Question for those who own a Harley and a Valk

[Alien]

How have you trained yourself to adapt to the different control layout?  I've been having a problem teaching myself to find the horn button and the headlight dimmer on the Harley after riding the Valk for so many years.  Often, I have to actually look at the control in order to select the right button.  It's the same for the starter button and the kickstand.

If I do ride the Harley enough to build that muscle memory, then when I switch back to the Valk, I have to do it all over again.  I wish Harley would use the same control layout as every other motorcycle.

I tend to switch back and forth every day or so.

Any advice is appreciated.  I never thought owning a Harley would make me feel uncomfortable on BOTH of my bikes.  WTF?

Ride Safe,

Alien

[Beardo]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time. 

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes. 

[Rams]

The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

I fully recognize that's there's different strokes for different folks but, there's a reason I moved south and you just mentioned the biggest one.   My goodness insurance is high up there.

Rams

[Alien]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time. 

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes. 

WOW!!!  I pay just shy of $600 per year for full coverage on both bikes and I was thinking that was too much.

[Beardo]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time.  

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes.  

WOW!!!  I pay just shy of $600 per year for full coverage on both bikes and I was thinking that was too much.

There are other provinces where they have competition and it’s not quite as bad but here in SK, we have a government run monopoly and monopolies tend to lead to higher prices. Add in the “efficiency” of government and there you go.  They CLAIM that they’re still losing money on motorcycle insurance at these rates, which I find incredibly hard to believe since American private insurers are much less and they tend to not like doing things at a loss.

Sorry about derailing your thread. Was nice to see a motorcycle thread so I had to post something    

[John Schmidt]

How have you trained yourself to adapt to the different control layout?  I've been having a problem teaching myself to find the horn button and the headlight dimmer on the Harley after riding the Valk for so many years.  Often, I have to actually look at the control in order to select the right button.  It's the same for the starter button and the kickstand.

If I do ride the Harley enough to build that muscle memory, then when I switch back to the Valk, I have to do it all over again.  I wish Harley would use the same control layout as every other motorcycle.

I tend to switch back and forth every day or so.

Any advice is appreciated.  I never thought owning a Harley would make me feel uncomfortable on BOTH of my bikes.  WTF?

Ride Safe,

Alien

A number of years ago(more than 10) I mounted HD controls on my Valk, imagine what that did to me.   A Valk that had the controls of a Harley....imagine that. Actually, the only reason I did it was it turned out to be cheaper and easier to have fully chromed controls and reservoirs than to dismantle the OEM Valk units, send them off and pay well over $200 with shipping both directions. Then go through the troubel of putting it all back together again. I found a complete set for a Harley on Ebay for less than $220 to my door. Spent maybe 3-4 days adapting the HD controls to the Honda harness. I've done a few other bikes for the owners over the years, all work fine. 

[Gavin_Sons]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time. 

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes. 

Wow,  i pay $202 a year for my insurance

[old2soon]

       I'll know what it is in a couple months But it Are less than $300.00 a year. RIDE SAFE.

[..]

Try Markel insurance

[cookiedough]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time. 

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes. 

holy smokes,  2600 a year for insurance?  What does a car run has to be more than that per year right?  Time to buy an e-bicycle or do they have to insure them as well up there?    My paycheck to insure all 5-6 cycles would not be enough - YIKES!          Would hate to see homeowners insurance...

[Beardo]

Move to Canada where our sky high insurance won’t allow you to own more than 1 bike at a time.  

My Wing is $2900/year, the Valk was $2600. The great thing is we get winter for half the year so you only have to insure them for about 7 months.

Seriously though, I think the more you ride your Harley, it’ll become natural as soon as you start it up. They’re different bikes but both enjoyable in their own right. Enjoy their differences and be thankful you’ve put yourself in the position to own 2 nice bikes.  

holy smokes,  2600 a year for insurance?  What does a car run has to be more than that per year right?  Time to buy an e-bicycle or do they have to insure them as well up there?    My paycheck to insure all 5-6 cycles would not be enough - YIKES!         Would hate to see homeowners insurance...

My 2021 Chevy Colorado ZR2 is only $1600/year.  Insurance for our roughly $400,000 house is $1500 a year and that includes extra coverage for all my guns. It’s crazy. Maybe it’s because we only ride half the year and all on straight flat roads so so we’re really bad riders and get into lots of accidents  

It’s all pretty relative though. Pretty sure I make a lot more than someone doing the same job down there. What really matters is what do we have left after all the bills are paid. I bet we’re not all that much different. I bet I have a similar standard of living to someone there with the same job.

[Mikerthebiker]

Beardo,
Maybe you should move to Alberta. Valk and a HD, full coverage, $1200/year.

[fudgie]

I usually have it fig out within a few miles. Never was a issue going from one to the other. Same for a rental car. Usually its memory after a few miles.

[Crackerborn]

Recent model Harley's, no problem. In a few miles it is all natural again. Try some older bikes that have a right hand shift. Yup, that does take longer to get the cranium adjusted.

[Alien]

Recent model Harley's, no problem. In a few miles it is all natural again. Try some older bikes that have a right hand shift. Yup, that does take longer to get the cranium adjusted.

I'll bet!  Didn't Indian used to have left hand throttles too?

[..]

Recent model Harley's, no problem. In a few miles it is all natural again. Try some older bikes that have a right hand shift. Yup, that does take longer to get the cranium adjusted.

I'll bet!  Didn't Indian used to have left hand throttles too?

Brit bikes all used to be right side gear change.

My old LE Velocette 200 had a hand gear change lever on the right side.

[hueco]

I have a 1998 Valkyrie and a 2007 HD Ultra. The only problem I have is the horn button on the Valk is at the bottom. On the Ultra the left turn signal button is on the bottom. The horn button is above it. So. When I go to blow the horn the Ultra I turn on the left turn signal. In turn if some one cuts me off. Instead of blowing the horn at them I am signaling that I turning left. 

[Alien]

I have a 1998 Valkyrie and a 2007 HD Ultra. The only problem I have is the horn button on the Valk is at the bottom. On the Ultra the left turn signal button is on the bottom. The horn button is above it. So. When I go to blow the horn the Ultra I turn on the left turn signal. In turn if some one cuts me off. Instead of blowing the horn at them I am signaling that I turning left. 

Exactly!

[Patrick]

After awhile it becomes second nature. I ride one with right foot shift and another with hand shift.