1999 Valk Interstate vs 2013 Harley Ultra Classic Screaming Eagle

[Tim L.]

My wife and I were on a cancer benefit run this past Saturday when I met up with a friend riding his built 2013 screaming Eagle Ultra Classic. Great guy, I really like him. Laid back, soft spoken, BIG  guy.  We have rode together before on several different occasions even with different bikes. Of course mine were always Valkyries and  his Harleys. He never tried to race in the past, although his last Ultra was also built but not a SE. So he took me out to check out the work he had done to his 110 cubic screaming Eagle. He had it bored 10 over with dome pistons. He had the fuel injection rejetted.  He also had the intake and exhaust opened up . Lost the catalytic converter and had a bad a$$ exhaust installed, a brand I haven't heard of but it sounded good, deep and low. He told me he had 50 grand invested in his bike and it dynoed at 114 rwhp. I love the way Harleys look and sound. So the ride finally began and normally he always rides beside his wife who rides a street glide. I didn't plan this and am not sure if he did but some how him and I ended up side by side, imagine that. So of course the first opportunity we got we whacked it. I was sure I was going to get smoked but to my surprise we pulled a bike length on him in first and another in second. It was over that fast cause we caught the pack in a hurry. Strangely i felt bad and we didn't  talk about it the rest of the run.
The one thing I left out up to this point was the tune up I got last summer from Attic Rat.  My bike is stock with the exception off glass packs and the Attic Rat tune up. So i would like to leave a shout out to the Attic Rat  and all the other folks that keep this site running. I've been browsing the VRCC since 2003 and i'm SO impressed with the following  and the seemingly endless source of information from members on one bad a$$ bike that has been out of production for 11 years.
In my opinion our era Valkyrie has never been equaled by any manufacturer to date.

[twdurdentwd]

What work did Attic Rat perform on your bike?... Because I raced my dad on his Harley VRSCE and he gained lengths on me

[Gavin_Sons]

Sounds like dad can race better than son. 

[Tim L.]

Tune up is a bit of an understatement I think.  It would b best to pm attic rat in case i dont get it all correct or may b he will chime in but the short story is ported polished port matched shaved jetted  with the intake opened up. The proof is in the pudding. Pretty impressive over stock

[Challenger]

What work did Attic Rat perform on your bike?... Because I raced my dad on his Harley VRSCE and he gained lengths on me

A VRSCE and an Ultra Classic are two way different machines. I'm sure Big Al will jump in and explain it. 

[98valk]

What work did Attic Rat perform on your bike?... Because I raced my dad on his Harley VRSCE and he gained lengths on me

A VRSCE and an Ultra Classic are two way different machines. I'm sure Big Al will jump in and explain it. 

VR aka v-rod

[Attic Rat]

Thanks Tim for the kind words, but you failed to mention how much your fuel mileage increased too.

[Troystg]

I am toying with the idea of the supercharger if there are any still around..   

[Jess from VA]

Some machines will outperform others.  But it is my experience that it is the rider that wins races (or roll-ons), much more often than the machine.  (I mean as long as they are in the same ballpark)

I can't beat anyone on a Schwinn.  

And if you can work your Valk roll-on with somebody so you are in third gear at 3Krpm when you hit it, you are very tough to beat...... at least for awhile. (A roll-on for me is 5-6 seconds, not wound out over 100)  In VA, drag racing can result in forfeiture of your vehicle.

Spur of the moment roll-ons are often won by the guy in the lower gear or higher revs.  

[Tim L.]

I agree with Jess, the rider makes all the difference when the bikes are close in power.
My brother and I used to take our Valks to the 1/8 mile drag strip and I beat him every time.
I don't think my bike was any faster,  he just spent too much time smoking his tire.
      A couple good things about the Attic Rat  tuneup is no loss of reliability and my gas milage
actually went up. My bike wasn't running 100% on my way to Tulsa for the tune up so I was getting 29 mpg at 78 mph gps. On my way home after the tune up I was getting  37 mpg at 78 mph gps and the glass packs never sounded so good. On our way home from Maggie Valley last summer my first tank was 42 mpg. Cops were every where so we did the speed limit (45-55) and honestly it felt like we were going down hill most of the time.

