DonnyRudeDude

My sister and I headed out on my 1999 Honda Valkyrie Interstate crossing the boarder at Port Huron, destination- northern California. We allowed ourselves 6 weeks for this adventure but ended up completing it in 32 days. We drove up the east side of Michigan to Mackinaw City and across the Upper Peninsula and across the northern states. I learned that the Mississippi River headwaters are in the upper part of Minnesota-never knew that before. The landscape started to get interesting once we were in South Dakota as we toured the Badlands, Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore. We bought a national park pass at the insistence of the park ranger which is good for one year and it more than paid for itself as we explored multiple parks over the trip. We headed to Billings Montana and the next day drove the Bear Tooth Pass-that was spectacular. Full concentration and eyes on the road when going up the pass and the views were amazing. Stopped several times to take it all in. Spent 3 days in Gardiner and used the Travel lodge as home base as we explored Yellowstone. Kept my eyes open to get a picture of Kevin Kostner for my wife-but didn't see him. 😁 My wife told me later that he was killed off in season 2 anyways. I think it was the perfect time of year to be there as the crowds were not too large yet and it was plenty warm. We saw some majestic landscape as well as pronghorns, black bear and cub from a distance, bison and elk. We said goodbye to Yellowstone after seeing Old Faithfull and drove to Idaho Falls and had a down day as we found a nice Best Western right across the road from the river and some green space. They even had peddle bikes we could sign out, so we explored the market and the restaurants along the river. This was a cool hotel as the GM was the one making omelets in the morning at their continental breakfast-a nice touch. The hotel had been in her family for over 50 years. We met a group of young people while sharing a beer at one of the local outdoor patio's. The one gentleman was an Evie Knievel fanatic and insisted that we go to Shoshone Falls and see where Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River. We never considered this attraction but glad we checked it out as the falls were spectacular. From here we made our way to Craters of the Moon National Monument. This wasn't on our list of things to see but we were driving right by, it looked interesting so decided to stop. It was amazing to see all the small flowers blooming amongst the old lava flows indicating the resiliency of nature finding a way to flourish in this desolate environment. I didn't realize how desolate parts of Idaho and eastern Oregon are and also very desert like. I made sure to fill up at every gas station in these parts and also carried a small jerry can which fit nicely in my saddle bag as it had a tapered fit to take up less room. We literally drove hundreds of miles without seeing a home and the one's we saw looked like they had been abandoned, a testament to the harsh conditions of trying to make a go of it as farmers in this area. It appeared that the successful farmers need to use spray irrigation-otherwise there would be not much of a crop. Headed to Oregon and Crater Lake National Park (got to use my park pass for the 6th time) to check it out. Well worth the ride in. Still snow on the sides of the road as we got higher in elevation. Beautiful water, almost purple in colour. No water gets in from external sources and it's not spring fed, so there's no silt at all in the lake and has this amazing colour. Also, the deepest lake in the USA (thank-you Google) as a result of a volcanic explosion. From here, on to northern California to see the redwoods. Toured Redwood National Park and then up the coast of Oregon. The Oregon coast was beautifully rugged and was cool and overcast for several days so we decided to have a down day in Bandon. (It's helpful the iPhone records the location of most pictures when recalling names of places). This was my sister's favorite part of the trip on the Oregon coast. This was probably my least favorite part because as the driver, this was the most challenging for me, following Hwy 101, fully loaded pulling a small single wheel trailer through the twisties and up and down was tough. Also, made the mistake of not checking tire air pressure enough and my tires could have been pumped about 4 lbs higher so there was some wear starting to show. Made it through Washington and crossed into beautiful British Columbia. I'm convinced that there is no part of BC that isn't beautiful...at least the parts we saw. Stopped to see my nephew in Kamloops for lunch. The best part of ride for me was from BC to Banff Alberta on the trans Canada hwy. The bike was easier to drive on this hwy and the scenery was just amazing with snow covered peaks around every corner. From here it was the trans Canada all the way to Winnipeg, then south and crossed over once again into Minesota and back to where we started. When we crossed back over into Canada the boarder guard asked, "so where are you coming from"...I smiled and said, where do I start? Made it safely back having travelled 11 K kms. All in all a great trip...and my sister and I are still on speaking terms😀 Bucket list ride completed. Mark

