Okay so at then of the riding season this year I went ahead and ordered the chrome side covers for the bike, because frankly that flat matte gray thing that matches nothing on the bike kinda always irritated me. Anyhow I put the chrome covers on and... it didn't suck kinda flows nicely with the pipes especially looking down on the bike, which kinda got me thinking in a world where no after market exists and never will... the only real way to customize the Valk would be to chrome the bike, and then I found this on Youtube


Now first of all I'll state our bikes don't "NEED" chrome as some Harley's do.. and I think some of the stuff forward of the valve covers are a little ostentatious but there are several things I like such as the chrome grab handles (something I was looking at when I 1st got the bike as we have a chrome exchange here locally)

And no, chrome is absolutely NOT for the Blue bike in any fashion but just would like to get a general notion of what people think

I am putting that chrome Kuryakin pivot bolt cover on though..

I think it's a love/hate thing...Just like our bikes.
My 1500 Valkyrie was heavily chromed. This bike, not so much.
Personally I like chromed parts on engines, not on plastic body parts. However several have painted their side covers to match the motorcycles paint and that is a visual improvement. The pivot bolt cover is a nice touch, dresses it up a little and doesn't look out of place.

Chrome does look great on black bikes, I'm not a big fan of the black out look but some ( cars & bikes) do look great all black.
I also paint my side cover to me it didn't look right being flat black.

Personally, I am very comfortable with the bike's aesthetics straight from the factory. I've watched every video there is on YouTube about this bike (yeh, I'm crazy about this bike!) and had seen that chromed out bike. It's pretty, but I see it as more "different" than "better". This is a bike, I think, that does well with understated subtlety. It's a statement in itself and needs little, if any, bling. That owner spent a ton of money chroming his bike, and it looks great, but I'd have put the money into something else, myself. I do find myself scanning every Valk I see for owner mods, because every single one they do is quickly identifiable on this bike. I've added a lot of stuff to mine, but haven't changed a thing. The chrome side covers look great, but personally I am happy with the black, so for me there's no point in spending money on change just for change's sake. I'm not crazy about the grab bars, and often wonder what they'd look like in matte black with a sand grain texture. Scratches are very obvious on them and that was the one minor flaw I spotted when I bought my bike.



Now, in that video, was it even necessary to start the bike, since the whole point seems to be the visuals? And I never understand why people rev, and rev, and rev a sitting bike. One rev and I know what it sounds like. Or when guys are sitting at a stop light, revving. Just let it idle! That bike clearly had unmodified stock exhaust, so there was no point in repeatedly demonstrating the exhaust note. It's just kind of a pet peeve. I'm not a big fan of unnecessary noise, which is one reason I'm a loyal Honda buyer/owner. Honda's engineers spent a lot of effort examining a dozen different exhausts on this bike, and just as with the aesthetics, I feel it needs no further modification or demonstration.



Richmonder

In some ways that is too much and in some ways, not enough. I am not fond of chromed plastic in general. What I would like to see on my bike is chrome handlebars, chrome crash bars, chrome valve covers, chrome pivot plate, and chrome passenger grab bars. And the side covers painted in gloss black to match the finish on the tank/fenders.

I'm still on the fence with this but like my whole point is to kind of stand out in the crowd, you have to understand I live in the 2nd Generation Valkyrie central here... Big St Charles MotorSports that sold me my bike at $7999 the day I bought it said they still had 60 in the back to sell and most of them never left a 5 county area I do really dig the look of the bike stock BUT I do know if you chrome out a Harley right... people WILL come all the way across the Wal Mart parking lot to check it out, plus if you ever check out some of the chrome laden 1st generation they look awesome!

So how many Valk 1800 owners have you met up there? When I was shopping the Internet for mine 3 years ago, I remember seeing Big St Charles had numerous VALK 1800's for that price, and a couple places in south TX each had several too but they all wanted to add a bunch of financing and dealer prep charges, and I ended up finding a slightly better deal from an individual near Tyler with only 1200 miles and 2 years left on the original, transferrable warranty ... close enough to new for me. Do you know if wonder if Bi Charles finally sold out, as I don't see any with 0 miles listed anywhere anymore, and then the market price seemed to increased? For example, it looks like CycleTrader.com only lists 2 1800's right now, the lowest mileage is 250 miles for $11,500 in Connecticut, and the other has 6,335 miles for $9,800 in Nevada.

I've run into a few others down here in the DFW TX and had the pleasure to take a ride with 3 others at once, but the bike gets plenty of attention everywhere I take it, and I don't think chrome would change that, only change the reasons to what I consider lessor, flashier ones. I do love all the chrome on the Valk 1500, but not the added velocity stalks after I found out they're not functional.

That's my 2 cents for ya.

I see numerous 1800's on Cycle Trader, and yes, the prices have recently gone up a lot. Most bikes on there cost at least $1,000 more than I paid, with substantially more mileage. Makes me feel good about getting a great deal. I really wonder why they've gone up so much.



Richmonder

Coincidentally, I received in today's mail, the chrome pivot bolt covers. Based on the price, I expected to get some nice chromed billet aluminum or chromed stamped steel. Nope, chrome plastic. They still look good but they are fragile plastic.

On a separate note, I purchased my 2014 Valkyrie (18k miles) on November 3rd for $8k before taxes & license from an independent dealer in North Bend, WA. It was spotless, had complete maintenance records, and good Dunlops. My only regret is that it is not ABS. There is a dealer in Hillsboro, OR that has four new Valkyries, two blue and two red, non-ABS for $13k-$18k. I'm thinking that the dealer will have them next year at this time if they keep the price where it's at.

https://www.motosporthillsboro.com/d...ry&sq=Valkyrie

And I thought all the new ones were all sold.