[Bigwolf]

Tune up is a bit of an understatement I think.  It would b best to pm attic rat in case i dont get it all correct or may b he will chime in but the short story is ported polished port matched shaved jetted  with the intake opened up. The proof is in the pudding. Pretty impressive over stock

I believe that calling what Attic Rat does a "tune up" is like comparing a Picasso to the art of a 3 year old child.  Make no mistake, these are modifications.  They make more horsepower than a stock OEM Valk engine can make with even the best of "tune up".  I expect those mods make all the difference between you spankin a built Harley or the built Harley spankin you.
Bigwolf

[Momz]

HOLY COW, a 1999 Honda I/S beating a 2013 HD SE!

You should be ashamed of yourself,...he put all that cash into his bike and you made him feel bad.

Don't ever tell him that your bike is American Made,...you may lose a friend and riding buddy.   

[Tim L.]

I believe that calling what Attic Rat does a "tune up" is like comparing a Picasso to the art of a 3 year old child.  Make no mistake, these are modifications.  They make more horsepower than a stock OEM Valk engine can make with even the best of "tune up".  I expect those mods make all the difference between you spankin a built Harley or the built Harley spankin you.
Bigwolf
[/quote]



Couldn't agree more and I don't think you can put it any better than that. With out the attic rat mods the out come would not be the same.
I'm happy to have the Valkyrie at 1/5 the price of his heavily modded harley.
Even here in Florida its a rare sighting to see a Valkyrie unless u run across the VRCC on a Saturday afternoon cruise. I like riding the bike that doesn't look like every other bike

[dago mooserider]

++1 on attic rat's performance work! I've yet to tangle with a v-rod but I won't be scared when I do. Before he got a hold of my valk it was just a bit quicker than my buddies heavily modded 96" bagger. Now we don't race anymore because of the ass whippin I put on him now. I wrapped it out to 6100 on the tach in 5th the other day....... 140mph! I'll post a video one of these days   Oh, and yes, I am getting better gas milage than I was too!

[quirkyguy001]

Attic Rat will gladly tell you everything he does and it's a lot. Every weekend I cruise past the two HD dealerships trolling for riders that try, but have never had one even make me breath hard. It is so much FUN. It was never a real contest stock, but now it's crazy, plus when I keep it under 3000 I get really good mpg. It's really great having someone in my area that knows hat he's doing and is fun to watch him do it.

[fordmano]

Man "O" Man, I really need to go to Tulsa and Visit this one called the "Attic Rat" you all speak of.

I have put a spanking on a couple bikes but nothing real bad, My I/S runs ok, a little carb issue on two cylinders but she is running. I would love to have a bit more gusto and the added mileage would really be nice...

Some day,,,,,,, Some day.....

[98valk]

for reference increasing the compression ratio to 12:1 is providing part of the HP and MPG increase.
A chart I have shows ~ 2.8% increase in power going from 10:1 (9.8:1 oem) to 12:1 ratio.  MPG will increase ~ 5.6%

avg 95 hp + 2.8% = 97.66 hp
avg 35 mpg + 5.6% = 36.96 mpg of course now premium is needed which increases cost over the mpg gain.
 the chart is for a street v-8 with a short cam duration.
the cam will affect these numbers, a cam with more duration and these HP and MPG #s will be even higher.
chart source "performance with economy" by david vizard

[gordonv]

Maybe this is more of a question for Attic Rat, but how can you do this "tuning"?

Do you need the whole bike, or just the heads shipped to you, or anything else? Maybe a 1 week trip over to him and have it done there, and drive the bike back?

I would also like to know what kind of cost, but again, it might be better as a PM instead?

