I had forgotten the experience of riding a Valkyrie that was not recognized by other riders and drivers. This one recalls that. She is clearly one of a kind. The paint jumps out and she's stripped down to saddle and engine. Front turn signals are in the mirror backs. Rear signals are along and under the base of the rear fender. I get people regularly stopping me in parking lots and fuel stations wanting a closer look. I get V-twin ri8deers pulling up next to me telling me how beautiful she is and what a large engine she has. The engine metal itself has been painted black causing the chrome to jump out at the viewer. The custom paint job looks three dimensional.
She's a 1998 Standard much customized. I have had her for two weeks now and I have about seven percent of her miles as my own. She has just under twenty thousand.
The first thing I did after picking her up was ride her from Friendswood, Texas to Salesville, Arkansas. From there down to Little Rock; back to Salesville and home to Olathe, Kansas.
Jimmy rode with me the first hundred miles. She went on reserve at about 103 which we thought a surprise but then we didn't start out with a full tank. I was careful to measure the next tank. One sixty-seven to reserve. I later measured another at on seventy-nine. The 167 was running between 35 and 4,000 on the tack, almost all open highway. That's good mileage but not necessarily cheap miles. She runs on high octane due to the trigger wheel.
She sits lower than I had accounted for. I surprised myself by scraping the right footpeg on a 270 degree round exit. A little later at speed I touched the sidestand on the left. There's a reason the OEM pipes are notched for the stand. I do have TBR 6X6 also on my other Standard but it sits higher than this one.
She is strong. If I twist her tail sharply she will try to rip the handlebars from my grip.
I badly misestimated the travel time from Friendswood to Salesville. We left Friendswood at around 10 AM and I didn't arrive in Salesville until 22:15. The Mapquest directions I had trusted had me finishing the day with a couple hundred miles on Arkansas twisting two lanes. Fun experience during the day, but some of the enjoyment slips away with sunset and a heavy dose of unfamiliarity. On the way to Salesville the second time I kept to the daylight and chose a different route. That one allowed me to test her handling in a downpour. She did well but I do need to revisit my choice of glasses when wearing a half shell.
I'm having a good time with this one. The chiropractor tells me the 1300 miles in the wind was not particularly good for me but she assures me that she doesn't advise people against their passions. Besides, it's just more work and money for her, isn't it?
Planning is still iffy but I'm hoping to have this one with me in Billings. We'll see.
