How I fixed my new Valkyrie...
hubcapsc:
Some folks here seem to like their new Valkyries fine, I hated mine. I knew it
was an awesome bike the minute I test rode it, but I found it almost impossible
to make it comfortable.
Here's what I did... I'm leaving out the many less radical things I tried that
didn't work.
The root of the problem is those lame handlebars and the dinky one inch
risers.
I fixed that with some Baron 4 inch pullback risers and Baron riser extensions. The extensions
moved the risers back an inch and raised them an inch and allowed me to vary the distance
between the risers to fit whatever handlebars I chose... I chose 1500 Valkyrie bars, of course ;) ...
The tape was just to register the extenders while I was tightening the bolts.
The new Valkyrie's risers are rubber mounted, and there's a collar around
the stud as it exits the riser. Without this collar, there would be a void under
my new risers. There's a certain size of washer that is perfect, but the hole in
the washer needs drilled out...
So, now I've got some bars/risers with some promise, but none of the control
wires and hydraulic lines and throttle cables will reach.
I cut the control wires and soldered in nine inches more wire and used
this nice wire loom to cover it up...
I ordered longer hydraulic lines from Spiegler. A guy named Matthias helped me
order them over the phone. Later when I looked for youtube videos showing
installation of Spiegler hydraulic lines, there was Matthias showing an
installation and how to use this cool little tool they send along with their
lines that allows you to spin the banjo joints on the ends of the lines if
needed.
I ordered longer throttle cables from Motion Pro.
And I ordered a Memphis Shades Hellcat handlebar mounted windshield, the
OEM one no longer came anywhere near fitting.
You basically have to remove everything but the motor to get to the throttle bodies to
change the throttle cables...
The LED pod mounts to little tabs on the OEM risers, so I had to make a bracket
for that.
Too ugly to even finish...
This one was small enough to finish, but it held the LED pod at the wrong angle...
There's no such thing (well, I don't know where to get it) as 45 degree angle
iron (aluminum ;) ), and I don't have any kind of brake to bend aluminum
flat stock, so I made what I needed from several layers of roofing tin... I
have hand brakes that can bend that. The black stuff is several layers of
PlastiCoat...
The bracket is held to the handlebars with a couple of Formotion clock mounts...
The valkyrie is covered with plastic, much of it held on with reusable nylon "push pin"
rivets... I only broke one push pin, on one of the shrouds on the front of the motor
where the clutch bleeder hides. Honda wants three or four dollars each for the push
pins, I got a box of 60 from Amazon for $19.99...
Anywho... executing this whole thing has taken me months, but it has been worth
it. I got the bike back together Monday night, and after a few windshield adjustments
it was feeling pretty good. I rode it about 100 miles today, and felt something was
still lacking. As I rode I tried to figure out what needed changing, and decided the angle
of the backrest (oh yeah, I have a Corbin seat) need to come forward just a bit. I
made the change and went another 20 miles, and it was almost perfect. :cooldude:
If tiny adjustments are making great improvements, I must be almost there...
Here's the bike pretty much as it is now (finger prints and all, I haven't washed it since
tearing it all apart)...
As small as it is, the windshield is nice, and can be adjusted a bunch of different ways. I
don't like to look through windshields, this one is plenty tall enough... it could be wider.
I'll probably keep fine tuning its adjustment, and maybe rotate the bars a little, but
my ride today, especially after I rotated the backrest forward a little, was great.
-Mike
jimmytee:
:cooldude: Good work. Glad you were able to finally get some satisfactory results. Do you have a link to the Amazon site with those push pins. I went through upgrading the stereo system on my F6B and lost one. I bought a couple from the dealer and you're right it was like $3.50 a piece. Definitely would like to get a deal on those to have on hand for any future work.
Jess from VA:
Mike, I am thinking when you retire you could go into business doing this mod for others. Say parts for cost and shipping, and about $3000 in labor. (if that's enough)
I think Honda ought to be shown what a real headache it is to make their bike handlebars comfortably ergonomic for the average cruiser rider. Honda may have aimed the new F6C at the crotch rocket crowd, but that would be a mistake, and I believe the lion's share of new owners would be wing/cruiser people.
To my knowledge, nearly all 1500 Valk riders (long, tall, short or fat) add longer/taller risers to their bikes to make them cruiser friendly, and except for throttle cable rerouting for 5.5" risers, they are otherwise straight bolt ups, and a half hour, one-beer project. The same is true for any number of Hog and Metric cruisers.
Seat, bag, shield, and hwy peg issues may be solved by simply throwing money at them and some straightforward bolt-up, but obviously not this project.
Way to stick with it. :cooldude: :cooldude:
The Navy Seabees have nothing on you..... The difficult, we do right away, the impossible takes a little longer.
(Perhaps one picture to add to the collection would be those parts that will not go back on)
hubcapsc:
Quote from: jimmytee on January 21, 2015, 03:01:32 PM
:cooldude: Good work. Glad you were able to finally get some satisfactory results. Do you have a link to the Amazon site with those push pins. I went through upgrading the stereo system on my F6B and lost one. I bought a couple from the dealer and you're right it was like $3.50 a piece. Definitely would like to get a deal on those to have on hand for any future work.
I got these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GXJIWRA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You might want to wait a few days and find out if I made a good choice...
-Mike
hubcapsc:
Perhaps one picture to add to the collection would be those parts that will not go back on
handlebars, risers, windshield and brackets. I'd put a Utopia backrest on the OEM seat, it
was a good backrest and the OEM seat might be OK with it and these handlebars, so maybe
it shouldn't be in the picture...
EDIT: oh yeah, and a pile of cables and hydraulic lines.
-Mike
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