New to the Valkyrie club.

[Evil Santa]

Hey guys, bought a 97 standard this spring and love it. Been lurking and using the tech pages here to get it squared away. Great resource and enjoy the forum. Thought I should introduce myself.
I'm 61 and retired, I live in Northern Minnesota in the North Shore area. Been riding all my life from Mini bikes, standards, sportbikes, to dirt and dual sports. I always liked the Valkyrie from the time they came out. Thought someday I would like to have one and it finally happened. Needed something to cruise with the wife in comfort and it fits the bill nicely.  I still ride single track woods and dual sport but been getting into the tourer thing more and more. Last bike close to a tourer was a FJR 1300 so this is a big change for me.
I do my own work on my bikes so this has been a great resource and the knowledge from you long time owners is a great help. I look forward to learning more about the bike and maybe see some of you down the road...
Later Jim

[Otus]

Welcome Jim. Great source of information here and some good people. I'll be coming through Minnesota the middle of August but I'll be quite a bit south of you. Maybe we'll bump into each other some day.

[Gary]

Welcome Jim, from northern New Mexico.

[Jess from VA]

Welcome aboard!

Great, now we have an Evil Santa and a Good Santa (Tom in AL).  

[Hoser]

Sure glad we have a good Santa, too.    Welcome, Hoser   

[Disco]

Welcome, Jim!  You sure live in a beautiful part of the world.  TP (one of your "neighbors") led Stude31, HayHauler, and me from La Crosse up through Duluth and on to Grand Marais last summer before we turned left on Highway 1 and started working our way back home. 

What do you ride for single-track and dual sport?


Stude31, HayHauler, me, and TP with his usual beaming smile   

[Paxton]

Welcome from Southern California.
If Mrs Santa likes the Valk, you are a happy Santa. 

[Evil Santa]

Thanks for the welcome. I forgot to say I'm really not Evil Ha. Years ago I was on another motorcycle forum and someone saw a picture of me. He posted that I would make a Good Santa, a friend said he ain't good he's Evil. Well there you have it I have been Evil Santa since.  

Disco I can say the same about your great state. 2 winters ago we spent 6 months exploring Texas. Started in Austin, did Hill country then the Coastal bend. Over to San Antonio area, then up to Amarillo Canyon lands. Stayed in State Parks mostly. We really loved it and will return again to winter.  I pull an enclosed trailer behind the Motorhome. Have a Yamaha Majesty 400 scooter that we used for getting around. But think I will take the Valkyrie next time. When we stay up north for the winter we are avid Snowmobilers.
Right now I have a YZ125  for the woods. Had a couple CRF250X but always came back to the little smoker. For Dual sport I have a 99 BMW F650 Classic Funduro. I used to have a Honda XR650L but wanted something a little more friendly on the blacktop. 
Later Jim

[..]

Please check your email.

[Evil Santa]

Thanks for the info Britman. The bike has 90,000 on it. Previous owner did  high mileage trips so seemed to keep up on maintenance. Said he had to replace drive shift, wheel bearings ect. so then started paying more attention to it. I had to rebuild Petcock right away and it has needed a good cleaning. So I'm going through everything eventually. The maintenance info will come in handy. I've been through all the tech pages and I have the manual. Will go through it just for peace of mind.  It's nice knowing what to look for before it breaks so really appreciate this forum.

[T.P.]

Well Howdy Jim,  I will be heading T BIRD from TN up the North Shore next Friday THE 18th.
PM your contact info and Ill  see if we could meet up,     T.P.

[Paxton]

Santa;
Last December you were, indeed evil. The medics blamed you for pushing me off the bike!
This year you better be good to me or freakin' Rudolf is a goner!

[Daniel Meyer]

Welcome! 

[Pappy!]

Welcome from Central Florida!
I spent some time up in Cook, Mn. years ago. We did a photoshoot for a personal watercraft manufacturer up on Lake Vermillion. Gorgeous up there!
BTW - With a name like Evil Santa you should fit right in around here!

[Evil Santa]

Welcome from Central Florida!
I spent some time up in Cook, Mn. years ago. We did a photoshoot for a personal watercraft manufacturer up on Lake Vermillion. Gorgeous up there!
BTW - With a name like Evil Santa you should fit right in around here!

Small world Pappy, my wife is from Cook and we lived there for many years when first married. We still have her home place on the Airport road just south of town. It's the only place on the road right off of 53.  I've got a couple miles of single track cut on the property, is a fun playground.. 

[Misfit]

Welcome. 

[Ghost]

Welcome from Indiana Jim, I rode with the good Santa this year at Ashville. He"s a good rider for someone who spends most of their time looking at deer meat. lol  Hope to meet and ride with you to someday. 

