Introduced in 2007 as an addition to the Victory->ke1801 touring lineup for 2008, the Vision came in two versions: the Vision Street, which came standard with a full fairing and hard side bags and the Vision Tour, which included those features plus a hard trunk. In 2010, Victory renamed the Vision Street version the Vision 8-Ball, keeping the Vision Tour as its full dresser.

For 2017, Victory offers the Vision -- with ABS and cruise control standard -- alongside the Cross Country Tour as its mighty duo in the tourer->ke2669 bracket.

Continue reading for my review of the Victory Vision.

Design

Standard with multi-setting heated handgrips and individually heated seats, the Vision -- with its curvy, almost weirdly hourglass-looking lines -- provides 29 gallons of weather-tight and lockable storage in hard side bags and trunk to invite you to extend your riding season into chilly or inclement weather. Creature comforts including a padded passenger backrest and surround sound encourage you to take your favorite passenger with you.

When cruising down the highway, the cage-quality cruise control is within reach and easy to engage and disengage. The frame-mounted, full-coverage fairing and power windshield allows you to adjust the airflow over and around you and your passenger to reduce wind noise and buffeting. With a seat height of just over 26 inches, even we shorties can reach the ground.

Chassis

Victory used conventional, right-side-up, 46 mm front forks to float the front end, and provide the torsional stiffness needed for cornering stability. Fork travel is sufficient at 5.1 inches, making it comparable to other touring bikes in the current market. A single, air adjustable shock acts on the constant-rate linkage to provide 4.7 inches of travel, which is also sufficient, if nothing to write home about.

Wheel-speed sensors on the 18-inch front, and 16-inch rear wheel monitor wheel speeds for the ABS to prevent loss of traction due to poor conditions or braking technique, and the linked brake system enables the rider to panic-brake with confidence. This bike is no lightweight, weighing in at 891 pounds, and you need lots of braking power to keep her under control. Toward that end, Victory blessed her with twin, four-piston calipers up front, a dual-piston caliper in the rear and 300 mm discs all around. This gives you plenty of stopping power to keep the beast under control.

One peculiar design detail that I notice is the handlebar arrangement – the “uprights” are more nearly horizontal than anything I have seen before, and the handlebars seem to swing around the steering stem, rather than twisting it. The Honda CTX700 sort of follows the same design, but the arch in the uprights keeps it from looking quite so pronounced. Overall, I think this will make it feel a little different in the corners, at least until you get used to it.

Drivetrain

There is no substitute for cubes, and the 106 cubic-inch Freedom has plenty. This 50-degree, air- and oil-cooled V-twin cranks out an impressive 108 pound-feet of torque – plenty to get its not-inconsiderable bulk up to speed, and that right quick. Dual, 45 mm throttle bodies with electronic fuel injectors feed the beast, and the split dual exhaust with backpressure crossover carry off waste gases and reward the rider with an authoritative V-twin rumble.

The transmission houses helical gears that provide positive gear engagement with little to no gear whine such as one would expect from straight-cut gears, and the six-speed, constant-mesh gearbox has an overdrive ratio in top gear for comfortable, low-rpm cruising on the highway.

Pricing

MSRP on this baby is $21,099 -- a hundred more than 2015, but holding steady from 2016. Gloss Black is the basic color and Blue Fire Gloss runs a thousand more.

Competitor

While the Honda Gold Wing->ke2108 made for a tempting target for my head-to-head, with its fixed front fairing, luggage capacity and contemporary overall design, I decided to look instead to another of Polaris'->ke4818 holdings, Indian Motorcycles->ke3292. Although they both fall under the same umbrella, Victory and Indian operate independent from one another and they take widely disparate routes to arrive at their version of the American tourbike.

At a glance, the Indian Roadmaster->ke300 over the years, with that extra little something that Indian brings to the design. Victory covered all the same bases but with a fixed front fairing complete with lowers, and swept lines that go beyond modern and reach for the future. I don't really care for the look that much, but I can see it appealing to buyers looking for that big-bagger feel in something other than a status quo design.

Both rides run what I consider to be big engines. Victory uses its 106-inch Freedom 106/6 mill, just a skosh smaller than the 111-inch, Indian Thunder Stroke. This size difference carries over into the power figures with 106 pounds of grunt out of the Freedom and 119.2 pounds from the Thunder Stroke. Granted, anything over 100 pound-feet of torque is “good enough” in my book. Since we are talking about American bikes, it's worth mentioning that both engines are big V-twins, and contribute heavily to the overall look, and while the Freedom displays the typical form, the design of the Thunder Stroke evokes images of yesteryear when flathead/side-valve engines were common. Bottom line; Indian makes the bigger, more powerful engine, and they make it look better as well.

Engine design and a handful of grunt isn't enough to explain away the price discrepancy, though. Victory slapped a $21,099 sticker on the Vision Tour, Indian is significantly prouder of the Roadmaster with a lofty, $27,999 MSRP. Gotta say that this difference is enough to make some people take a look at the Vision that otherwise would not, and it certainly baits the table for Victory.

He Said

My husband and fellow writer,TJ Hinton, says, “As much as I appreciate some of Victory's products and like baggers in general, I found this bike to be a bit unremarkable. I gotta say that I'm not feeling the flow of the lines. They are a little too round, a little too “flowy” for my tastes. In fact, the red one looks like a Ladybug on two wheels, the only thing missing.......are the black polka dots!”

She Said

"Victory openly compares the Vision Tour to Harley-Davidson->ke300's Electra Glide Ultra Classic. The two bikes are priced within a couple grand of each other, but the specs that Victory claims as a "win" aren't very significant, in my opinion. The Vision Tour has three more cubic inches of displacement and three more pound-feet of torque. Victory claims the seat height is almost three inches lower, which is true; but if we're talking low seat height, compare it to the Electra Glide Ultra Classic Low instead; in which case the difference in seat height is not noteworthy. The Electra Glide Ultra Classic has six gallons of storage more than the Vision Tour -- for me, that's significant -- and the Vision Tour boasts heated hand grips and heated seats as standard where they're options on the Electra Glide Ultra Classic. What they don't compare are the Project Rushmore improvement and developments that are standard on the Electra Glide Ultra Classic, such as brighter lighting -- including LED Tour Pac lighting -- for better visibility. I like the safety features that come standard on the Electra Glide Ultra Classic. Creature comforts like heated grips and seats I can add if I want them."

Specifications