I will come if I can make the date. Mark

Hi Carl, the bike is in great shape, especially for it's age. Plastic is all excellent although previous owner reinforced some pieces of the fairing but looks good. All the extras still work, radio, cruise, air controller. Next time there's a get together I'll bring this one down so you can have a close up look, Mark

I have an 84 VR that I bought brand new still on the road,,,,thanks again Carl @Marcarlfor the refurbishing of this bike to keep her going. My wife and I went around Lake Ontario last year through New York State and home with it. Also have an 86' pictured here. My sister and I went to Vermont on it in 2023. Still love riding these old bikes. Hard to believe that they're 40 years old. Mark

Wow….i loved all the pics. I’ve read on here that no pics… than it didn’t happen. This trip definitely happened. Thanks for sharing, Mark

Late reply here....my wife and I travelled down that way through a short section of Skyline Drive in early October. The Blue Ridge Parkway was closed at that time due to the hurricane damage. The section we travelled was beautiful that time of the year. We came across Hwy 250 from the 219. Hwy 250 from Huttonsville to Staunton WV looks fairly straight on a map...Wrong. It was a beautiful twisty road with breath taking scenery. It was obvious to me afterwords that going over the mountains is going to be a little twisty and up and down. It was a challenging ride to say the least, all loaded up with my wife on the back. I'll bring the Venture next time, I think it would handle the twisties better. We made it to the Howard Johsons just after dark, which wasn't wise travelling in the dark as we noticed lots of deer appearing at dusk. Made it safely and there must have been 25 motorcyclist's staying at HoJo's. Most of those bikes were in the class of adventure touring, which seems to be a popular way to ride, especially through the mountains. It was a great ride and hope to do it again next year and this time travel south down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mark

Hi Ben, I have one at the cottage. I won’t be up there for a couple of weeks. I’d like to give you some parts in return for those that you gave me, Do you need the light bulb and the lens? Let me know, Mark

I’ll travel to the same place as the last many times and hope I find you there….or maybe wandering about aimlessly 😁

Hi Carl, I’ll try and make it….where do live again😀?? Mark

Hi Carl, the 84 VR is running great (Thank you) I was referring to my 86’. I lubed the cable but no effect. I was hoping to see you on the Ontario ride to pick your brain on this one. Mark

Ok, Pasta Burner, thank-you. I have a VR parts bike I may practice on before I attempt it. I've seen on You Tube where the instrumentation panel is removed to fix the howling speedometer so I'll follow that process and lube the speedometer while I'm at it, Mark

3/4 of my instrumentation lights are blown. I can see the tach at night but that’s it. Can you explain how to access these lights? Do I need to remove the dash assembly to replace the blown lights? Thank- you, Mark

See below

We’re celebrating thanksgiving with my in laws on Saturday and getting family pictures done at a local photographer so…..Saturday is out for me. Mark

Just Googled Hocking Hills. Looks like a beautiful state park. Mark

I was saving for the new Venture TC or the new Goldwing after I saw them at the Toronto bike show back in 2018. I thought I’d treat myself to a new bike after owning my 84VR since new. I finally realized, I can’t afford a 30k motorcycle. With the money I saved I bought a 99 Honda Valkyrie. My wife was on board and prefers the Valkyrie when travelling. They’re just more leg room and luggage space although it’s a heavy bike when all loaded up. It gets lots of compliments when it’s all shined up. Most people don’t realize that the 84VR is more comfortable to ride with the air suspension and more nimble. It’s nice to have multiple bikes but as Saddlebum pointed out, there’s no break on insurance when riding multiple bikes. Adding the Valkyrie to my stable made me realize….I had the perfect bike for me. It makes me appreciate the Venture even more. Now, I also bought an 86 VR a few years ago. It was in mint condition and I couldn’t say no to the price offered….. that one appeared in the driveway one day to my wife’s surprise. That one I had to ask forgiveness…. she doesn’t like to ride that bike for some strange reason…🤔 It was more of an impulse buy. Mark

