Coming back to the Valkyrie

[Dale_K]

I bought my first Valkyrie brand new in 96 from Free State Cycle in Maryland.  I sold it in 2004 with 57k miles and thought I was out of bikes forever.

Then I retired to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas in 2005 and resumed biking with several different brands.  My most recent bike, which I bought in 2010 was a new Road King.  I sold it last spring and once again had the idea that I was out of bikes forever.

I noticed a Valkyrie in a local "consignment" used car lot and stopped to take a look at it today.  It's a 98 with 20k miles and they want $3,300 for it.  Unfortunately it has the 6 straight pipe exhaust and I told the folks at the lot that I needed a stock exhaust.  I never expected them to come up with them but they contacted the owner, who still had the stock exhaust stored in a barn.  I just got back from the used car lot a few minutes ago and I'm scheduled to take delivery on Monday. 

Life has a lot of strange turns and I'm gong to be back on a Valkyrie again.  I actually found this site while searching for a stock exhaust for sale.  I don't see a general "body of knowledge" area.  It looks like I need to search for relevant threads in the big pile of posts.  Maybe somebody could help me with a couple of specific questions.

What kind of jack do I need to get the bike in the air for tire maintenance?  I need to get the rear wheel off because somebody has put a damn car tire on it.

I'm pretty sure I'll need to work a little on the carbs.  Can somebody point me toward a good thread with pictures?  Right off the bat I notice the bike idles too low.  I never needed to adjust anything on my old Valkyrie and I gave the shop manual away when I sold the bike.

[fudgie]

Car tire.... 

[hubcapsc]

There's numerous "body of knowledge" areas here...

One is the search button, I just put "lift" in there, try that...

Another is "shoptalk", you should see that button up at the top somewhere,
here's some relevant articles from there:

http://www.herberts.org/wayne/valk/lowtechlift.htm

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/Elusive%203rd%20O-Ring.htm

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/rear_end_service.pptx

A car tire will make your Valkyrie catch on fire.

-Mike "good job on the exhausts!  "

[old2soon]

A M/C lift/jack for our Valkyries NEED/REQUIRE a lift adapter. You can either purchase one or build one with the plans in the tech section. I built the wood adapter as I had everything I needed in the shop at the time. Quite a number of discussions on D/S dark side-A K A car ties on the rear wheel(s) of our Gals. Ad B  W-Welcome Back!  These machines that chose us git into our blood!  RIDE SAFE.

[Rams]

What kind of jack do I need to get the bike in the air for tire maintenance?  I need to get the rear wheel off because somebody has put a damn car tire on it.

All I'm gonna ask is, what brand CT is it.   I don't like them all and haven't ridden them all but, I love my Austone Taxi Tire on my Valkyrie.   To each their own............

Welcome back to the Dragon's Den.........   Watch yer step, there's tails everywhere.... 

[cookiedough]

give the car tire a shot first before ditching it,  you may like it, well maybe??

sometimes LUCK finds us as it did you for that price the dealership never knew what he had being that low in price should be over 4K

congrats. 

Is easy to idle down with the knob to around 1100 rpms just above 1K or so when engine is warm idling.

[larue]

Here is where the body of knowledge is, scroll up and hit the home button then click on 1500 tech board. Go to the search box and put a key word there and will generate all info related.
Welcome back brother

[Valkorado]

Welcome!  Post your bike questions on the tech board, you're sure to get responses from knowledgeable people pronto!  

[gordonv]

Welcome back and enjoy the stay.

Valkyrie Norway, Service Manual in PDF format. I also own a paper copy, and have the PDF in my laptop and tablet for travel.

http://valkyrienorway.com/download.html

On the surface, you might not like the sound of a car tire on the bike, but I would give it a try for one week of riding, and then see what you think. If it's really flat, and you don't like it. Then a second choice is the Auston already mentioned, it's like a MC tire on the bike. Just remember the rear still needs it's 10K service.

[Dale_K]

Update - I bought the bike today and spent most of the afternoon taking off the Cobra exhaust and reinstalling the stock.

The bike is in surprisingly good shape.  Seems to run perfectly.  I kind of expected some carb problems but none so far.

The car tire is a Toyo and I don't like it whatsoever.  I did a little online shopping and didn't see the Dunlop D206 but instead a Dunlop Elite radial.  I'll find something right away.

I see there's some kind of rally later this year in Arkansas.  Maybe I'll ride up to Harrison.  It's about 3 hours from Hot Springs, where I live.  Harrison has a bad reputation because of the KKK connection. 

[Hooter]

I'd run a can of Sea Foam through it (gas) just for the hey of it. Make sure the carbs are clean.

[houstone]

Do a search on GOTF, and come visit Houston!
Plenty of car tires here...
Welcome back!
Jeff