Weight capacity question

[MartinT]

I know that the Valk I/S has a rated weight capacity of 414 lbs. Do any of us exceed that limit with a passenger? Reason I ask is that my wife and I together will exceed this limit and we have not ridden the Valk together for that reason. I would be grateful for any experience and advice (other than losing weight!).

Martin

[eric in md]

well  martin , from the the kid my only thing to say is it will be fine , get some heavy work shocks, or progressives and fork springs you will be fine .  rear heavy shocks are the key

[Jabba]

LOL... hahahaha.

Wow... that's funny right thar.

Seriously.

Me 320 (formerly 350)
SO 230
gear 100

total 650.  I'll bet that's light.

I have Progressive 440 HD's on my standard and they were not enough for us on the IS.  I bought a set of Works shocks, built for us, and they are great. 

The heavy load is a reason I went non-motorcycle specific tire... (OH NO!!!!) but I feel a lot safer on the NMST than I do on a MCT.  Especially on road trips.

Jabba

[R J]

No problem, ride it, 2 up or solo, makes no difference.

That weight limit is set by Honda about 250# + for safety to their $$$$$$.

You exceed the limit, IF they put it out to actual, and something would break and you crash, you could sue their ass off.   So they set it very light to cover their butt.    Every manufacture does that.

I used to have a race bike my oldest daughter raced with.   By the weight limit they had on it, she over loaded it by 50#.     She raced it for 7 seasons and nothing broke.   The 8th season she lost a bunch of weight cause she wanted to get married.   She lost weight, her hubby married her and 4 kids later she weights in damn close to 300#.      She is a lard ass......   LOL.     She is the one I lost her mom in child birth.   Her mom was a 90# er. fully clothed in winter gear and soaking wet, and 4' 11 1/2" tall.      I told her mom someone must have had it in for me.    World War III, she hated me clear up to her dying day on that one.   Her only living sister, still calls me, and we chat for a spell, always get a Christmas card from her also.    She lost her husband during the Korean conflict.   Plane crash during training.    NO kids, and she never remarried.   Very tall gal, over 6' in flats.

[KW]

Martin,
Trust all us fat people here, you have no worries. I rode with stock shocks on my Standard for the first 10k, then switch to a set of Interstate ones (which are heavier duty) for the next 30k. It was a big improvement, but ‘hard hits’ still bottomed us out. I have a set of Works on now. I haven’t notice any huge change in the ride EXCEPT on the hard hits, which are much easier on our rears. And if any 'newbe' is reading this and has a Standard, they can ignore that little yellow sticker on the luggage rack that says “8 pounds” max load. I’ve probably have had 50+ pounds on it for extended trips. Like RJ mentioned about; Honda purposely understates the weight capacities. Personally, if you’re hauling some extra weight I would over-inflate the tires a little bit. I’ve always done that on all my bikes, but mainly it was for longer tire wear (man, I sure hope this doesn’t start a tire thread now. . .HAHA!)   
KW 

[Fudd]

LOL... hahahaha.

Wow... that's funny right thar.

Seriously.

Me 320 (formerly 350)
SO 230
gear 100

total 650.  I'll bet that's light.

I have Progressive 440 HD's on my standard and they were not enough for us on the IS.  I bought a set of Works shocks, built for us, and they are great. 

The heavy load is a reason I went non-motorcycle specific tire... (OH NO!!!!) but I feel a lot safer on the NMST than I do on a MCT.  Especially on road trips.

Jabba

Hey Jabba

Did you also do the bearing mod?

I did my "winter" rear end maintance, 2 nights ago, and found the left side rear bearing going bad.  I happened to have a stock set in my goodie bag, so I swapped them out (43k miles).  I'm thinking about doing the mod at next tire change.

I ride two-up most of the time (240/160 lbs.) and I'm pulling a trailer a lot.  I hate to get stuck with a bad bearing three thousand miles away from home.

[Steve K (IA)]

I'm also a member of the "Big Boy's" club.  Put on some Progressive 440 shocks with HD springs or the Works shocks equivalent. 
I no longer "heavy haul" because the wife rides our Std...me on the I/S.  When the situation calls for it, I pull a CycleMate trailer.
You'll be Ok. 

[MartinT]

Wow! Thanks guys. To be honest, my wife and I may weigh in on the lower side of the distribution of members here (~ 490 # with all gear, I won't say who contributes how much just to stay on the safe side of trouble). Good advice on the tires and shocks!

Martin

[KSDragonRider]

Yeah, with me and the mrs.. and i will not post her weight at all, (or whisper it for that matter) are over the weight limit butt nakid.  We are around 490 lbs with out any gear on. Then you figure boots and leathers, helmets, cooler, rain gear, extra duds and the wifes carry on, im betting we are about 600 when we pull down the drive...

As some of the others have said, the only time we have any problems is the hard hits.  other than that, the bike feels good,  handles well, and still has just a tad of power left over hehehe. 

[musclehead]

my wife lost a bunch of weight! 

but that's ok I found it...... 

I'm STILL 285 she's a svelt 130.  the valk is a trooper and never complains