Hello from South Africa - Valkyrie 600Mile trip

[Rocket]

Hi all,

I would just like to say that i have ridden many motorcycles and owned everything from Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Vespa, etc, and every shape and size from RM50 to Firblade 1000, ZX10, GSXR600RR, VFR750, and the list goes on.

I recently got a bean in my bonnet to get another bike and do some riding around the beautiful South Africa. I remembered a friend of mine who rode for the Same club i rode for many years ago, had a Honda ...something or other, but man was this bike something. It was big, and silver and it was a 6 cylinder. I couldn't for the life of me, remember the name of the bike.

Until one day i was sitting on the think tank, and the name Valkyrie came to mind, and i immediately did some research and found that there are only 6 of these in the country. Well i searched online for any Valkyrie's for sale, and found two - one was overpriced and modified to look like a Suzuki B-king crossed with a street fighter style ....  (why someone would do that i have no idea) And the other bike was original and what seemed to be in great condition.

I went to look at her, and found this -
I immediately put in an offer, and it as accepted. This was last week Thursday.

Friday morning we left Johannesburg for our trip to the eastern transvaal which is one of the most beautiful parts of the country (non coastal) and so we left at a freezing 2deg Celsius outside temp, myself and my mrs. Now i had never ridden a Honda Valkyrie before, and nor did i ever experience a cruiser type bike either before. Anyways, we froze our finger tips off, and stopped at every garage (filling station) and used the hand dryers to warm our hands up, had coffee and wen on our merry way. 

Eventually the sun came up and we started to defrost about 120miles into the journey in a place called Dullstroom - which is a very popular tourist attraction and big on fly fishing.  Well through out the entire journey, i was amazed and impressed with the handling, performance and comfort of this bike! The fuel consumption was pretty good for what the bike was (12km per litre - which is about 28miles per gallon of 3.78litres to a gallon)

Its heavy compared to the USA figures i have read, but we ride at an altitude of over 6500feet above sea level here, and the temperatures outside in during the day (even in winter) reach up to 32deg C (90deg F)

I have to comfortably say that any ANY RPM, from 2000rpm the bike opens up nicely and with more than enough torque for myself 84kgs, and my mrs around 58kgs plus at least 25kgs of baggage. The suspension worked very well considering the sometimes, poor road condition, and the brake are somewhat lacking, but I'm sure there are mods for that.

The trip was great, and the bike purred with no incident at all. VERY IMPRESSED!!! Here are some more pics for you to enjoy.












Next order on the cards - Bill's Supercharger kit. Anyone recently purchased and installed one of these? I know previous older reviews said of some mods to the air filters etc were needed, but have these been corrected? 

[Strider]

Man, great shots!!  Good looking Valk - the modifications that were done look great!  That is one sweet looking Valkyrie!

Enjoy the ride brother!  You will love it!

Right now I am in Angola for work - just north of you.  Beautiful country in the shots!

[fudgie]

Welcome! Awesome pics!

[Rocket]

Thanks Strider - Angola is nice, in the army we were posted there on the border, so i don't have good memories of the country myself.... but picturesque for sure.

Fudgie - thanks alot.

[Oss]

You are a lucky man indeed

Have a  really nice Mrs. that will jump on a brand new (to you anyway) Valkyrie
and ride and have a great time....dont get any better than that !


Welcome to the family.  Maybe there is a bit a air in the brake line and once
it is bled, or pads replaced all will be fine as  the Valk has terrific brakes

Oss

[Pappy!]

Welcome Welcome Welcome!
And keep sending us photos, as many as you care to and as often as you can. Gorgeous scenery!
Great looking Valkyrie! May want to go over some maintenance on the bike just for piece of mind.
The brakes should be stellar on the bike, it is one of the best stopping bikes on record. May have something sticking or air in the system.

[Xtracho]

Great pics. We love pics! Welcome to the madness that is the VRCC.

[Rocket]

Hey all,

Thanks for the warm welcome, i do have the most special Mrs, thats for sure!!  

Here are more pics for you to enjoy.  PS:- these are all heritage sites in the eastern bush pat of the country. You guys will know it as safari --- this is where that happens, in this part of the country.

[signart]

Very cool custom paint. Welcome and thanks for the pics.

