So in the past 2 weeks I’ve developed some pretty significant opinions about my Valkyrie. In fact although quiet preliminary I felt it was worth bringing this for group think / comment. I will likely be evaluating the ideas I put forth for at least the next year. I’d hate to get over confident and drop my wife on vacation. Please let me know if your experience tells you I’m sailing away.
This thread could be useful to anyone who’s not fortunate enough to have a good set of Interstate Shocks or aftermarket shocks, and especially useful if your still riding on a set of 1998 or 1997 Showa’s. It seems based on threads I've read and my recent experience, Honda undershot the spring rate when they first put cruiser shocks on this pretty little Goldwing. Although I just measured my still good 1998 Showa’s with a bathroom scale I came out with 140 lbs / in – pretty badly under sprung per old treads on this website.
These pictures show me comparing the Spring rates of my 1998 Showa and 412 standard with a bathroom scale.
Progressive called for a standard 412 Spring for someone under 225 lbs, or a progressive spring rate of 120-170, for all Valkyries including the Interstate. My 1998 standard has hard bags and a trunk that weight maybe 50 lbs empty. The Standard 412’s were an improvement to the original under sprung Showa’s, likely the 170 factor, but still under sprung. I refit my 412’s with heavy duty springs, 140-200 lbs/in, which perform much better as discussed on other VRCC threads.
Next I started testing my heavy duty 412’s to see if they would fix problems I was having riding the bike at very low speed, two up, design load or above. What I found was very interesting. These bikes really like a lot of preload to easily maintain low speed stability at heavy load. On my bike with my riding skills, 5/8” of preload doesn’t do it. I can’t comfortably ride in traffic at full load up to a 4 way stop on a sloped mountain town road with marginal pavement. I’d be afraid of dropping my wife. In fact as I added test weight to the bike all I needed to do was add preload, but once I got to step 5 if I added significant extra load, like 40 lbs high, the instability was obvious, like a step. Then I unloaded the bike and ran it with the shocks at level 5 with no load. I didn’t get bounced off the road due to low sag, in fact the bike just handled better. So I started reading Goldwing threads. It seems the guys who chase down sport bikes with their Goldings like to set their preload to 25 even when they’re riding one up.
I don't know how much preload you can put on a 1500 goldwing, but in the 13-14 minute portion of this repair link, you can get and idea how much. It's a lot! and those springs are big.
https://www.gl1800riders.com/threads/how-can-i-tell-if-preload-is-working.470401/There doesn’t seem to be any real downside to increasing preload on these bikes.
Back to my heavy duty 412’s. I cut 2 pieces of 1 ½” pvc slip couplings 9/16” long, pulled my 412’s apart again and put them back together with the 9/16” spacers on top of the heavy duty springs. Effectively I made step 1 equivalent to old step 5 and step 5 like a new step 9, giving me the ability to preload each spring a full 1 ¼”. The bike just handles better and I can put my wife on the back and use the trunk and luggage rack. The only down side for me is the ground get’s a little farther away for my short legs, and these 5 step shocks struggle to adjust under so much preload. These bikes really could use long threaded preload adjusters, but I can’t find any after market shocks like that for a Valk. I’m thinking Worx is out of business, and most of the Hagon shocks that fit this bike seem to have just 3 preload settings.
V twins for some reason are like garden tractors. If you can find the preload adjustment, by all means turn the knob, but it really doesn't matter which way. This is a picture of my Vtx in Colorado. I normally ride at step 3 whether 1 up or 2 up. When I ride as shown, over the design limit for the bike I set the preload to 4 (or about 1/8" more than normal). If there are high winds with a full load I go to step 5.
These pictures show the spacers going in the 412's
This is my Valk with 160 lbs of dead load. It's easier to ride with my wife and gear.
I guess in theory this would even work on a good set of Interstate shocks. The problem would be getting the aluminum head off the steel piston shaft. A thread on this website says they gaul, which is how I found my old showa's. Ruining a good set of Interstate shocks would not be a good idea.
