new Valk owner with questions

[hogjol55]

Hi guys. New Valk owner and new to this board. Just bought a 97 standard. The fuel shutoff valve does not have any markings that show on, off, reserve.  It is pointed up at this time. Is this the on position or the reserve position?  What fuel works best. 87, 89, 93?  And how many miles should I expect to get on my odometer between fillups? Thanks in advance.  Looking forward to many great miles.     JD in Ocala

[RP#62]

Welcome aboard.  If your petcock is stock, there should be markings on a round plate at the selector handle.  Down is on, forward is off and up is reserve.  If your trigger is stock, 87 is fine.  If  you have an after market TW, the timing is advanced and its better to run mid grade.
-RP

[hogjol55]

petcock is not stock. just chrome.

[RP#62]

Meant to say trigger wheel in the above post.  They guys with the aftermarket petcocks will have to chime in.
-RP

[Chrisj CMA]

petcock is not stock. just chrome.

picture would help

[valky1500]

In my thinking the fuel petcock's positions are always universal.
Stop (closed) is always in the middle position while run is always forward (down)
and that makes reserve always pointed towards the back (up). That is when installed correctly.

It would take a real biker to figure out what happens when it only has a 2 position like the cheapo's do.

Even the true rocket scientist would have a problem with that
when it was installed backwards.

Furthermore, it never hurts to run out of gas in your own back yard.

[klb]

As for the octane of fuel. On my stock 99 standard I used to pay extra for the 93.

I read that it didn't help any It just made me feel better. So now I have a exxon station

just a couple mile's from my house with non ethanol gas at 87 octane and I have found  I cannot

tell the difference between the 93 and 87. Just lighter in the pocket's before.

[salty1]

A regular grade of gas seems to fire well in my princess. I do try to use Chevron or other fuel outlets that have Techron. Anything to help keep "her" carbs clean. 

[Oklahoma_Valk]

87 grade w or w/out ethanol. I run ethanol, I just dont care anymore. I cant tell a difference in performance or mileage. I just run a half can of seafoam once every 10 fuel ups.

You should start looking for a gas station at 100miles on the ODO, until you get to know the bike. I never go past 120miles.

Jim

[Willow]

The range of a Standard or Tourer should be 170 - 180 including reserve.  You should hit reserve in the 120 - 150 range.  If fueling at 100 makes you comfortable do so.  It's certainly not what you have to do unless you're pulling a large trailer.

That's assuming you fill the tank to the top.  If you get really, really bad fuel mileage your range could drop to as low as 153 miles.  Any less and you have serious issues or very unusual riding conditions.

[UskCoastie]

One of your first maintenance items after picking up a factory shop manual is to get her on a lift and pull the rear wheel and final drive. This is critical to ensuring a long life for the final drive components. What you're looking for is excessive wear due to lack of lube on the splines. Some members here have had spendy discoveries when they got around to looking at the final drive. Follow the manual, check the splines every 10K miles or every rear tire change whichever comes first.

That said due the required maintenance and this could well be the last bike you ever have to buy unless you plan on riding more than 250,000 300,000 miles.


Enjoy the ride.

[Brian]

Welcome aboard hogjo.

Sounds like you need to either send us pictures of the fuel valve or take it to your local MC dealer to have them ID it.

A shop manual is must. Check out the shoptalk section on this site as well as use the search feature here to find subject threads. There are a lot of good valkryie mechanics on this site that will help with aynthing you have to ask.

Once you ID the valve, I would fill the tank, set the trip odometer to all zero's and run it in the on position till it starts to sputter. This way you will know what your milege will be to hit reserve. I fill up at 100 to 120 around town.

Good luck.

[BF]

The range of a Standard or Tourer should be 170 - 180 including reserve.  You should hit reserve in the 120 - 150 range.  If fueling at 100 makes you comfortasoble do .  It's certainly not what you have to do unless you're pulling a large trailer.

That's assuming you fill the tank to the top.  If you get really, really bad fuel mileage your range could drop to as low as 153 miles.  Any less and you have serious issues or very unusual riding conditions.

That depends greatly on the seat and the bladder.  Some seats need to be gotten off of and alot of bladders need to be emptied somewhere around a 100 miles or so.  Usually makes for an opportune time to refuel both the rider and the tank. 

[PhredValk]

Pictures. We like pictures.

And yeah, spend a lot of time on the Shoptalk page. Buy a Clymer Guide and download the Honda shop manual from Dag's site, valkyrienorway.com; and Carl Kulow's complete Valkyrie Maintenance Manual from the Shoptalk page. It sounds like a daunting task, but it's really not that bad.

Welcome to the madness,
Fred.