Riders Of Vision

Well, COTA was certainly an eye opener. Vinales started from pole and was promptly shuffled back to 11th. Marquez led maybe a lap, claimed brake trouble and crashed out. Acosta led a couple of laps and was passed by Martin. Vinales came back and passed everyone and won the race.
Now we're at Jerez. And both the sprint and the race will be live in the US on TruTv.

nice history and fleet. XS750 was one of my favorite rides. Did about 55k miles on one before moving to the Vision. Put about 69k miles on the Vision. Still have it after doing an engine swap.

Have two 82 visions, one black and one red, all stock except for shocks, one Ohlins one Fox from the 80's, rebuilt in early 2000's. Also have a Ducati900ss/sp, 1996 and just got a BMW r65,1979. the R65 is very similar in power and handling to the Vision and is lighter feeling because of the low center of gravity. First ride today about 150 miles in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada  mountains,here in California.

I noticed the bore and stroke match a long time ago and my thought was that fuel injection had cured all the ills of an aggressive cam timing with lots of valve overlap causing a carbureted motor to suffer with the back pulses that Yamaha tried to overcome with YICS. I wonder if transplanting can be done? Fuel injected Vision? Someone can figure it out.
Service levels were very high and frequent on the Aprilia. One guy used to run Hwy 49 between Coulterville and Mariposa like a gunslinger looking for sport bikes to embarrass.

Ron, thanks for the explanation.  It helps understand the situation.

What I've done is ride my Vision every chance I get. The problem is in the safety circuit that keeps the starter from functioning unless the transmission is in neutral or clutch is pulled and side stand is up. I just bypassed that circuit. I was riding before these safeties came along and don't miss them. Having owned my bike for 42 years and now having it start right up like a normal bike fo the first time, I'm not highly motivated to troubleshoot that circuit at the moment. The biggest problem would be trying to start it in gear without pilling in the clutch lever so I may put that switch back in the circuit.

So, what did you do?  Was the problem in the solenoid?  Maybe the wires connecting it?  Or in the starter button on the handlebar?  Being old and fading I need a bit more specific information of what you did and what parts needed 'fiddling'.  Thanks.

That was a good ride. I think we had 12 Visions.

The Ca Rov was pretty active back in 2004-2010
This group shot is at Pine Grove California. We went for a great ride over two sierra passes, Ebbett's and Carson.
Had a great dinner Saturday night and did a shorter Sunday ride before everyone departed.

The circus has moved to COTA and the sprint is in the books. The GP is in 3 hours. One thing that I don't expect to change is Yamaha and Honda will bring up the rear. Can Aprilia last a full race? We'll know in 4 hours.