[Valkorado]

Welkom!  

Oh yeah, get some heated (electric) jackets and gloves and you won't have to stop for the hand dryers.  Beautiful bike and scenery!

[Serk]

Howdy and welcome! I'm very jealous... A few years ago I spent some time in Jo'burg and Cape Town (mostly Cape Town) for work, but rented a car and took off to explore the countryside as much as I could. I would have LOVED to have been on 2 wheels instead of 4, and was wondering if there were any Valkyrie's in country...

I'd dearly love to explore the countryside from a Valkyrie some day!

Enjoy the bike and enjoy riding it in one of the most beautiful countries on earth as far as I'm concerned!

[Spirited-6]

You my Friend are one smart Guy ! Love that Valkyrie ! 

[therapist]

Great pictures, love the blue on blue color. i am assuming that is an aftermarket paint job.

I would forget the supercharger and just enjoy that amazing engine as is...less grief.

However, I would add some chrome tranny covers and some velocity stacks, if they are sill available, they would complete that beauty.

When it comes time for a tire change, may want to investigate a car tire for the rear.

[Jess from VA]

Welcome, and what a wonderful post; thanks for sharing.  

But egads man, you're on the wrong side of the road.  


All the bike needs is a bigger shield (screen).

[John Schmidt]

Welcome aboard. Great pics, great bike, great partner you have to share it with you. Re. the brakes, you might want to consider replacing the original brake lines with some stainless wrapped lines. That will make your brakes feel very solid when you grab a handful of lever. I'd do the rear as well just to make it complete. You won't be sorry.

[MarkT]

Beautiful country, love to see it some day.  Like the colors on your Dragon.  Looks like you could use a luggage rack under your leather trunk.  I'd say forget the blower - the bike is well powered and reliable already - you'll lose some of the latter if you add a blower.  Might want to look into preventing hydrolock as well.  Just add a Dan-Marc fuel solenoid and you'll be golden on that.  What they said on the brakes - yep.  Looks like you've already got upgraded rear shocks.  A nice pair of spots to improve your visibility for safety reasons would be a good bit of chromatherapy.  Or are the cage drivers bad there as well?.

[Super Santa]

Welcome to our obsession.  Enjoy your ride.  Checking the brake pads and bleeding the brake lines might give you a little more assurance in stopping.

[RainMaker]

Thanks for the pictures.  I've never been and will likely never be able to visit South Africa, but it appears to be very beautiful.  As is your Valkyrie and your riding partner.  You are a lucky man in many ways.

RainMaker

[..]

Rocket. Check your email. 

[icandoitfaster]

Thanks for sharing your photos of your beautiful country and Valk. I love Africa....born and raised there!! Have spent many months in Rwanda over the last couple of years and sure wish I had the option of travelling on two wheels instead of four.
Welcome to our family!
paul

[Jack]

Awesome report. Many thanks.  We, in the states, sometimes forget about our brothers overseas.  Glad to see the Valkyrie has made a home there.  Rest assured, we are envious of your travels.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Welcome to the club and thanks for sharing the gorgeous pics 

[flsix]

Welcome from Florida. Thanks for the great photos of the countryside. What a beautiful area to ride.

[8Track]

Welcome to the world of Valkyries. Your bike looks great - very unique with that custom paintjob and airbrushed rendition of the tank badges.

With regards to power, if the bike is lacking a bit at lower revs, perhaps feeling a little lazy until it gets over 3,000rpm, it would pay to replace your vacuum lines. About $5.00 for a couple metres of 5/32 vacuum line, and and 2-3 hours work at home. It should fix any perception you have that the bike is in anyway lacking. If that doesn't get you there, then replace the intake runner o-rings and perform a carb sync. BonS new Digisync looks to be the perfect tool for this.

Regards,

Mark

[Daniel Meyer]

Welcome! Great pics!

[gordonv]

Welcome, and great scenery. Even the land looks nice too.

Loves the hills. Figure I'll never see that continent, but love seeing the land. Liked watching the Long Way Down (and Around) to see parts of the world from a different point of view.

That custom blue looks great. I like how the tank badge was removed and then painted on.