I can attest to the smoothness of the engine. I have a Honda Valkyrie interstate and the engine is very smooth. At the Valkyrie Riders site they have a video of the “Nickle Trick” posted where the engine is so smooth and free of vibration that a Nickle, standing up, placed on a flat surface of the engine will not fall over with the engine revving. Now, that’s smooth. I have no problem going into corners. I have scraped the hwy pegs a few times, attached to the engine guards. It doesn’t seem to be a serious problem, but I don’t drive that aggressively, Mark

I really enjoy watching these Fort Nine videos, for me very educational and entertaining. I wonder how the Honda Goldwing horizontally opposed 6 cylinder engine would have been described and rated?

Hello all, I've been meaning to post this for a while....too busy riding and other things. I wanted to give a huge shout out to a member who worked on my bike last winter. I met Carl @Marcarlat last years Ontario get together in Paris. He offered to work on my 84 VR and said he would do a thorough job fixing anything that needed to be fixed. I gave him a whole wish list of things that needed some maintenance/fixing and he worked from front to back adding new rubber (Dunlop E4's), four brush starter, @skydoc_17fuse kit, fixed oil leak in the front forks having had progressive springs installed at the local dealer the year previous, new carburetor diaphragms, carb sync, braided brake lines, new brake pads, added a thingey 😀(spacer) to the rear axle and grease nipple as well as Wolo air horn (loud) and PIAA running lights (bright but expensive) as well as resoldering the air compressor. I'm probably missing some fixes...Also, he bought a Plastex kit and showed me how to repair cracked fairing parts using his Dremel tools. Special thanks to his lovely wife for providing lunches for all those winter lunches trying to solve all the worlds problems. Special mention goes out to @saddlebum who provided advice and some "spare" parts for my machine. Always enjoy riding this machine but its just that much sweeter of a ride now. Planning a trip to Vermont in a couple of weeks. I hope everyone has a Carl and a Ben in their area that they can count on for advice and assistance. Thanks to you both... Mark

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Very cool

I have a 1999 Honda Valkyrie Interstate, does that count? It has the six cylinder Goldwing engine, 1520 cc, single overhead cam, six carbs and the timing is slightly advanced making it a little more peppy than the standard Goldwing of that era. Beautiful bike, but my favorite to ride is still my 1984 VR but both are great bikes, just different. Mark

I'd like to thank @skydoc_17 for sending me the upgraded fuse kit last year. This was finally installed but not by me. I met @Marcarl at one of the southern Ontario gettogethers this past summer. Also, Carl was the first guy to reach out to me when I joined the club in 2019, He pointed out that my bike was leaking some oil. Since owning it from new, an 84' purchased in spring 1985, amazingly it had never leaked oil. I had progressive springs installed the previous fall as well as having the rear brake line replaced with braided. I said yup, I need to take it back in, in the off season. There was a small leak in the front forks as well as one from the rear, maybe brake fluid. He mentioned there was a shop just up the road that does good work. I thought I new of all the shops in the area but apparently not this one. Well, guess who's shop? Something he said stuck with me, in that, if he found something that needed replacing or fixing, he would replace of fix it. That's quite different from the motorcycle shops I had previously visited as they typically only fix what you point out needs fixing, as well, many shops in our area have told me that they won't work on bikes of our vintage any longer. I can appreciate their concerns in the sense that parts are hard to come by and our plastic is getting brittle with age so its easier to say no. So...thanks to Earl and Carl. Mark

I ordered a Slip Steamer off of Amazon for my 84'. It's my 4th windshield for this bike (one was stolen from a parking garage) since new in May, 1985. Recommended, Mark