Digging into the Valkyrie today, but not by choice.

Well, I have a pretty important charity ride coming up on Saturday the 14th. Longtime family friend's daughter passed away a few years back, from a still undetermined disease, and the charity donates to a fund for families at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Walked into the garage this morning and saw fluid on and under the front tire. Right fork leaking. The seller of the bike said they were done last year, but either he stretched the truth, or the shop did to him. I pulled the front wheel and fork tubes. I don't have the parts yet, so I started by draining the forks. The left side, which was not leaking, had nice, clean fluid. The right side has nasty looking stuff, so I'm guessing the left side was all that was done previously. I'm going to do both sides, since I'll know what was done and when, and what kind of fluid is in there.

One of the front wheel bearings was definitely gritty, so I replaced those and the seals. It had EBC brake pads, which never gave me a great feel, so Honda pads going in. Checked and lubed the caliper slide pins to ensure proper operation.

Since it is up on the jack (thanks again, Mark T., for the lift adapter), I pulled the rear shocks and replaced the bushings with the VTX ones I had ordered. They weren't blown completely, but they were pretty wasted, so probably a good thing.

So, absolutely beautiful Saturday, and the bike is a garage queen with the front end in pieces scattered around the garage. I hope my local dealer has seals and bushings in stock Monday morning. I have 2 quarts of Amsoil 5w fork oil in stock, but I'm thinking that's a bit too light. So, I guess I'll see what the dealer has in stock when I get there.

I guess these things happen when you buy a 20 year old bike. As good as they are, some of them need a bit of work. Now to fix those broken side covers...