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Cruiser
Posts: 155
Stockton, California | We just had a demo day at Deltapowersports this past Saturday and I got a chance to ride the 2011 Vision. There has been so much talk about the new transmission and ABS brakes I wanted to see the differences myself. Below is what I noticed
ABS brakes: I tried to get the ABS to kick in but I don't think I did. I stomped on it several times and stopped great but felt no vibration so I do not know if the ABS kicked in. I felt the stopping power was the same as my 2010 non-Abs. Of course it may make a difference in a REAL panic stop. But from my perspective the ABS did not seem to add much.
Transmission: Here there were a few differences.
1. The transmission came out of gear twice from 1st to 2nd (this also happened on the Kingpin). I was sure that I put in gear completely so I was not happy about that.
2. When you pull in the clutch the gear indicator goes blank. I did not like this because when I come to a stop I like to be sure of what gear I am in instead of counting in my head all the time. The Victory rep said that this is a by product of the new transmission
3. One good thing was that it wnet in to neutral very easily.
Now that I have ridden the 2011 myself I can say that the IMO if you are waiting for a 2011 for the upgrades but want to spend less on a 2010. You will not go wrong with the 2010. The upgrades are OK but saving money in this situation is better.
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | Nice write up. I look forward to riding a 2011 myself. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 177
| I also hear that the new tranny is overrated. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | ...personally, at 100,000 miles I think it is underrated.  |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | varyder - 2010-09-21 4:15 AM
...personally, at 100,000 miles I think it is underrated.
+1  |
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Tourer
Posts: 492
Indianapolis, IN | I think what mqoblue is saying is that they are hyping up the outward differences, meaning those of us with earlier versions of the bike would not notice that much difference compared to our current bikes. I'd be willing to bet that most of us after a test ride would also be saying, "So what's different?". |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | I've got a 100,000 on my 1999. 80,000 miles on the 2003 upgraded tranny. I fully expect it to go beyond 100,000, so boasting of 100,000 mile tranny is not boasting, to me, it should do that anyway and I believe they will. I think it's just a safe big number for them to tout and people think that's high and such an acheivement for a bike but if people rode bikes like they do their cars (I do) , we'd see tons of 100+K bikes running around. Victory motorcycles are among the most solid, reliable machines made IMO. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 228
| I spent the entire day riding escort for Demo Days at Cruisin' 66 in Springfield, MO two weeks ago and got to ride eight different 2011 models. While the new trannys are quieter (especially in third and fourth) to get me to trade my '08 for a new one. They still "clunk" when you shift and neutral is no easier to find than my bike. I do not like the fact that the gear indicator does not tell what gear you are in with the clutch pulled while stopped.
I fully expect my tranny to go 100K+ with no problems. If you look at the gears in a '08 you will find that they would do a "rock crusher' Muncie proud! IMHO |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 669
Peachtree City, GA | Not really impressed with the new transmission...
Road a Vision, XC, XC with trunk and Jackpot
On two of the bikes the transmission kick out of second gear when I let off the throttle just a little - each bike did it twice. I paid attention |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 802
| BreadmanRo - 2010-09-20 7:32 PM When you pull in the clutch the gear indicator goes blank. I did not like this because when I come to a stop I like to be sure of what gear I am in instead of counting in my head all the time. The Victory rep said that this is a by product of the new transmission
That is really interesting. When I had my Harley I tested a device for a company in Hungary that featured a digital gear indicator like the Vision has. The way they knew what gear the bike was in was by comparing engine rpm to road speed. The side effect of that was that the system wouldn't know what gear you were in whenever the clutch was pulled in. So when you shifted gears it wouldn't show the upshift till you let the clutch out and it had a second to do the calculation. If you were sitting at a light with the clutch pulled in it would just show ---- till you got rolling again. I wonder if based on the problems Victory has had with their gear sensing switch if they've gone to a similar way of electronically calculating the gear engaged like what I've described. I found with the Harley that this type of indicator really had little value particularly when at a light and you're not sure if you made it to first or not. Kind of a shame..
Marc |
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Cruiser
Posts: 155
Stockton, California |
That is really interesting. When I had my Harley I tested a device for a company in Hungary that featured a digital gear indicator like the Vision has. The way they knew what gear the bike was in was by comparing engine rpm to road speed. The side effect of that was that the system wouldn't know what gear you were in whenever the clutch was pulled in. So when you shifted gears it wouldn't show the upshift till you let the clutch out and it had a second to do the calculation. If you were sitting at a light with the clutch pulled in it would just show ---- till you got rolling again. I wonder if based on the problems Victory has had with their gear sensing switch if they've gone to a similar way of electronically calculating the gear engaged like what I've described. I found with the Harley that this type of indicator really had little value particularly when at a light and you're not sure if you made it to first or not. Kind of a shame..
Marc
The rep said that because of the electronics used in the new tranny that this is what now happens when the clutch is pulled in. You get the -- instead of the indicated gear. It sounds exactly like wht you described on the Harley.