[old2soon]

Welcome to our little corner of the insanity!!  IF you choose to feed the inmates a cold adult beverage is mucho appreciated.  These cursed bikes we ride ARE addictive.  Had mine 4 years this past June 30th and the grin WILL NOT go away!!  Again-welcome and have lotsa fun here!!  RIDE SAFE.

[wiggydotcom]

Welcome, Jim. By your description, you've been around the block a time or two. Good on ya for doing your own work. Stay tuned but as you might have read, next year's Inzane might be pretty close to you in ND.

[Ken Tarver]

welcome aboard, from Mississippi

[nogrey]

Welcome, glad to have you aboard! Always room for another enthusiast! If you have a chance, try to get to Inzane, an annual gathering of valkyrie owners. There is a posting on the general board about it. They're just getting the next one planned out. Supposed to be in June next year.
There really is a tremendous wealth of knowledge and camaraderie on this board. Some great folks. Just bought a valk from Minn a couple of months ago. TP went and looked at it, checked it out, validated it, acted as a broker and housed it until we could come get it. I live in Idaho so was a very nice favor. Lots of folks like that on this board.
Hope to meet you someday.

[HayHauler]

Welcome to the asylum EvilSanta.  That is me in blue in Disco's picture.  We had a blast riding around that area.  Highway 1 was a great road.  We made a pact, that if we encountered a state's HWY1 while out on the road, we are gonna to ride it!

Hope to see you at the next Inzane, supposedly up in the Black Hills area.

Hay 
JImmyt

[gregk]

Welcome to the board. You've got a great place to live. I'm down in Chippewa Falls Wi. . Was up the Gun Flint Trail 2 summers ago. We rented a boat up at the tail end to go see if we could spot any Moose or some other thouble to get into but the high waves kept us from going out of the bay. It'll be next year before we get up your way again. We've taken a half dozen trips around lake Superior. I really want to get back up to Copper Harbour Mi. one of these days.

[Evil Santa]

Yep it really is a nice place to live. It does have its downfalls though.  The winters are Very long, the Summers can be very short. And the Skeeters well i always carry 100 percent Deet bug dope Ha. But when it's nice it's nice. We tried the Snowbird thing and will be doing it again.
Hwy 1 has been straightened and resurfaced a bit over the years but still has some rough sections. Winters are pretty tough on our roads.  From my place off Hwy 2 its 50 miles to Ely and i get the best section of hwy1. Nice run to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone.   I'm 20 miles from town on a little Lake in the woods so in good weather it doesn't get much better. So if anybodies in the neighborhood let me know..
Later Jim

[Super Santa]

Welcome aboard from the Texas Santa.  We have another one down in Alabama.

Looking forward to meeting you, perhaps next Inzane.

[lonewolf/va]

welcome from Central Va.

[T-Bird]

Welcome Jim,
 I have just bought another Valk in the Minneapolis area, and am flying there on thursday to pick it up to ride back to Tennessee.  I recieved a text message from T.P. saying you might join us for a ride on Friday. I hope you can make it, I am looking forward to riding the area.
Terry

[Evil Santa]

Hey Terry, I'm in for Friday. I'll hook up with you guys down the road.  Looks like T.P. has a full itinerary for you..
Later Jim

[Oss]

welcome to the family Santa

You will for sure have fun with TP and T-Bird

Now post a nice pic of your Valk will ya?

[T.P.]

HEY TERRY,  Look what we are doing Saturday morning    T.P.

Alpine Slide at Lutsen Mountain - Lutsen, Minnesota

[T-Bird]

 

[Evil Santa]

 Just so you know you Can go fast enough to flip the sleds over. I left skin on the Alpine Slide.

[Otus]

I've done the alpine slide on a previous trip to Minnesota.  It's a blast, Sue loved it. We saw a couple people leave skin there.

[Pepmyster]

Welcome from Montreal!

[RONNIEB]

welcome from Oklahoma

[fantsybikr]

Howdy from Ohio

[Beer van Huet]

Hi Jim,
Welcome from the Netherlands, albeit somewhat offtrack for you,LOL

[Hooter]

Santa;
Last December you were, indeed evil. The medics blamed you for pushing me off the bike!
This year you better be good to me or freakin' Rudolf is a goner!

Welcome to the forum! I'm fine but most of these guys are nuts.   

Paxton, You obviously forgot the "Gremlin Bell". It wasn't Rudolf's fault.  

[Felonious Thump]

Beer! Your girl looks like a twin of mine, before the slide off...

[nogrey]

HEY TERRY,  Look what we are doing Saturday morning    T.P.

THAT LOOKS AWESOME! NEVER GROW OLD!!