When I bought my Valkyrie there were a couple of invoices

[..]

from parts suppliers to one specific name and address.

I wrote to the person asking if they could fill in some of the history of the bike.

Here's the initial reply.





I'm the fifth owner of the bike.

[..]

A follow up email

No sweat on the history. Something I am interested in as I assume others may be as well.  I remember handing off a lot of stuff to Rob and never noticed invoices and if I did, it didn’t bother me as he was a brother officer and would have had no malign intentions nor does it sound like you do, either. At any rate he left the Marine Corps and went back to MA, I think. I don’t know what “recycled” smog parts are, but I hope that means they are now a soda pop can somewhere as the licorice salad of vac tubes leaked constantly as the rubber aged. Don’t remember the mileage when I sold it but I don’t think it was over 25K (six yrs of mothballs and multiple bikes=relatively low mileage) and may have been nearer 20. Yep, t’was I who did all the stuff you mentioned and then some with the exception of the tire. I seem to recall mounting a GY Triple Tread. Had a nice, aggressive, symmetrical pattern on it.

I seem to recall having trouble getting everything in the light bucket when the HID went in and I think the ballast box went out on the neck somewhere. I know I put a relay in the headlight circuit to take the strain off as it drew too much current and had a history of burning out the starter switch. Adapter? Guilty. Pinstripes? Guilty, along with the chrome bead around the tank seam. Oil gauge? Guilty. (Salvaged from a *ahem* ’94 H-D). Pinstripe license plate nuts? Guilty. I suspect if you did a little paint scraping, there’s a bar & shield underneath as I “recycled” a fair number of parts from one bike to the next. Heated grips? Guilty. Never worked all that great for me, btw. Radiator hose covers? Again, guilty. Was the H-D beer can cover still on the oil filter? Couldn’t stand the  meek little meep-meep horn on so mighty a beast so I replaced it with a more robust stainless marine model, appropriately badged, of course.

Ran an appropriately weighted Mobil 1 the whole time in the eng/trans and kept the shaft in back greased within an inch of its little life with the Honda 60% moly grease with 90wt Mobil 1 in the bevel gear box. Hopefully they look as good as I left them. That’s a fairly new rubber bellows at the engine to driveshaft hsg joint as well. That was a pain and I remember that clearly though I don’t remember why I replaced it but I think it took a debris strike and was spotting grease. I figured if that could get out, dirt could get in. New rear wheel bearings about a year or so before it sold.

I did all the chrome doo-dads around the triple tree. Visors on the gauges and maybe LED bulbs in the gauge housings? Didn’t like the reflectors and replaced them with LED markers. Had to coax them into place a bit with a Dremel as I recall. Along with the lights tucked in the engine bay, it made for a pretty striking pose after dusk and served to warn off the idiots a bit. Yum, yum, more wire spaghetti, though. That was my only regret as I mentioned before and was something I meant to clean up for years - right up until I sold it to Rob. Did you go with the Fuzebox.com rig? I seem to recall putting on some micro strobes front and rear for enhanced visibility in the fog and frog strangler storms you are familiar with. I think one of those buttons by the ign switch are to that. I did a lot of stuff at 2 AM when the stores were closed and you sometimes see a mish-mash of parts from my parts bins. The different switches were an on-purpose, though, so you can tell them apart with a glove on.

It looks like the little luggage rack is off and you put the passenger pillion with the solo seat.  I seem to recall cutting up the OEM seat a bit trying to get comfortable so that’s the only one you should have as it was a mess after. Did you get the sissy bar and pad as well? It looks like the shorty bar is still on. Did you get the little solo rider luggage rack? Whatever the case, you can perhaps see that this was as much a hobby as a ride and, despite the skinned knuckles and tons of bad words, I credit her with helping me retain some level of sanity and a reasonable blood pressure as I gracefully surrender to the years.

When I decided to sell her (still pains me to a goodly degree) I did a photo spread to go in Cycle Trader if her stint at the "Lemon Lot” on base didn’t pan out. Rob saw her there and bought her. I will send the pics of how she looked just before she sold and you can compare then/now. While we’re on the topic, I’d appreciate right of first refusal if you ever decide to sell her, if you can swing it. I’ll tuck a couple pics in here now and send others in a separate email as I don’t know how much will overload the email limit.

[Serk]

That's pretty freaking awesome!

[..]

Saddlebag pans when I got the bike



Steel wool, a coat of rust inhibitor, a coat of primer, 2 gloss coats and then a shmear of wax.

[Karen]

Very nice to get so much info from someone who obviously loved and remembered your Valk. What an enjoyable read!

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very nice to get so much info from someone who obviously loved and remembered your Valk. What an enjoyable read!

+1 It's obvious he loved the bike, even if he didn't get to ride it that much. 

[henry 008]

That's pretty freaking awesome!

+1 

[Jess from VA]

Very Cool.   

I once did the same thing (found the earlier owner thru old receipts folded up and stuck in the bike manual (not a valk).

I contacted him, and his reply was like..... Yeah, it was a great bike.  I bought it and rode it.  I didn't do anything but maintenance.     

[RainMaker]

This is a great story.  I think the majority of us on this forum would have similar stories for the folks who adopt our Valks.  As mine is one of those rare "first owner" bikes, I have no stories from it's previous owner but will have an earful to someone should I ever sell it.

[old2soon]

Very cursed kewl Paul.   IF he wants another Valkyrie sooner he could check our classifieds!   Nice too know he really was into it.   RIDE SAFE.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very Cool.   

I once did the same thing (found the earlier owner thru old receipts folded up and stuck in the bike manual (not a valk).

I contacted him, and his reply was like..... Yeah, it was a great bike.  I bought it and rode it.  I didn't do anything but maintenance.     

that story just doesn't quite captivate the reader.

[Bighead]

This is a great story.  I think the majority of us on this forum would have similar stories for the folks who adopt our Valks.  As mine is one of those rare "first owner" bikes, I have no stories from it's previous owner but will have an earful to someone should I ever sell it.

I also have one of those rare first owner Valks and it is a '97 she's mine till I die or it does and I think she will be here after me