[StretchPhoto]

Even here in Florida its a rare sighting to see a Valkyrie unless u run across the VRCC on a Saturday afternoon cruise. I like riding the bike that doesn't look like every other bike

Believe it or not where I live in tiny Champaign, IL, there are no less than four Valkyries, two with the purple and white paint scheme that I have.

[dago mooserider]

Maybe this is more of a question for Attic Rat, but how can you do this "tuning"?

Do you need the whole bike, or just the heads shipped to you, or anything else? Maybe a 1 week trip over to him and have it done there, and drive the bike back?

I would also like to know what kind of cost, but again, it might be better as a PM instead?

I hauled my bike out there to tulsa from san diego. I had business there and dallas that i would normally fly out there for The work done to my bike was extensive: port/polish/mill heads, polish intakes, swap out cali cams for 49 state and jet and sync carbs. Not cheap but lifting the front tire on a valk is waaay more fun than on my gsxr...

[Attic Rat]

gordonv
just send me a pm and I would be glad to tell you all about what I do.

Regards,

Bob

[67blkbrd]

gordonv
just send me a pm and I would be glad to tell you all about what I do.

Regards,

Bob

How much has to be cut off the head to bump compression to 11.8:1 - 12.0:1 ? I haven't pulled the heads off my bike yet to cc them to see what there at stock or to do the math to see what the target cc is for the compression I want to run it at. Thanks

[twdurdentwd]

Some machines will outperform others.  But it is my experience that it is the rider that wins races (or roll-ons), much more often than the machine.  (I mean as long as they are in the same ballpark)

I can't beat anyone on a Schwinn.  

And if you can work your Valk roll-on with somebody so you are in third gear at 3Krpm when you hit it, you are very tough to beat...... at least for awhile. (A roll-on for me is 5-6 seconds, not wound out over 100)  In VA, drag racing can result in forfeiture of your vehicle.

Spur of the moment roll-ons are often won by the guy in the lower gear or higher revs.  

Very true, this is how I dragged, and won, a worked late model GTO

[quirkyguy001]

Dear CA, There is a lot more increase in power than you figure. I realize that Bob does more than take  60 thousandths of the heads with his performance package, but my butt says way more than 3 hp. I have come across a few Valks in Tulsa and I do have two bros carbon fiber 6 into 2, but I would break down and cry if that's the only hp increase with the increase in compression. I'm just sayin'

[98valk]

Dear CA, There is a lot more increase in power than you figure. I realize that Bob does more than take  60 thousandths of the heads with his performance package, but my butt says way more than 3 hp. I have come across a few Valks in Tulsa and I do have two bros carbon fiber 6 into 2, but I would break down and cry if that's the only hp increase with the increase in compression. I'm just sayin'

QG,
that's why I wrote "is providing part of the power." I understand there are other mods done to complete the package. I also wrote that better cam increases those numbers. Most don't realize exactly what raising compression can do, was just providing base line info. 

[Tim L.]

[/quote]

How much has to be cut off the head to bump compression to 11.8:1 - 12.0:1 ? I haven't pulled the heads off my bike yet to cc them to see what there at stock or to do the math to see what the target cc is for the compression I want to run it at. Thanks
[/quote]




I believe .060 is removed from the cyl. head.
Remember what ever u remove from the cyl head must also b removed from the valve reliefs on the top of the pistons. Bob manufactured some unique and secret tooling to cut new eyebrows or valve reliefs on the pistons. The finished product looks like it was done by Honda.

[67blkbrd]

[/quote]




I believe .060 is removed from the cyl. head.
Remember what ever u remove from the cyl head must also b removed from the valve reliefs on the top of the pistons. Bob manufactured some unique and secret tooling to cut new eyebrows or valve reliefs on the pistons. The finished product looks like it was done by Honda.
[/quote]

Thank you, I checked piston to valve clearance and there will be problems if the reliefs are not cut deeper. Im in the process of machining a fixture so I can do the fly cut with the pistons in the block. I have some cutting tools for doing this using a cylinder head but the ones I have are for 2.19" & 1.92" valves so there a touch too big ???. Thanks again for your input it is appreciated.