Edited by BreadmanRo 2010-09-21 9:00 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | ...is it wintertime already? |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 802
| BreadmanRo - 2010-09-21 5:59 PM The rep said that because of the electronics used in the new tranny that this is what now happens when the clutch is pulled in. You get the -- instead of the indicated gear. It sounds exactly like what you described on the Harley. The other side effect is that if someone was to change the final drive ratio the indicator won't work anymore since the road speed vs engine speed won't translate in its database. A lot of Harley guys lower their gearing for better acceleration which causes them to lose their 6th gear indicator light which works on the Harley the same way. I don't remember all the details of what it was like to ride with on the Harley but I do remember that I figured it wasn't worth having based on it not working with the clutch pulled or sitting at a light. That's a bummer. I guess the factory figured doing it this way was cheaper and certainly less prone to fail since there isn't any mechanical parts involved.
The more I hear about the new trans popping out of second, this gear indicator behavior and the fact that it isn't all that much quieter makes me glad I got a '10. Of course I haven't ridden a '11 yet so I can't say for sure.
Marc |
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Cruiser
Posts: 131
Edmond, OK 2012 Vision, 2012 Cross Country | I am going to find out all of the oddities on the 2011 I ordered a pearl white vision today. My 2009 was unfortunately totalled out almost 3 weeks ago. I would rather be riding my 2009 but now no choice but to see how the 2011 preforms on a daily basis with me riding the bike. My 2009 was bought on 11/27/09 and totalled on 9/4/10 and it sat 3 months and had only 12,650 miles on it. I will give the bike a run for the money. So keep posted on how it is doing. I will keep everyone updated. Ride Safe. |
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Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | Crazy stuff. My '08 occasionally has me in a couple gears when I'm at a light, blinking back & forth between 1st or 2nd. Not really an issue and kinda fun. I can miss 2nd anytime, but more a function of my lack of deliberation than the bike, although it seems to like to do it to me more if I'm showing off...and I hope I'll never need ABS, having lived this long without it. And the more I have to putt around in 4th, the quieter it gets. gotta like that. So unless the '11 has a factory keggerator option, I think I'll stick with the sparkly midnight cherry I got.
So thanks, BMan, for saving me a bunch o'dough! |
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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | As I have posted before, I am getting a new 2011 Vision.
The reason I have waited so long, ABS.
My current bike has ABS and it saved me from T-Boning a black bear or crashing trying to avoid it.
My bike stopped straight and true and unbelievably fast.
It's nice knowing that you can't lock up your front brakes in a true panic stop.
My buddy locked up his front brake on a Valk, skidded 2 feet, and slammed into the ground, busting him up pretty good.
He missed several months of work.
I saw it happen.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals that motorcycles with antilock brakes versus motorcycles without are 37 percent less likely to be in fatal crashes per 10,000 registered vehicle years.
The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) of insurance claims filed for damage to motorcycles, found that bike models with ABS have 22% fewer claims for damage per insured vehicle year than the same models without antilock brakes.
60 motorcycle models have ABS now.
There currently is movement to mandate ABS by 2014. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | i just traded in my 2008 for a 2011 and i LOVE the 2011 transmission! I feel NO lash at all in higher gear when slowing down and giving it gas. also the gears seem to engage very well. the nuetral finder is Nice! what i noticed the most is NO transmission howling,whirling etc.. very Quiet. i noticed because of the lack of lash that the gears dont engage harshly.. |
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Tourer
Posts: 500
| I agree totally with Arkainzeye....I cannot find ANY issues with the 2011 tranny.....I think sometimes you guys look for little things that are "nit-picking" and may happen very very infrequently and all of a sudden they become things to carp about........Nothing is perfect on any machine........JMHO
Edited by opas ride 2011-08-08 3:14 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | opas ride - 2011-08-08 3:13 PM
I agree totally with Arkainzeye....I cannot find ANY issues with the 2011 tranny.....I think sometimes you guys look for little things that are "nit-picking" and may happen very very infrequently and all of a sudden they become things to carp about........Nothing is perfect on any machine........JMHO
it is a Very different feel! its a very stable tight feel. and since im running stock pipes right now i thought i would really hear the noise i had with my 08, but there was None! i put my 08 back to stock before i traded it in, so the pipes were quiet just like the 11 and thats when i really heard the trany. i never thought about it before hand, because i was running the S1L1 setup.. but after putting my 08 back to stock thats when i noticed it was pretty darn noisy.. lol |
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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | The reason you guys are popping out of second gear is due to the neutral finder and your failure to fully engage the transmission into 2nd.
I use a heel-toe shifter and in 13,000 plus miles haven't had my Vision come out of gear yet.
One other nice thing about the new tranny is that it allows for 5,000 mile oil changes rather than 2,500.
So I've already saved the money I would have spent on the additional oil changes.
On trips, the 2,500 mile oil change interval would require me to change oil at least once while on the road.
That would suck. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | bigfoot - 2011-08-09 1:43 PM
The reason you guys are popping out of second gear is due to the neutral finder and your failure to fully engage the transmission into 2nd.
I use a heel-toe shifter and in 13,000 plus miles haven't had my Vision come out of gear yet.
One other nice thing about the new tranny is that it allows for 5,000 mile oil changes rather than 2,500.
So I've already saved the money I would have spent on the additional oil changes.
On trips, the 2,500 mile oil change interval would require me to change oil at least once while on the road.
That would suck.
I completely agree with you on all points ... |
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2011 demo day - thoughts on ABS & transmission