[Rocket]

Hi everyone --

What a warm welcome - this is unheard of in South Africa!! Thanks Serk - Cape Town is still the land of milk and honey!!  Beautiful as anything, but expensive as hell!

The paint job was motivated by the lack of parts locally, so instead of the badge, we airbrushed her on ... 

Jess from VA - hahaha no you guys are on the wrong side of road --- i remember visiting Vegas in 2012 and driving on the other side of the road --- man was that fun for the first few minutes..... 

Velocity stacks sound good to me - where do i get em?

I didn't go for the bigger shield cause of the look - i wanted a more streamline look, the smaller screen works pretty well, and in summer here, i want some wind over my upper body, as otherwise its unbearably hot!

I will definitely follow the advice on the brakes, bleed em for now, but replace with braided steel lines ASAP.

MarkT - been looking for a luggage rack for under the rear bags ..... found one on Ebay - will purchase today.

Thanks Rainmaker -my mrs is the most special girl in the world to me!


Britman - thanks alot for the plethora of information. AMAZING!!!!

Icandoitfaster - South Africa is very special, not many people know it for anything other than violence and negativity, but there is ALOT more to South Africa than the media portrays - and the violence is not as bad as the media makes it out to be ....

Yeah Jack - we are often neglected, but we are still here.... sharing the love for the same machines and riding freedom that everyone of you do.... :cool dude:

8Track - consider it done, will get this fixed up this weekend. Planning our next ride the following weekend, will be about 350mile ride for the weekend, want it done before then.

GordonV - you must make a plan to visit this continent, you will never forget or regret it.

If anyone wants to visit South Africa, and tour, let me know, i will be your personal tour guide!

[Hooter]

   Nice, very nice and welcome! Great country  and you represent it well. Hold on to your wallet / credit card cause you are in trouble!

[therapist]

Wow...only found one place for stacks, and not sure they still have them. Not cheap.
I think I could make more money parting out all my rare chrome parts than my bike
is worth.

http://www.aeromachmfg.com/V_Stacks_Honda_Valkyrie_p/am-2410hc.htm

The chrome transmission covers are actually cheaper than they used to be.

http://cycleplicity.com/products/75160-kuryakyn_7710_transmission_covers.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Honda-ValkyrieGL1500C-75160GSMakeModelFitment&utm_campaign=GSMakeModelFitment&adtype=pla&kw=&utm_term=&adpos=1o1&network=g&gclid=CISl3I7aqsUCFXQV7Aod3AwA6g

[8Track]

Hi Rocket,

I forgot to mention when you do the vacuum lines, don't forget to also replace the three vacuum sealing plugs on intakes 1,2 and 5 while your at it.

I'd love to come to South Africa for a holiday. I grew up reading Wilbur Smith novels and from them developed a strong desire to see the country.

Cheers,

Mark

[Anthony]

Hello Rocket,
welcome to the family, welcome to the insanity 

you can read about my blower install here:
http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,55338.0.html

don't worry about the airfilter from Bill.
if you are able to install such a blower, then adding a air filter like Bons and I did, is easy. 


is your bike a US version ? I did not notice a throttle position sensor, so I assume it is.
check the VIN nr.
then you have the option to use a Dyna ICM to retard timing when under boost.
I am still running the stock ICM in my European model.

if you have any questions about this bike, search this forum, and ask around. a lot of knowledge and helping hands , eh keyboards around here.

Anthony

[DirtyDan]

hey meet this guy last year from south Africa

peter is his name meet up in California

he bought his bike in virginna rode it to key west, dead horse, Inuvik  he was on his way to tierra del fuego

hats off sir



dan

[Rocket]

hi all,

Hooter - we not in trouble at all, the media thrives on bad news. We have been street wise for over 50 years, with the same crime every day. The only thing is the crime has got much more frequent. We all know how to handle it..... it is sad though.

Therapist - thanks for the lead, what kind of gains can be had from the stacks??

8Track - for sure will definitely do that too.!!   :cool dude:

Thanks Anthony - i am keen to do the upgrade, but not liking the mods that everyone had to do after buying the kit ... modding the belt cover and the air filter bend ..... i am easily able to do it right, but would expect it to be supplied correctly from the onset ...

Dirty Dan - thats us.... South Africans are wild and untamed, always in for an adventure.