Valkryie bars and controls on the 1200

[John Schmidt]

Got the handlebars mounted, the bars came from a friend as did the controls. I had picked up a set of adapters.....7/8" to 1", at least that's what the package said. When it came to mounting the bars they were real loose so upon checking, the adapters were for 1 1/8" bars. I have some thin aluminum laying around so out came the tin snips, cut a couple strips about 3/4" wide and enough to go around the bars. Tapped them into shape and mounted the bars, now nice and tight. Next was adapting the Valkyrie controls to the 1984 GL1200 Standard harness. Figured if I can adapt a set of Harley controls to my Valk, this should be a piece of cake. Only real problem was the p/o must have been a butcher in a prior life, he went wild with wire cutters. The left side took the longest due to all the fishing out and repairing of wires, adding connections....various frustrating stuff. Finally got it and everything works so far but since I don't have any turn signals mounted yet I can't test that circuit. All I could do is use jumper wires to make sure there was voltage where it was supposed to be. Apparently will need a new relay since I can't get it to engage/flash the meter up/down. The right side went a bit faster, still had to pay close attention to the start circuit, kill switch, killing the headlight at start, etc.  None of the wire colors matched on the either side so it was a case of having two schematics laid out side by side and doing a lot of testing before inserting pins in the 9-pin connector. On both controls, left and right side, I had to completely remove(empty) the 9-pin connectors and then take one circuit at a time and match it up with the harness. Takes time and patience.....and a little head scratching. Next project I guess will have to be rebuilding the forks and front calipers. Then I should be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, albeit a very dim one at this stage. 

In this picture you can see the 1200 throttle cables hanging down on the other side. Fortunately they do fit the threading on the Valk control and they appear long enough. On the near side you can see the choke cable hanging down & laying on the valve cover. To connect it involves pulling the carbs part way out since the choke is in front. It's not coming out any time soon. 



I definitely like the looks of the Valkyrie bars and controls, just seems to fit. Especially with the Valk tank on there. 


Before going on to the forks, I'll have to rebuild the master cyl. for both sides. I've been tossing around the idea of buying a set of those new chrome jobs you see on Ebay, sure would save some time. Has anyone ever tried a set, I know the subject came up a couple times in the recent past. I'll probably run by one of the local HD Boutiques and pick up a set of grips. Don't plan on doing anything with the seat until the very end but have cut it down quite a bit in size for now. School's still out on the engine, just want to give it some good hard runs to seat(I hope) the rings on the left side. It needs a load on it, running it in the garage won't really do the job. If it still has problems smoking after a good bit of mileage, then I'll start looking for a replacement. So far it's been fun, with  some major frustrations tossed in for good measure.

[jimmytee]

Thanks for the update. Nice work.

[da prez]

  John ,I rewire a lot of motorcycles and found a long time ago ( as a heavy truck mechanic) that a pack of jumper wires (radio shack) is a good method as if there is a mistake ,the wires can be un - clipped fast or they will burn up with out hurting the circuits in the bike. They are about 28ga and work for tracing circuits as the alligator clips are fairly small.  You can hook up all the wiring and test it before using the pin connecters . It will not work on a high amp draw.

                                   da prez

[BCoy]

   Looks great John, you are getting close. I am looking forward to the final reveal.

[John Schmidt]

 John ,I rewire a lot of motorcycles and found a long time ago ( as a heavy truck mechanic) that a pack of jumper wires (radio shack) is a good method as if there is a mistake ,the wires can be un - clipped fast or they will burn up with out hurting the circuits in the bike. They are about 28ga and work for tracing circuits as the alligator clips are fairly small.  You can hook up all the wiring and test it before using the pin connecters . It will not work on a high amp draw.

                                   da prez

Ross, that's what I do most of the time. In this case only used that approach a couple times. Using the schematic and testing the various switches on the controls lets you know which wires are for which function. Then referring to the 1200 schematic I find the wire for the corresponding function, insert the pin in the connector to match the position and move on. Only real problem with this bike was the idiot p/o and his use of wire cutters. In a number of cases I had to unwrap the harness and first find, then fish out a wire he had cut. I have no idea what he had in mind but he sure made a mess of it, took me nearly two days to wire in the left control with all the repairs involved. 

[Hooter]

   When I bought a 96 Springer from my cousin the neck bearings were shot. He thought he would fix the issue. Instead of just taking the time to "undo" the wiring, he cut everything straight across. He never did a thing after this other than strap it to his lift for two years.
   I bought the bike right and two years ago over the winter I got into it. I rebuilt the springer (that alone if not careful can take your head off) put in new neck bearings, and resoldiered / shrink tubed all the wires below the handlebars that he had butchered. What a mess, but the winter here 2 years ago was out of control. This gave me something to do and help pass a dreary winter. It isn't an easy job and time consuming as you have found out, nice job and a good project.

[G-Man]

I didn't know Honda had a 1200 / 4 cylinder.

So now I have a question…….  Shouldn't the next logical progression have been the 1800 by adding 2 more of the same size cylinders, instead of reducing cylinder size to make the 1520, only to go back up in size to the 1800?

[Jess from VA]

A flat 8 would weigh too much, even with small cylinders (and cost a bunch too).

[G-Man]

Not a flat 8, a flat 6 by adding 2 more cylinders. The flat 4 has 4 cylinders, each 300 cc.  Add 2 more to make a flat 6 with 1800 cc.  Instead of reducing all cylinders down to 253.3 cc to make the 1520?

A question the world will never know the answer to.  Mr. Boyd passed on with all the answers.

[John Schmidt]

I didn't know Honda had a 1200 / 4 cylinder.

So now I have a question…….  Shouldn't the next logical progression have been the 1800 by adding 2 more of the same size cylinders, instead of reducing cylinder size to make the 1520, only to go back up in size to the 1800?

Yup, 1984-1987, and it's actually 1181cc. The bike I am working on is/was a Standard, the last "naked" Wing that Honda made. From '85 on they were all loaded with plastic. Even the 1984 1200 engine was unique to that year, different gearing, ignition impulses were off the back of the engine, different starter, and a few other items only used on the '84. From '85 on, they moved the iginition pulse pickup to the front behind the timing belts as they are on the Valk. Prior to that, if your '84 needed repair done on them the engine had to be pulled.