So I made the final payment on my Valk that was purchased in May of 2009, but I want to tell the story of how I came to get it and send a BIG thanks to the person that helped me get it, my Uncle (Mountainman on this forum) Sorry for this - It is long !
I sold my beloved 2000 Nomad when funds were needed for the family. Knowing I would be suffering withdraw from my therapy of riding in a short time I started hunting a CHEAP bike to run around on 2 wheels until I could get another cruiser. Noticed Cheap flights to Tampa from Knoxville were running $40 so started checking the Craigslist so I could get a trip at the same time of acquiring a new bike. Spotted a 97 KLR650 and worked the deal. Flew down and rode back. Nice bike for a 2nd bike but not a keeper for my kinda riding (this I learned on the ride from Fla to TN - Ouch) After a few months I spotted a good deal on a Kawasaki Concours and so bought it and sold the KLR (I miss that thing) This would be better for the trip I had planned that year to Bar Harbor, Maine with my Uncle. This had the power to make the trek, but I soon learned that my bad back/hip wasn’t going to like it for long because of the riding position. At least I was slowly stepping my way back to a Nomad. After enjoying it for months and looking at craigslist and local dealers I stumbled into a dealer I do some work for. Walk back to the used bikes building (The Chicken Coup) and as I walk in I see this beautiful 97 Tourer with about 30,000 miles on her. As I’m looking at it the salesman walks in and says whats up Dave. I say when did you get this in and he tells me beginning of the week. I’m drooling over it and he asks if he should head to the main building to get the keys. I motion and tell him yeah as I continue to gawk at the bike and sit on it to get a feel for it. It looks huge, but feels JUST RIGHT for me. Soooo comfortable and my mind is thinking how am I going to get this. After he comes back with the keys, she fires right up and I’m in love with the sound coming out of those truck stacks. I make a call to my Uncle and the conversation goes something like this:
Uncle - What ya doing buddy
Me - I’m at the toy store looking around and there’s this gorgeous Valkyrie here you just have to hear as I proceed to rev the engine. I’m sure it didn’t sound the same over the phone, but I proceeded to tell him about it and then say, “you know I’ve never asked you for anything ( although he is a very generous Uncle) and before I could finish he cuts me off…..
Uncle - How much do you need?
Me - Bike is 6,000 if they’ll take my offer and 500 to pay taxes, title transfer and everything, etc, so about 6500 I guess. I’ll sell the Concourse and make payments til your paid back.
Uncle - I’ve already started writing the check while we’ve been talking. Send me some pics when you get her home.
Then I started thinking of how I was going to tell my wife I bought another bike..................
Well she did go home and I sent some pics along with starting to send payments which every time I sent some money he’d say don’t worry about it, how's she running. Got the bike around the end of May of 09 just in time for the trip to Maine which was a BLAST on the Valk and would have been miserable on the connie (for me). Last week the final payment was sent to Uncle Dave and she is now totally mine. I say TOTALLY mine because my Uncle would constantly joke about
reposessing her because he fell in love with her on the trip to Maine while he was riding his Goldwing. In fact he fell in love with her so much that he bought a 97 Bumble Bee Valk with matching trailer as a 2nd bike for himself. Personally I think he started looking when my payments hit the halfway mark because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to repo my baby being a minority shareholder.
So this was a long read, but I wanted to explain how I fell in love with and how I acquired my Valkyrie and to send out a BIG and public THANK YOU
to the best ( ONLY
) Uncle I have !!!!!
Dave
