside of the turn and hang out to the side like i'm a knee scraper, I'm still scrapin parts.. Maybe I need one of those suits with a metal plate on the knee. I did it a lot at a MSF course and the instructor who rides a GSXR was totally amazed at how the bike handled. I rode it like I had every intention of figuring out where the OH SH!!"78 moment was but never laid it over and never really felt the rearend get squirrelly. Kind of remember it sorta sliding but not really. Anyway I left that class with over a 1/2 inch of material gone from my highway pegs and some more from under my floorboards.
It was extra funny when I showed up and they was all a gigglin' like a bunch of school girls about the fool who rode up on the big tour bike to play with all the small nimble bikes. I told them this is what I bought lets see what she'll do. It made believers out of a bunch of those so called bikers. The instructor had told me about the day before where a Ultra classic was out performing the rest of the crowd too. Sure would have like to of run around that course with him and see which was better. But I already know the answer BSP "Memory Maker 1" would have handed it too him.
I'm done preaching toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I see SandcamelJim came back to play with us for a moment. Howdy Pardner! |
|
| |
|
Visionary
Posts: 2118
Pitt Meadows, BC Canada | I'm 66 years young - and my KevinXinated Vision just stuns the young go-fast guys that I just passed - easily....
Ain't the fastest bike I've owned - but the BEST !!!! |
|
| |
Preaching to the Choir
