Test Drove A 3rd Gen!!

[bongobobny]

While at the WNY Rally we all had the opportunity to try out a new 2018 Venture! Now, keep in mind that I have not been on 2 wheels since 2011 when I went 3 wheels on my Venture, so it was quite an experience! Before I filled out the paperwork I asked to swing a leg over and see how well the balance felt as with my diabetes and health my balance is nowhere near what it used to be. I was very surprised to find out a bike that is just a mere 25 pounds shy of being a half ton of weight felt quite comfortable and controllable so I signed up!!

 

Although the bike is not quite what I would be looking for, I do have to admit it is a pretty decent ride! There are several plusses and minuses but overall the positives outweigh the minuses. I was a bit apprehensive about riding it and all that went through my mind was "don't forget to put your feet down, don't forget to put your feet down..." The 3rd gen is a big honking bike and I actually felt it was too long but nowadays I only go five feet eight so that may have had something to do with it! The actual handling of the bike is quite nice for something that big and heavy, and unlike the 2nd gen has very good low-speed manners. The big V-twin has gobs of torque at the bottom end and has very good throttle response, perhaps too much when the throttle control is in the "sports" mode. There are two throttle modes, sports and touring, and what each mode does is electronically modify the response curve of the actual mechanical twist of the throttle. To me, the sports mode actually made the throttle too jerky for normal operation, I have not been a hot-rodding teenager for several years now, but if you like that sort of riding then, by all means, rock on!

 

One thing I noticed is when I was putting along in 5th (it's a 6 speed) at around 2 grand I thought I was doing maybe around 50 to 55 MPH but when I looked down I was doing 72 in a 55!!! This bike is smooth at higher speeds so I know it will cruise effortlessly on the interstates! I did have it in 6th but at 1500 RPM it didn't really lug it down but it was a rather annoying putt-putt feeling, not to be confused with but similar to the Harley potato-potato effect. I also took it over some rough back roads and the suspension seemed to handle it quite well!

 

The new Venture has a parking assist function that works very well! When in neutral you engage the lever and use a push button on the handlebar to move the bike either forward or backward at 2 MPH via a separate motor hooked up to the final gear drive for the drive belt. As I mentioned, the bike's balance is excellent and this is an easy bike to duck-walk especially using the park assist, but by the same token, it is just as easy and faster to just plain walk it without the assist. There is also a ton of bells and whistles supplied with their entertainment and information system but I'm not going into them.

 

Now for the ugly side. Yup, being air-cooled, at a stop you could just feel the heat waves blasting you right in the chest. Other riders complained that they thought the heated seat was turned on but I did not notice that quite as much as they did. I'm thinking a good sheepskin would fix that complaint but have no ideas what to do about the heat wave at a stop. I absolutely HATED the shifter as it was way far forward and actually had to look down to physically find it more than once. I did find out there is a heel/toe shifter available but did not get a chance to try that out. Although that big 1800 cc twin has lots of power, I am a firm V4 (or 6) fan and like the kind of response that higher RPM's brings. If I owned a 3rd gen perhaps I would get used to it after a while as the acceleration is quite ample and as previously mentioned you seem to be going a lot faster than you think you are. Also, the shift indicator plays tricks, if you go up in gears for a few and then go down the indicator gets confused for a second or two. For example, I went 1, 2, 3, 4, and then back to 3 but when I went back to 3 the indicator read 5 for a second or two and then changed its mind!! This was confirmed by an actual owner of a 3rd gen who was at the rally and stated they saw the same thing but the dealer thinks they are crazy... By the way, we had a total of 33rd gens there not counting the demo one!!!

 

So overall I will give the 3rd generation Venture a passing grade! Yes, just like the rest of you I was totally disappointed with the new Venture being an air-cooled belt drive V-Twin, but I have said in the past I would reserve my final decision about the bike until I swung a leg over and took it for a ride. My decision is that it is a sweet-looking bike that is technologically light years ahead, just like the original 1st generation was when it came out that handles and performs quite well! Not the perfect bike for me but I will certainly not reject it!

 

Now, in conclusion, I would like to address the 800-pound gorilla in the room. I hear time and time again, "It's not a water cooled shaft drive V4 so don't call it a Venture!" Well, just what does the word "Venture" really mean?? What was the first one designed to do in the first place?? The Venture was, and still is a luxury TOURING bike designed to be driven for miles and miles and miles at a time in comfort with many extra conveniences normally not found in the average motorcycle. As far as I am concerned the new Venture does exactly that, and maybe if I was younger and in better health, I would seriously consider buying one. Others complain about the price being so much higher than they used to be but let me ask you, do you still buy a new car for the same price you paid 10 years ago, or for that matter last year?? An unfortunate fact of life is vehicles continue to cost more and more. Try comparing the new Venture's price to a compatible Harley, Beemer, Wing, Indian or whatever...

[NGM]

Glad you took one for a ride. I had the opportunity to test ride one about 3 weeks ago now. I loved the look of the bike before that. I did go on a group "demo" ride one time but that was not enough to really "test ride". My local dealership let me take one out alone. I put 24 miles on her. I was able to flick it around, go around some actual curves and see how it was in traffic. There was some heat as to be expected from sitting on top of a hot engine in the middle of the summer. It was no more than any other V-twin I have been on. I did not get a burning heat at any time during the ride. Even with the air cooled engine. I was very impressed with how well the 900+ lb bike handled. I did a small video of it. There is a lot of wind noise because I did not have an internal mic on this helmet for the camera. I left it in so people could hear some of the engine.